Responding to the Anxiety of Now: Vayera 5785
I was riding in a Lyft at 4:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, en route to LAX to make a flight home in time for my son's 12th birthday party. My driver, a middle-aged African-American woman, asked me where I was headed. "Chicago." "Chicago?! Take me with you! That's where I'm from." "Oh, where in Chicago did you grow up?" She proceeded to name what felt like 25 different neighborhoods: First she lived in Evergreen Park, then in Bronzeville, then in Rogers Park, then PIlsen, then another, and another, and another. It felt a little like the passage in the Torah that describes the 42 different places the Israelites encamped. I got the sense that she had experienced a lot of insecurity in her...
A Post-Election Practice: Cultivating Our Loving Intention
We live in a world that demands results. (And those results must come quickly enough to match our impatience). We live in a world that keeps score. (How are we doing?) We live in a world that is always comparing. (Am I better or worse, smarter, more righteous?) We live in a world that measures success by how much money we make or how many people like us. I want to suggest another way to live. I’m all for doing what I can to relieve suffering; I’m all for being kind, creating beauty, and bringing my loving attention to what needs healing. AND YET, I may or may not succeed in fixing this world. And perhaps fixing it is not the point. Perhaps it is our loving intention that matters the most,...
A Theological Discussion with Dr. Michael Fishbane
We are delighted to share a recording of a special evening with Dr. Michael Fishbane in conversation with Rabbi Nancy Flam. This live public event sponsored by IJS, took place on Wednesday, May 12, 2021. Dr. Michael Fishbane discusses his recently published book Fragile Finitude: A Jewish Hermeneutical Theology. Dr. Michael Fishbane of the University of Chicago is a well-known...
Opening, through Song and Chant, to My Body and Soul
Episode 41: Opening, through Song and Chant, to My Body and Soul Particularly in the West, body and soul exist in two different domains. This is true for classical Judaism, as well. But, they are not separate, they live in one, intimate unity. It takes work to awaken to that truth. Prayer -- particularly through breath in song and chant -- can be a means toward inner and outer unification. Rabbi...
The Words of the Siddur: Evocative Poetry of the Soul
Episode 40: The Words of the Siddur: Evocative Poetry of the Soul Often, when a book is placed before us we think we have to read it. But, that is not what we are supposed to do with the prayer-book. We're supposed to use it to open our hearts to prayer. Rabbi Ruth Sohn shares her personal practice of morning prayer, using the words of the siddur to prompt her own heart to prayer. Join her! Read...
Bringing God Into Our Bodies through Reiki, the Sefirot, and Adon Olam
Episode 39: Bringing God Into Our Bodies through Reiki, the Sefirot, and Adon Olam Spiritual life is all encompassing, and there is no dimension of our lived experience that is outside of its concern. In the same way, most spiritual traditions intuit and focus on shared awareness and experience. Cantor Louise Treitman brings together the healing sensation of Reiki, the energy of the Sefirot, and...
Finding Balance Each Morning
Episode 38: Finding Balance Each Morning How do you start your day? What does it mean to "get out on the wrong side of the bed"? What prepares you to meet the world fully, with the whole of your being? Cantor Bat-Ami Moses offers us a practice of bringing Netzach -- energy and determination -- and Hod --acceptance and receptivity -- into balance in heart, mind, body and soul to begin our day....
Unify Our Hearts — in Love
Episode 37: Unify Our Hearts -- in Love So much of our lives can feel scattered. What should I be doing now? Is there somewhere I should be (or not be)? What am I feeling? How is my heart? We pray "Unify our hearts to love and reverence Your Name" -- and through this prayer, we may find our own inner wholeness. Chant and pray with Cantor Lizzie Shammash in this moving practice of unification....
Praying in the “In-Between”
Episode 36: Praying in the "In-Between" We often think of prayer as coming in prescribed times or in specific places. But, often the most profound prayers come at those "in-between" moments, when things can go this way or that, or when we sense those important (but not necessarilly unusual) transitions in our lives. Dasee Berkowitz shares her "in-between" prayers, and invites us to live, pray,...
Becoming a Soulful Parent: A Path to the Wisdom Within
Episode 35: Becoming a Soulful Parent: A Path to the Wisdom Within "Ayeka", "where are you?" is the first question in the Bible, address to Adam after he had eaten of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. That's a question every parent probably asks their child -- in some form -- when the child does something out of bounds. But, do parents ask themselves the same question? Dasee...
Gratitude and Spiritual Protection Before Getting Out of Bed
Episode 34: Gratitude and Spiritual Protection Before Getting Out of Bed The transition from sleep to wakefulness can be fraught. For some, it is a time to jump out of bed and get the day going. Others just pull the covers over their heads and hide from the morning light. Rabbi Amy Grossblatt Pessah welcomes her soul back to her body and envisions being wrapped in light to set out on her day. We...
Parenting on a Prayer: Ancient Jewish Secrets for Raising Modern Children
Episode 33: Parenting on a Prayer: Ancient Jewish Secrets for Raising Modern Children There are tons of parenting books on the market, most of which are prescriptive and often lead to self-judgment. This week and next, we meet two authors who have reflected on their own experiences as parents and found wisdom to support themselves and others in the complex but delightful and revelatory practice...
Spiritual Journaling as Spiritual Listening
Episode 32: Spiritual Journaling as Spiritual Listening Alden Solovy spoke movingly about how poetry and prayer emerged in his life, and have sustained and nurtured him through very difficult circumstances. Now, he shares a key element of his morning prayer practice: sacred journaling. Listening deeply to his own heart, he touches on Awarnesses, Gratitudes, and Intentions to ground his life, and...
Alden Solovy: “This Precious Life”
Episode 31: Alden Solovy: "This Precious Life" We begin a series of three interviews with authors in the field of prayer. The first is with Alden Solovy, who writes at tobendlight.com, and who has recently published "This Precious Life: Encountering the Divine with Poetry and Prayer". His project is to offer us all entry into expressing our own prayers, and finding our way into the prayerbook as...
Praying to the Beloved
Episode 30: Praying to the Beloved Contemplative practice -- for instance, meditation -- can settle the body and mind and help us to sense the deep Oneness of all beings. But, it can also be lonely. We human beings also need connection and relationship. Rabbi Lavey Dereby shares his personal practice of passionate, heart-felt prayer, of reaching out to the One, as Beloved. [Note: the prayer...
“Middot and Meniyot” -or- “Musar My Way”
Episode 29: "Middot and Meniyot" -or- "Musar My Way" We often think of prayer as a practice of reaching out, of shifting our attention toward God "out there". But, it can also be a matter of turning inward, connecting to the divine -- and divine qualities -- in our own souls. Rabbi Rachel Gartner introduces us to her practice with the obstacles to shining the light of her soul more brightly into...
“God Lifts All Who Fall”
Episode 28: "God Lifts All Who Fall" Rabbi Jacob Staub recalls a teaching of his "rebbe" Sylvia Boorstein: whatever is happening, however you feel, whatever you know to be true, no matter how frightening, no matter how painful, no matter how difficut -- "Don't Duck!" But, how? Jacob leans into the arms of God, who lifts all who fall -- even him, even you. He invites you to join in this...
Why Worry When You Can Pray
Episode 27: Why Worry When You Can PrayWhen COVID-19 hit, rather than limiting religious life, Hazzan Harold Messinger (and his colleague Rabbi David Ackerman) of Beth Am Israel, created a new Zoom-minyan. Rather than bemoan not singing together, he used music on his end to engage people in their bodies and souls on their end. We invite you to have a taste of his Zoom minyan.P.S. check out the...
Morning Walking Practice
Episode 26: Morning Walking Practice There are many ways to pray, but fundamental to them all is opening awareness to that which is Beyond, to the All, to God. Cantor Josh Breitzer, in this time of pandemic, has turned his walking-commute into a walking-practice, bringing attention to the mundane aspects of the world around him, to wake up in payer. Read the episode transcript
Taking “Modeh Ani” Out of Bed and Into Our Lives
Episode 25: Taking "Modeh Ani" Out of Bed and Into Our Lives Is it possible to be fully grateful for our lives the first thing upon waking? How might the first prayer of gratitude, "Modeh Ani", help us cultivate a life of thanks and awareness. Rabbi Danielle Upbin shares her personal practice of mindfulness and chant. Read the episode transcript
