Teachings 10/12

Sep 19, 2022

22nd Elul The Selichot of Library Books

22 The Selichot of Library Books I grew up in a poor family; we owned few possessions of note beyond our books. Every wall was covered...

Sep 19, 2022

21st Elul - nothing is so precious as time

Yom Kippur is no longer a day simply of general and ritual atonement. It is a day for us to restructure our lives, to reconcile our...

Sep 16, 2022

20th Elul Two Great Lights

Half way through the days of creation, two great lights were put into the firmament to act as signs for the seasons, days and years. They...

Sep 15, 2022

19th Elul : those we could trust have gone away

The days of Elul are falling away and Rosh Hashanah will soon be upon us. On the streets of Jerusalem the pomegranates redden on the...

Sep 14, 2022

18th Elul - offering ourselves

We gather next month to engage in (and endure - start weaning yourselves from the coffee now…) the holiness of Yom Kippur, the most...

Sep 13, 2022

17th day of Elul Teshuvah - I will get to it

Teshuvah? - I will get to it… When all my dusts settle. There are many dusts, each of them a zillion particles whirling beyond my...

Sep 12, 2022

16th Elul :What does the Almighty expect from us?

What does the Almighty expect from us? One way or another, each of us asks this question at least once in a lifetime. We keep searching...

Sep 11, 2022

15th Elul : God believes in us

The “modeh ani” prayer said every morning on waking gives thanks for the return of the soul to the body, built on the Talmudic idea that...

Sep 10, 2022

14th Elul - prepare to be ready

What do you need to do to be ready for Kabbalat shabbat? Can one just race through the week, rush into the house and then either turn on...

Sep 9, 2022

13th Elul: Ritual Pragmatism

One of the things that I like so much about Judaism is our ritual pragmatism. If we don’t use the moments allotted us to milk every bit...