I read the most beautiful quote from Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z”l about forgiveness: Forgiveness means that we are not destined endlessly to replay the grievances of yesterday. It is the ability to live with the past without being held captive by the past. It would not be an exaggeration to say that forgiveness is the most compelling testimony to …
On Motzoei Yom Kippur 2020, I started learning a lesson a day of shmiras haloshon and posting it on our family chat. I would record myself reading from Guard Your Tongue by Rabbi Zelig Pliskin. Once we finished the book, I bought Master Your Words, Master Your Life by Chana Nestlebaum and continued with that. In January (2022) I conked …
This time of year, I have been known to write about my vision for the year ahead. I’m not doing that this year. After years of focusing lots of energy on visioning and manifesting and trying to bring in the best year ever, I want to take it one day at a time, whatever each day brings. My friend …
One of my very favorite books is Emily of Deep Valley by Maud Hart Lovelace, set in 1912 Minnesota. Emily has just graduated from high school, and unlike all her college-bound friends, she is staying home to care for her grandfather who raised her. As fall turns to winter, Emily is depressed and lonely. She feels stuck, watching everyone else …
Hard to believe we are at another Elul. The Artscroll commentary on Tehillim Perek 27 (l’Dovid Hashem Ori) points out that the word “sukko,” His shelter, is actually written “sukkah,” more generally, shelter. Rav Avraham Chaim Feuer writes that Dovid Hamelech is saying, “At times when I was in distress and danger, shelter appeared for me seemingly of its own …
The other day I made a mouthwatering list of foods I want to eat on Yom Tov. I may or may not make any of these but you know how I like to plan imaginary Y”T menus and all.
The other day I wanted a change of scenery so I went to Manhattan. I walked from midtown uptown for awhile, then sat by the pool at Lincoln Center. In the quiet, I wrote down some thoughts on a piece of scrap paper. I wrote that I am feeling grateful as I reflect upon the blessings I received this year …
We’re on an express train, aren’t we? Last week I did a mini review of the past two years (when I was in my MSW program) and it amazes me how the days are long but the years are short. So very many things happened (including COVID) but it all seems to have gone by so fast now that I’m …
I learned the concept of the yearly direction from Rabbi Aryeh Nivin in his Elul course. Since the course is Rabbi Nivin’s curriculum, I’ll just give the general idea without the whole process. (I heard something similar from a friend taking a Dina Friedman course, but I won’t go through her process either in this post, I’ll just write the general …
Rosh Hashanah is in less than two weeks and I don’t really know what to do with that. It’s been so many months without structure, I don’t have that “new school year” adrenaline rush that usually revs me up for the Yomim Noraim. I was reviewing previous Rosh Hashanah posts and it hit me that each year when I …
