A Simcha & V’zot Ha'bracha

I remember how confused I was when I first learned that the Jewish New Year does not mark the beginning of a new Torah cycle.

In fact, the preparation for the new year, and the ending of the old, seem to blend in to each other, like a watercolor painting where you can’t see the edges of objects clearly, or like concentric circles that overlap in so many places.

All the talk of transformation starts with Elul, a whole lunar month before Rosh Hashanah. Then comes Yom Kippur, and suddenly (yes, that’s how it feels) we’re in the week of Sukkot. We’re overwhelmed by what feels like a barrage of holidays.

It’s not until the end of Sukkot, marked by two days of communal prayer, Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, that we read the last parsha of Torah—and the first, in the same day.

Torah ends with blessings in the form of a poem given over by Moses to the Israelites as they are about to cross over into the Promised Land—and finally with Moses’ death.

Joshua, who has now been handed the mantle, will be their new leader. Yet, what will his leadership bring?

It is a combination of sadness, joy, and uncertainty.

And isn’t it a little bit ironic that we read about Moses’ death, our beloved leader, on a day when we joyfully dance into the night, twirling and stomping and jumping with a Torah scroll—a holiday literally named “The Joy of Torah”?

It’s also true that Moses has been preparing to die for a long, long time.

How many times has he announced that he will not be allowed to cross over the Jordan into the Promised Land?

How many times has he repeated the teachings from God to the Israelites as he prepares them for their new life across the river, like a nervous parent who can’t let go?

How many times has he said that he will soon die?

I wonder if Moses is afraid to die—afraid to leave all this undone stuff to someone else, and this annoying, stiff-necked people he has led for so many decades, behind.

Because, even if Moses, unlike the Israelites, has complete faith at this point, he’s still going into the unknown.

And maybe that’s how life always goes, whether we’re the one leaving, like Moses, or entering, like Joshua.

We are excited about a new path we have been pursuing for years, the moment arrives, and we’re stepping into the unknown. No matter how much preparation we’ve had, we still wonder, “Do I know this stuff? Am I fully prepared?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my own rabbinic ordination—an occasion of simcha, of joy—and the fact that I will be officially stepping into a new role in my life in just a few months.

What am I stepping into? How much more do I need to learn? How much time do I have to develop this role? Whom am I meant to serve?

I cried about this to a friend the other day.

“You have your whole life to do this!” is what she said.

To which I replied, “No, not my whole life! I’m already 60!”

To which she replied, “You have the whole rest of your life.”

To which I replied, “Yes, and I don’t know how long that will be; it could be decades, or a year, or a month, or a day.”

The fact is, we never know, even if we start out younger.

I was talking to someone else today who shared her anxiety around her parents’ impending deaths and their refusal to deal with their house. They regularly joke about the proximity of the cemetery where they will be buried; “When we die, all you’ll have to do is roll us down the hill!” Hahahaha.

But they have become angry, threatening to leave the room, when she has tried to talk about death in a serious way.

Instead, they like to give the example of the previous owners of their house whose family got a dumpster and literally threw everything out the windows into the garbage.

“They act like it will be simple to bury them, but they’re leaving an entire house full of stuff. It’s not only thoughtless, it’s wasteful and ecologically irresponsible.” (I paraphrase her words.)

When I asked if they might be afraid of dying, even though they are deeply religious, she considered this for a moment; as much as her mother joked about “coming back” to give her “lots of signs!” and to “watch over her” (more like watching her, with a comical wag of the finger), I wondered how deep their faith was at the core.

What did they really think would happen after they died?

Maybe nothing?

Maybe they would completely cease to exist?

If they knew for sure that they would be back and visit, wouldn’t it be easier to face leaving?

When someone moves away, don’t we promise we’ll come visit, just to lighten the blow, even when we know in our heart that we won’t?

Just as hard, we don’t know how long we have. We constantly gauge decisions based on the expected time limits.

During Sukkot, we are “commanded” to eat and sleep in a Sukkah, a precarious structure that remembers the days in the desert, when we could see the sky at night through our temporary homes.

It’s a joyful time of awareness that we have solid structures to live in now, that we are “free,” mixed with sadness of the memory of hard times—though those living with housing insecurity today would disagree; they’re living a precarious present!

It’s also interesting that a Yizkor service, when we remember those who have gone before us, is worked into the end of Sukkot—and we immediately enter into the new Torah cycle with Simchat Torah, with a sense of great joy and celebration!

Joy and sadness mix together.

In a Yizkor service, we recite psalm 90, with the phrase, לִמְנוֹת יָמֵינוּ, כֵּן הוֹדַע; וְנָבִא, לְבַב חָכְמָה/limnot yameyu, ken hoda; v’navi lavev chochma.

It’s a little complicated to translate with its short phrases strung ungrammatically together, but it basically says, “Teach us to count our days, so that we know, like a prophet, and (or to know, like a prophet who has) a heart of wisdom.”

Basically, we should measure our days, and be smart about how we use our time.

We ask for a heart of wisdom, one that knows how to treasure the present, because, unlike a prophet, we can not see into the end of our days.

We need these reminders because it’s hard to let go.

As the Torah and Moses show us, the past mixes with the present and the future. It goes in cycles, like concentric circles, blending into and overlapping with each other.

The new is not always, or only, joyful. Sometimes we dread it.

The end is not always, or only, sad. Sometimes we can’t wait for it.

The end is not only the end, and the beginning is not only the beginning.

And we are each at the center, barely knowing where we are, and certainly not knowing where we’re going.

I’m leading a baby naming this Sunday, for a baby born right in the middle of this cycle of holidays, when the past and the future, the sadness and the joy, all mix together, reminding us of the continuous cycle of life and death and love that never ends.

This beautiful baby has come into a very precarious world of many unknowns for the future.

But the fact that her family will be gathered around to support her on her journey, carrying with them a heritage of deep faith and culture, is significant. This is the grounding we all seek, whether we have “faith” or not.

My blessing for today is that she, and we all, acquire a heart of wisdom to understand how to appreciate and make the most of our numbered days, and to know in what ways we can serve to ensure a joyful future for all on Earth.

And may we deepen our faith that we can handle this unknown, just as our ancestors did.

Don’t Change/Surely Change (Ha-Azinu & Yom Kippur)

I got some important messages yesterday from Yom Kippur.


I spent the day at home, with services coming through livestream.


As much as I wanted so badly to be in community with friends, my head was very sharply telling me, “No!” (migraine)


On the flip side, despite the migraine, I got up in the morning, showered, and dressed all in white, like I was going to synagogue.


I sank down onto the living room floor, and into the cocoon of my tallis/prayer shawl, which I sometimes think of as “God’s wings” holding me, to pray/daven and try to be cleansed.


The first part of the message I got was about Azazel.


This reading from Leviticus is where we get the idea of the “scapegoat.” This was a special ritual during Temple times to send a goat out into the desert to repent for our sins on Yom Kippur—to take on the responsibility for us--and thus cleanse us of our sins without us having to do much of anything.


During Yom Kippur services, the prayer leader does some of the pleading for us. But we’re supposed to join in as well, in a serious way, taking responsibility for ourselves.


We ask forgiveness for the ways we have wronged, and ways we have hurt each other.


Because when we hurt another, it has long, and wide-reaching repercussions.


I ask, who do we each blame when we don’t want to take responsibility for our own actions—or even our feelings and thoughts?


To take this further; when we are the people hurt by others, do we allow ourselves to feel whatever we feel for as long as we feel it—because hurts have long, wide-reaching repercussions?


And do we take responsibility for working through these feelings, so we can be cleansed of them?


Or do we tell ourselves it’s time to get over it because, "That was a long time ago”?


How harsh is our voice to ourselves?

Another message I got was from two poems by the famous Israeli poet, Yehuda Amichai, about his parents.


His mother “was a prophet” without knowing it.


She brought the voice of love and support through harsh judgement, and her many “little predictions came together in one big prophecy that will last until the Vision of the End of Days,” says Yehuda Amichai.

His father was the softer voice of love.

According to Amichai, His father was “God,” who gave him the eleventh and twelfth commandments:


“Don’t change.”


And, “You must surely change.”

On Yom Kippur, we face our own death, thinking of how we would like to be remembered, and we remember those who have died—the harsh and the kind voices that gave us love, withdrew it—or never gave it at all.


On Yom Kippur, we also repeatedly recite the thirteen attributes of God as stated in Exodus: compassionate, gracious, slow to anger…


Yet, as we come to the end of the year’s Torah cycle, these attributes couldn’t seem farther from the truth as represented by Moses.


The parsha Ha-Azinu begins with Moses calling out:

הַאֲזִ֥ינוּ הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וַאֲדַבֵּ֑רָה וְתִשְׁמַ֥ע הָאָ֖רֶץ אִמְרֵי־פִֽ’׃

Ha-Azinu Ha-shamayim va’adabeira v’timshma ha’aretz imrei’fi:

Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; let the Earth hear the words I utter!”

Moses communicates his own and God’s love for the Israelites—but unfortunately, with his harsh voice.


And what follows is a poem that comes out more like damnation (remember last week, when God told Moses to write down a poem?) than love and blessing.


It’s a poem that repeats all the mistakes we’ve made as a people—yet God caught us under God’s wings each time.


On Yom Kippur, we stated our shortcomings repeatedly throughout the day.


We called out, and begged forgiveness—for what we have done to each other—and the Earth (prayers do get updated!)


According to our tradition, we have been cleansed. And I actually did feel cleansed after all that calling out and begging.


But that’s only for today.


Going forward, we must keep up the work—of awareness, so we don’t continue to hurt other.


Going forward, we need to keep up the work of fighting for justice—for people, animals, and the Earth, which only has so much forgiveness in her; the harm we have caused has had far-reaching repercussions.


As a species, we need to preserve the beauty and the health of the world we live in. (Don’t change.)


As individuals, we need to stay grounded in who we are, appreciating our own particular gifts and speaking to ourselves in a kind voice. (Don’t change.)


And we also must evolve in the ways we move in the world, becoming kinder to all beings, even those we disagree with. (Surely change.)


Each one of us. And all of us together.


Don’t change. Surely Change.


Because we don’t want the prophecy of the End of Days to be one of death and destruction on Earth.


The End of Days should be a time when we bring Mashiach/the Messiah into the world through our own actions--taking responsibility.


And as we continue to stumble as a species and as a world, let us make the intention to be the wings of God that catch each other.


May the Heavens and the Earth hear us.

And say Amen. 

Judgement, Jury Duty, & Yom Kippur (& Va-Yeilech)

We never know what the holidays will bring until we have experienced them.

That’s true for life in general. But every year I approach the Holy Days wondering and looking to see what might happen.

This year, something happened on the very first night of Rosh Hashanah.

There had been a sadness, especially for me and my younger daughter.

For me, it was around my mother, and forgiveness—a common theme of the Holy Days. Feelings of guilt for having disconnected from her at the end of her life filled my heart.

The house was filled with delicious smells of Rosh Hashanah food I had worked so hard to prepare.

But soon before lighting the candles, I went into a kind of panic, with literal pain around my heart.

I went into my room to cry, which helped me calm down, but didn’t take away the pain.

Then I went to greet my daughters who had come for the holiday, and my husband (he’s a side note here, yet central to my life).

The transition happened for me soon after, when we all stood around the candles, one flame lit for each of us.

In a moment of tenderness, before saying the blessings, we all held hands.

My younger daughter stated an intention of allowing for pain (so young, so wise—I have to take a little credit).

In that moment, looking at the candles burning brightly, I felt the closing of a circle—a broken link repaired—as we invited in the light.

After we sat down, we blessed the new year and each other, and suddenly that pain in my chest was gone.

We sang, held hands and cried in gratitude for having made it through Covid alive. Though the pandemic is not over, it was a real Shehekhianu (thank you for bringing us to this season again) moment.

The next two days brought more singing, out in the park, and at home.

Sadness and joy mixed together—and lots of good food.

Then I had to transition to Jury Duty.

Let me start by saying, nobody looks forward to Jury Duty, and just about everyone tries to find ways to get out of it.

But then I was surprised to feel awe as I approached the grand building of the municipal district of New York City. And I was in awe to have the privilege of seeing the inside of a beautiful, grand, old courthouse, with its columns and painted, vaulted ceilings: a powerful symbol of our “Great, American Democracy.”

It’s meant to fill us with awe. And it did.

On the way there, as the sun was coming up over these grand buildings, I passed a man wearing a large sign that simply said: “Can the schools just teach children to read?”

Then I passed some people with a huge banner calling out our city’s heritage of corruption among our mayors.

As I was waiting on line to get into the courthouse, a man on a bicycle at the bottom of the stairs screamed out to us, “When will it be enough? How much is too much?”

After that, the day was uneventful, other than worrying about getting assigned to a case.

We didn’t get called until late in the afternoon, and as we were shuffled to a courtroom, all I could think about was how to let the judge know I would be observing Yom Kippur, and couldn’t be on a case.

I never had to get that far.

First, he introduced the case as criminal, and gave a little speech about our service, about bias, and judging fairly based on the evidence, “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

As we stood up to vow with our right hand that we would be truthful in all our answers as potential jurors, I wondered when would be my chance.

At the second question, I froze: “Based on religious belief, does anyone here feel they do not have the right to judge another person?”

My heart started pounding as I wrestled unexpectedly.

Did I?

Would I have to say I was Jewish?

Was Jewishness enough?

Would I be a weird Jew to state this?

Would they even believe me?

Yet, my beliefs do come from my Jewish practice, which has been to catch myself when I’m judging, and try to put myself in someone else’s shoes;

What do I know of their life, their circumstances?

Who am I to judge?

Who am I?

Silence all around me.

Before I could decide whether to be the outlier, the judge moved on:

Who among us felt they could not judge a police officer’s testimony fairly?

That was easy! I’d stated this in the past—as the outlier—the last time I went for Jury Duty: “I don’t trust the criminal justice system,” I’d said.

It was hard, being the only one to stand, but I’d done it. Why was I afraid now?

I stared at the floor, still wrestling with my feelings around the first question, and started to slowly raise my hand for this one.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the person next to me also raising their hand. As I looked up, gathering strength, I was shocked to realize that half of the potential jurors had done the same!

Were others using this as a potential “out” for Jury Duty, or were we just a reflection of our times—and gathering strength from each other?

We were told to rise, and they dismissed us, one by one, no more questions asked.

The High Holy Days, and especially Yom Kippur, are all about forgiveness, and recognizing the True Judge.

They are all about awe: making ourselves small in the grand scheme of things, and allowing for vulnerability.

They are about facing our potential death, and vowing to live from a place of awareness of our actions and thoughts going forward.

Too much brow-beating can be harmful, but this is an opportunity to put things and ourselves into perspective. It’s about gratitude for having had more time, and vowing not to squander the future.

The Torah reading that transitions us into Yom Kippur this week is Va-Yeilekh. Moses tells the people again that he is about to die. God reminds Moses of this fact again, too. God and Moses both pass on the message: “do not be afraid, for you are not alone.”

And God has Moses write down a song for the people, a poem, a “sefer ha-torah,” a written teaching, to place beside the Ark of the Covenant.

This written teaching will be a witness to the people when they stray in the future.

As we approach Yom Kippur, some of us may need another person to forgive us.

Some of us may need to forgive ourselves.

Some of us may need to have another person witness our stumbling, and gently support us as we grow.

We may also ask, for the world, for our country, how much is too much and when will it be enough?

We may be filled with awe as we approach this work and these questions.

But even as we do these things, we can know that, even when we feel like outliers, we are never alone.

May Yom Kippur carry meaning—and the surprise of broken links repaired.

Tears of Gratitude & Nitzavim

Something happened this week that brought tears of gratitude to my eyes.

During our weekly Zoom meeting with my fellow ordination cohort, the new dean, Rabbi Darren Kleinberg, was talking about inclusiveness in Judaism (and yes, my ordination from ALEPH is coming in January!) 

Rabbi Darren told us that he’d been “publicly disowned” by the Orthodox institution that ordained him. The problem was that he participated in a beit din with rabbis that didn’t fit into the “correct” (my word) category of both Orthodox and male. This was for the conversion of an adopted child.

He talked about how many people have been hurt by Judaism’s rules around who can be considered a Jew and who cannot.

And I can tell you of just two very close examples in my life:

One is my husband, who has passionately embraced Judaism since before we were married thirty-four years ago.

Though he feels Jewish, certain barriers he cannot overcome would make many state that he is not a “real Jew.” 

Though I have argued and protested and defended his right, even wrote about it, I have sadly participated in passing on some of the hurtful ideas I had inherited about who could “pass the Jewish test” (and for this I have told him, I am very, very sorry).

Another example is my nephew, who was born to a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother.

He recently was on a Birthright trip to Israel with his Jewish girlfriend.

According to them, my nephew was the only participant in his cohort endlessly asking questions, full of curiosity around Judaism, which he knows so little about but wants so much to learn.

And the leaders of his group told him that he’s not Jewish because his mother isn’t. He was so upset, so hurt, and can’t stop talking about it.

My brother’s reaction was, “What would the Nazis say?”

My reaction was, “Not according to the Bible; patrilineal descent is all there is in Torah!

So, here’s what made me cry: 

While acknowledging the significance of rituals of transition, which might be a matter of personal choice, Dean Darren said that he was not interested in making people jump through hoops to become Jewish; if they feel Jewish, and want to participate in Jewish ritual and community, that’s good enough for him. 

There has been so much pain for both me and my husband over the years regarding this issue, and to hear Darren say this—the tears of gratitude say it all.

He went on to tell us of a recent scandal of a German cantor who spoke about the “problem” of too many converts to Judaism.

Then I heard a podcast episode on Identity/Crisis called Yeshiva vs. Pride. Yeshiva University sued the Supreme Court in order to refuse to recognize an LGBTQ club for students—and won.

Yet, after years of Reparative Therapy to “cure” queer people of their “mental disorder,” some Orthodox institutions have been forced to recognize its utter failure, and the fact that queer people are not going away—as much as they wish they would. Being queer is just part of the human condition.

I want to tell you about the name of my website, lnegditamid.us.

I took the phrase, “L’negdi Tamid,” from Psalm 16, and the famous line, “שִׁוִּ֬יתִי יְהֹוָ֣ה לְנֶגְדִּ֣י תָמִ֑יד–Shiviti YHVH l’negdi tamid: I set God (which for me represents the sacred) before me continually, or over and over again.

I chose this name because it is the intention with which I want to live. I want to commit over and over to living a holy life.

What does it mean to commit over and over? And what is a holy life?

Let’s start with inclusivity.

When I was looking for a website domain, I found that “.com” was already taken, but “.us” was available.

“Perfect!” my daughter said as she helped me; “‘Us’ includes everyone, and isn’t that what you’re all about?”

This week’s parsha begins with Moses telling the people that, as they stand (nitzavim) before God today, they are about to “cross over,” or into, God’s Covenant—with all who dwell among them, stranger/foreigner/outsider included!

It is stated throughout the Torah, again and again, that the Israelites are in covenant with God.

Yet, time and again, God expresses immense disappointment with God’s people, flaring with anger, threatening to destroy them or cut them off.

Many instances in Torah, God does, in fact, kill thousands of God’s “own people.” 

And time and again, God is convinced (by Moses) to calm down and give the people another chance—to try again.

Still, God’s Covenant is conditional on the stipulations enumerated throughout the Torah. 

And if we should think it too baffling to fulfill them, it says in this week’s parsha–too much of a wonder/niflayt for us, too out of reach…no, it says in Nitzavim, it is not in the heavens, nor across the sea; it is right here in front of us, in our mouth and in our heart. 

The continuing frustration is clear; why do we make this so difficult?

Still, if we can manage to fulfill them, then God will restore, or return, our fortunes to us (literally, that which we have captured–ugh), and return the compassion and love God has for us. 

And God will gather us together again (from the other peoples among whom we have been scattered—ugh again).

In Hebrew:

וְשָׁ֨ב יְהֹוָ֧ה אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ אֶת־שְׁבוּתְךָ֖ וְרִחֲמֶ֑ךָ וְשָׁ֗ב וְקִבֶּצְךָ֙ מִכׇּל־הָ֣עַמִּ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֧ר הֱפִֽיצְךָ֛ יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ שָֽׁמָּה׃–V’shav YHVH elohecha et sh’vut’cha v’richamecha v’shav v’kibetz’cha mi kol ha’amim asher hefitz’cha adonai eloheicha shama (Deut. 30:3)

In this phrase, the Hebrew word return, also meaning again, שָׁ֨ב/shav, is used in each instance, over and over. 

There are many reasons people give for leaving “organized religion,” and for leaving Judaism, or for not joining a Jewish community.

Among these are; feeling unwelcome; the idea of chosenness, or being special, singled out from the rest of the world; a violent, punishing God; and the idea that God can take God’s love away from us. Plus all the horrible ways our forefathers and mothers act, those whom we are to emulate.

I agree with all of these reasons, and didn’t participate in Judaism for many years as a result. 

The Torah is an ancient book for which I make no excuses. 

Yet, it reflects the human condition, and our present-day society in ways many of us would like to deny, like when we hear politicians say, “That’s not us.”

Well, it is us, because we just did that thing!

Judaism is my heritage, and I choose to play an active role in it, and argue and fight to defend those excluded. 

Because there are still so many messages that need to be heard from it, like that we are the ones to do the deep spiritual work of being able to see all other human beings as equally sacred. It’s not up to some deity we can’t see.

No one can do it for us.

And we are to do it with our hearts and with our mouths, which means seeing others through our hearts, with love, and speaking in ways that bring peace. 

That’s not easy work. We don’t make it hard. It just is. Because we’re human. We suffer from the condition of being human!

So we need to keep coming back to it, over and over again.

The word “return/T’shuva” is an important part of the High Holy Days. This is the big time of year to examine ourselves and “return to God,” to recommit to living a holy and sacred life.

As we approach Rosh Hashanah in just a few days, at a time when so many people are being told they are not welcome in our country and in our communities, let us enter with the commitment to commit–over and over–to live a holy life, setting the sacred before us every day, seeing each human being as sacred, opening our hearts to love and take action that shows that all are welcome—as is commanded in the Torah—and maybe bring tears of gratitude to some one else’s eyes.

L’Shana Tova to all, and to all a good Shabbos!

Milk, Honey & Curses (Ki Tavo)

This week I have had the privilege to be on the beach on the Long Island Sound—to be in nature for a second time this summer as it comes to a close.

The ocean, rain, sun, clouds, the gentle sway of the tide, the feel of my feet sinking into the sand, walking through the crunch of shells, seeing the moon rise, the sun set.

I’ve seen so many wonders, felt the restorative power of them strengthening my body—and felt the blessing of being with an old friend who has brought so much blessing into my life over three decades.

Together, we have felt the blessing of having lived so many decades.

I keep thinking, I will have to store these many blessings up to bring back with me to the city.

But then I remind myself that I must continue to look for and find them there when I get back.

In contrast, the parsha this week is full of curses. The dire warnings seem to never stop.

Ki Tavo, “when you come” into the land, a land of milk and honey, this is how you should act, and the faith you must have.

If you don’t, says Moses of God, instead of delighting in our abundance and numbers, like stars in the sky, or grains of sand on a beach…

Well, we know the drill: plagues, chronic disease, uncertainty, panic, scorching heat, drought, starvation, infertility, death.

And being scattered throughout the world.

After each curse, we are to say, Amen.

There are some blessings in the parsha as well, if we follow in God’s ways, taking care not to lead the blind astray, for instance.

Towards the very end of the reading, Moses reminds the people that they have seen the wonders that God made happen before their very eyes.

“Yet, to this day, God has not given you a heart to understand, eyes to see, and ears to hear.”

(וְלֹא־נָתַן֩ יְהֹוָ֨ה לָכֶ֥ם לֵב֙ לָדַ֔עַת וְעֵינַ֥יִם לִרְא֖וֹת וְאׇזְנַ֣יִם לִשְׁמֹ֑עַ עַ֖ד הַיּ֥וֹם הַזֶּֽה׃—v’lo natan adonai lakhem lev la’da’at, v’eynei lir’ot, v’azna’yim lish’mo’ah ad hayom hazeh.)

I guess God left this work to us.

As we approach the High Holy Days, and work on these in ourselves, I send out the blessings from the parsha:

May we be blessed in the city, and blessed in the country.

May we be blessed by the produce of our land.

May we be blessed in our basket and our kneeding bowl.

May we be blessed in our comings and blessed in our goings.

And may we be blessed with open hearts that understand, with eyes that see, and ears that hear.

May we take the time to notice the marvels all around us, in each person and place where we are, wherever we find ourselves, every day.

May we each participate in increasing the abundance of blessing in the world, creating a land of milk and honey for all, a world where we are not dispersed, but walking together, hand in hand.

And may our blessings be strong enough to overcome the curses with our resounding "Amen!"

Till Death Do Us Part, Ki Teitzei, & Fences

You’ll excuse me if I don’t talk about the dead queen, or about the new prime minister who says it’s time to end the monarchy, while also ending the moratorium on fracking.

All while, as a world, we have just experienced the hottest summer in history, and drought is being followed by torrential, dangerous rains.

You’ll excuse me if I just want to talk about the wedding (if you’ve been following…).

Maybe you, too, would rather hear about a wedding.

There was actually a brief but torrential downpour at the wedding, but not until we were under a roof at the party. It didn’t relieve the extreme humidity, but it did feel cleansing. My sister-in-law said it was a good sign, that this marriage was bringing blessing to the world.

And it was wonderful.

Perfect, in fact.

It turned out exactly the way my daughter wanted and imagined it. The best DIY (Do-It-Yourself) wedding ever (in my estimation).

Of course, that was after a good bit of drama over the previous weeks: certain family members who (in the couple’s estimation), "didn’t care.”

This drama played out partly in their cutting almost all traditional religious elements from the ceremony—just two days before the wedding!

When I spoke to my daughter, she explained how upset and hurt she and her fiance were by various family members.

My role was to help them change perspective; those who showed up, were showing up because of their love and joy at the occasion. We would surround them in a bubble of love, and forget about the “don’t cares.” It would be intimate and meaningful, and this would add to their own joy.

Through our talking and listening, the elements they had taken out in anger and frustration, made their way back into the ceremony.

Essentially, the wedding was a Jewish one, performed in a traditional way, with some Catholic elements.

There was one thing decidedly “modern” that the officiant asked for: to write their own personal vows—but the couple did not deliver.

In a moment of confidence, I asked my daughter about this: no, she said, they were doing the old-fashioned vows like you see in the movies; this had always been her dream.

What traditions to keep in? Which ones to change?

There are still many rabbis who refuse to even perform an interfaith ceremony. “Build a fence around the Torah,” is what they say; protect Jewish ways from “infiltration” by “foreign” elements and “corruption.” Keep it “pure.”

I’ve been thinking about my own fences since the wedding, and then over the last couple of days since reading this week’s Torah portion, Ki Teitzei.

As I thoughtfully made choices leading up to and throughout the day of the wedding, I realized how much stronger my own boundaries have become.

Personally, I decided that, if the choices I made responded to or acknowledged someone else’s generosity and love, or increased joy and love in general, that was the choice to make.

I had to balance this with making sure not to exert excess energy that would send me over the edge to another long “crash.”

So, for instance, I was going to wholeheartedly welcome a houseful of sleepover guests, two of whom were doing my daughter’s hair and make-up (something I worked through a couple of week back, if you read my blog).

And I was going to welcome an extra, very-last-minute sleepover guest; this would bring my son-in-law love and joy—but ended up doing it for us, as well!

I was also going to buy the variety of celebratory foods I wanted for the house, not just bagels and cream cheese, which would have been the easiest and cheapest way. And I was going to serve them myself, despite one daughter’s protest to let people take care of themselves.

These all added to the festivities, made my guests feel welcome and cared for, and brought joy all around.

The foods would be typically Jewish, like my mother would have gotten from Zabar’s, no matter the cost. Such generosity around food had been a positive aspect she’d possessed; it was an important part of my family tradition.

Thus, I “invited her in,” and it brought not only joy, but healing.

At the wedding venue, where the party was, I continued to make choices that put myself and my children at the top of the list.

I chose to converse with those that brought me joy, I did not stop to take care of those to whom I normally would have felt an obligation. Instead, I let others take care of them, and others take care of me.

I remember noticing, as I consciously walked past certain people and circumstances, “That was the ‘old me.’”

Yes, I put up some fences—but very consciously and mindfully.

This week in Torah, we have examples of women who are lusted after and “taken” by men, then rejected.

What to do?

We have examples of newly married women accused of not being virgins by their husbands.

How to prove it one way or the other, and what to do with them?

We have examples of women whose husbands have died. What to do with them?

The answers make an effort to lie in favor of the women, probably revolutionary for their time, but manage to keep the women guilty or vulnerable.

The woman taken and rejected remains possibly cared for and most definitely unhappy; the test for virginity is basically a medieval witch trial.

The widow is given her dead husband’s brother as a substitute, (good for protection, perhaps, but most likely an unhappy choice for both of them). If he refuses, her only option is to publicly spit in his face and throw a sandal at him; she remains out in the cold.

These are very much based on cultural norms of the Ancient World, and the need to change them.

There are other messages from the parsha that are more timeless, like the commandment to provide for the stranger amongst us, to pay your laborer before nightfall so they can eat, and to remember what it feels like to be a slave.

These are universal messages of love and caring, not dependent on cultural norms of a certain time and place.

Thankfully, my daughter didn’t have to worry about being a virgin, or any of the other things mentioned above.

How lucky that she had the option to say, “Till death do us part,” not out of obligation, but as a real choice of commitment to her own personal choice of a husband.

When we say we want a fence around the Torah to protect our traditions, we must think carefully which traditions we are upholding, and which need revamping.

If we stick to the Bible only as literal law passed down from God and our prophets, we act as though the world has not changed. We do not allow for evolution in the world.

We each personally, like the world, evolve.

Though my daughter and son-in-law did not personalize their vows with their own interpretation, and they were definitely not from Jewish tradition, it was a profound moment when I heard them each say, “Till death do us part.”

The timeless and universal truths are what bring us closer to the kind of world we want to live in.

In general, I think this is a good test for our boundaries. We should always ask ourselves: do they bring more generosity into the world, likewise increasing joy and love within and around us?

As we continue to do our personal work of Elul, getting ourselves ready for the High Holy Days, thinking about the vows we may take for the coming year, may we carefully consider the kinds of fences we put up, and how high they need to be.

May we also consider the fences that need taking down.

May we each be conduits for generosity and joy.

And say Amen.

From Bloody Guilt to Mazel Tov & Shoftim

At the end of this week’s parsha, Shoftim, there’s a very strange ritual.

Its purpose is to cleanse the Israelite community of any bloodguilt incurred in the case of a homicide whose perpetrator is unknown or unfound.

It involves a heifer (a young female calf too young to work or give birth), the elders of the town, the local Levite priests, and an everflowing nearby stream. The elders break the Heifer’s neck by the stream, wash their hands with blood over the animal, and make a declaration of innocence.

Thus, they are free of guilt before God.

This ritual seems strange to us, but each element had meaning for people of its time.

Over the next five weeks or so, the Jewish community will be finishing an entire year of Torah readings. The weekly Torah reading is a ritual in itself.

We have also just entered the month of Elul, the month before Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, and Yom Kippur, when we atone for our “sins,” washing away our guilt.

It is a time of transition, when we prepare for these “high” holy days by looking inward, examining our thoughts and behavior over the past year, considering ways in which we can do better in the coming year.

One of our rituals is to hear the blowing of the Shofar, the ram’s horn, every day during this month. It is a reminder to “wake up.”

The Israelites of the Ancient World of the Bible have also been in a transition period, preparing to enter their new land. Weekly, there has been a review of the laws God gave them as a recipe for how to live a righteous life as a people in their Holy Land going forward.

Transitions take a lot of work, both inner and outer.

Even joyful ones.

And I have so many happening in my family this week.

Most importantly, my elder daughter is getting married. Preparing for the wedding, cleaning the house for guests, shopping for food…

My younger daughter, too, is going through big changes. Having just begun fall classes in her (almost) last year of college, she is moving to a new apartment, with new roommates, saying goodbye to old friends. It’s joyful, sad, and full of unknowns.

I am also turning 60 (a happy birthday shout-out to my twin brother!), a birthday that both American and Jewish cultures give importance to, and I hardly have time to mark or celebrate it.

All in one week!

Lots of transitions, not the least of which is preparing for this New Year, which is also the year I complete my rabbinical studies.

Even the world is going through big transitions, hopefully for the greater good over time, but it’s painful in the meantime.

As I said, transitions are challenging. While they may signify growth, entering into a new phase, they can also carry some sadness and loss—of youth, of parenting in the same way, of things as we knew them before. There is always a saying goodbye to the old, and with that comes varying degrees of grief.

Rituals help us through these periods of transition and any accompanying grief. They may be prescribed by the traditions of our community, often from religion, and are a way of making meaning.

Weddings are rituals signifying commitment between two people, while also involving family and community. We laugh, and we also cry.

The Jewish High Holy Days are a time of re-commitment to making changes in ourselves for the sake of relationships and community, a time for admitting that we are merely humans who will continue to make mistakes.

They are a time of connecting with regret and remorse, both emotions and tools that helps us re-commit to changes.

May we each commit or re-commit to finding ways of integrating ritual, old and new, into our lives, to help us through challenging times.

May we wake up and connect and re-connect to our fellow humans.

May we wake up and re-commit to ourselves and our relationships with each other and the Earth.

And in the Jewish tradition of joyful occasions, even when tinged with a little sadness: Mazel Tov to all!

And let us say Amen.

Seeing with Generous Eyes: R’eih

Yesterday morning I woke up to a phone text from my daughter: two more teenagers will be sleeping over on the weekend of the wedding (next week, not this)—in addition to the others, who will already be spread out throughout the apartment, filling all floor space.

I could see it all before my very eyes: the partying late into the night before the wedding, the slamming of doors and toilet seats heard easily through my paper-thin walls.

As it is, I’m still struggling to get back to my old, bouncy, energetic self, measuring my progress day by day. It could spell disaster for me.

So I kind of lost it, and started crying—not that my daughter knew! I didn’t make that mistake!

But while acknowledging the need to take care of myself, I also felt ungenerous.

In my reaction, I was reminded of my mother, the “party pooper.” I don’t want to be that person! Why couldn’t I just let go and get excited about the excitement? It’s a rare gift to see your child get married. And it will be a gift to have all the cousins here. Just the fact that they love us so much and want to be such an integral part of this! I want to be a generous host!

In the week’s parsha, R’eih (See!), there’s a long section on generosity.

The Israelites, still getting reminders on how they should behave upon entering the Promised Land, are told how to handle the needy. They will have great abundance, and should not harden their hearts to the less fortunate among them. Rather, they should be careful to open their hands and give sufficiently to meet the needs of the needy.

They are reminded of the Shmita year, every seventh year, when slaves are freed and the land lies fallow; despite any concerns about scarcity as that year approaches, they must continue to be generous.

In fact, even thinking about holding back, Torah tells us, is a lower, “base” form of thought. And our eyes are evil (v’ra’ah eynkha/וְרָעָ֣ה עֵֽינְךָ֗) when we see our fellow person in need and close our hand. God will hear the cries of the poor, and those who withheld will stand guilty. If, on the other hand, we give with an open hand and heart, we will be rewarded.

There are even specific stipulations around slave ownership (that, unfortunately, give greater benefits for the “fellow Hebrew” slave):

1. No one should serve more than six years (a message lost on supposed-God-fearing American slaveholders, including, sadly, Jewish slaveholders)

2. The owner should not resent having to set the slave free, for they have gotten double the work they would have if paying a laborer

3. The owner should send them off with provisions (from the flock, threshing floor, and vat)

4. If they had a wife of their own when they came, they should be allowed to leave together, children included (this, from Exodus, which has more on the subject)

5. And perhaps most importantly and shockingly, if the slave refuses to go (because they love their owner and things have gone well for them), their ear must be pierced to the doorpost with an awl (a much debated subject), and they shall remain in servitude forevermore.

If we look at this last one honestly, we might to ask the question, “How many options were there out in the not-so-wide world for the newly-freed slave?” Maybe staying with a non-abusive owner would be better than…who knows what!

But the intended lesson is still about taking freedom when the opportunity presents itself.

How often do we turn away from opportunities because it’s too hard or painful, incurring some loss?

For me, the impact on my health might take me back a few weeks. That’s a painful thought for me.

But taking freedom right now might look like letting go of my worries about it for the sake of that one night—and for love in and of the family.

It might also look like redirecting my thoughts towards the joys of a once-in-a-lifetime sleepover with fun surprises. (Didn’t I just say a few weeks ago that the only thing that matters is the love in my family?)

Can I stay positive of mind, and be generous of heart? Can I take this opportunity to change old, hurtful patterns in my family? I have so many memories of hurt feelings because of lack of generosity coming from family members.

Also, the cousins are not exactly needy, but hotels in New York are astronomically expensive, and my husband’s family hardly have unlimited means.

But that’s not even what it’s about in the end. These are the moments that matter most in life, and good memories of joy keep us going.

No one should need a reward for being generous, but the rewards come from all of this.

So, let’s say Amen (and I’ll let you know how it goes…).

Look in the Mirror (Eikev)

One of the main critiques of religion, especially the Abrahamic ones (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), is how patriarchal they are.

This couldn’t be more true.

Thus, rejection of it. “I’m spiritual, but I don’t buy into this patriarchal stuff of organized religion.”

This week’s parsha abounds with perfect examples, as our (male) God tells the Israelites they are about to enter the Promised Land. [He] also tells them how they will be rewarded if they follow [His] laws (with abundance, fertility, good life)—and how they will be punished (with scarcity, sterility, death) if they don’t.

God reminds the people that [He] has tested their loyalty along the way.

[He] beseeches them to remember how [He] made them walk through the desert for forty years. [He} put them through hardships as a trial for them to see where their hearts lay.

The very Hebrew word for “trial” or “test” is the same as the word used for “answer.” It’s like they have to “answer to” God.

The same word in a different form, as used here, means that they have been afflicted, forced to humble themselves before God—on purpose, as in, “I did it for your own good.” (and we all know the damage that’s done to children through the millennia.)

The goal of this, God says, is so they will know that (famous lines), “It is not by bread alone that [man] lives, but by whatever comes out of God’s mouth” (i.e. God’s decrees).

God explains: “Lest you think, ‘My own power and the might of my own hand have won this wealth for me.’”

God declares we should not be afraid, for [He] will be the very one leading us into this new land, driving out, expelling the current residents, not because “you are so virtuous, wise, or righteous,” but because the others are worse; they’re wicked.

In other words, “Don’t be so grandiose; you didn’t do it by yourself. You had a lot of help! From Me!" (Capital M)

It’s true that the message of an all-powerful god, one who rescues us, can be comforting—and it’s an idea many of us no longer believe. We have known too much suffering to believe the opposite, and are tired of taking all the blame for what goes wrong in our lives; it is damning and damaging.

But what is also true is that this message to humble ourselves a little is one we need to hear, especially in our American culture where we are taught that we make or break our own success.

Both messages from Torah and our society are so very clearly patriarchal, based entirely on a male model of reward and punishment—and the Bible is here to remind us that it is not by our own hand if we are “successful.”

Even the word “success” is problematic, as it is based on how powerful a job we have, or how much money we make. As we know, many wealthy people love to say they created their wealth all by themselves, thus forgetting or disregarding the privileges they had along the way, often since birth.

The message is so strong that we feel proud and puffed up when we have money, and full of shame when we struggle.

Later in this parsha, Moses reminds the people that it was God’s love for this people that caused [Him] to do all the [He’s] done for them; all [He] asks in return is their steadfast love and loyalty.

While it’s understandable that one who loves another can hope to be loved in return, this is a controlling god who demands total love and loyalty.

You can’t get more patriarchal than that.

It’s also true that when we reject our holy books because they are patriarchal, we are rejecting patriarchy. That’s a good thing if we want to move forward to a time when we can live more or less as equals, in peace, on Earth.

But in the same rejection of our holy books, there may also be an unwillingness to look at ourselves in the mirror.

Because, as much as we like to think otherwise, we reflect the patriarchy we claim to reject in the very thoughts we have, in our relationship with ourselves, and with others.

Thus says Terry Real who created what is called Relational Life Therapy, which he describes in his interview with Tami Simon on the podcast, Insights From the Edge.

The way we live now, as always in the past, says Terry Real, is by constantly comparing ourselves to others. When we compare, we judge, and when we judge, we hold power.

Either we feel good, and proud, or we feel shame—because someone else has a better job, is thinner, more fit, richer, smarter, has more accomplished children, etc.—even when our circumstances are completely beyond our control.

Either way, one of us is superior while the other, inferior.

Real describes this as grandiosity vs. shame.

Underlying both, he says, is the same emotion: contempt.

He goes on: As understood in our society, either we are feminine/affiliative/connected/accommodating, or we are masculine/powerful/assertive; you can be powerful or connected, but never both at the same time.

Further, in a patriarchy we have power over others.

Such an attitude, he says, is even popular in activist (feminist, anti-racist) and spiritual circles. Who hasn’t heard this one: “I was weak. I’ve found my voice. Now I’m strong. So stand back!”

The fact is, of course, as human beings we are all essentially equal, which is what we’re fighting for.

But by holding on to this attitude, we are perpetuating the very patriarchal way of living that we are trying to change.

The alternative, says Terry Real, is “Soft Power.”

Soft Power is an art to be learned that translates into standing up for oneself while simultaneously cherishing the other person or people in the same breath.

Real guides partners in intimate relationships, but applies his philosophy to all of society; the goal is to truly understand that we are not only connected, we are of the same stuff—to Earth and everything in it and on it.

As humans, we are truly all the same underneath the trauma. Nothing separates us except our lack of awareness.

Therefore, we must be able to look in the mirror.

Only by closely examining how we live out the patriarchy in our daily thoughts and actions will we be able to change our way of living from power over to power with others.

The only way God and Moses knew how to teach us to care (about the widow, the orphan, the stranger in our midst) was by clobbering the people over their heads.

Now that we know differently, does it mean we never get angry when we talk about dismantling patriarchy and racism?

That would be impossible, and sometimes anger is appropriate.

But here’s a start:

Towards the end of this week’s reading, the people are beseeched to “cut away the thickening around their hearts and stiffen their necks no more. וּמַלְתֶּ֕ם אֵ֖ת עׇרְלַ֣ת לְבַבְכֶ֑ם וְעׇ֨רְפְּכֶ֔ם לֹ֥א תַקְשׁ֖וּ עֽוֹד׃

Along with awareness, and a desire to repair any damage we’ve done in the process, the first step is always a softening.

Let’s try it. Again.

Let’s try looking in the mirror.

Let’s increase our practice of examining our thoughts, words, and actions.

Let’s notice when we are judging ourselves or others, putting one of us in a position of shame or grandiosity.

It’s a good time for this work, as we approach the month of Elul and the High Holidays.

Because getting beyond patriarchy starts with each of us.

And say Amen.

Panic, Prayer, & Va’etchanan

Here’s how I usually get my blog going; I read the Torah portion for the week on Sunday first thing. As I’m reading, I’m noticing what stands out for me out of all the elements and stories, in Hebrew and in English.

As the days pass, I become very mindful of what’s going on in my life and the world, looking for connections.

About mid-week I start to panic a little if I haven’t had any inspiration.

And here I am, Thursday afternoon, and I’ve got nothing! I’ve listened to tons of podcasts, the news, learned so much about so many interesting, wonderful, and horrible things, but still, nothing (and I’m definitely panicking now).

All I’ve got is prayer.

Is this the crowd to talk to about prayer? Some of you, maybe. I am becoming a rabbi, so you all must know that I’m into prayer, but…well, you know how I grew up: “There is no God, and prayer is for the ignorant.”

But that’s how the parsha starts this week. It begins with the word for which it is named, Va’etchanan, which is Moses’ telling of his plea to God. (That’s a prayer, when you’re talking to God directly.)

But we all do that, too, don’t we? Who among us hasn’t pleaded with the air around us, to some invisible thing, when we are in a state of desperation, even when we know we’re probably not going to hear an answer. (And if we claimed to hear one, and told a friend, or our therapist, they might panic a little and want to probe further and make sure—God forbid—we’re not hearing voices in general, right?)

But when we say please to God, are our pleas always the right ones? Don’t we sometimes imagine that something would be just perfect—if only—and we later realize it was all wrong?

This week in Torah, Moses continues with his life review as he retells the story of the Israelites’ treck towards freedom. Of course, Moses’ story is very much intertwined with their story.

Right at the beginning, he retells word for word, in a heart-wrenching way, of a conversation with God; “I begged, I pleaded (va’etchanan); have mercy, take pity on me, You, oh amazing God who let me see so many wonders and miracles; You, who have no equal in power on Earth or in heaven, please, please, please let me cross over and see the Promised Land…just this one last thing.”

One might sense a bit of panic in Moses’ desperate plea; he seems to feel he absolutely needs to, at least, step into the land before he dies.

Doesn’t your heart just break for Moses, after all he’s been through? To be cut off from the one thing he’s worked so hard for?

But God was angry at Moses, and yelled, “You’re too much! Stop! Never speak of this to me again!”

Moses blames the people for God’s anger at him; it’s their fault, for being so stubborn and not having enough faith.

One can almost understand why Moses passes off the blame. He’s in pain. And for God to be so angry with him? It’s gotta hurt.

Still, in my opinion, Moses is not being introspective enough; we’ve seen many times when Moses didn’t have enough faith, either. And, frankly, God could use some Anger Management classes or therapy. I mean! To talk to your child in such a way!

And let’s be real; who hasn’t struggled with faith—whether in God or our fellow human beings?

God does make a concession, though, to allow Moses to go up on a mountain and at least see the land before he dies.

But the question remains: is Moses praying for the right thing? Sure, it’s sad that he can’t see the end result of all his work. But does he really need to? Maybe his work is done, and that’s that. Maybe he needs to accept what is. Maybe, too, Moses is not meant to see the end results of all his work. Big deal; he looks out at the land, and all he can do is imagine the future. Does he get the high he was expecting? I wonder.

But maybe sometimes our imaginations are enough. Perhaps our imagination is our power at times. If we imagine things will turn out alright, that we will solve the problems plaguing us, then it means we haven’t given up hope—that we still have faith.

So I guess I did come up with something to write, after all. No need for panic—even a little bit. The stakes aren’t so high here.

But the stakes are very high for a lot of other things that I don’t need to enumerate. And I think many of us are in a panic about these very things.

So, let us pray for equilibrium in everyday life; to know when it’s time to panic, and when it’s not.

Let us not only use the power of our imagination to help us keep our faith alive that we do in fact have the power to fix the problems in our lives and in our world.

And, from a teaching I heard on Tisha B’Av on Sunday this week with Hadar, let us have clarity that we’re praying for the right things.

And let us say, Amen.

Words, Miracles, Life Expectancy, (and other things)

It seems like everyone else is “coming out” these days, so I might as well, too. I always struggle with how much to share of my personal life, especially when it comes to my health.

I have often felt very alone in my health challenges. It’s embarrassing because people often don’t understand, especially if it’s an invisible illness like migraines or fatigue. In subtle and not so subtle ways, our culture teaches that illness is a personal deficiency; if we do all the right things, it’s in our power, whether it’s conventional, non-conventional medicine, or a combination.

The other part that’s hard is that everyone wants to offer their words of wisdom and a miracle cure.

You try, you hope, you put all your faith in it, but still your expectations of how things (and life) should work out…they mostly just don’t.

Before the pandemic, I had chronic fatigue for almost 20 years.

Just when I thought I was done with it, I got Covid—twice now!

That didn’t help my expectations for my health (and life) to change for the better.

Then, in order to finish with my last year of seminary (I expect to be ordained this coming January!), I pushed hard and crammed a lot in.

After I finally handed in my final coursework and completed the last two intensive weeks of study in early July, I crashed.

If you have experience being bedridden fairly often or for long periods of time, you understand. You don’t want to tell people yet again that you are too fatigued, have a migraine, whatever…you come up with some other excuse, maybe.

Even more than that, you just want to get on with life in the “usual” way—get on with all your accomplishments (like becoming a rabbi), but you don’t know when that will be.

Often the symptoms are inconsistent, so you start wondering if it could be something else—maybe worse. Like with the pandemic, there are lots of unanswered questions and expectations for Covid’s trajectory, and for how your life “should” be after you recover.

If we didn’t have a miracle cure for Covid, then the vaccine was supposed to be a miracle prevention.

I heard two fascinating episodes on Insights at the Edge, a podcast from Sounds True.

One is The Life-Changing Science of Spontaneous Healing. The answer here is, it’s actually not spontaneous, though is very exciting.

The other episode is called, Is There a Holy Grail of Healing? The answer is—no. There are no miracles. Though, again, that doesn’t mean there’s no hope. It just means it’s more complicated.

And since it’s more complicated, you still end up in bed.

If you’ve spent long periods of time in bed, you know that your mind goes in all different directions.

This time for me, I was doing a lot of “life review.” Of course, that was after I stopped catastrophizing, and finally sunk into acceptance of where I was.

Then, something wonderful happened.

My mind started going back over my life. I started to think of how incredibly lucky I’ve been, and what a truly amazing life I’ve had so far. The thought came that, if I were to die tomorrow (or today), I would be satisfied. I cried in gratitude.

Don’t get me wrong; I don’t want to die. I want to be healthy and strong when my daughter gets married in September, for instance, and in my darker moments, I begin to worry that I won’t be. And there are so many other things I still want to do and experience.

But the place I ended up was, I have had so much love in my life, and that’s really all that matters. My dreams of what else I want to do don’t matter at all, really. All the accomplishments…the competition…the envy…none of it matters. It’s just our stupid, petty, human stuff.

Only the love matters.

I have to keep that in mind because I don’t know when I will die. But Moses does—sort of. He knows that he will not enter the Promised Land. God has told him so.

In the parsha this week, the first readings of Deuteronomy/Devarim, which translates properly as “things” or “words,” Moses does a life review. He knows that he will go up on a mountain and die, just like his brother Aaron did, directed by God.

Most of the parsha is in Moses’ voice, as he talks to the Israelites and reviews their journey, step by step, from slavery into and through the desert over the past almost-forty years.

He reminds them how bad they’ve been, not having faith in God’s miracles. God has shown them so many miracles, yet they still have so little faith.

Moses speaks in frustration; the current generation will not enter the Promised Land because of this. God is angry with this stiff-necked people.

But in the same breath, Moses says, “You know what? Me, too. I won’t enter the Promised Land, either, because God was angry at me, too.” Moses reminds them of one of the miracles God performed for the people, when Moses himself showed a lack of faith; the people were thirsty, and God told him to speak to a rock, and water would come forth. Instead, Moses hit the rock.

“So, yeah. Me, too,” Moses says.

Now that this current living generation has experienced a pandemic, more people understand what I’m going through, though now it’s transformed to “Long Covid.”

As much as I don’t draw pleasure from other people’s suffering, it’s nice to be understood better. It’s nice to hear, “Me, too.” People no longer offer me miracle cures. They just commiserate. With love and affection.

The challenge for me, like Moses, I suppose, and like everyone else out there, is to retain that feeling of, “All that matters is love, and I’m so lucky to have it in my life. All the rest is bonus.”

I want to keep the flow of love front and center in my awareness.

I want to keep reminding myself that no miracle is greater than the type of conversations that keep love flowing.

Because for all our thirst, the thing that quenches it most is love.

Russian Dolls, Mattot-Mas’ei, and Tisha b’Av

This morning I picked up my necklace with all its charms to put it on. I wear these charms hoping that somehow my superstitions will add an extra layer of protection.

The chain was tangled, and looking closely as I struggled with it, I realized that if I just loosened my grip, it would untangle easily.

Those of us who were born around the 1960’s grew up thinking we were of the generation that would change the future of the world—if only we tightened our grip.

Major diseases had been overcome and modern medicine would save us all—eventually. Women were being liberated and would have control over their bodies. The same for Black people, who were learning to love their skin color and hair. Everyone would decide to lay down their sword and shield, and we would have war no more. Equality and justice would prevail and soon we’d all live in peace on Earth.

Many of us vowed to never give up the fight.

In this week’s parsha, we are taught about vows at length. Vows are not to be taken lightly, as they are a serious thing indeed.

Also, the five daughters of Zelophehad, who showed up in Pinchas last week, come back this week to conclude the story.

It is a story of female heroism and fairness.

First, these women stand up for their right to their father’s inheritance—and they are heard! They win (yay)!

Then, this week, the patriarchy demands its share. As the land the Israelites will inherit is being assigned to each tribe, the men protest; if these women marry outside their tribe, they will take their inheritance with them. The land will not be evenly divided as God assigned it. It wouldn’t be fair, they say.

What is fair? There are so many layers to this question.

Is it fair that these women must marry their cousins or lose their inheritance? Is it fair that the people previously living in The Promised Land are slaughtered? That the Moabite and Midianite women are blamed for luring the Israelite men?

I could go on, but I’d rather tell you about the show I’ve been watching called Russian Doll. It’s brilliant, funny and profound, and if you haven’t seen it, go watch it.

Like a Russian doll, the show uncovers deep layers of the human psyche. It’s about a woman who keeps dying. Over and over, she is (frustratingly) brought back to the same moment again and again—until she learns her lesson.

If you vow to see it, I won’t spoil it for you. But I will tell you that it’s about our desire to change life and make it fair.

It begs the question, “How are we supposed to live while we’re alive?” Should we try to turn back the clock, change the past, if only we had the power? Wouldn’t it make everything more fair—to get back the money someone stole from your family, kill all the Nazis, etc…?

If only…

If only we had fought harder, had a different administration, made a revolution…so many things would be different: coronavirus, abortion, gun violence, drug addiction, poverty, global warming…

If only we had been more politically active, raised our voices, not become complacent…

Tisha B’Av, which commemorates the Destruction of the Temple, is a time for mourning, and it’s coming next week. It’s one of those times in Judaism that allows us to simply mourn. We are not to try and change anything, or wonder how we could have done things differently.

We simply mourn. We read the Book of Lamentations and imagine the destruction, bloodshed and death.

I feel like that’s all I’ve been doing lately: imagining the destruction, bloodshed and death. Mental health professionals say we need to allow for that. I believe in that.

Political activists with a spiritual bent also tell us to grieve our losses, regain our balance, then use the energy of the pain and rage for the sake of change—take hold again, grab on tightly, make a vow to never give up.

I believe in that, too.

Look, I don’t have any of this figured out. I’m just journeying along in this life, trying to figure it out like the rest of you.

And what keeps coming up for me is that humans have always struggled for justice, equality and peace.

And at the heart of that is love.

Love for the land, our fellow humans, our families, our communities. And we’ve been taught that if we could divvy things up“just so,” making sure we all have our fair share of power and land, all our problems would be solved.

Conquer disease, and then we will all be protected, with no need for special charms around our necks.

But we know in our hearts that all disease will never be conquered. And we know that, come what may, we must all die in the end.

With Tisha b’Av we mourn the end of an era, and with this week’s parsha, we come to the end of the book of Numbers.

With these endings, maybe it isn’t a time for making vows or tightening our grip.

Maybe it’s a time to uncover the layers of our grief and figure out what lessons we each need to learn while we still live on this Earth.

And let us say Amen.

God’s Image in Pinchas?

Perhaps like you, I struggle to see the good in some people. You know what I’m talking about.

What about everyone being made in God’s image/B’tzelem Elohim?

Yet God is violent, flying into rages, sending plagues upon God’s own people again and again.


Do we want to be made in that image?

Maybe you remember the story of Pinchas at the end of last week’s parsha; Pinchas shows his passion for the Israelite God by putting his sword through a Midianite woman and her Israelite lover.

The pagan Midianites and Moabites are seen as using their women to lure the Israelites away from their own all-powerful “God” back towards pagan gods and practices.

In God’s fury at seeing the Israelites cavorting with the local pagans, God sends a plague upon the Israelites.

The plague ends with Pinchas’ horrific act. And—God makes Pinchas a priest!

“How can God reward such violence??!” we say.

Indeed, Pinchas is seen as a hero by many Jews. His story has been used as a license toward similar violence in today’s time against Jewish and Israeli “enemies.”

Some of this can be understood by looking at history. Paganism throughout the ancient world was a constant threat to the newly forming Israelite religion of monotheism. Thus, the repeated reminders in the Bible that we are different and must keep ourselves apart.

Fear of the stranger has been compounded by millennia of violent Anti-Judiasm.

But there’s another way of looking at this story, writes Arthur Waskow of the Shalom Center.

True that “The plague of violence ends the plague of sickness.”

But maybe God sees Godself in Pinchas, and  realizes that God’s own rage and violence are the wrong example to be setting.

Perhaps, as Waskow puts it, God is “shocked into shame.”

God’s covenant with Pinchas as a priest, is one of peace; literally, “I give him my Pact of Peace/Noteyn lo et briti shalom.”

Maybe this is God's way of saying, by making you a priest, you take a vow never to use violence again.

This may be a generous reading, but doesn’t it often come down to how we read—and look at—things?

I heard a recent episode of This American Life called The Possum Experiment. It investigates the basic question, “Are most of us bad or good?” Its authors wonder whether it’s better to stay on guard most of the time; having been burned, isn’t mistrust the better way to go?


Mistrust protects us, after all.

Act One is an interview with comedian and writer, Darryl Lenox (who is very funny—listen here).

Lenox has gone blind as a mature adult, giving him the privilege of being able to compare the “before and after.”

A tall, imposing, Black man who has lived with the kind of prejudice a man like him would in the U.S., Lenox is now forced to put his trust in strangers.

What he finds is that, when people discover he is blind, they are suddenly no longer afraid of him. Total strangers share intimate secrets and make him listen to confessions of all sorts.

There’s a priest who likes to have sex with men; a white cop who recognizes how his work has changed him by being on the look-out for danger always.


But mostly they’re older, white women—women who might be afraid of him under different circumstances, and now pour their hearts out to him.

The interviewer wonders, don’t these experiences make Lenox more cynical and distrustful?

No, he says, they've actually given him more faith in humanity.

Because to him, it means that we are all just “this small thing away from being exactly the same.”

May we read goodness and trust into our neighbors. 

Whenever possible, may we follow the way of peace in our dealings with those we disagree with and those who threaten us.

May we retain our faith in humanity.

And may we say Amen. 

Curses to Blessings & Balaam

I don’t want to talk about Balak.

Or his mission to get Balaam to curse the Israelites.

Or about Balaam’s curses that turn into blessings because the only words that can come out of his mouth are the words that God wants him to say.

Or about Balaam’s donkey and the angel with the drawn sword that blocks their way.

Or how Balaam beats his faithful donkey because he can’t see what his donkey can.

I don’t want to talk about how God finally gives the donkey the ability to speak, and how Balaam proceeds to have a conversation with him as if it’s the most ordinary thing in the world.

Or about Balaam’s inability to see despite, ironically, being a seer, which is why he is hired by Balak to curse the people Israel in the first place.

Or how it makes no sense that God gets angry at Balaam for going with Balak’s people even though God gave him permission just a minute ago.

I especially don’t want to talk about the bloody scene at the end of the parsha of Pinhas putting his sword through a “whoring” Midianite woman and her Israelite lover, and the contradictions in that story.

I just want to talk about the gratitude I have to be writing to you from “the country” where I am visiting a friend for a few days.

I want to tell you about the hammock hanging on her porch and how I’ve been gazing out at the woods, sleeping in a tiny tent, listening to the night sounds of the surrounding woods, the rushing water of a stream behind her house, and the rain on the leaves.

I want to tell you how grateful I am to be escaping the oppressive city heat, the garbage on the ground, and the incessant noise.

I want to tell you about the woods we lay down in, and the sparkling pond we went swimming in, the water so clear you can see the little stones at the bottom. And how I floated on my back and just listened to the silence of the water filling my ears as I stared up at the sky. And how healing it’s been.

I want to say that, even though I was “escaping the city" and its dirt, I still found garbage strewn in the woods. And somebody was playing loud music at the edge of the pond.

And I wished I could ignore the garbage and close my ears to the noise and escape the negative.

I want to say that, although sometimes we see things we wish we could close our eyes to, and go on our merry way, we can’t.

And there are times we try to see things, but we don’t, because we all have our blind spots.

May we be blessed with clear sight, with enjoying and loving this world while we’re in it, despite its imperfections.

May the curses that come from our frustrations turn to blessings, despite everything.

And may we be blessed with healing.

And let us say, amen.

Law of the Land: Hukkat

I’m just coming out of two weeks of immersive classes on Zoom through my seminary.

This past week, we studied Jewish funerals and baby welcoming/covenanting.

We created rituals to honor these two important ends of life in ways perhaps never done before—for individuals and populations that past generations could have never imagined in our rapidly changing world.

While endings can be sad, do we fight and deny them, and only welcome the new with open arms and delight?

Can we honor both?

It felt very apropos to what is happening in our country and world today.

Front and center in my mind are the Jan. 6th Insurrection hearings, and all the new Supreme Court rulings on abortion, climate, guns.

How they will change our lives.

How many more people will die.

Whether our Democracy is dying.

Whether our Democracy was ever really alive, or was it just an illusion.

These decisions have been like an unstoppable waterfall over the past weeks.

Are these waters causing death, or cleansing? Or both?

Speaking of water, over the past month, the water coming out of my tap has been very smelly--a really dirty, sewage smell. I began to wonder if there was something dead and rotting in the tank.

The building finally got a plumber in this week to clean it. It was filthy. Who knows how long it had been since the last cleaning.

This week’s parsha, Hukkat, is named for the laws of ritual purification regarding those who come into contact with the dead.

Niddah is the word used to denote impurity.

It’s the same word used to describe a woman in the middle of her menstrual period.

The root meaning of niddah (Hebrew letters, nun-dalet-hey), implies distancing, pushing away, excluding; a menstruating woman is considered impure and must be distanced from the camp.

But menstruation is about fluid cleansing her body of that which has died, so the cycle can begin again and new possibilities can be born. 

Humans are not good at accepting this cycle of life. We fight it. We’re afraid of it. We push it away. We keep it at a distance.

But death has to happen; it is what feeds new life as the old literally becomes compost to nourish the new.

Maybe that’s what’s happening in our country right now.

It’s been a long time since the American Republic began.

Since the Revolution, our democracy has expanded towards greater inclusivity, while recent trends have taken us in the opposite direction, towards greater exclusivity.

The old is wreaking havoc before it goes out, fighting its death to the very end.

Here is my prayer for the week:

While we honor that which may have started out as an improvement to the old, may new waters wash away that which is rotten.

And may the dying nourish new life and possibilities that come forth from it. 


And please say Amen.

Hollywood & Korach

I’ve been in classes on Zoom seven hours a day all week, and I’m pretty tired. It’s my last summer intensive before I get my rabbinical ordination!

One class I’m taking is about how to argue “Jewishly” according to the system we inherited from our rabbinic tradition.

We’re supposed to do it the way the rabbis supposedly did when they disagreed with each other; state the other’s opinion first, always in a respectful manner; make sure your children marry each other so there will always be peace.

Ahhh, how lovely.

And a little Hollywood, wouldn’t you say?

Maybe you know what happens in this week’s parsha; a man named Korach leads a rebellion against Moses, challenging him with, “You are too much—now you’ve gone too far.”

Korach’s complaint is that Moses has appointed his brother Aaron as high priest. (Korach wants to be high priest.)

Of course, it’s not Moses who made Aaron priest, but God.

Moses answers Korach with the same retort: “You are too much—now you have gone too far.”

God is furious with Korach; you don’t challenge God’s choice.

But another complaint comes from Korach’s main supporters, Abiram and Dathan; Moses, having led them from slavery in Egypt, brought them all "out of the land of milk and honey”--not out of misery--to die in the desert.

Still, Moses makes an attempt to argue God out of killing Korach and his 250 men.

Unsuccessful, Moses informs Korach that what is about to happen is not from “his own heart,” but from God’s. Just then, Korach and his men are swallowed up by the earth.

But God is not done, and sets a plague upon the thousands more followers of Korach.

This time, Moses stops the plague from spreading by standing in the middle of the crowd with his brother Aaron.

Moses is shown to be so very just and fair and respectful of his opponents.

All of it feels a little Hollywood to me.

With all the terrible things we are being slammed with daily, it’s easy to imagine a version of the past that wasn’t as bad as now.

I struggle constantly to remind myself not to whitewash any of it because, let’s be real; it was never a Hollywood picture. I can easily name a whole bunch of wars and plenty of other terrible things just from my lifetime.

But I take Moses’ statement about his heart as a personal challenge;

What’s in my heart?

Have I been angry enough at times over the past two years that I’ve wondered if the world might not be better off if all “our enemies” died in this current plague?

I challenge you to come up with a blessing for us all because I’m just too tired right now.

And I’ll say Amen.

Unthinkable & Shlach Lecha

I had a plan.

I was going to write about how courageous Republican Arizona Speaker of the House was, to put himself and his family at risk—how deep his trust and faith.

I was going to compare his to my own lack of courage, trust and faith—to do something as simple as give feedback to the mohel who’s forgotten his sacred duty to connect with baby and family with humility and awe.

The mohel even invited me to give him feedback; is it not my sacred duty to give it to him, just as Rusty Bowers believes it his sacred duty to uphold the U.S. Constitution?

I was going to compare all this to the spies in this week’s parsha—those sent to scout out the Promised Land.

I was going to ask, was it their lack of courage, faith and trust that led them to see giants too big to overcome, even with “God’s” help?

I was going to tell you about adrienne maree brown, her interview with Krista Tippet, and her vision for the future.

Brown asks: How can we on the left claim moral high ground when the idea of activism these days is to “cancel” those who slip up, not meeting our moral standards; how can we talk about love without giving each other a chance to grow? Weren’t we all trans-phobic just last week? Can we “skip the steps of unlearning oppressive systems by just punishing anyone who missteps”?

Where is our faith and trust, and our courage to be patient with each other?

With this morning’s unthinkable news that Roe v. Wade has been overturned, and my utter shock and dismay, can I still talk about courage, faith and trust?

Am I allowed to ask, do we need another “Summer of Rage,” as the Women’s March is calling for? Aren’t there enough wars going on?

Can I still end with a quote from Brown’s book, We Will Not Cancel Us?

Whether you approve or not, I’m going to, because I have no words of my own to give me courage:

“We cannot change. We do not believe we can create compelling pathways from being harm-doers to being healed, and to growing. We do not believe we can hold the complexity of a gray situation. We do not believe in our own complexity. We do not believe we can navigate conflict and struggle in principled ways. We can only handle binary thinking: good/bad, innocent/guilty, angel/abuser, black/white, etc.

“Cancer attacks one part of the body at a time. I’ve seen it. Oh, it’s in the throat; now it’s in the lungs; now it’s in the bones.

“When we engage in knee-jerk call-outs as a conflict resolution device, or issue instant consequences with no process, we become a cancer unto ourselves, unto movements, and communities. We become the toxicity we long to heal. We become a tool of harm when we were trying to be, and I think meant to be, a balm.

“Oh, unthinkable thoughts. Now that I have thought of you, it becomes clear to me that you are all rooted in a single longing; I want us to live, I want us to want to live, in this world, in this time, together.”

Maybe Rusty Bowers sees his missteps now in supporting Trump? Do we give him the chance to grow?

If Rusty Bowers could stand up with such courage, trust and faith, then can we?

Can we have the courage to hold the complexity of who we are, as Bowers did and does? Can we be what he modeled for us as a Republican who also refused to be a part of the "club”?

Can we have the courage to think the unthinkable, and refuse to be the toxicity that pervades our political discourse so that we may live, in this time, together?

Can we have enough faith and trust that we can overcome giants that seem too big to overcome?

And can we say Amen?

Jade and Joy (B’ha’alot’cha)

This week, I had the most amazing experience; I got to see the two ends of life back to back: brand new life and death.

They were vastly different experiences, yet they should have been the same in one way: filled with awe.

On Wednesday I accompanied a mohel (one who performs circumcision) way out in Brooklyn.

Getting there was just the beginning of the journey. I was locked out of my phone (security reasons), which threw me into a panic.

On the subway, I observed how everyone else stared at their phones, closed off to the amazing variety of life around them. It disturbed me deeply.

Then the family surprised me, as did the mohel:

The family, because they were so similar to mine: a "mixed" marriage of Latino (in this case, Mexican) and Jewish (Ashkenazi Holocaust survivors and Middle East Sephardi) descent.

The baby looked "native" to Mexico, with a full head of straight black hair and dark skin.

It was a pleasant surprise beyond my little world, representing the present and future of Judaism and the world.

The mohel, though immediately welcoming and kind, extremely skilled, ready to show and teach every step of the way, was a bit arrogant and jaded.

He knew exactly what to do, said all the right things at every turn, yet, shockingly to me, showed no interest in the baby.

I saw none of the awe he expressed in words for this new life. The suffering of a baby boy had become normal to him---a part of the sacrifice one makes for Judaism.

Maybe it is too painful to hold both. Otherwise, how do it?

And during the entire ceremony, beginning to end, an older woman scrolled and tapped away at her phone the whole time. It looked more like a habit than her struggle with the ritual, though it could have been both.

It all disturbed me deeply, and I couldn't sleep that night.

The very next day, I visited a funeral home where I expected a matter-of-fact tour.

This time, I was in total awe of what I got:

A mortician who herself lives in awe of death and dying and treats it with the deep respect and reverence it should receive; not a morbid person in the least, she talked about the beauty of dying as the body goes through different stages.
We spoke of the soul, Jewish beliefs around its slow separation, and its ascent.

It surprised me that my experiences of the two, of the bris and beginning, and ending and death, would have been the reverse: awe for new life, getting jaded around death.

I could see that this was true for some of the funeral directors; it just pays the bills, but not for this one. She was passionate and committed to everyone's care, alive and dead alike. She held both with equal reverence.

And I was wondering how in our wider culture, we have lost our sense of awe at the mystery of everything, and numb ourselves to that within and around us, staring at our phones constantly.

Would the world be different if we lived with more awareness, and could hold death with the same reverence we hold new life--if we didn't approach the end with such fear, turning away, and denial? If we could both hold pain and joy at the same time?

I was thinking about this week's parsha, in which so much arises:

The people are finally setting out through the desert; a cloud settles over as an indication to stay put, and lifts when it's time to move on--and no one has a problem with the these two states.

What's hard for the people is the redundancy of eating the unimaginable miracle manna day after day; instead they "remember" the abundance of meat and fish in Egypt they ate as slaves (?). God becomes frustrated, sends them quail and meat, showing that nothing is too much for the Almighty, then punishes them for their cravings and complaining by sending a plague upon them.

God also shows that, though Moses is special as a prophet, anyone can become one. In fact, Moses wishes it were so, that he shouldn't have to bear the responsibility alone of speaking to God.

When I think of my experiences this week, and of the lack of awe in our culture, I think of the state of the world and the constant barrage of bad news. Surely, there are good things happening. Can we hold both?

How can we possibly change the way things are going if we can't hold everything?

Can God, Moses, and the people hold everything as well as they do the cloud settling and lifting?---the gratitude for freedom and enough food vs. the boredom of manna and craving variety; the desire to single out one leader as special vs. the ability of many to become prophets and communicate in their own way?

I was wondering, how can a sense of belonging in and among all, our sense that all belongs, birth and death included, a reverence for the cycle of life and our love for the life that exists, help us in our work?

I found part of the answer in a conversation between marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, and Krista Tippett, about Johnson's future book, "What If We Get This Right?"

Here is the description:

"Amidst all of the perspectives and arguments around our ecological future, this much is true: we are not in the natural world — we are part of it. The next-generation marine biologist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson would let that reality of belonging show us the way forward. She loves the ocean. She loves human beings. And she’s animated by questions emerging from those loves — and from the science she does — which we scarcely know how to take seriously amidst so much demoralizing bad ecological news."

My prayer for this week comes in the form of a question that guides Johnson:

"Could we let ourselves be led by what we already know how to do, and by what we have it in us to save?"

"What," she asks, "if we get this right?"

May we find peace with the cloud's lifting and settling; may we let ourselves be led by what we already know, by the love and the awe and the pain, and by a sense of belonging for life and all its stages; may we be and become leaders in our own special way, know that nothing is too much for us to achieve--and put our phones away and notice the awesome variety of life around us, as painful as it may be.

And may it be so; keyn y'hi ratzon.

Amen.

Priests and Blessings: Naso

This week in Naso, we have the longest parsha of all the 54 weekly portions, and interestingly, we have the shortest, most concise blessing, so poetic, that appears in the Torah.

It is what we call the Priestly Blessing, which appears in an interesting place in the Torah this week:

We have just learned of what will happen to a woman (through magic, or a type of witchcraft, mind you) if she has been unfaithful to her husband; “her belly shall distend and her thigh shall sag; and the woman shall become a curse among her people.” (Ugh.)

(Nothing, on the other hand, will happen to her husband if he was seized by a fit of jealousy and was wrong. Ugh again.)

Following this curse is a description of the Nazarite, the one who dedicates themself to God, shaving/not cutting their hair for a certain period of time, making special burnt offerings in the Temple.

After this, we get the Priestly Blessing, so commonly used, in blessing our children at home and in shul, on Holy Days, in our traveling prayers.

I keep my writing brief this week, as I have continued to recover from Covid (doing much better now!), and basically felt inspired by nothing this week (well, not exactly).

But I think we need a blessing.

May you be blessed and protected

May life deal kindly and graciously with you

May favor be bestowed upon you

And may you be granted peace

Blessings for our country, our world, our dear Earth, and for each of us as we go through our personal struggles.

And say Amen. 

Miami Vice: B’midbar

I just returned from a whirlwind of a trip over Memorial Day Weekend to Miami.

I got the phone call at noon on Thursday, when I was almost three hours north of the city; the main teacher of this trip of fifteen teens, Latinx and Jewish, was sick with Covid, and they needed a replacement.

Could I make it to JFK airport by 6 O’clock that evening?

Yes! Yes! Yes! Though Crazy, Crazy, Crazy!

And I made it there before anyone!

It was my first time in Florida! (Yes, I know; unusual for a Jew, but I am an unusual Jew.)

And though I am sick with Covid, I feel compelled to write. (And of course I got Covid! No one wears masks on airplanes anymore—and especially not in Florida!)

Plus, I barely slept for four days.

But it was an AMAZING trip!

It was the culmination of a year-long program of these Jewish and Latino kids working together—yet they had barely interacted until now.

This was our job—to get them to talk to each other, separated by their own little safe groups, their very own tribes: the Orthodox Jewish boys from one school, the groups of Latino kids from their public schools, the one Jewish girl who didn’t have a tribe.

We did museums, community gardening, Salsa dance lessons, the beach…

But the most important thing was the time we spent sharing and listening to each other’s stories in smaller, mixed groups.

It was through personal stories that the kids finally connected across the vast cultural and socioeconomic chasm that separates us in our society.

Little by little, they opened up to each other.

Each one felt heard. Each one felt like they counted.

By the last day, they were dancing, playing, laughing and jumping in the hotel pool together. They had finally bonded.

This week we begin the fourth book of the Torah: Numbers/B’midbar/In the Desert.

And the first thing that happens in this last book is, everyone is counted: Each tribe, each individual—well, each male—I have to be truthful.

But that’s an important fact.

Because it begs the question: who among us is not counted? Who doesn’t count in society’s wider eye?

One of the things we did as a group was learn about the housing crisis in Florida, especially Miami.

There’s so much “speculation” going on, so much construction—but it’s all for the wealthy; the average local person is being priced out, much like in New York City.

This vice I saw in Miami of over-consumption of resources (fancy buildings, high-blasting air conditioning, bottled water) in a place that nature didn’t intend to have large human populations, is something that’s happening all over our country.

As a society that supports “market speculation,” building where we shouldn’t be for those who don’t need it, we are not counting those who need to be counted.

Seeing the immensity of the problem in such a concentrated way made me feel overwhelmed and helpless.

But at the same time, I was given an incredible gift.

Being with these young people, hearing them exchange their stories, seeing them connect despite vast differences, and listening to their solutions to the problems, their passion and drive to make change happen, gave me hope.

There was a small amount of healing in our tiny corner of the Earth this weekend.

I told them, if they are our future, then there is hope for the future of humanity.

And let us Amen.