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,...
A Conversation with Joy Ladin, PhD and Rabbi Dr. Erin Leib Smokler
We are grateful to Joy Ladin, PhD and Rabbi Dr. Erin Leib Smokler for sharing their insights with us! Please enjoy the conversation recording below. Joy Ladin, PhD is a teacher, widely published essayist and poet, literary scholar, and nationally known speaker on transgender issues. She is the author of twelve books, including 2021 National Jewish Book Award winner, The Book of Anna,...
Purim and the Pursuit of Wisdom
"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of...
A Conversation with Rabbi Irving “Yitz” Greenberg
We are grateful to Rabbi Irving "Yitz" Greenberg for sharing his wisdom with us. Please enjoy the conversation recording below. Rabbi Irving "Yitz" Greenberg is one of the most influential Jewish thinkers and institution-builders of our time. Currently president of the J.J. Greenberg Institute for the Advancement of Jewish Life (JJGI) and Senior Scholar in Residence at Hadar, Rabbi...
A Reflection on Jewish Mindfulness and Habits of the Heart
It often feels these days that we’re living through a Great Unraveling. Institutions, those deposits of trust that enable things to be—or at least seem to be—settled, are coming apart. News media, public health, elections, representative government, the weather, the forests, the shoreline, truth, language itself: In so many places, things I took to be more or less stable are...
How Spiritual Practices Impacted my Bearing Witness Outside the Glynn County, GA Courthouse
On Thursday November 18, 2021 I traveled to Brunswick, GA along with eleven other Jewish clergy to bear witness and offer support to the Black pastors, the community and family members gathering at the Glynn County courthouse during the trial for the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. Arbery, 25, was shot while going for a run in a suburban neighborhood. The chase and shooting were caught on...
Resilient Writers Fellowship Feature Articles
I will pour out My spirit on all flesh Your children shall prophesy Your old shall dream dreams And your youth shall see visions. These words from the prophet Joel (made even more famous by Debbie Friedman) are a perfect introduction to the essays in the enclosed booklet, which are the product of the Resilient Writers Fellowship, a joint project of IJS and New Voices Magazine. Over...
To Prevent a Crisis of Clergy Burnout, Help Them Cultivate Their Inner Lives
As a spate of recent articles have proclaimed, clergy face a crisis. In his recent piece in eJewishPhilanthropy, Rabbi Lewis Kamrass, President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), warned of the real possibility of an exodus of rabbis from congregational life, due to the extreme additional emotional and professional burdens imposed upon them by the pandemic. He urges...
A Conversation with Dr. Lisa Miller
We are grateful to Dr. Lisa Miller for joining us on Tuesday, October 5, 2021 for a special evening.In conversation with Rabbi Josh Feigelson, Dr. Miller shared her insights and research on the new science of spirituality. Lisa Miller, PhD, is a professor in the Clinical Psychology Program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is the Founder and Director of the Spirituality...
An Evening of Music with Joey Weisenberg
We are grateful to Joey Weisenberg for joining us on Tuesday, July 20, 2021 for a special evening. In conversation with Rabbi Josh Feigelson, Joey shared his music and insights. Joey Weisenberg is a virtuosic multi-instrumental musician, composer and teacher. He is the Founder and Director of Hadar’s Rising Song Institute, cultivating grassroots musical-spiritual creativity in Jewish...
It’s a Wrap
Episode 55: It's a WrapIn the course of seven months, we've offered 55 podcasts featuring a variety of prayer practices. These programs have been downloaded nearly 30,000 times. It is time to celebrate, and to take time to envision what might come next.Read the episode transcript
May I be safe
Episode 54: May I be safe This week we get to visit with Elana Arian, whose "Ken Yehi Ratzon" has closed our podcast. She shares her background, how she came to write Jewish music, her work as guest-artist in congregations and how that shapes her work, and how she came to write our closing tune. Read the episode transcript
Meet the Composer of “Open”
Episode 53: Meet the Composer of "Open" Each week we have been blessed to hear the first moments of the composition "Open" by Judith Silver. This week we meet her, and learn about how she came to write Jewish music, and how "Open" came to be. A true blessing! Read the episode transcript
Practicing with Psalm 27
Episode 52: Practicing with Psalm 27 We are blessed to be invited into the personal process of listening deeply to the words of Psalm 27 to open our hearts with Rabbi Debra Robbins. Her book and its practices are so rich, it is helpful to have it modeled for us, so that we can engage with the Psalm ourselves, beginning on 1 Elul (August 8, 2021), to open our own hearts along the way. Read the...
Opening Your Heart with Psalm 27
Episode 51: Opening Your Heart with Psalm 27 The period of time from the start of Elul to the end of Sukkot is about the same length of time from Passover to Shavuot. The former period is given focus through the recitation of Psalm 27 (and the chanting/recitation of selichot, or penitential prayers). Rabbi Debra Robbins provides us with tools to make the practice of reciting Psalm 27 a richer,...
The Nighttime Shema
Episode 50: The Nighttime Shema Prayer does not have to be complex, and we don't have to go looking for it up in the heavens or over the sea. Sometimes it is just in our mouths and our hearts, in simplicity and directness. Rabbi Denise Eger shares her lifelong practice of reciting the Shema at night, when going to sleep. Read the episode transcript
Mishkan Ga’avah: Where Pride Dwells
Episode 49: Mishkan Ga'avah: Where Pride Dwells There are so many ways to open up prayer. The most effective, and most important, is to connect deeply to one's own life, one's own heart, and to see oneself. From that clear seeing -- or the desire to do so -- we can express our deepest desires, most overwhelming fears, greatest joys, and significant commitments. That has inspired the flourishing...
25-25-50 Meditation
Episode 48: 25-25-50 Meditation Do you think you could have an "I-Thou" connection to a tree? Well, not sitting in your house you can't! And, likely just walking up to a tree and saying "HI" won't work either. Rabbi Mike Comins offers us a practice to help us cultivate our capacity to be outdoors and really BE there, perhaps ultimately to meet it as a "Thou". Read the episode...
Prayer as Poetry: Making Space for Our Lives
Episode 47: Prayer as Poetry: Making Space for our Live The Rabbis speak of the letters of Torah as being black fire on white fire. Rabbi David Stern understands this as the events of our life, and our ability to find space and spaciousness around them, to make meaning, and to find peace. He invites us into three meditation-based, poetry-infused prayers. Read the episode transcript