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A Tool for Balance In a Time of Uncertainty

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My wife Laura and I have been blessed to have our youngest son, Jacob home on a college break this week. A second-semester senior at Boston University, our son is an aspiring journalist and is keenly aware of and attentive to world events. In the moments after he received word from BU that all classes are being moved online, we discussed his options for the days ahead (staying home with us or returning to the apartments he shares with three fellow students.) At one point he looked me straight in the eye and asked, “Have you ever experienced anything like this in your life?” My mind quickly rifled through the memories of other times of challenge - the assassinations of JFK and other leaders in the 1960’s; the NY blackout of ’77; the Blizzard of ’78; 9-11 and other moments. “Like this?” I replied. “No.” The next morning, I was off to facilitate what I recognized would likely be my last -in-person Mussar Va’ad at one of the Boston-area synagogues where I am privileged to work wit...
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The Children Are Listening

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I flipped on the television a short while ago while taking care of some chores around my bedroom. My initial instinct was to check out the news. It took me just seconds to realize, this was not the diversion, let alone, the inspiration I was seeking. I find it painful to listen to the news these days - with the pain and disillusionment divided between voices from both sides of our political spectrum. I quickly changed to see what we have on our DVR. Having moved only weeks ago, our service and library of recordings are new. But I quickly saw that I had recorded a program some weeks back from WGBH , which I had only partially watched. It was a recording of the Pete Seeger Tribute Concert: Woody's Children 50th Anniversary which aired sometime last month. Done - that I watch, I thought. The program, which celebrates folk music and folk musicians, is a delight. This episode features so many of my folk music heroes: Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey; Kim and Reggie Harris; Tom C...
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Temporary Living – Reflections at Sukkot 5780

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I was listening to one of our group members check-in during this morning’s Mussar Va’ad (group) session, our first gathering since before the High Holy Days. Suddenly, I was struck by a thought: My celebration of Sukkot this year is more real than maybe ever before! One person was sharing about a recent transition she and her husband had made in their lives: moving, a new grandchild, and she was reflecting on how that had set with her during the Holy Days. It walloped me like a thunderbolt – I am like those ancestors of ours whom we are recalling during this season of temporary dwellings. We, too, are in limbo. Let me explain. In about 5-6 weeks’ time, Laura and I will move to our new home, the one hinted at in the title of this new blog site I recently initiated. Sometime in mid-November, we will make our move to the meadow in which our new home is located. In the meantime, we have been living in our home of almost twenty years for over a month in a state in which, in so man...
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Who is Dignified?

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In Pirke Avot 4:1 we read: “Ben Zoma says: Who is the wise one? He who learns from all men, as it says, "I have acquired understanding from all my teachers" (Psalms 119:99). Who is the mighty one? He who conquers his impulse, as it says, "slowness to anger is better than a mighty person and the ruler of his spirit than the conqueror of a city." (Proverbs 16:32). Who is the rich one? He who is happy with his lot, as it says, "When you eat [from] the work of your hands, you will be happy, and it will be well with you" (Psalms 128:2). "You will be happy" in this world, and "it will be well with you" in the world to come. Who is honored? He who honors the created beings, as it says, "For those who honor Me, I will honor; and those who despise Me will be held in little esteem" (I Samuel 2:30).” Earlier this week I was studying this passage with a Mussar group I am leading at Hevreh of Southern Berkshire in Great Barrington...
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It's Time to Stand Up and Demand Responsibility Be Taken

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I find it hard to read the news these days. Even more, as I do follow the news, I find myself viewing the myriad goings-on of our time through the lens of the middot /soul traits of the Mussar tradition , in which I spend so much of my time studying and teaching these days. This morning a rush of thoughts pulses through me in response to the events of just the past 24 hours. I will never be able to easily turn aside from the news of shootings. This week we have seen three such horrors in our country, two within hours of each other just yesterday. While it will yet take some time for the details of each of these horrors to be sorted out, it seems pretty clear from the early reports that the shooting in El Paso, Texas was the work of a young man consumed by the tidal wave of anti-immigrant, white supremacist rhetoric sweeping through our nation in recent years. It is a wave which seems to be gathering steam with each passing week as we head towards our next national election in Novem...
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You Say You Want a Revolution!?!?

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One of my challenges and treats this summer is reading a new book by my teacher, Dr. Micah Goodman, with whom I had the privilege of studying over the years at the Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. The treat is that I always find Micah’s teachings deeply inspiring. The challenge is that his new book, Chazarah B’li Teshuvah was published in these past few months in Hebrew. Yet, day-by-day, I read a bit – drinking deeply from the ideas contained in this new work, even as I polish my Hebrew skills. The Hebrew title is a play on words, Chazarah referring to “one who returns” and teshuvah also meaning “returning” or in the parlance of our upcoming High Holy Days, “repentance.” One website titles the book, The Philosophic Roots of The Secular Religious Divide . That is a good descriptor for the content of Micah's intriguing book. However, it totally loses the clever play on words contained in the Hebrew title. Though I’m only partway through the book, I am already captivated b...
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The New Chapter

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These days I find the old Grateful Dead tune, “ Truckin ", with its lyric, "What long, strange trip it's been" rolling around in my head.   In truth, my trip has not been so strange. It’s just had some twists and turns I’d not quite anticipated. As I have written about on my former blog, “A Wondering Jew” I have been on of a journey of exploration over these past few years. After more than 35 years as a full-time congregational rabbi, I decided to strike out, exploring new paths. These past two years have been something of an adventure: working (and traveling) for a national organization for a time; teaching in a variety of settings around Boston and beyond; spending more time studying; serving a small congregation for the Holy Days in Fall 2018; and doing some writing. Sometimes paths find us and they beckon us to try them out. This, in some measure, was a part of the backdrop for these past years as I deepened my study and practice of Mussar,  seeking new op...
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