It's a good story. About how real we feel when we are brokenhearted, sometimes the most real we ever feel. And how close to God, how in dialog we can be, in those moments of suffering, in the moments when we groan.
Read moreMedicine, Mothers and Other Healing Devices
This is a practice that is not part of "official" Judaism, meaning the Judaism that is under the authority of men. It is a practice of our grandmothers. But as the 13th Century Spanish rabbi known as the Rashba wrote to his [male] colleagues, "we should not mock the practices of elderly women, for they are certainly founded in sacred origins, even if we have forgotten the reasons."
Read moreIt Is What It Is (!)
Of course, "It is what it is," this over-used, over-articulated cliche, would not be an unreasonable translation of YHWH, our under-articulated name of God. YHWH, another 4-letter word, works out in Hebrew to sound like a great big IS. With a hint of was in the middle and a gesture toward will be at the front. YHWH. Was-Is-Will-Be.
Read moreI saw God walk by in the shape of a deer.
I saw God walk by in the shape of a deer
But I didn't have my glasses on
So I couldn't even be sure of the deer
Let alone God.
The Angel and the Shepherd
Moshe, still in hot pursuit of the baby goat, splashed right through the puddle of predicament that was the angel Zagnugael. And in that moment, the messenger heard his thoughts.
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