Pesach [Passover] begins tomorrow evening. I'm listening to The Prince of Egypt soundtrack. Later, I'll be getting my last bagel before the upcoming 8 days of matzah (B''H). And for whatever reason, I can't stop thinking of home. I miss it. Of course, I don't mean Texas from where I hail. I mean Israel. I mean Jerusalem. These past few weeks, the desire to go back has been aching again. Then again, it never really goes away. It just ebbs and flows with intensity. It's been almost 3 ...
Judaism
Gather the Sparks
There is a Jewish fairy tale about how Hashem gathered Himself [Ein Sof] into ten jars or vessels before He created the world. As He spoke those first words, "Let there be light," the ten vessels broke scattering the light of the Ein Sof throughout the physical world. It is now our role to find this light, to find it within ourselves and others, and let it shine to bring glory back to Hashem. I have written before about how I feel and know that it is my role on this Earth to write, ...
Musings before the New Year
As I'm sitting here at home on this lovely rainy, September day, sick with who knows what, I'm grateful for this bit of quiet in my recently much noisy life, a life which keeps me from this, what I love most. It reminds me what this season is all about, of preparing one's soul for the coming New Year on Rosh Hashanah as we enter the courts of our King and ask Him to pardon us from all sins, iniquities, and unrighteousness from the past year. How? I have books to write reviews for, ...
Respect My Time
I’ve had a startling epiphany. Last night, I was in a meeting which was supposed to last at the most one hour. It lasted three. At about two hours into the meeting, I shut down. Emotionally. I couldn’t allow myself to indulge the rage and indignation I felt rising, swelling within me. Sure, I managed to engage conceptually for the remainder of the meeting, but the longer it elapsed, the less I presented and the more I retracted into myself. Afterwards, as I retrospectively sifted ...
The Megaphone of Pain
A few weeks ago, I wrote about being more confident, about my journey of learning to stand up for myself; of removing my masks to be wholly accepted as who I am, not what others perceive me to be. The irony is since then, I have felt my words, my convictions tested, pushed to their limits in an incubator of trial. It’s as if some force is questioning me, saying, “Oh, really? You’re growing confident now? Let’s see about that.” And BAM! The crap hit the proverbial fan. I experienced extreme ...
