“She Said” is more than an inside look into the outstanding investigative reporting by two Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists, which is fascinating in its own right. What Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey have presented in this best-seller is a birds-eye perspective on the #MeToo movement and
Read moreStanding on Ground Sanctified by Lynching Victims
With my 9-year-old son, I recently visited the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Ala. The Equal Justice Initiative erected this powerful memorial to honor the victims of racially driven hatred and terror by lynchings, and it is worthy of pilgrimage. We went
Read moreWise Hearts and Sanctuaries
In my work as a chaplain and as a person out in the world, I sometimes encounter vulnerable people who are survivors of abuse, abandonment and human cruelty. Their inevitable questions rise up: “Why did this happen to me? Why did this person do that
Read moreInterfaith Presentation at the Wild Goose Festival 2017
I’m really excited to be included as an interfaith contributor at the Wild Goose Festival this July. I will be sharing how the poetry of the Jewish Prophets in the Torah can help us deal with communal and personal traumas of today. The Wild Goose is an experiential
Read moreThat Time I Freaked Out About My Daughter’s Pony Party
My youngest daughter was about to turn 5 and days before her birthday, I still had no plans. I searched for ideas online, hoping to find something that would be quick and easy to plan, and found a website that offered pony parties. The ponies could
Read moreThe Anatomy of Disaster: Learning Spiritual Resilience from the Prophets
The world can seem so hard to deal with sometimes. Marita Anderson, chaplain and writer, shows us how the prophets of our tradition dealt with their own and their people’s trauma–and also gave us tools to deal with ours.
Read morePicking Up Trash
Every time I walk to school to pick up my kids, I have to cross a busy intersection. Every time, I pick up trash: cans, cigarette packs, water bottles. I pick up all the trash that I can carry and my kids carry more. And
Read moreEicha: The Most Difficult of Questions
On Tisha B’Av, we read Lamentations, one of the most difficult books in the biblical canon. I once read that the opening of the Book of Lamentations (Eicha in Hebrew) is pronounced with a catch of the throat to convey the breath-stopping shock in the
Read moreIt’s Halloween: Trigger Treat
A friend of mine suggested that I write a letter, addressed to my future self, that she would mail to me next October. The letter would remind me to be extra gentle with myself in October — a month that brings with it disorienting anxiety,
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