According to Hasidic teachings, Tuesday night is the latest that one can make havdalah, the ritual separation between Shabbat and the rest of the week. I will take this opportunity, then, to shift from thinking about the Torah portion from last Shabbat – B’Ha-alotcha – and look towards what we will hear and study this Shabbat--Shlach L’cha. This is the Shabbat of the spies, of the twelve men who are sent to scout the Promised Land. It is a narrative of faith and fear, and the event that sets the stage for Joshua’s eventual succession of leadership. He and Caleb, alone amongst the twelve, come back with hope for the future, with the belief that God’s promise will come true. Along with the story of the Golden Calf, this is one of the origin stories for our relationship with Divine punishment and forgiveness. After the sin of the Golden Calf, [...]

I am not sure if it counts as a guilty pleasure, but I really love the Normal Gossip podcast hosted by Kelsey McKinney. According to its description: Normal Gossip delivers juicy, strange, funny, and utterly banal gossip about people you’ll never know and never meet. Host Kelsey McKinney discusses reader-submitted comedic gossip with guests, diving into the lives and decisions of complete strangers. Not gossip in the way we usually think of it, the podcast is actually a master class in storytelling. McKinney brings us into family dynamics, friendships, and romantic relationships with wit and curiosity – and never meanness. According to pop culture site Vulture, “The idea for Normal Gossip first percolated during the pandemic, when the physical separation from others caused McKinney to feel the stinging absence of mundane gossip that doesn’t involve, say, a celebrity. Additionally, one  listener commented that “It really makes you more aware of the fact that gossip [...]

One of the things I found most fascinating–and enjoyable–about my Ulpan experience was the diversity of participants. Our Zoom spanned time zones from Los Angeles to Ottawa to Brooklyn to the Czech Republic to Israel. Participants were secular Americans of Israeli parents, new(ish) olim to Israel–and even a formerly ultra-Orthodox woman who lived her first 19 years in Jerusalem without learning Hebrew! I loved learning why each person was there, and I also loved the Hebrew knowledge that each person brought. Each of them knew different vocabulary, learned of their different experiences. For example, I headed off to Jerusalem over 20 years ago, and quickly realized that while I could conjugate complex verbs and translate an arcane Biblical sentence, ordering an extra plate in a restaurant was a real challenge! And while my modern Hebrew has improved a ton since I started rabbinical school, during Ulpan I was frequently reminded of [...]