The Vessel of our Tears
Here we find ourselves; adrift on churning seas.
Here we find ourselves; adrift on churning seas.
Did you know that all the world’s citrus fruits are hybridizations of three original species?
I sat across from the rabbi across the table; he was in his mid-sixties or so, with thick-rimmed glasses and a short, scratchy beard.
I sat nervously in his office, among his many books, facing his cluttered, working desk.
I invite you to cast back your mind to your first conscious memory of being in synagogue.
In June, I attended a rabbinic conference – my first one in four years!
Are we willing to be vulnerable? To crack ourselves open a little? Are we prepared to challenge ourselves and grow? To be discomfited for the sake of insight; to be pushed for the sake of change?
There are few sights more moving than walking into a full synagogue on Kol Nidrey and seeing everyone wearing their tallitot, anticipating our holiest day of the year.
We bring ourselves into this preparatory month of Elul, at the threshold of the holy Season of the Yamim Nora’im, the Days of Awe.
We had gotten up before dawn, driving out to Salisbury under the grey cover of the British December night.