Hopelessness is sticky. It is a deadend, a trap, a pit of quicksand. Hunger bears the impulse to eat. Thirst, bears the impulse to drink. Hopelessness has no such advantage. When we despair, the presence of hope makes us feel only more hopeless. We are confronted by what seems like another impossibility. The only thing […]
Passover teaches us that the Torah is rooted in a liberating event and in the movement from Egypt to Sinai we are given the pattern for keeping the freedom which we were given. When we see Torah in light of this liberating impulse, we understand better what the Spirit of the Law is, and what […]
Growing up, I learned that Hanukkah, Passover, and Purim spoke of the need, motive, and way of social justice. Keeping the feasts and telling the stories kept us focused on the need to see and lift the oppression of others. We were moved to do so because we ourselves had suffered. We were compelled to […]
The Angel’s announcement is Heaven meddling in earth’s affairs. We silence the oppressed, honor the strong, and bury the dead. We carry on our tacit agreement with politics, custom, and death itself, but Christ’s resurrection means earth’s charade is as empty as the tomb itself. With three words, business as usual has been shaken to […]
Whispers and shouts are powerful words. Both have a way of spreading lies and giving false impressions. We may shout to appear powerful. We may whisper to turn opinion against the good. Over time, “godly people cease to be and the faithful disappear from among the sons of Adam.” In Psalm 12 the Psalmist calls […]
