At Home in the Darkness
At this time of year, where I live in Toronto, the trees have shed almost all of their leaves and their branches stand bare against the grey sky. Day by day, the hours of sunlight shorten while darkness holds on longer to the mornings and rolls in earlier and earlier in the evenings. Overhead, skeins of Canada geese honk their way south, and I almost take their leaving personally, abandoning me along with the snow and cold. With the loss of light and warmth, I find myself habitually focused on what I am losing, fighting against the changing season and its natural impact on me. When I face these outer and inner changes unmindfully, I fall into habits of either pushing myself to resist rest,...
Extracting the Hidden Light
As we enter the darkest season of the year, Jewish tradition teaches of the or haganuz, a hidden light revealed through presence and righteous acts. Legend says 36 hidden righteous ones—the Lamed Vavnikim—sustain the world. This Hanukkah, as we light 36 candles, we’re called to embody their spirit, revealing the light within ourselves and the world.
The Idol of the Fourth Wall: Ki Tissa 5784
On Monday night, for the first time since before I had children (meaning at least 21 years ago), I went to the opera. Not just any opera, but the premiere of a new production of Verdi's La Forza del Destino at the Met--a production that lasts four hours and involves a huge cast and elaborate sets. And, because it was opening night, there were a lot of people decked out in their finery. It was a...
Cultivating Joy, Here and Now
משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחהWhen Adar arrives we abound in joy –Babylonian Talmud Ta’anit 29 An enormous wave of renewed fear and reawakened trauma has been washing over us since October 7. As we follow the news while the war rages on, our joy may be eclipsed by deep-seeded patterns of self-protection, our nervous systems may be highly aroused, landing us in fight or flight mode as we brace ourselves,...
Clothing Inside and Out: Tetzaveh 5784
I was boarding an airplane recently when the man in front of me, who looked to be about 20 years my senior, turned and asked, "How long have you worn a kippah?" He was not wearing a kippah, so I was a little startled by this very direct question. But my mind picked up on other cues and quickly filled in a story that he was Jewish and was asking this question out of a sense of solidarity. ...
Habits of the Heart: Terumah 5784
The other night I pulled off our bookshelf a thick volume from my childhood, "The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents." I was into politics and government as a kid, and at some point (before the presidency of Bill Clinton, to judge by the men profiled in the book) I had acquired this one. I'm still something of a government nerd--my kids sometimes get out the almanac on...
A Conversation with Rabbi Toba Spitzer
We are grateful to Rabbi Toba Spitzer for speaking with IJS President & CEO, Rabbi Josh Feigelson! Please enjoy the conversation recording below. Rabbi Toba Spitzer has served Congregation Dorshei Tzedek since she was ordained in 1997 at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC). Rabbi Spitzer is a popular teacher of courses on Judaism and economic justice,...
Factory Reset: Mishpatim 5784
As I'm regularly privileged to do, I spent part of this first week of February with 50 rabbis and cantors, some of the 530 alumni of our IJS clergy cohort programs, during our annual Hevraya retreat in Simi Valley, California. First and foremost: We were all okay with the weather. Thankfully, the American Jewish University's Brandeis-Bardin Campus, where we have long held...
Homeward Bound: Yitro 5784
In some of my recent morning meditation sits, I've noticed a feeling of sadness and grief arising. Yes, of course, there's plenty of cause for sadness and grief in the world and amongst the Jewish people. But this grieving was coming up from a different place. It's some anticipatory grieving around a subtle but significant shift in the life stage my wife and I are going...
Aging Well (Beshallach 5784)
In a casual conversation the other day with my dear friend Marvin Israelow, our board chair at IJS and someone nearly 30 years my senior, I shared with him that one of the many blessings of my job is being in the presence of so many people who are "doing aging well." He asked what I considered aging well. I considered his question and responded that I thought it included a...
Turn, and Be Turned: A Mercy Unique and Unpredictable
When my son, who has autism, was young, I took him to synagogue on Rosh HaShanah so he could hear the shofar blasts. Listening to the shofar being blown was a physical, sacred focal point on this High Holy Day, and I wanted him to feel included in this regal, ritual re-enactment of the birthday of the world. And I wanted to share these meaningful moments together. As soon as we...
Getting Tefillined: Bo 5784
For the last decade or so, my family's winter vacation has been a time to get together with my wife's sister and her husband. She's a diplomat, so they're often stationed in interesting places (and have free housing to offer us). And when they're not in a foreign country, we have a chance to go to other interesting places together: skiing, warm weather places, places where...
Vaera 5784: Pressing Pause
When I first started at IJS just about four years ago, one of the good pieces of advice I received was to hire an executive coach. Robin Bernstein, who had served as our interim executive director before I started, stood out to me as a perfect person to support me in that way, and thankfully she agreed to do so.During our weekly sessions, I would share my latest ideas on...
Crying It Out (Vayigash 5784)
I finally watched "Barbie" this week. I was on the plane, heading home after an intensive four days of work, too exhausted to do much of anything else. So, the movies. If you haven't seen "Barbie" yet, here's my encouragement to do so. And if you have seen it, here's my encouragement to see it again. It's a smart, funny, and incisive two hours of social commentary on...
Remembering the Small Jars
How might we kindle an inner light during this dark, traumatic time for our people? Many of us will gather this Hanukkah to light the menorah as the days grow shorter and darkness prevails. On the surface, this act continues to affirm, as it did during the time of the Hasmoneans more than two thousand years ago, that even as our people are enveloped in the darkness of persecution at...
The Spiritual Practice of Revealing Hidden Light
“Darkness is your candle,” wrote the great Sufi poet Rumi. “You must have shadow and light source both." Jewish tradition understands darkness as an inherent and necessary aspect of life; our spiritual task is to extract sparks of holy light concealed within the shadows of life. In this season of encroaching darkness, this practice takes on special import.According to tradition, the...
IJS Alumni Team Up for New Book on Daily Psalms as a Spiritual Practice
Mazal tov to Rabbi Debra Robbins of Temple Emanuel in Dallas TX, an alum of the IJS Clergy Leadership Program and member of the Hevraya (our clergy alumni), who has written a wonderful new book: “New Each Day: A Spiritual Practice for Reading Psalms”. Based on her previous book on using Psalm 27 as a basis for spiritual practice leading up to the High Holidays, “New Each Day” guides...
Beginnings and Endings (Mikketz 5784)
The other night our middle son, Micah, had a basketball game. We always try to light Hannukah candles together as a family, so we waited for him to come home. We wound up lighting the hanukkiah after 9 pm. (They won the game, btw--and he even had a three-pointer.) Natalie and I take fire safety seriously, so we wanted to make sure the flames were out before going to bed....
Beaming Light (Vayeshev-Hanukkah 5784)
This coming Saturday night marks the fifth yahrtzeit, or death anniversary, of my father, Lou Feigelson z"l (pictured above with my mother during the dancing at our wedding; it's a favorite picture.)While professionally my Dad made his living in real estate and property management in our hometown of Ann Arbor, at his core he was a teacher. Like so many children of Jewish...
It’s Darkest Before the Dawn: Vayishlach 5784
Like so many others, I've been struggling for words since October 7. "Ein milim," "There are no words," is the phrase many Israelis have used to greet one another. For me, it feels like this time has tested the limits of my ability to formulate words, that language is insufficient to reflect and express all the thoughts and emotions I've been having.Regular readers will...
