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How do I hold myself with love?
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Rabbi Lisa Goldstein
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Early this spring, I traveled to California to celebrate my father's 90th birthday. Members of my extended family from as far away as Fiji and New Zealand came to gather, and I was amazed by the connections I saw between cousins who so rarely have the opportunity to meet in person, the instant bonds of love that we offered--even though we live such different lives!
One of my favorite interactions I witnessed that day was between my father and a visiting cousin, who just turned seven. This young boy was telling my father all about the planets and the solar system, which he was learning about in school, and found exciting and fascinating. My father, an astronomer who has been studying the planets since the 1960s, could certainly--in today's "I know more than you!" world--have brushed this little cousin off. Did he need a little boy to tell him about the retrograde rotation of Venus, or the rings of Saturn, things he himself had discovered? Of course not!
But he did. He listened to this little cousin, as if the way he saw the planets and the stars was the most interesting thing in the whole world to him. And only when he knew that learning from him would bring this cousin even more joy and excitement did he begin to tell him about his own ground-breaking work.
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God's Love is Our Refuge
Rabbi Nancy Flam
How precious is Your love, God;
human beings take refuge under the shelter of Your wings.
.מַה-יָּקָר חַסְדְּךָ, אֱלֹהִים: וּבְנֵי אָדָם
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בְּצֵל כְּנָפֶיךָ, יֶחֱסָיוּן
Ma yakar chasdecha Elohim, u-benei adam b'tzel kenafecha yechesayun.
(Psalm 36:8)
We whisper these words after reciting the blessing offering us sanctity in donning the
tallit (prayer shawl), just having thrown the fabric over our shoulders, newly enwrapped in its textile wing-arms.
This is an embodied practice of affirming God's love, affirming God's love as our refuge.
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Rabbi Jordan Bendat-Appell
There is the possibility that we move through life primarily focused on all that is lacking or unsatisfactory. We may therefore find that we are, over time, developing a pervasive resistance towards life. Jewish mindfulness practice offers a path for cultivating qualities of heart and mind-like
chesed (steadfast love)-that can instead open our hearts towards our experience and help us live with a non-antagonistic relationship towards our lives.
I invite you to join me for a guided audio teaching and
chesed meditation practice.
Read more...
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WEBINAR
The Centrality of Love in the Pursuit of Justice with Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg
Wednesday, June 7, 3pm EST
In these contentious and fraught political times, what is the role of love? How can we speak and act from a place of compassion, not only for ourselves and those with whom we agree, but for those with whom we may disagree vigorously? How can our actions and words in pursuing justice emerge from a place of deep compassion? In this webinar, renowned Jewish mindfulness teacher Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg, author of "God Loves the Stranger: Stories, Poems, Prayers," will explore these questions and more.
Click here to register.
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Hanan Harchol
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Kindness (Chesed): Jewish Food for Thought |
Jewish Food For Thought is written, drawn, and animated by Hanan Harchol. More animations by Hanan, as well as study guides by Rabbi Leora Kaye, are available at
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