And through all of that, we believed that by our labor and our suffering and our defiance we would make a better world for the young people who would come after us. That one day young people would be able to come out without fear of rejection; they'd be able to work in their chosen professions; they'd be able to live where they want and love who they want and be who they want. They could find love and even get married. And above all, they'd be safe.
Read moreThe Bittersweet Exchange
The papers are signed. The inspections inspected. The repairs repaired. The movers have loaded 42 boxes, 2 suitcases and 3 pieces of furniture onto a truck in the driveway, drawing to a close the life of the Keller family on Osceola Avenue.
Read moreWhat is Well Aged
I remain torn between what feels like my duty to be the keeper of memory – if I don't remember my maiden great aunts, who will? – and my desire to have a life that's based in the present, with room to actually move around and dust-free air to breathe. I want the air. And I still want the basement.
Read moreGuest Drash: Shimmering Spirit and Counterfeit Coins
But God has created our world in such a way that this shimmering essential true nature is hidden from us unless we seek it out – God wants us to claim our essence and act from it, but only out of absolute free choice. We have freedom to NOT seek to come closer to God. “Divinity hides, hoping we’ll come and find it.”
Read moreGuest Drash: Scapegoating and Healing the Scroll
The Psalms tell us, even ma'asu habonim, haytah l’rosh pinah: the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. We must do the hard work of redeeming, reclaiming, those parts of our essence that we have scapegoated, that we have sent away. We need them to become whole, to be who we are meant to be and become.
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