… of its content, this might have been posted 12/28/6, the day I wrote and sent it to my coworkers. But it wasn’t: Friends, If you can imagine a universe-sized sponge made of galaxies surrounding bubble-like voids, congratulations: you’re hip…
Category: Torah
The Text(s), the tribe, the learning, the being. (With a bit of random spirituality mixed in.)
Der Apikoyrus Rebbe
RABBI AKIVA TATZ IS A turned-on guy whose shiurim (lectures) are ripe with mystic but rational Torah learning. R’Tatz tells a wonderful story about apikorsim (singular “apikorus,” from the Greek “Epicurean;” one who disbelieves the divine origin of Torah and…
Contradicting the Paradox
“Most people don’t worship God. What they do is make an image of what they think God is, and worship that.”— James “Sputnik” Gjerde The biggest problem with Aristotelianism is that it posits false dichotomies (good/evil, up/down, is/ain’t, tastes great/less…
Message From Beyond
NOT ALL MITZVOT TURN INTO ghost stories — but when doing holy work, it’s always a good idea to expect the unexpected. Ann and I are members of the Sonoma County Chevre Kadisha, which literally means “holy fellowship;” it’s a…
Midrash Ko(r)ach
Torah Study Saturday, July 110:00 a.m. – noonNeal’s and Ann’s housePortion: Korach (Numbers 16:1-18:32) “To a man with only a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.” – Anon of Ibid. This week’s portion, Korach, seems fitting for the Shabbat…
Comfort of Nothing
Addressed to a mailing list of old and dear friends, during one of the perennial and genial “Nature of God, or Someone Like Him/Her/It” discussions, and whether Immanence vs. Transcendence helps one sleep better at night: Back when I first…
Circlogics
Circles, by definition, have no ends — each is a continuous line which, as the philosopher Charles Fort tells us, “one measures … beginning anywhere.” However, like life’s other complexities, not all circles conform to strict definition. Consider: Earth’s orbit…
Torah of Vigilance
“Pay attention! and be prepared To do it right The Super Thing — the thing That makes you bigger than life.” — Devo, The Super Thing Friends, Tonight marks the beginning of Shavuot, the ancient harvest festival which post-Temple Jewish…
Na(t)ive Torah
Considering that this is how many of us returnees (including myself) came to study Torah in this unannounced-but-nonetheless Golden Age of Judaism, Plotz’ wide-eyed innocence struck a deep chord with me. Perhaps this is one reason why the Torah remains…
Omer’s Where The Art Is
“Meanwhile, we dig.” — Big X (Richard Attenborough), The Great Escape Pesach is over, the last of the matza crumbs have been vacuumed up, and our stomachs have finally returned to normal (or soon will). Now what? When we were…
Thanksgiving v. Thanks Giving
During the course of an online discussion of Jewish practice in the United States, someone asked the resident rabbi if it was “kosher” for Jews to celebrate Thanksgiving. His terse but memorable reply: “Sure — but we do that every…
Feel The Fear
When Ann and I joined the small synagogue in our Northern California town back in 1998, it was with the understanding that we would get involved. Neither of us had been, when we were younger. But especially since 2000, when…