Category: Week In Review

When I meditate, I might close my eyes, or I might have a soft gaze, focusing on my breath. Or I might focus on the curves and straight lines of a Hebrew letter, feeling their beat in my heart, in the rhythm of my breath.

We are approaching summer, my favorite time of the year. Although Washington DC is hot and muggy, I love the light, and the colors of summer. I relish the succession of blooming flowers, and how they make me feel alive.

This week we welcome Laura Hill, who shares a poem she created in honor of her Simchat Mitzvah, the day when she celebrated her adult approach to Jewish life, on the Torah portions of Tazria-Metzora.

For many years I have been making a point of always bringing my own reading materials when I go to doctors’ offices. I do that out of a sense of self-preservation.

This coming week we will be experiencing another “pandemic Passover.” It is one more year of not being able to join with friends in the same room. In my dark imagination I believe that Passover will feel, again, constrained, and in many ways, diminished.

It is cold out. I have always, will always, and continually dislike cold weather. My heart swelled with joy when I looked at the calendar and realized that it is time to start preparing for the holiday of Pesach.

Photo courtesy Josh Murphy Today was the funeral of Flory Jagoda. Much was said at her funeral, about all her accomplishments, and the power of her music. I don’t need to repeat any of that. I will share with you a few personal remembrances about her.

There is one passage in the TaNaKh1 that has always heightened my discomfort around the concept of wars, which we will read in this week’s haftarah2.

This past Sunday JILLI held its first healing service. We will have a healing service every third Sunday of the month. I hope you will join us for these services, since there are so many people and places that need healing.

I prefer not to write about politics and politicians. In this polarized climate we live in everything becomes a provocation, every word said in favor or against a politician