The “ownership society” paradigm the Bush administration invokes in its campaign to dismantle Social Security scares me in a very old and deep place, chilling my soul. When I feel the shiver, an image shimmers in my mind, fleeting as a reflection on water: an old woman, wrapped in rags, sitting at the mouth of …
In the time of the “values voter,” there’s been tremendous controversy over what “values” might mean (other than shorthand for self-righteous intolerance). What are our values as individuals and as a people? Whether or not we are fully conscious of them, each of us holds values that affect our perceptions and actions. The challenge is …
One mystical idea that interests me is that our experience in the material world resonates with a higher truth attached to the same moment in time. As readers of this blog know, it is my custom to follow the readings from the first five books of the Old Testament and prophetic writings assigned in the …
A couple of friends came over to help us celebrate the third night of Hanukkah. While I fried potato latkes, we talked about one friend’s difficulty in shaking post-election fear and despair — indeed, in facing the horrors of the daily paper. When the holiday began, she’d found herself thinking that lighting the Hanukkah candles …
I hate TV commercials, so I tape the programs I like and watch them at leisure, fast-forwarding through the ads. Last night, I watched a “West Wing” from November that focused in part on an alternative energy summit convened in the fictional Bartlett White House. One by one, the president’s advisor dismisses the offerings of …
I love all the little courtesies that lubricate daily life: please and thank you, after you and excuse me — all of them. In fact, my currently emerging curmudgeonly side manifests mostly in the form of regular laments at the decline of ordinary manners. I love to give thanks for help, to express gratitude and …
This morning, a message posted to a list I’m on cited a teaching of Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav: all of life is just a narrow bridge; we must remember the most important thing is not to fear. There’s a beautiful tune that goes with those words, and I’ve been letting it circulate behind my thoughts …
In preparation for the High Holy Days, the Jewish new year, we are asked to do a cheshbon hanefesh, a soul inventory, as a guide to whatever repair, redirection, rededication we will make for the coming year. I love new beginnings, so this is my favorite time of the year, when tradition supports my repentence …
I apologize for disappearing for a week, but the Republican convention scared me blogless, which I think was the general idea. I didn’t watch the actual convention on TV, but I saw most of the stellar footage on Comedy Central’s very funny “Daily Show.” I had to scrape my jaw off the floor after three …
In the Jewish spiritual tradition, there is a Torah reading–a portion of the Hebrew Bible–assigned to each week. This week’s text is \Shoftim\, from Deuteronomy 16:18-21.9, focusing on prohibitions and exhortations to justice. I?m by no means a biblical literalist, but I often find the weekly text resonates with the concerns of the moment, providing …