Arlene Goldbard

The full extent of damage to lives and property on the Gulf Coast is unknown, but experts are expressing certainty that in terms of what it will take to repair a significant part of the damage, it is the worst such disaster to afflict the United States. The scenes of people mourning their homes and […]

I hate TV commercials, so when I want to watch a program, I usually tape it so as to fast-forward through the ads. Consequently, I’m a little behind in my viewing. There’s a tall stack of gray videotapes by the VCR, each with its little cache of programs I mean to watch as soon as […]

When I woke up this morning, my head was swimming with scenes from the news my overworked brain hadn’t been able to process, even with a good night’s sleep: Cindy Sheehan encamped outside President Bush’s ranch, young soldiers in Gaza weeping as they pried desolate families from their homes. If I set out to script […]

A story is told about a town that suffered from drought (I heard a version of it from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, but if you want to transpose it to a priest or a minister or imam, it will work just as well; if you Google the key words, you’ll see others have done likewise).
People […]

This is my third and final essay about the rich learning I was privileged to share at the ALEPH Kallah, a spiritual retreat at the end of July. In the afternoons, I took a class entitled “Melitz Yosher: On Becoming An Intercessor,” offered by Rabbi Ruth Gan Kagan, she of generous heart and deep learning. […]

As I wrote in my last essay, at the end of July I attended a large spiritual retreat, the ALEPH Kallah, where I studied with two wonderful teachers. Today, my hope is convey a few of the insights I gained from Rabbi David A. Cooper, whose class in “Kabbalah, Zen and Dzogchen: Interweaving Contemplative Paths” […]

During the last week of July, I never read a newspaper, never heard the radio, never turned on the TV. I recommend an annual respite from our 24/7 broadcast of whatever the editors and pundits think is worth noting, if only to experience the useful instruction that comes when we tune back in and […]