In Judaism, the “evil inclination” is called the yetzer hara (יצר הרע), but that phrase is often badly misunderstood. It does not mean a demonic force inside you. It does… read more

There is a quiet test happening in every conversation you have. Its not when you speak, not when you explain yourself to someone else. It’s when you are spoken to,… read more

Trying something a little different this week. Click “play” above. Enjoy! [Verse] Out of the depths of history, a tale unfolds, of a people resilient as time is old. The… read more

I want to take a little detour from our regularly scheduled conversation and interrupt the flow with a more spontaneous message this week. In past sermons, we have dismantled illusions…. read more

I’m not trying to annoy anyone. It would be much easier to repeat the same tired clichés—safer, smoother, more comfortable. But honesty doesn’t live there. Easy words don’t move anything…. read more

This week, I want to take us somewhere we don’t usually go when we speak about G-d. We are used to looking upward. We speak about the heavens, about what… read more

I don’t have all the answers. In fact, a lot of the time I don’t have any of them. I don’t know what the world wants from me. Even if… read more

The Name as a Tree Last time we saw that the Name was withheld. Not erased. Not lost. Withheld. But restraint is only the surface. The tradition did not preserve… read more

Before We Speak of Names Where does our understanding of a thing come from? For most people who believe in G-d, it doesn’t come from study. It comes the way… read more

I want you to imagine something for a moment— and, not as fantasy, not as utopia— but as a sobering thought experiment. What if every human being chose, just one… read more

There are moments in history when confusion is normal. And then there are moments like this one. This is not just a hard time. Not just an intense period. Not… read more

The Betrayal of Jesus We all know that in the story of Jesus, he is betrayed. But the deeper betrayal didn’t come from outside his movement—it came from what followed… read more

Yep, it sneaks up the same way it always does. One day it’s late December, the next it’s a new year—fresh calendar, same questions. The world celebrates as if something… read more

This time of year— this season… is full of light! Lights on houses. Lights wrapped around trees, railings, fences. Lights everywhere you look. The instinct is ancient, and it makes… read more

There is a kind of grief that doesn’t get a funeral. No flowers. No cards. No shared stories over food. Just silence. And the slow, aching realization that what you… read more

We all like to think we’re such nice, good people… and usually, we probably are. But, if we’re being honest, we all know there are those times— those moments when… read more

There’s an old story that goes like this: A man is walking alone through the woods at dusk. The air is still. The light is fading. But as he walks,… read more

I Do the Best I Can Some days, it doesn’t look like much. A few things get done. A few things fall apart. I forget what I meant to say,… read more

When I was a little girl, my mother used to call me the “Maytag repairman” because I was always taking things apart, trying to see how it worked, and putting… read more

I’ve been avoiding doing this because I already know some people are going to find it upsetting, and the last thing I want to be doing is upsetting people. But,… read more