It’s raining. And the artist is outside. Working with clay. It’s maddening. He’s trying to shape it. He’s trying to make it into something beautiful. But he can’t. For some reason, the rain isn’t affecting the clay at all. It feels perfectly smooth in his hands. And, as he runs his fingers over it, it… Continue reading Fifth Yom Kippur Greeting
Fourth Annual Yom Kippur Greeting
The nights have grown cool. Outside, the wind is hinting at its ability to howl. Cold rain is splashing down, its water soaking the sidewalk and creating mud where none was before. It’s warm and bright inside. A man opens the door, a blast of cool air heralding his entrance. Heads turn, looking to see… Continue reading Fourth Annual Yom Kippur Greeting
First Annual Yom Kippur Greeting
Your mind sits, alone, in an empty room. Hovering before you is your life’s work. It is a sculpture you have been creating and molding since you were born. You, for the first time, see the sculpture. You, for the first time, behold its true beauty, or naked hideousness, in its entirety. You built the… Continue reading First Annual Yom Kippur Greeting
Three Months no Flowers (from high school)
Three months, no flowers. I’ve been going out with Her for three months. Living life, away from my fears and my responsibilities, She is someone to share my life with, someone to alleviate the stress. It’s about time I got Her some flowers. The Dune-Buggy, its frame encased in reenforced plexi-glass, hurls the suited shape… Continue reading Three Months no Flowers (from high school)
The Artist
It floats in the air, a strange luminance radiating from its uncertain shape. Like a cloud, it floats, shapeless, bodiless, shifting with the slightest movement of the world around it. Its borders are unclear. Its mist stretches out in every direction, never seeming to finally dissipate. At its center one can detect nothing. It is… Continue reading The Artist
Itai and Yitzchak
(not a precise rendering of the speech I gave :)) Sorry in advance for the long speech, but there are two of these little critters and this is a speech I only get to give once J Before I talk about names, I just want to thank everybody who has helped us so much over… Continue reading Itai and Yitzchak
Yaira
(these are the rough comments delivered, I really modified my prepared remarks) Last time I gave a speech at a naming was for Nava. That time I had plenty of time to prepare and really polish it. This time around hasn’t been quite the same. The new babies are not the only thing that was… Continue reading Yaira
Nava
It doesn’t require a great deal of imagination to figure out that We’ve been trying to get pregnant for years. There was a great deal of medicine and time deployed to make it possible. And a great deal of prayer. We poured out hearts out in the run-up to each disappointment – and then we… Continue reading Nava
Ki Tisa
I lost my notes for this parsha – so I’ve tried to recreate what I had below. It is a bit touch and go – sorry. The word for counting is ‘tisa.’ Yeshivat Har Etzion points out that tisa is a word that means, literally, to lift up. It is a word with multiple meanings… Continue reading Ki Tisa
Tetzavah
Continuing the theme of the mishkan being within us – what are the Kohanim? In this image, they represent the characters within our personality. There’s a key phrase – the Kohanim come from among bnei Yisrael to Kahano Li – to Kohen to me (G-d). It is a role of service to Hashem – not… Continue reading Tetzavah