Answering Wickedness With Wisdom
The words in Hebrew for “chametz” and “matzah” are similar. They both have a “מ – mem” and a “צ – tzadi,” and the third letters are nearly identical in […]
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From the Depths: Pesach 5785 / 2025
Once again, Passover approaches amidst some anxiety and uncertainty. Many of us are living in Mitzrayim / meitzarim / constriction. And once again, Pesach comes to remind us that our […]
Seeking What is Hidden
A revelation is not a creation of new information, but it is the ability to access something that was previously unknown. When something is concealed, it’s not less there, it […]
Lifting Up
“There is nothing as whole as a broken heart.” This famous teaching from the Kotzker Rebbe is crucial to understand not only Yachatz, the fourth stage of the Seder, but […]
Amidah Offering: Gratitude / Hoda’ah
“We are grateful before You.” Is gratitude innate? Is it part of who we are? What if we don’t feel grateful? What if we can’t feel grateful? What forms does […]
There is No Substitute for Showing Up
Liberation cannot be outsourced. Showing up in person saves lives. The Haggadah emphasizes the point that God showed up “בִּכְבוֹדוֹ וּבְעַצְמוֹ – with God’s honor and presence” and goes out […]
Amidah Offering: Service / Avodah
The Hebrew word avodah implies service, work, and prayer. Is service the same as serving or servitude? What do we serve? Who or Whom do we serve? How do we serve? […]
New music for Chanukah
What a delight to be able to share this new choral composition by Gerald Cohen, a setting of new words of prayer from our own R. David Evan Markus, which […]
New Jonah – With Visual Mahzor Art
This new rendering of Jonah for 5785 features a renewed telling of the story illuminated by art from Bayit’s Visual Mahzor, our new volume of artwork inspired by the Torah […]
A New Prayer/Poem for Yizkor: Together
This is a prayer I wrote on the morning of Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s funeral. Jewish tradition does not have one set idea about what happens after death, so the first part […]