THEY SAY THAT THERE IS never any “first Jewish settler” anywhere — because no matter who it is, some other Jew was there beforehand. Better instead to say “first known Jewish settler.” And in the case of Sonoma, that honor…
Category: Torah
The Text(s), the tribe, the learning, the being. (With a bit of random spirituality mixed in.)
Your spiritual practice will give you many gifts, but don’t expect it to relieve you of your human nature.”
–Alan Morinis
Endurance Test
IT HAS BEEN SAID BEFORE. And sadly, it will no doubt be said again. But I feel the need to say it anyway: A friend of mine told me the other day that, after Poway, she’ll be afraid when I…
365 Names: G?d
G?D IS MY GO-TO Name for the that-which-some-people-call-God concept. It’s adapted from the traditionalist Jewish spelling “G-d,” with a twist: the “?” denotes Its Greatly Unknowable aspect. There is no way I (or anyone) could reasonably explain or even talk…
365 Names of God: “King Alpha”
KING ALPHA From the 1970 song “Rivers of Babylon” by The Melodians comes this Rastafarian take on Psalms 19 and 137 (but mostly 137). Although the group may intend King Alpha to refer to the Ethiopian king and Rasta hero…
Haiku: The Nameless Name
THAT-WHICH-SOME-CALL-“GOD“: Universal, non-dual. What is It for you?
365 Names of God: “Supreme Being”
SUPREME BEING WHENEVER I HEAR this Name, I think of the part played by Sir Ralph Richardson in the 1981 Terry Gilliam film Time Bandits: a dapper, suit-wearing, businesslike, no-nonsense-on-my-watch sort of G?d. The Name may also refer to the…
Literal Myths
DOES IT MATTER WHETHER OR not our sacred writings are historically accurate? This question comes up every year at our synagogue Torah study, as people go to great lengths to try and explain the fantastical events of the text, especially…
Minute Mitzvah: Put It Back
Today: Return lost items. Explanation: The Talmud tells us that an item is only and truly “lost” when its owner despairs of its return. Your job is to not let that happen. Granted, this is one of those mitzvot which…
365 Names of God: “The Light of Eternal Mind”
THE LIGHT OF ETERNAL MIND is how Moses (Charlton Heston) described G?d to Zipporah (Yvonne DeCarlo) and Joshua (John Derek) after seeing the Burning Bush in Cecil B. DeMille’s at-times unintentionally amusing but classic The Ten Commandments. It’s a potent…
Minute Mitzvah: Stuff & Nonsense
Today: Don’t crave someone else’s stuff. Explanation: One of modern life’s biggest distractions is feeling materially inadequate, especially in a gotta-have-it society like our own. Why dwell on your deficiencies? As Pirkei Avot says, “Who is rich? One who is…
Truth v. Lies
SOME TIME AGO, I HAD a Facebook encounter with a dear friend who’s something of an Evangelical Atheist. It all started when another dear friend posted the following “meme” to my “wall:” OMNISM: THE BELIEF THAT NO RELIGION IS THE…