Daily Kavanah – Friday, March 29, 2024
My soul, my heart really needed Purim this year. Or, to be more precise, it needed the fun, silly, colorful, joyous part—the [...]
Search for Meaning with Audrey Birnbaum
Audrey Birnbaum grew up in New York in the late 1960s, the child of a Holocaust survivor. When her [...]
Daily Kavanah – Thursday, March 28, 2024
On the Shabbat on or before the month of Nisan begins–this year, that Shabbat is April 6–we mark what is known as Shabbat [...]
Daily Kavanah – Wednesday, March 27, 2024
On Saturday, the Shabbat just after Purim, the tradition is to once again bring out a second scroll—this time to read from Numbers [...]
Daily Kavanah – Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Twice in the weeks before Purim, a second scroll is taken out of the Ark during the Shabbat Morning service, marking two [...]
Daily Kavanah – Monday, March 25, 2024
For a religion and practice deeply rooted in time, it is no surprise that our ancient rabbis spent a lot of time worrying [...]
Daily Kavanah – Friday, March 22, 2024
Purim has a different resonance now, in the middle of this terrible war. Megilat Esther is essentially a Jewish fantasy about what [...]
Daily Kavanah – Thursday, March 21, 2024
A Timeless Diaspora Story The Book of Esther is a diaspora story. Written by Jews who were under Persian or Greek rule, [...]
Daily Kavanah – Wedensday, March 20, 2024
Who’s a Hero? The Purim story was likely written by Jews heavily influenced by Greek storytelling. The heroes, the villains, even the court [...]
Daily Kavanah – Tuesday, March 19, 2024
To Masquerade or Not to Masquerade It is hard to imagine two days more different than Purim and Yom Kippur, and yet the [...]