In case you don’t get my newsletter, here’s a wonderful Rosh Hashanah message from Reb Zalman, the founder and spiritual leader of the Jewish Renewal movement. It was sent to me by Aleph, the umbrella Jewish Renewal organization and reprinted here with permission. You can reprint it or send it along as well as long [...]
On Going to NY to Visit My Mother
August 27, 2007 By Leave a Comment
Note: I wrote this blog three weeks ago while in New York visiting my mother. I haven’t had a chance to post it – or any other blog – because I was too busy getting ready for my son’s bar mitzvah…and then recovering from it! So, I’m posting it now with a few after-the-fact additions.The [...]
When It Is More Painful to Blossom Than to Remain a Bud
April 18, 2007 By 4 Comments
Someone recently sent me an e-mail with the following quote in the signature: “And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” These words come from Anais Nin, a writer whose journals contain more than this one beautiful quote. [...]
Memories
March 14, 2007 By Leave a Comment
“Memories…misty water-colored memories, of the way we were…” I can hear Barbara Streisand singing from my past (but I can’t remember all the words). Last week I received an e-mail from an acquaintance of mine from college. He remembers me well. He recalls eating lunch with me on many occasions, me briefly dating his roommate [...]
The Secret – Not So Secret
February 14, 2007 By 2 Comments
Last Thursday I eagerly settled in to watch Oprah Winfrey host a show about the book and DVD called The Secret. She was hosting a guest panel of five people, including Jack Canfield (author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series). All of these men and women, who are featured on the DVD, literally [...]
Receiving all the Goodness in the World
January 29, 2007 By Leave a Comment
I was reading a book recommended to me by Avraham Loewenthal, a wonderful Kabbalistic artist in Tzfat, Israel, as well as a Kabbalist in his own right, when I was struck by two particular pieces of information. In Chapter 3 of “In the Shadow of the Ladder” by Rabbi Yehudah Lev Ashlag, the author explains [...]
Questions of Life and Death…But No Answers
January 21, 2007 By Leave a Comment
Here I am a week later still struggling with issues of life and death. It’s been a week since I euthanized my dog, Olympia. I still feel the loss…no furry face to greet me each day. I’ve struggled with the decision my family and I made. Now there are other issues with which I must [...]
On Playing God and Euthanizing Our Family Pet
January 16, 2007 By 2 Comments
This weekend I experienced what it feels like to play God. And I didn’t like the role one bit. When I was told that my 10 ½- year-old Golden Retriever had contracted aggressive, incurable liver cancer, I was faced with a huge decision. I – and my family – had to decide when to euthanize [...]
A Bad Case of the Don’t Knows While Living in Limbo Land
January 9, 2007 By Leave a Comment
I’m not so sure I have anything “Jewish” to say today, but I’m way overdue to post a blog and I could use to vent anyway. I’m stuck in Limbo Land, or, as my best friend Karen likes to call it, the “Don’t Knows.” I guess you could say I’m suffering from the Don’t Knows [...]
Chanukah, the Season of Remembering and Welcoming Miracles
December 20, 2006 By Leave a Comment
Okay…I’m over the scrooge phase. We are well into Chanukah now, actually half way through. I did manage to get out some of the decorations, although our new house (we’ve been in it a little over a year and a half) doesn’t have as many good places to put my little Chanukah candles and music [...]
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