This week as we count the Omer, we are examining the middot (character traits) of Peace and Patience. The Apostolic Witness refers to these as “Fruit of the Spirit,” and I have found that the fruit of patience and peace are most evident when I allow myself to live in a place called calm.
Read MoreReal joy arises out of real relationships. Aaron’s shame after the golden calf incident could only be resolved in relationship. He loved and trusted his brother. Moses’ words were probably reinforced by a comforting hand on his shoulder, a genuine smile, and a deep, reassuring gaze.
Read MoreThe account of our exodus from Egypt is a love story. When we retell it each year at the Passover Seder, it’s framed by four cups of wine that—the sages tell us—reflect God’s four-fold promise at the beginning of the story, ending with, “I will take you for me as a people, and I will be for you as a God.”
Read MoreThis weekend is Shabbat HaGadol, the final Shabbat before Pesach. In the midst of a frenzy of last-minute house cleaning, we gather this week to read the closing words of the prophet Malachi.
Read MoreGod does a lot of speaking in the Torah, both in visions and dreams and in an audible voice. He speaks so often that we might miss some revealing distinctions in how he speaks. And these distinctions have a lesson for us, as we seek to hear God amidst the noisy and chaotic days we’re living in.
Read MoreGod is a specific God. He loves details. He shares these details with his servants. His children hear his voice and they obey. This week’s parashah deals with many details of the building of the mishkan (tabernacle). It reminds me of building Legos as a kid.
Read MoreThe story of the Golden Calf is really the story of each of us. It is no accident that Aaron fashions the idol and Israel falls to it at the very moment God gives Israel the tablets of the covenant. In this respect it is the perfect fall.
Read MoreThis year, as I read Esther, I find myself asking the text what it has to say to us today. While it may be ancient, the problems it deals with are tragically current. What can Esther teach us about Jewish survival? How does its text point us toward the future?
Read MoreThis is a characteristic of the Almighty. Present everywhere, he yet deigns to make his Presence known in our time and space. Whereas we cannot reach, and certainly cannot comprehend, his exalted mind, his infinite space, his timeless space, he has chosen to enter ours.
Read MoreWe need hope today more than ever. But in what do we hope? Some think of our hope as going to “heaven" when we die. But this is not the biblical hope. The biblical hope, in short, is the future establishment of God’s Dwelling Place, God’s “tent,” on earth, on his holy mountain in Jerusalem.
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