Nina Amir's Thoughts on Spirituality, Judaism, Human Potential, Personal Growth, and Living Fully
I couldn’t let the last night of Chanukah pass without posting some sort of teaching. (I know I already posted a blog today…) I knew I had read something somewhere about the importance of the eight night, and then I remembered! My friend Rabbi David Zaslow posted this on Facebook:
The symbol for 8 is an [...]
The Kabbalists talk a great deal about the “light.” Through our actions we draw this Divine light into the world, thereby, increasing the light—or we push the light away, cover it up, and diminish its presence. In the Zohar, the mystical text of Kabbalah, there is a teaching that says that everything is new when [...]
As we get ready to light the first candle on the chanukiah, marking the first night of Chanukah, I want to remind everyone that afterwards we are supposed to place it in the window to shine its light outward into the world. This is a way of reminding the world of the possibility of miracles [...]
It’s been a week since my last post. You might think I’ve been lazy. Or maybe you think I got busy and then tired out from Simchat Torah and Shemini Atzeret, which fell during this past week. You might think I was remiss not to mention the holidays or write about them.
In fact, I was [...]
Sukkot began on Friday night. I’ve been disabled…recovering from knee surgery that occurred on Tuesday right after Yom Kippur…and unable to go to Sukkot services. (That’s also why I’ve been quiet here on the blog.) Jews go into the Sukkah, a temporary hut, once a year and perform the mitzvah, or commandment, of shaking and [...]
I graduated from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication. I still remember one of the first lessons I learned there: Communication-real communication-requires a broadcaster or transmitter and a receiver. In other words, someone has to speak and someone has to listen.
Today, on the eight Day of Awe, with Yom Kippur just a [...]
Today, we – I – turn inward to examine a different type of sin: sins committed against ourselves. Have we taken care of our bodies? Have we taken time to rest? Have we allowed ourselves time for friends and for connecting with God? Have we allowed ourselves to enjoy life? Or have we spent all [...]
As Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year came to a close on Saturday evening, the Days of Awe began. They lead us right up to the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur, the Day of Repentance. During this time we are told to turn inward and reflect upon our words and deeds over the [...]
As Jews all around the world prepare for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, astrologers are watching as the new moon rises and six planets align in Virgo. What does this mean to us?
It means that not only are we entering into the most holy 10 days of the Jewish year, a time of introspection, soul [...]
Tisha B’Av, the saddest day in the Jewish calendar, begins tonight. The Mishna says that five disasters occurred on this date, including the destruction of the First and Second Temples.
The Rabbis who lived during the time of the destruction of the Second Temple were, understandably, preoccupied with the causes of these calamities. In one well-known source they tell us [...]
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