I want to talk to you about healing. It was exactly a year ago this week when many of us began to register that the pandemic was going to upend our lives. In March of 2020, I agonized over getting on a plane to officiate a long-planned wedding in Chicago (the daughter of one of my dearest childhood friends) because of the potential danger to my Continue Reading
The Backstory: RENEW
Last month, the weight of the pandemic felt personally unbearable. A go-to strategy to relieve despair and renew my own spirit is to reach out to see if perhaps others can relate. I hopped onto Twitter with this simple question: “What is one word you’d use to describe your emotional state right now? Mine is ‘exhausted’.” No photo, no cute emoticon Continue Reading
How To Respond When Everything Falls Apart
When everything falls apart, you learn what you are made of by how you respond. Yes, first you mourn and cry out in pain and despair. And then, when you find that you have endured, perhaps the worst you could have imagined, you have choices to make. How do you hold what has happened and how do you walk toward healing? When adversity confronts - Do Continue Reading
what’s born from the rubble
Today is Tisha B'Av (the 9th day of the month of Av.) It's the day the ancient temples in Jerusalem were destroyed. Our sages met challenge of the "center not holding" with creativity and resilience. If it weren't for those rabbis, who created new ways of praying, connecting with the Divine, and gathering together, we most likely wouldn't be here today, as Continue Reading
Mindfulness Practice & Tisha B’av
Although this piece takes off about a particular commemoration in the Jewish calendar, I am certain that the lessons are universal. This article was originally published in a collection honoring the retirement of my meditation teacher, Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg. (FYI — Tisha B’av is what’s considered a minor holiday, and a day of mourning.) YET — because Continue Reading
