The bread rolls through my fingers crumbs slowly swallowed up by the bolus of the dough. I roll it flat, transfer it to the oven - the high heat blasts my face as I open the door, hot enough for a burnt offering. If I was the bread how would I feel? The sudden rush of heat kissing me like an ecstatic shock, complete transformation. Not an offering that burns up but one that returns to you. An offering of simplicity, of trust, of pure burning presence. I offer it to God; She o

We prepared for Pesach by searching for the chametz and purifying ourselves of all that does not serve us. But now we engage in a singular ritual of counting the omer. There is nothing else like it in the Hebrew calendar. Each day of counting is the dawn of a new pairing of the Sephirot, the divine emanations. We immerse ourselves in that fresh conjunction of qualities at every sundown, trusting what unfolds. We say Hineni in our opening blessing and then the brucha for coun

Dedicated to Rabbi Daniel Raphael Silverstein and Ami Gordon When the entire world is roaring, And the nations’ flames Blow higher and higher In blasts of rage And squalls of anger, When revenge surges And retribution storms with destruction, When helplessness threatens To explode all civilization; When helplessness threatens And despair comes to beckon - Stop! - Be still! Listen. Then hear… In the sanctity of quiet There is one note That traverses the Cosmos Entrusted to y