• Small Victories

    Updated: 2012-02-28 15:07:34
    Snowpants take time, thick boots take time, laboriously fitting small mittens to small thumbs, but when we finally exit the house I have to shade my eyes from the brilliance. Without walls, breath expands. Late February, early Adar: every woodpecker...

  • A d'var Torah for parashat T'rumah: on gifts, sanctuaries, and hearts

    Updated: 2012-02-24 14:44:46
    Here's the d'var Torah I'll be giving tomorrow at my shul -- so if you're coming to services, you might want to skip this post! (Crossposted from my From the Rabbi blog.) This week's parsha, T'rumah, begins with God telling...

  • Thoughts on Adar

    Updated: 2012-02-23 15:30:32
    Chodesh tov -- happy new month! Today is an extra-special new moon: we're entering the month of Adar. "When Adar enters, joy increases." -- Ta'anit 29a (Talmud) "The month which was transformed for them from sorrow to joy." -- Esther,...

  • A really lovely review of 70 faces in the CCAR Journal: The Reform Jewish Quarterly

    Updated: 2012-02-21 23:40:23
    What a delightful surprise: The CCAR Journal: The Reform Jewish Quarterly (the magazine published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis) has reviewed 70 faces alongside three other collections of poetry (among them Merle Feld's and Yehoshua November's, both of...

  • Worth reading: two posts about Israel

    Updated: 2012-02-20 13:56:28
    I'm on the road and don't have time to write anything substantive this week, but I wanted to signal-boost a couple of things I've read in recent days. The first is an essay by Israeli Dahlia Scheindlin: Dear liberal American...

  • Commentary on Mishpatim

    Updated: 2012-02-17 19:05:55
    My good friend Reb Jeff put up two posts recently about this week's Torah portion, Mishpatim. Here's a taste of one: The rabbis loved the Torah so much that they struggled to find meaning in it, even in the places...

  • Texas-bound

    Updated: 2012-02-16 12:00:00
    Last time we visited Texas, my son was 18 months old: My son and my dad. June 2011. This time, he's two years and 2.5 months. (Eight months make a big difference at this age.) I'm looking forward to once...

  • Jews, Love and Sex

    Updated: 2012-02-14 01:03:51
    These were illustrations that I did for Hadassah Magazine about the mating habits of modern Jews. I thought they were appropriate for Valentine’s Day.   Filed under: Jewish Sex Tagged: cartoons, food, humor, Jews, love, mating, modern dating, money, rules, Sex, timing

  • Three scenes from congregational life

    Updated: 2012-02-13 14:07:41
    1. On Shabbat morning I give a blessing to a nonagenarian in my kahal, who when I was in rabbinic school used to shake my hand after every service I led and tell me "good job." He has been a...

  • Caring for others, caring for ourselves - a d'var Torah for parashat Yitro

    Updated: 2012-02-10 12:27:57
    Here's the d'var Torah I'll be giving tomorrow morning at shul (so if you're going to be davening at CBI, you might opt to skip this post!) -- crossposted from my congregational From the Rabbi blog. This week's Torah portion,...

  • Etrogcello for Tu BiShvat

    Updated: 2012-02-08 12:00:00
    Remember last Sukkot? The sound of cornstalks rustling on the roof of my car as I drove slowly home from Renton's farmer's market. The trees on our hills still bright with fading leaves. Carrying my lulav and etrog out to...

  • What I Carry

    Updated: 2012-02-07 08:01:12
    for Dale It was said of Reb Simcha Bunim that he carried two slips of paper, one in each pocket. On one he wrote: Bishvili nivra ha-olam -- "for my sake the world was created." On the other he wrote:...

  • Torah poems for this week's portion, Yitro

    Updated: 2012-02-06 13:32:01
    I'm not writing weekly Torah poems this year. (Perhaps not surprisingly, I'm finding that balancing a congregational rabbinate and mothering a two-year-old is keeping me plenty busy!) But in years past I've written poems arising out of this week's Torah...

  • A lovely review of 70 faces in Lilith!

    Updated: 2012-02-02 13:15:56
    Deep thanks to Lilith, the awesome magazine of feminism and Judaism, for the generous review of 70 faces, my collection of Torah poems (Phoenicia Publishing, 2011). The review appeared in the Fall 2011 issue, alongside reviews of poetry collections by...

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