This is the God we meet in the book of Exodus: Ehyeh asher Ehyeh, variously translated ‘I Am That I Am’ and ‘I Will Be What I Will Be’. God is not some distant supreme being, orchestrating our every step, but a God of becoming; a Presence unfolding alongside and through us, that takes notice of us when we take notice of one another.
Read MoreThis week, Torah reminds us good years are followed by lean years, adversity by success, night by day. The Sefat Emet adds, in seasons of joy in our lives, we must savor what’s good, store it deep in the storehouses, of our bodies, hearts, and minds — so when we inevitably, confront loss or despair, we are able to reach in and pull out memories of joyful times, or lean on the relationships we’ve nurtured with friends and family for support.
Read MoreAaron’s response shows, even though Jewish tradition is full of words, there are times, like the times we are in now, when no words are adequate, when silence is exactly the right response. Loving silence doesn’t try to give reasons, or fix, or do -- it just is there, with you.
Read MoreWhile we as a people have had years to understand our experience of slavery, and can retell its story in a way that helps us find new meaning in it, the challenge we are all experiencing now is new: we don’t know how we will tell its story, or what meaning we will find in it months or even years from now. As we live through this particular chapter, many of us are feeling a kind of discomfort -- deeper than our inability to hug our children, or see our friends, or order the food we want. This discomfort has a name: grief.
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