Hope is the thing with feathers, apparently. I've got a few of those outside my window as I write, but I don't know that they are necessarily what I am looking for right now. It is definitely true, however, that hope is a major component of the human psyche. When we lose it altogether, we … Continue reading #BlogElul 26: Hope
Category: Judaism
#BlogElul 25: End and Begin
The end of the week was just too crazy, Friday was one of those days where I had to run around the city and do 12 million things, as well as my usual cooking and preparation for Shabbat. So my blog post for End didn't get written. Now the last Shabbat before Rosh HaShanah is … Continue reading #BlogElul 25: End and Begin
#BlogElul 23: Love
Love, love, love. All you need is love, dum da da da da dum ... such an interesting phenomenon, love. Looking for a definition, I found: an intense feeling of deep affection. There was a lot more to it than that, but I think this is the main one. There is intensity, there is depth, … Continue reading #BlogElul 23: Love
#BlogElul 22: Dare
Today's word is Dare. Of course, as soon as I see that word, I think of Dr. Brené Brown, whose book Daring Greatly has become a staple in the bookcases of personal growth junkies like me. I even wrote about her last year. The gist of the book is the importance of vulnerability - of … Continue reading #BlogElul 22: Dare
#BlogElul 21: Change
Change. Oh, there's so much change going on. This year has been quite the year in that regard. My husband was laid off/retired from his position as a senior scientist with the federal government after two years of hell, and started his own engineering consulting company. My oldest son graduated high school and started university. … Continue reading #BlogElul 21: Change
#BlogElul 20: Judge
Yom Kippur is the Day of Judgement, when we expect all of our sins to come home to roost. Here is what I wrote about it last year. There's lots of scary imagery in the liturgy about this - the King seated on the Throne of Judgement, holding the scales between justice and mercy. On … Continue reading #BlogElul 20: Judge
#BlogElul 19: Ask
The Ask is the hard part. It's easy to tell people about the benefits of your lovely thing, to show them how much it has helped you, to be excited about how much it can help them. But then you have to ask them to put money on the table, and many of us, including … Continue reading #BlogElul 19: Ask
#BlogElul 18: Pray
Today's word is Pray. Last year I wrote about how I wasn't sure whom I was speaking to when I prayed, but that it really doesn't matter. I even mentioned Pascal's Wager. I think this takes us back to Einstein's question whether the Universe is a friendly place. Right now in shul we are reading … Continue reading #BlogElul 18: Pray
#BlogElul 16: Understand
Oh, my goodness, Rabbi Sommer. Understanding. That strikes home for me. One of the central tenets of Judaism is the concept of Beenah, understanding. In fact, it is so important that one of the major Hassidic streams, Chabad Lubavitch, is partly named after it. The name Chabad is actually an acronym for Chochmah (Wisdom), Beenah … Continue reading #BlogElul 16: Understand
#BlogElul 17: Awaken
Yesterday I listened to my son practise his shofar blowing for the High Holy Days. Traditionally, the shofar is blown 100 times on each day of Rosh HaShanah, except on Shabbat. We do not blow the shofar on Yom Kippur itself, but at the end of it, after the gates have symbolically closed, we blow … Continue reading #BlogElul 17: Awaken