That Light in Joseph

December 12, 2020 Irwin Keller

Joseph, Overseer of Pharaoh’s Granaries. By Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1874. Source: Wikipedia.

One often-overlooked dimension of Joseph’s hiddenness has to do with his gender. Torah keeps pointing to something unusual about it. This includes references to his looks, his emotions, his social role, even his body. Why is this relevant for Chanukah?

To Love the Absent Mind

December 5, 2020 Irwin Keller

I return from a 6-week leave of absence with questions , raised by an unfortunate meeting of home and car, about my own mind’s sudden leave of absence.

Let it Rain

October 9, 2020 Irwin Keller

Shemini Atzeret 5781 – May it rain until our wells are full.

I am worried that our will to live is being depleted. Not that people are dying because they gave up. Although clearly the world has become less hospitable, and our assessment of what future we might look forward to has shifted. But I'm talking about something beyond that. There is something about the usual flow of life through us and through this Creation that feels to be at risk.

Notes on Transformation

September 27, 2020 Irwin Keller

And here we are, wondering how to be part of this transformation, how to tend and cultivate it; how to keep it from becoming something dreadful and instead inch it toward something beautiful. I somehow picture it like that befuddling Olympic sport, curling. We can't force this rebirthing world to move forward the way we want. But we can skate alongside with brooms, and create the subtle conditions for it to gently incline toward blessing.

In the River of Light

September 18, 2020 Irwin Keller

Let us not mistake this world of politics and rancor as the only world in which we exist. This is a saturated, hydro-charged Cosmos.