The truth is I no longer even know what I’m crying about. At this point, I seem just to be yielding to the big blur of suffering.
Read moreDeath of Moshe; the Exhale After
At the end of Torah, Moshe dies, after much struggle and resistance. Torah seems to take a breath, a long exhale, as we roll back the scroll to the beginning. And so in our lives as well, the exhale after the long-anticipated death of anyone we love. The gasp, the exhale.
Read moreClimb Up and Look
Moshe is denied entry to the Promised Land. But he is invited to climb the mountain and look to the horizon and see what no one else can.
Read moreThe Weight of Money
Money is power. And the more money you have, the greater your power to do good and the greater your power to do evil. In the Purim story, the Queen Esther story, Haman uses arguments about Jewish disloyalty to convince the king to order the destruction of the Jews. But to clinch the deal, he offers to fund the operation himself. He offers 10,000 talents of silver for the king’s treasury if the king will issue the edict. Haman doesn’t just dream up the destruction of the Jews, Haman buys the destruction of the Jews. How are we ever to prevail against well-funded hate?
Read moreSong of Refuge
So we name this not only Shabbat Shirah, but Refugee Shabbat, to help us renew our compassion and empathy for the refugees who are right now lodging in tent cities and crossing great waters and wandering from place to place in search of home. We were refugees too. They are our story rewritten in the present tense.
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