equanimity
equanimity and adrenaline
A few years ago, I took up rappelling, the art of descending sheer cliffs by rope and harness, so that we could explore the red-rock canyons of Southern Utah. After I had begun to learn the basics, Steve, our guide, said to me, “You’re one of those people who wants to speed up when your adrenaline starts to flow.”
a platform of gratitude
Developing Mussar class at UMJC Conference
Many thanks to all who attended our recent intro to Mussar at the summer 2014 UMJC Conference. Rabbi Paul Saal and Rabbi Jason Forbes (aka. rav rafael) presented this class to a packed room.
Due to the amount of interest at this conference, we plan to start a new year cycle after the fall holidays, on October 19th, 2014. Sign up on our email list to the right. In the meantime, we recommend you get started learning with the book Everyday Holiness.
Click "read more" to listen and view the presentation.
fairness or freebie?
Some things in life have to be earned, and some things cannot be. We can earn respect and reputation by our behavior, but sometimes we need help, or forgiveness, or just a break, that we haven’t earned and don’t deserve. And we can also give to others gifts they don’t deserve and don’t have to earn. That sort of undeserved kindness is captured by the word Hesed, often translated as lovingkindness.
age and adaptability
authentic listening
immortality and zerizut
I just read an amazing insight into this week's parasha by the renowned Jewish scholar Nahum Sarna. He's commenting on Bereisheet 25:8, "Then Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people."
Sarna says the phrase "gathered to his people" is unique to the Torah and also used of Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Aaron, and Moses (which might get us to re-think our usual portrayal of Ishmael, but that's for another blog).
how do you get zerizut?
order, gratitude, and Noah
The wrong sukkah
It's already a week past Yom Kippur and I'm still thinking about the Book of Jonah, which we read on the afternoon of the holy day.
God tells Jonah to go up to Nineveh and declare its impending doom; instead Jonah goes down to Jaffa and finds a ship headed in the opposite direction. God deals with him, but also shows him great mercy, and Jonah finally does what he’s told; he warns the Ninevites, and they repent en masse. The Yom Kippur themes are all in play—repentance, God’s sovereignty over the nations as well as Israel, and his boundless mercy over all. Toward the end of the story there’s also a subtle connection with Sukkot: “Jonah left the city of Nineveh and found a place east of the city, where he made himself a sukkah and sat down under it, in its shade, to see what would happen to the city” (4:5).
Holy days and humility
For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: “Seek me and live . . .” (Amos 5:4).
The connection between humility and the High Holy Days might seem pretty obvious. For the whole month leading up to Rosh Hashanah, and especially through the ten Days of Awe from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, we’re supposed to devote ourselves to self-examination, to making amends for wrongdoing, and to confessing our sins before God. The lengthy confession of sin on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is followed by Avinu Malkenu, when we all stand before the open ark and recite, “Our Father, our King! Be gracious to us, and answer us, for we have no good works of our own; deal with us in charity and kindness, and save us.”
Jonah—a midrash on responsibility
responsible for all Israel
Last night our chavurah joined the wider Jewish community here in Albuquerque for a multi-congregation Selichot service. For those unfamiliar with this tradition, “Selichot” refers to prayers for forgiveness and restoration. The custom since early medieval times is to recite these prayers early in the morning, before sunrise, for at least four days leading up to Rosh Hashanah. Some commentators relate these four days to the four days during which an offering was examined before being presented in the temple. Since we present ourselves as an offering on Rosh Hashanah (very much in line with Romans 12:1), we examine ourselves in God’s presence for four days leading up to the holy day.
chesed in action
Chesed or loving-kindness is an essential human attribute, but it’s first of all a divine attribute. If we want to cultivate chesed, we should pay attention to how Hashem exercises it. And God’s chesed is on display at the conclusion of the Haftarot of Comfort, the passages from Isaiah that we read during this period between Tisha B’av and Rosh Hashanah.
