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Here you’ll find the recording of a very moving and powerful GroundWaves program last night that I led with Dan Nadel and special guest, author Ruby Namdar. Our theme was intergenerational trauma and Jewish narrative, focusing on how we are, and will be, telling the story of this moment in Jewish history. As we continue to reel from the events unfolding in Israel, and the unleashing of vicious and violent antisemitism in cities and on university campuses around the world, I’m on my way to serve as faculty for a Hartman Institute gathering of 180 Jewish teens from across North America. Our focus will be on the varied meanings and expressions of Jewish peoplehood as we endeavour to strengthen a culture of Jewish belonging, pride and responsibility. I can think of no more valuable work to be doing right now in the face of these ongoing military and ideological battles than to be helping to build the Jewish future.
Rabbi Funnye of Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation helps us explore Psalms 25, 51, and 145 on our journeys of return.
Selihot (part of the liturgical leadup to the High Holy Days) makes use of words—prayers, poems, please—to ask for Divine compassion as we contemplate our wrongdoing over the past year. The liturgy of the High Holy Days places tremendous emphasis on how we use our words, affirming the Biblical proverb: “The tongue (speech) has power over death and life.” What would happen if we took this proverb literally? Metaphorically? Seriously?
Explore how the ruling religions shaped Sephardic and Ashkenazi Judaism by comparing a piyyut (liturgical poem) on the binding of Isaac by the 12th-century poet Rabbi Shemuel Yehuda ibn Abbas of Fez and Baghdad, and one by his contemporary, Rabbi Ephraim of Regensburg, Germany.
Explore how Psalm 27, recited throughout the Yamim Noraim/Days of Awe, maps in word and image the varied emotional and spiritual landscape we traverse every day of our lives.
While Dini waited for the world to open up again after the onset of Covid, She led us on these virtual trips to lesser-traveled and lesser-known Jewish communities. There was no need to schlep any bags! Folks just packed an open mind and a sensitive heart. And brought an appetite - we shared regional recipes for participants to prepare and enjoy in their own homes during each online adventure. And of course, a signature cocktail by Dini using special ingredients from that region.
While Dini waited for the world to open up again after the onset of Covid, She led us on these virtual trips to lesser-traveled and lesser-known Jewish communities. There was no need to schlep any bags! Folks just packed an open mind and a sensitive heart. And brought an appetite - we shared regional recipes for participants to prepare and enjoy in their own homes during each online adventure. And of course, a signature cocktail by Dini using special ingredients from that region.
While Dini waited for the world to open up again after the onset of Covid, She led us on these virtual trips to lesser-traveled and lesser-known Jewish communities. There was no need to schlep any bags! Folks just packed an open mind and a sensitive heart. And brought an appetite - we shared regional recipes for participants to prepare and enjoy in their own homes during each online adventure. And of course, a signature cocktail by Dini using special ingredients from that region.