Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse…this is how the Parsha reads this week—if we don’t follow God’s commandments. The same is true for the opposite: if we do, everything will be perfect, no one will get sick, etc. We tend to live that way in our modern world. We’ve been told that if we do everything right, everything will be perfect. But it’s unrealistic. As we approach Rosh Hashanah, how do we find the balance between being and doing?
Aug 31, 2023•12 min•Season 3Ep. 40
How much do our expectations define outcomes? Self-fulfilling prophecies and high expectations that disappoint because we’re expecting more than can be delivered can really let us down. That means that changing expectations can make us happier. Listen for the connection to this week’s parsha. It’s a quick one.
Aug 24, 2023•6 min•Season 3Ep. 39
With the Women’s soccer team losing this week, and all the flack they’ve gotten from the Right, the discourse around gender continues to be challenging, to say the least. Also, I have Covid brain at the moment, meaning my mind is muddled from actual Covid, but it’s really important to be clear when we communicate—and it’s probably the hardest thing we have to do as humans.
Aug 17, 2023•10 min•Season 3Ep. 38
R’eih gives us the choice of the blessing or the curse. Whether it’s child rearing, or speaking up when sexual assault or abuse of power occur, the choices we make are never easy. We have to balance them with the society we live in and what we can manage. Here I share my personal experience of choosing unpopular ways of raising my children, and the predictions people made about their future, and offer a parallel with political things happening in the news this week. What are the spiritual lesson...
Aug 10, 2023•9 min•Season 3Ep. 37
Black boys, public pools, drowning, mass incarceration, the death penalty, crusted hearts, stiff necks, and the Parsha.
Aug 03, 2023•13 min•Season 3Ep. 36
This week as we commemorate the destruction of the Temple, we mourn. What are we mourning, really? We are experiencing the hottest temperatures this summer on record. What do we do about it? Will prayer bring us where we need to go? God, through Isaiah, has a lot to say about this.
Jul 27, 2023•14 min•Season 3Ep. 35
With wildfires sending smoke across the globe, and heat rising to unprecedented levels, can we even escape? What can we learn from the Torah this week?
Jul 20, 2023•10 min•Season 3Ep. 34
Recounting just some the magic that happened for me last week at the Kallah conference for Jewish Renewal. Am I worthy? Worth the listen!
Jul 13, 2023•15 min•Season 3Ep. 33
Today I explore the idea of magic and how it shows up in the Torah, Judaism and our lives.
Jun 29, 2023•5 min•Season 3Ep. 32
I watched a ridiculous Spanish series on Netflix about royalty that I couldn’t tear myself away from. What does this have to do with Korakh’s rebellion? Listen and find out.
Jun 22, 2023•13 min•Season 3Ep. 31
I did a wedding on Saturday afternoon, which turned out great, but there was so much talk about what I should wear as the rabbi, it made me crazy. Blazers and trailblazers, assumptions and laws. How do we figure out what’s right while also respecting our traditions? So very complicated, yet so very simple.
Jun 15, 2023•19 min•Season 3Ep. 30
I got ahead of myself in Torah last week, but I have a story that fits perfectly with next week’s Parsha, so I’m talking about it anyway. And though the smoke from wildfires of Canada sweeping into the United States feels apocalyptic, that’s not my story, but it sure feels similar after this week from hell.
Jun 08, 2023•9 min•Season 3Ep. 29
A revelation came to me last week as Shavuot, the holiday of Revelation, descended upon me last week. I’m entering new territory, and not sure where it will take me, but it sure is exciting! Take a listen.
Jun 01, 2023•10 min•Season 3Ep. 30
Why does it sometimes feel like when you don’t want to be counted as part of the “in” group, it’s so easy? Other times, when you do want to be counted as “in,” you’re out. Questions of inclusivity and exclusivity are so pertinent to Judaism and to the world, for the survival of all. If we don’t “get it” soon, what is the future of humanity?
May 18, 2023•12 min•Season 3Ep. 29
What does it mean when the Torah says God will walk amongst us? How do we know if we’re doing what God wants so God will walk with us? A couple of weeks ago another young gay person committed suicide. Because he felt that his brothers were not walking with him. And I’m getting so much pushback from other rabbis for co-officiating at these weddings! Walk with me and explore what it means to walk with God—as God will do with us!
May 12, 2023•6 min•Season 3Ep. 28
What is holiness? What is holy? Should perfection be associated with holiness, and why is it so in the Torah? This week I met with an Evangelical Christian pastor with whom I will be co-officiating at a wedding. It brought up many questions I had to answer for myself—again!
May 05, 2023•13 min•Season 3Ep. 27
Leviticus is full rules. The one I focus on here is The Golden Rule, perhaps the hardest thing. But being kind to others, even strangers, is more important and has more of an impact than we ever imagine.
Apr 27, 2023•9 min•Season 3Ep. 26
We’re in the midst of a mental health crisis due to an epidemic of loneliness. But we’re not helpless. Listen to some great ideas of small ways to help yourself and others.
Apr 20, 2023•9 min•Season 3Ep. 25
Passover can be about our personal freedom and leaving the narrow place of Egypt, but the focus is really on the collective. If living a holy life is what we seek, then how do we do it? This week’s parsha tells us a little bit about that.
Apr 13, 2023•6 min•Season 3Ep. 24
The hardest time leading up to Passover is the week just before—or the days. The cleaning, shopping, cooking, all have to happen in a particular order. Once leavened products are out of your house, you still can’t eat matzoh. So much liminal time—the difficulty of waiting. This is what the priests go through before ordination: waiting for seven days in a doorway. As we struggle as a world, with all the bad news coming from Israel and our country, too, we are in a liminal space, not crossing over...
Mar 30, 2023•8 min•Season 3Ep. 23
In this week’s episode, I explore the question of sacrifice, respect, and how we can approach a crumbling world that feels too overwhelming to have an impact.
Mar 23, 2023•11 min•Season 3Ep. 23
Here I discuss the special pressure on women to look a certain way, how social media has blurred the lines between private and professional life, and how difficult it is to navigate this as I step fully into being an older, female rabbi. And what this has to do with this week’s Torah reading.
Mar 10, 2023•18 min•Season 3Ep. 22
My phone fell into a New York City compost bin, totally derailing plans for the day. I was forced to check my faith that day. The Israelites, Moses, God—all had their faith challenged. It’s a funny story, but also serious because if we’re cynical, how can we bring about positive change in the world?
Mar 08, 2023•27 min•Season 3Ep. 21
Is cleaning out messy drawers a waste of time, or does it have some deeper spiritual meaning? That’s what I explore in this week’s episode in relation to the Parsha with its pomegranates and bells.
Mar 02, 2023•21 min•Season 3Ep. 20
There is so much despair in the world today, and younger generations are as hopeless as they come about the future. But what do they need from us, and how can the Torah guide us here to live from a more heart-cantered place, to not become disheartened ourselves, so we can support them?
Feb 24, 2023•15 min•Season 3Ep. 19
I have things sprouting, blooming, growing all over my apartment—not mold! Although I’m sure there’s some of that as well. How do we decide whether to take the mandate, “We will do and we will hear” literally or not? That’s where I am this week as I reflect on my recent ordination and all the craziness in the world that calls for immediate action.
Feb 17, 2023•13 min•Season 3Ep. 18
Buddhist psychotherapist Bruce Tift says we use the excuse of our wounds to avoid showing up in our lives. I posit that the Israelites do the same. They miss out on an incredible opportunity. Listen for some wisdom—and revelation!
Feb 10, 2023•14 min•Season 3Ep. 17
In life, we go from ecstasy to complaint and back again. It’s not a straight journey. So too with the Israelites. We need song and celebration to give us strength, but these are complex, reflecting the complexity of our hearts.
Feb 01, 2023•9 min•Season 3Ep. 16
Don’t we all suffer from imposter syndrome to some extent? Moses, and even God, does. Is it self-sabotage when God repeatedly hardens Pharaohs heart? Or is there a more subtle message and meaning behind it?
Jan 25, 2023•15 min•Season 3Ep. 15
I’m just landing from my trip and the high of being ordained, and it’s hard to integrate all of it, and so easy to fall back into old patterns. It’s hard to learn to listen to the body in order to prevent a crash. This is when illness descends. We’ve all been there. Va-era is about difficulty speaking and difficulty hearing. It’s about how we shut down due to trauma. And it has some hints about how to overcome it.
Jan 19, 2023•15 min•Season 3Ep. 14
