Whether or not we agree with the laws in Leviticus, there is something important about Torah's understanding that the physical body produces spiritual states. Our bodies affect the spiritual fabric of the community. The connection between our bodies and our spirits, and between our bodies and our shared spiritual energy, is worth noticing.
Read moreBumping into God
Or maybe you climb a mountain and spend 40 days and nights sitting in anticipation, maybe meditating, maybe praying. Until the hand of God appears, scribbling madly on stone.
Or maybe you follow a baby goat until you notice a burning bush. Or you chase a stray calf right into a cave filled with the light of Eden.
Or maybe you do nothing at all.
Read moreSerenissima
(L) The women’s gallery of the Scola Tedesca. (R) La Fenice.
And indeed as you stand in the Scola Tedesca and look up at the women's gallery, you see what looks like a theater loge. There are low upright pillars to about knee level, and then a gilded latticework screen up to perhaps the neck of a seated woman, and above that it is open. This gallery is not meant to hide the women, but to foster flirtation.
Read moreTorah The Musical – And Other Lessons from the Broadway Stage
After much thought, I decided Torah, as a musical, is maybe most like "Into the Woods." Here's why.
Read moreJoseph the Matriarch
We are now in the annual 4-week saga of Joseph, and I find myself eyeing him across the ages. I see him young, middle aged and, at long last, at the end of his life, settling in to be a grandmother, the matriarch of his line.
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