A Response to David Brooks (Hannukah 5785)
Dear friends, I heard from many people this week about The New York Times columnist David Brooks's essay, "The Shock of Faith." I won't speak for him (he does that for himself in 2,000 words). Nor do I really want to have a conversation about whether Brooks, who talks about his Jewish life, is really a Christian at this point (he deals with that a bit in the essay). Instead, I want to respond to Brooks with gratitude, compassion, and an invitation. Gratitude: I generally think we need more thoughtful discussion of religion and spirituality in American public life, so I'm grateful when someone writes a piece like this that prompts reflection and conversation. I'm grateful that Brooks...
Bring Them Home Now (Vayeshev 5785)
On Tuesday morning this week, I stood amidst the ruined homes of young members of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, one of the kibbutzim overrun and decimated by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023. These small apartments had provided a way for the kibbutz to help young people get their start in adult life. Their location, closest to the western fence of the kibbutz, made them the first line of attack. Along with the murders, there was evidence of rape, and the brutality of the home violation — bullet holes in walls, ransacked belongings — is still visible in plain sight, as the kibbutz members have not yet returned to their homes and decided what to do with this area: create a memorial, rebuild,...
Haazinu 5784: Let It Go
Earlier this year, my youngest son, Toby, and I watched The Lord of the Rings trilogy together. He is a fantasy genre lover, and, true to form, fell in love with the story of Frodo Baggins's long journey to Mount Doom, his struggle to carry the Ring of Power along the way, and his mission to throw the ring into the lava inside the mountain and destroy the ring once and for...
Crunch Time in Chelm: A Neo-Hasidic Tale and Mindfulness Practice for the New Year (as told by Rabbi Marc Margolius)
[These events are true — or they could be. They took place in the town of Chelm, whose residents famously claimed that they themselves were not fools -- it’s just that foolish things always happened to them.] It was crunch time in Chelm. Or at least, it was supposed to be. Rosh Hashanah was scheduled to arrive early that fall, and the townspeople feared: what if the new crop of...
On the Daily Sit Kaddish and the Persistent Sound of Jewish Community
Every weekday, the Institute for Jewish Spirituality brings together a hundreds-strong community for half an hour of Jewish meditation on Zoom, called the Daily Sit. This summer, as an intern at IJS, I held the tech space for these Daily Sits. Each Daily Sit offers many powerful teachings, but the practice that has most stayed in my heart is the Mourner’s Kaddish prayer, which marks...
Rosh Hashanah 5784: Homeward Bound
Dear friends,My Elul practices for the last decade or so have included listening to an album recorded by the poet David Whyte called Solace: The Art of Asking the Beautiful Question (also available here on iTunes). I generally listen to 10 or 15 minutes at a time as I walk the dog in the morning after I drop off my youngest son at the bus. Listening to Whyte's beautiful...
Return to the Land of Your Soul: Nitzavim-Vayelekh 5783
I recently went on a wonderful five-day silent meditation retreat in the Pacific Northwest. On the final morning, I found myself with about 45 minutes of unscheduled time. It was after breakfast and before our final session, and the light drizzle that had sprinkled the landscape had given way to a patchy sunshine. As I discerned where my feet would take me, I found myself...
Gently Welcoming Ourselves as We Are
As we enter the month of Elul, we are invited to enter into a practice of cheshbon hanefesh, soul accounting. As we engage in this practice and reflect on the past year, we ask ourselves - Are our actions in alignment with our intentions? Are we awake to our lives?Cheshbon hanefesh is part of a broader practice of teshuva, a returning to our essential nature, to who we really are....
Looking with the Eyes of Our Hearts
The first word of the Torah portion we read as Elul begins is “Look!”--”Re’eh!” Look, really see, that before you today, this day, is a blessing and a curse. Choose life!, we are told in this parasha (Torah portion). It is right here before you, in the life you are living now.The core practice this month is to practice looking with the eyes of our hearts at what is before us and...
When the Walls Crumble: A Teaching and Practice for Tisha B’Av
Tisha B’Av is a day when we turn courageously to face the truth of the fragility, unpredictability, and groundlessness of our lives. You might wonder, then, what is required of us on this day? We invite you to dedicate a couple of moments to practice as we face the truth of impermanence, and discover an inner refuge that can help us to remain loving, calm, open hearted, and...
Practice: Holding our Broken Hearts with Love
As we enter the month of Av this week, our spiritual task in this period is to grow in awareness of the brokenness in ourselves, our people, and our world – to allow the walls of our own hearts to crack open, allowing ourselves to become vulnerable to pain.The Hasidic master Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlov contended that rather than avoiding or shutting out that which is painful, we must...
Remembering Rabbi Jonathan Omer-Man (z’l)
We mourn the loss of our dear friend and teacher, Rabbi Jonathan Omer-Man, who died earlier this month.We honor Jonathan as a key founder and founding faculty member of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. However, before reflecting on his role with the Institute, please know this:“For 26 years Jonathan lived in Israel, where he worked as a farmer, until he contracted polio, and...
A Conversation with Rabbi Michael Strassfeld
We are grateful to Best-Selling Author, Rabbi Michael Strassfeld, for speaking with IJS President & CEO, Rabbi Josh Feigelson! Please enjoy the conversation recording below. Rabbi Michael Strassfeld is one of the editors of the Jewish Catalog (1973), a guide to do-it-yourself Judaism that sold over 300,000 copies. He edited the Second and Third Jewish Catalogs (1975,1979),...
A Conversation with Yossi Klein-Halevi
We are grateful to Award-Winning Journalist & Best-Selling Author, Yossi Klein-Halevi, for speaking with IJS President & CEO, Rabbi Josh Feigelson! Please enjoy the conversation recording below. In his decades of writing from and about Israel, New York Times bestselling author Yossi Klein-Halevi has earned a reputation as a leading interpreter of contemporary Israel and...
Josh’s Book Launch: Eternal Questions
Rabbi Josh Feigelson's book launch and conversation with Abigail Pogrebin took place on Wednesday, October 26, 2022. The recording of the event is now available below. Feel free to share with friends and family who may be interested. We hope you find this to be a meaningful discussion. Josh's book, Eternal Questions, is now available for purchase. Rabbi Josh Feigelson is the...
Introducing IJS’s First Faculty Fellow: Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife
IJS is delighted to announce that Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife has joined its faculty as a Faculty Fellow. The fellowship, which runs from 2022-24, is the first of its kind at the Institute. It is designed to identify and nurture exceptional spiritual leaders who can contribute new skills and perspective to IJS’s teaching and programs, while also developing greater expertise in Jewish...
A Conversation with Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg
We are grateful to Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg for speaking with us about Repentance and Repair! Please enjoy the conversation recording below. Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg is an award-winning author and serves as Scholar in Residence at the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW). She was named by Newsweek as a “rabbi to watch,” as a “faith leader to watch” by the Center for American Progress,...
![Richard Schwartz: “To be a presence that can possibly bring some healing [is] an incredible gift.”](https://www.jewishspirituality.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Richard-400x250.png)
Richard Schwartz: “To be a presence that can possibly bring some healing [is] an incredible gift.”
Our recent Evening of Gratitude was a valuable opportunity to recognize Jewish spiritual leaders of all kinds and their incredible impact on the people and communities they serve. We are so grateful for all they bring to our world, and so proud to be part of their stories. In one of the evening’s spotlights, IJS alum Cantor Richard Schwartz shared how pastoral care, mindfulness...
Alison Kur: “Spirituality is about nurturing my soul and giving my soul to others”
Hundreds of IJS supporters joined us on Tuesday, June 7, 2022 for our Evening of Gratitude, honoring and thanking Jewish spiritual leaders. We are eager to share one of the highlights of the celebration, and we hope that you will consider making a donation to support our work. Alison Kur, Executive Director of Jewish Living at Temple Beth Elohim in Wellesley, MA, was one of the...
Of Black Swans and Sabbatical Years
If you haven’t seen it yet, take a minute to watch the finish from this year’s Kentucky Derby. It’s a sight to behold.The two leading horses are racing neck-and-neck (literally), jockeying for position (again, literally), as they make the final turn of the one-and-a-quarter-mile track at Churchill Downs. Slowly and then suddenly, Rich Strike, a horse no one even expected to be in the...