The Advocate

Today was a frenetic flood of so many things to do, to say, to write, to read, and to hold that I literally dozed off in my chair with my laptop, cell, and headphones all right in the middle of listening to an important meeting. Today was a reminder that I only have so much time in a day and so many priorities I can tackle in it. Above all of those are my wife, my daughters, and our family together. Which is why it will be hard to step back, to take on less, to have to say no when I want to yell yes and jump right in. But when that happens, I have faith that there are so many other people in this community who have been and will continue to be there for justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. I take comfort in knowing that we all cycle through different periods of life, from the vanguard to rearguard. For me, this is a period of quiet growth, of foundation building, and of preparation for the work still to come. I am taking my next steps to reach those next levels in my life. I can&

(Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, 1850 painting by David Roberts) Yavne: a city in the central district of Israel. “For roughly a thousand years, Jewish worship meant bringing sacrifices to the Temple in Jerusalem. Then, in 70 CE, with the Temple about to fall, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai imagined an alternative. He famously asked the Roman Emperor to 'Give me Yavne and its Sages.' From the academies of Yavne came a new form of worship, based on prayer and study. Animal sacrifice, it turned out, was not essential to being a Jew.” But in a larger sense, Yavne means acknowledging “a phase of Jewish history had run its course.” It means that Jews are a living people and part of that process is listening, learning, growing, changing, even or especially when we face our most painful challenges and our most bitter losses. It doesn’t mean abandoning our traditions or community. It doesn’t mean abandoning who we are as a people. Rather, it means embracing what we as a pe

Parnassah: which means livelihood. It's your income and your ability to support yourself. Traditionally, it has meant your "living" in the sense of "making a living." However, as with all Jewish things, there's a deeper meaning. Parnassah is about more than securing the money to survive in society. It's about understanding the worth of our labor, the costs of our trade, and to chose our occupation with care, because "life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you get good at." Learn more here . Take note and take care.

Gilgul: (plural gilgulim) also known as Gilgul neshamot/Gilgulei Ha Neshamo. In Hebrew, the word gilgul means "cycle" or "wheel" and neshamot is the plural for "souls." Souls are seen to cycle through lives or incarnations, being attached to different human bodies over time. Which body they associate with depends on their particular task in the physical world, spiritual levels of the bodies of predecessors and so on. The concept relates to the wider processes of history in Kabbalah, involving cosmic Tikkun (Messianic rectification), and the historical dynamic of ascending Lights and descending Vessels from generation to generation. Rolling of the souls through life from body to body, animal or human, basically metempsychosis. There's gilgul, transmigration proper, in which a soul that had previously inhabited one body is sent back to earth to inhabit another body. Then ibbur, “impregnation,” in which a soul descends from heaven in order to assist anoth

This week is #HEREIAM #Hineni. I've endured horrific #antisemitism, yet, I remain a proud Jew committed to all the beauty of our people, cultivating #community, and forging #partners in allyship.  Learn more at Here I Am Stories . Take note and take care.