Image credit: Pixabay As I write this, I am in Toronto airport on my way home from an interfaith meeting of seminary students, titled the Dialogue of Abrahamic Faiths. It was organised by a group called the Washington Theological Consortium (WTC), a group of theological schools and partners based in the DC area. There were … Continue reading Meeting the Other Where They Are

This past Shabbat was the 10th anniversary of my kid’s Bat Mitzvah, and they shared some thoughts on the parasha. As you can see from the beautiful handmade tallit in the picture above, they were always focused on the reconciliation of the brothers that happens in the story. Ten years later, that has not changed. … Continue reading Some Torah from My Kid

Image by Photography and graphic design from Pixabay Praxis is a fascinating word, and it’s a fascinating process. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, the deceptively simple definition of praxis is “the process of using a theory or something that you have learned in a practical way”. As an example, a student might learn something about … Continue reading In Praise of Praxis

Image credit: Emma Fineblit A few weeks ago, the Manitoba Friends of Standing Together held its launch event - we were fortunate that 80 people came out to hear us in person, with another 10 on a quickly improvised livestream. While we had our share of rookie bumps and glitches, on the whole, I think … Continue reading Where I’ve Been

I am so excited to share that our event registration is live. If you are local, we would love to see you there - if not, there may be a livestream, we are still working on it, can’t promise … but we will do our best. If you are interested in hearing local Jews and … Continue reading Our Event Registration is Live!

Image by Susan Cipriano from Pixabay This week we end the (seemingly endless!) cycle of Jewish fall holidays - starting with Rosh HaShanah, the head of the year, on the first of the Hebrew month of Tishrei, and going through Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the seven days of Sukkot, the Feast of Booths, … Continue reading Let’s Talk About Joy

Image by Jessica Kwok from Pixabay The world is full of people who don’t want to have the hard conversations - either because they shy away from any possibility of conflict, or because they are so rigid in their convictions that they don’t want any chance they might have to change their minds. Last May … Continue reading Hard Conversations

Image by Myriams-Fotos from Pixabay On this anniversary of the horrific events of October 7th, followed by the equally horrific destruction of Gaza, I just want to share with you an interview I did with our local CBC station, in conjunction with my friend, who is the president of the Canadian Palestinian Association of Manitoba. … Continue reading One Year Later – Dreaming of Better Times

Image by Ri Butov from Pixabay Tonight we will welcome in the new year 5785 in the Jewish calendar, and bid farewell to the year 5784 - a year that was remarkable in many, many ways, most of them not very welcome. You probably don’t need me to remind you what happened when 5784 was … Continue reading A Year and Its Curses, A Year and Its Blessings

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay It’s been a long 11 months, and the emotional exhaustion and burnout is real. I’m sure I’m not the only one having trouble sleeping, and of course that tends to make things worse. Whatever the source of stress in your life, just trying to pretend it isn’t there is … Continue reading Feel the Burn(out)