Sometimes Torah is referred to as Mayim Chayim or “living waters.” That’s because Torah nourishes and sustains. That’s because Torah is ever flowing. That’s because it’s possible to get swept up in a current of learning and living, of receiving life from and giving life to Torah.
Judaism
#Search– #BlogElul Day 3
When push comes to shove to search is really to inquire. To search is to seek to discover, to understand, to make meaning. Which brings me to Midrash. In Hebrew, Midrash is both a specific literary genre and an ongoing process. The literary genre of Midrash is most closely associated with those rabbis that sought […]
30 essential questions for life p.1/6
The Hebrew month of Elul begins tomorrow. It’s a month of spiritual reflection and preparation culminating in Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. In honor of Elul I’ll be posting what I’m calling “30 essential questions for life.” Here are the first 5: 1) What am I running toward? What am I running from? 2) […]
Choosing Reform Judaism
Are you in the process of converting to Reform Judaism? Are you thinking about it? If so, I’d love to connect with you and hear your thoughts about this post. My wife, Rabbi Loren Filson Lapidus, and I love to host people in our home. It’s hard to find the time, but it’s something that’s […]
Ever-Living Word
The following was written in 1857 (in German) by one of the great intellectuals of the early Reform Movement, Abraham Geiger. Translation by Max Wiener: The Bible is now and has always been an ever-living Word, not a dead letter. It has spoken to all generations and imparted its teaching to them; it expressed the […]
Sometimes I don’t have the Ruach
Previously, I mentioned the opening prayer that some of my Middle School Jewish Studies colleagues and I wrote and which our Middle School community recites at the beginning of our t’fila services x2-3/week. It starts, “All I have to offer in prayer is myself/ sometimes I cannot find the Ruach (spirit) to pray alone.” Sometimes […]