The Calm Before the Storm

On the farm, you could see storms coming from far off, the wide, flat horizon offering a good view of storm clouds gathering miles away.  More than that, though, you could just tell when a storm was coming.  Birds would quiet and the air would still, feeling heavy.  Before a big summer storm, it would …

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And Leah’s Eyes Grew Dim

I know we've moved on from the epic story of Jacob and Leah in the parsha.  This week, we're talking about Joseph and his dreams and how he wound up sold into slavery.  However, in my own life, this morning, the idea of Leah's eyes came to me. It's often said that Leah's eyes were …

Vayeitzei, Cancer, and the Power of Laughter

In this weeks parsha, poor Jacob goes through a lot of trials.  First, he has to flee his home under threat of violence from his brother.  Then, he sleeps on a rock and wrestles with an angel, earning him the name Israel and a wound he carries the rest of his life.  When he does …

Passover and Freedom from the Emergency Room

Sometimes, despite your best intentions and planning, holidays go sideways.  This is how we ended up at the emergency room yesterday on the second day of Passover. My husband is a type 2 diabetic on an insulin pump, along with high blood pressure, heart disease, and a triple bypass last Fall.  Even before we lit …

Burying Our Torahs

A great catastrophe has happened in my local community.  A Jewish man, his mind split into pieces, believed our Synagogue was on fire in the night when it was not.  In addition to a lot of damage he did trying to put out the flames that were only in his own mind, he also took …

Hashem as a Life Coach

I came across a great quote today that stuck in my head. My manager at work is one of those people who is naturally intellectually curious about life in general, not just his specialty and he finds my observance fascinating.  I enjoy our conversations because his questions challenge me to better define and articulate portions …

Preparing for Shavuos and the Conversion that Wasn’t

Over a year ago, we sat in our Rabbi's office and he promised, honestly and earnestly, that our conversion journey would finally end in the mikvah the coming April.  This April slipped by with little fanfare and drama, peacefully but busily, as we prepared for our move.  At this point, there is no more timeline …

Why Orthodox Judaism? Why Not Another Type?

It's a question I get asked often, particularly when non-Orthodox Jewish friends and family learn just how long our conversion has been taking.  I've even had Orthodox friends on the more left side of the Orthodox spectrum question our dedication to Orthodox Judaism.  My answer usually depends on how much time we have to talk. …

House Showings and Passover Cooking

I had just put a huge brisket for Passover in the oven, the kind that you have to cut just to fit in the pans.  Two glorious full sheet pans where covered and ready to go and the oven was heated.  My cell phone announced a text.  It was from our realtor. "Can you do …

All That You Can’t Leave Behind

I used to be a big U2 fan.  I'll freely admit that as a child of the 80's, I was listening to U2 well into the 90's.  One of their songs that always stuck with me was the song, "Walk On," particularly the lyrics about "all that you can't leave behind" and the idea of …

The Power of Speech

I just completed a JLI class at my Synagogue all about communication and the power of speech.  This morning, I had a perfect example of exactly what we'd been studying happen right in front of me in the grocery store line. A coworker and I were standing in line to pay for some small purchases …

Slowing Down and Building the Mishkan

In this week's parsha, we talk about the actual building of the Mishkan, the moveable tabernacle that the Hebrews carried around with them in the desert wanderings.  Up to this point, we've talked about why there needed to be a Mishkan and we even had a rather long parsha that explained in great detail all …