The ‘Jacob series’ There are four episodes close together in Jacob’s life that can tell us something about his—and our—spiritual journey. The awakening that Jacob experiences in his ‘ladder dream’ (the subject of this post) fortifies him for his challenging face-off with Lavan (Jacob #2), which helps prepare him for the inner work he will […]
Jacob’s ladder – dreaming awake (Jacob #1) Read More »
These are my own gleanings from a the book by Zalman Shachter-Shalomi & Yair Hillel Goelman (translated and edited), Ahron’s Heart: the prayers, teachings and letters of Ahrele Roth, a Hasidic reformer (2009, Ben Yehuda Press). I hope they encourage you to buy the book. I have paraphrased in order to clarify my own understanding,
Ahron’s Heart – notes on the book by Shachter-Shalomi & Goelman Read More »
These are my own gleanings from a profound book (both spiritually and practically) by Zalman Shachter-Shalomi & Netanel Miles-Yepez, A Heart Afire: stories and teachings of the early Hasidic masters (2009, JPS). I hope they encourage you to buy the book. I have paraphrased in order to clarify my own understanding, but there are also
A Heart Afire – notes on the book by Shachter-Shalomi & Miles-Yepez Read More »
These are my own gleanings from the book by Avraham Weiss, Holistic Prayer: a guide to Jewish spirituality (2014, Maggid Books). I hope they encourage you to buy the book. I have paraphrased in order to clarify my own understanding, but there are also direct quotations from the book. The notes in square brackets are
Holistic Prayer: a guide to Jewish spirituality (Weiss) – notes on the book Read More »
I am enormously lucky to be part of a small group of Muslims, Christians and Jews who meet at least once a month to share conversation and friendship. Each meeting has an interesting theme as a starting point, and each faith tradition brings one side of A4 with related texts from its tradition. The sessions
Scriptural Reasoning – with a difference … Read More »
From its opening words and notes, Kol Nidrei stirs the heart and mind, and pulls at the guts. Those first notes mark the point of no-return, when we cross from Ordinary Time into Yom Kippur. For the next 25 hours, we will step outside time. We’ll sit in community, search our innermost selves, review our
Kol Nidrei Paradox Read More »
The Sages asked how, although Moses wrote the whole Torah, he could have written the final 8 verses after his death (Bava Batra 15a). R’ Avraham David of Buczacz (18th century) suggested a solution to this problem by saying that the final verses of Deuteronomy we can read now were constructed mystically from the same
Moses – an imagined alternative ending Read More »
There’s a Talmudic teaching that, as a condition of being born, every creature has to consent to God to accept the form it is being given, and the life that will ensue from that. Following on from that, here is my reading of the first two verses of Ki Tavo (Deut. 26:1-2). “Now it shall
These are my own gleanings from the book by Zalman Shachter-Shalomi and Edward Hoffman, Sparks of Light: Counseling in the Hasidic Tradition, 1983, Shambhala, Boulder). I hope they encourage you to buy the book. I have paraphrased in order to clarify my own understanding, but there are also direct quotations from the book. The notes
Sparks of Light (book by Zalman Shachter-Shalomi) Read More »
These are my own gleanings from the book by Joel Lurie Grishaver, Stories We Pray: insights into the inner-work of Jewish worship (2012, Torah Aura Productions). I hope they encourage you to buy the book. I have paraphrased in order to clarify my own understanding, but there are also direct quotations from the book. The notes