Blogs

This week’s Torah portion, Va’era (Ex. 6:2 – 9:9) has threats, plagues, suffering and a repetition of names for God that seem to represent different aspects of the Divine. God hardens Pharoah’s heart so that when Moses and Aaron ask that the Israelites be allowed to go to the wilderness to worship their God for three days he refuses. The first distinctive word of the first verse gives us the portion’s...Read more...

The first of our five books of Torah ends this Shabbat, in the dark of winter we find that Jacob’s family fortunes have shifted as the new king makes his mark on his land. Egypt was a place of shelter for the Israelites when there was famine in Canaan but it will not always be hospitable. This week’s portion draws our focus not to the outside environment but rather to the transition of one generation to...Read more...

It’s easy to fall into the trap of believing that life is all or nothing, feast or famine. A quick look at a newspaper will tell you all about those who are diving into their money piles like Scrooge McDuck, buying social media platforms and taking personal rockets into outer space for funsies. We hear less about the other side of the equation: the desolate, the hungry, the fearful, the lonely. Their stories do make the news, usually much...Read more...

Sometimes, I struggle to get out of bed in the morning. I struggle to get out the door on time. I struggle to keep up with my e-mail and never ending To Do lists. But the struggles do not stop there. I struggle to understand how best to parent my children. I struggle to send them to school on those days when the superintendent sends out an alert that the school has received yet another bomb or shooting threat. I struggle to find answers to...Read more...

It started in utero. At first, the fight seemed comical: Twin A seemed to be kicking Twin B through the thin membrane separating the two, and Twin B responded by twisting around and placing two tiny butt cheeks directly in the face of Twin A. Touché, Twin B. Touché. As the woman housing the tussling twins, however, I found myself less and less amused by their antics. A kick on one side seemed to ricochet from the other, and on more than one...Read more...