It is our task to tell this story lovingly, enchantingly; Scheherazade beguiling the prince or, in that story’s Jewish counterpart, Esther, full of charm, speaking truth to power. Scheherazade and Esther don’t win. They don’t defeat the king. They recruit the king. It is our task to tell this story in a way that recruits all of America.
Read MoreThe Persistence of Shabbat (After Pittsburgh)
We don't always say yes to what Shabbat offers. Maybe we say no more often than we say yes. But she never gets the hint. And she never gives up on us. She keeps showing up at the door in all her beauty, the Shechinah robed in time, with the fierceness of lions and the voice of songbirds. And so it is also after a week like this one. A horrible, unthinkable week, here she is again. Despite it all.
Read MorePep Talk: Do Not Be Afraid
They say that in a moment of great unsettling, the Holy One issues forth two angels – one on the right and one on the left, to hold the disconcerted person by the elbows and keep them from falling. In other words, the al tirá is not an instruction but a conjuring of Divine support. The moment of al tirá
Read MoreTedX Talk
Love, law, limits and botched sign language. This is the story of my "San Francisco wedding" – and the particular moment in time it inhabited.
Read MoreWeek of Fire
It has been a week of quick values clarification – determining in 15 minutes what is valuable and what, when push comes to shove, simply is not. A week of letting go of stuff, of comforts, of certainty. Of saying goodbye to beloved homes, trees, familiar wildlife and uncatchable cats. A week of letting go and driving away.
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