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Shabbat Shalom! !שבת שלום
To get into the spirit of tonight, I would like to begin by inviting anyone, but preferably an attorney here with us tonight to come up to the bimah, don a white robe, and recite with all of their heart and soul the most moving and soul-wrenching sections of United States Federal Tax law. Actually, […]
This past December, I was on the phone with my own mother, helping her to close the book of life for her own mother, my grandmother. As I couldn’t make it up to Troy New York in time before she passed, I had my phone on speaker, and was singing some psalms and then finally […]
“Everyone loses when bright people play small.” This quote by Dr. Valerie Young is a comment on her area of research expertise, Impostor Syndrome, or Impostor Phenomenon. The term itself was coined and explored in 1978 by researchers Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Ament Imes. They studied 150 women who had earned their PhDs, but […]
“I don’t want to die, but I don’t know how to live.” I have heard quite often, variations of suicidal feelings described in this way. I have the Book of Life in front of me, and I don’t even feel the strength to open it. How can I be inscribed for good, when I can’t […]
I was watching a short video the other day that really got to me. It just struck me at the right time, and then I figured it was about Torah. The video was of a woman in her car, with tears in her eyes, choked up and trying to tell a story. She had clearly […]
There is an elephant in the Jewish room. Now, I could stand up here this evening and pick out a verse or two from this week’s Torah portion and talk about how it relates to something in our lives. Perhaps, I could make a couple of humorous parallels between something in my own life and […]
There exists a Japanese philosophy called “wabi-sabi.” Wabi Sabi is the belief that beauty and meaning can be found in imperfection; that there is a natural order to things…there is life, aging, wear and tear, and decay. These are not processes to be resistant to, but wabi sabi tells us to embrace the changes, and […]
I was reading a journal article this past week from the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. To simply summarize: the scientific study described found that the more interested in material things people are, the more incompatible they become internally with sustainable and healthy functioning. This eventually impacts the greater world, hence the […]
Person 1, longing to be a part of the group says, “I really like that band, too. I’m a fan!” Person 2 responds, “You don’t even understand what heavy metal music is. If you haven’t seen the band live, you’re not really a fan.” Gate shut. “I heard that show is so funny! I should […]
I read a quote of unknown origin recently that said: “Never underestimate the perception of a donkey; it sees far beyond its own view.” According to a 2019 article in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior, Donkeys are one of the most cognitively misunderstood animals. Historically ridden by distinguished figures, they were often used below their […]
