Don’t be afraid of solitude and silence, and question those who are!
2011
The Fact of Human Plurality
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Tikkun olam is itself the realization that every human life is unique and distinct from every other human life; that the odds against human life ever having occurred in the universe are so overwhelming that we can conceive of it only as a miracle; and that this miracle requires us, because we are human, to tend to the world that receives us at birth and from which we eventually depart.
2011
Prophets and Sages in Tikkun
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According to R. Yannai, the prophets’ utterances must be refined, just as silver from a mine needs to be refined: “The words of Torah were not given as clear cut decisions (chatuchot). For with every word which the Holy One, blessed be He, spoke to Moses, He offered him forty-nine [seven times seven] arguments by which a thing may be proved pure and forty nine-arguments by which a thing may be proved impure.”
2011
Reflections on Liberal Zionism
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America is not an “honest broker” nor is it working on a just solution to the conflict. Our government, largely as a result of pressure from our community, provides blanket support for Israel.
2011
While Standing on One Foot
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In the kabbalistic theory of tikkun olam, it is our human responsibility to find all those pieces of light that escaped the big creation bang of the original vessel and put the world back together again. When I allow myself to clear my head of my own prejudices and preconceptions, I am always surprised by where I find those pieces of light.
2011
How to Face the Future
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War and Peace. Tolstoy got the order right. We must know in deep and dark detail how horrible war is before we will have the courage or wisdom to do much to stop it long enough to resolve and transform a conflict. The Hebrew word for this is “tikkun” — healing and transformation.
2011
Beyond Spiritual Narcissism
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Specifically, I have suggested two basic guidelines: the egocentrism test, which assesses the extent to which spiritual traditions, teachings, and practices free practitioners from gross and subtle forms of narcissism and self-centeredness; and the dissociation test, which evaluates the extent to which spiritual traditions, teachings, and practices foster the integrated blossoming of all dimensions of the person.
2011
A New Future for Food
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Many happily munch on their hamburgers without a thought to the land destroyed for cattle grazing, or the immense cruelty in the raising and slaughter of the billions of animals we use for food each year. Mothers continue to prod their youngsters to eat their vegetables, unaware of the poisons involved in their production, not to mention the water and air.
2011
The “How To” of Caring Community
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These are lean times for utopian thinking. We know too much about its dangers and failures. What within previous utopian experiments, from communism to kibbutzim to ’70s communes, undermined them? Human nature? Our particular cultures?
Christianity
The Spiritual Messages of Chanukah and Christmas — and Their Downsides
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Christmas and Chanukah share a spiritual message: that it is possible to bring light and hope in a world of darkness, oppression and despair.
Other Voices
Try a Spiritual Progressive Approach to Thanksgiving This Year!
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No matter how difficult it may be in a world filled with pain and cruelty, there are moments when it is important to stop looking at all the problems and focus on all the good.
2010
Strange Land, New World
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I am the first Jew to live in this cloistered Benedictine monastery. I don’t blend. I wear a kippah everywhere I go, and I observe the Sabbath and all Jewish holidays. I’m studying to become a rabbi, and I live here in this remote community of Catholic monks vowed to chastity and obedience.