Our parents read these words Our grandparents read these words And the generations that came before Names, faces, places, hearts, minds, souls, whose names we do not know but who somehow dreamed that we might one day read these words too We are not the first, we are not the last, We are not the […]
Prayer
What was prayerful for me today?
In the spirit of continuing to identify what prayer, prayerfulness, and spirituality mean to me, I’m trying to pause and reflect on the question, “What was prayerful for me today?” The only thing that’s tricky doing this in the context of a blog is my willingness to honestly answer this question as well as feeling […]
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 […]
What was prayerful for me today?
1) Our final Jewish music meeting of the year. Working with two remarkably capable and passionate people who have a high level of respect and commitment coupled with a sense of humor and ability to embrace the fact that our shared area of concern is a work in progress. 2) The 5th grade class that […]
A prayer for graduation
Thank you. Thank you for this day and the countless days leading up to it. And thank you, in advance, for not making me say goodbye, but rather see you later. Thank you for all the things we’ve taught one another, most of which are so deeply embedded in our souls that we don’t even […]
All I have to offer
A few years ago my colleagues and I wrote an opening prayer for t’fila at The Davis Academy middle school. It starts with the line, “All I have to offer in prayer is myself.” We recite it every time our Middle School community gathers for t’fila, but what does it mean. On the one hand […]