Haazinu 5786: Building our Sukkah
The emotional summit of my spiritual year comes at the end of Yom Kippur. The liturgy for that moment is utterly unique, something we do at no other time of the year: Responsively crying out the Shema and then, seven times, "Adonai hu haelohim," "YHVH is God." Then, when we've reached the peak, the shofar sounds for a final time and we break out into an ecstatic dance as we sing, "L'shanah haba'ah b'yerushalaim habenuyah," "Next year in a rebuilt Jerusalem." While I and the people surrounding me have been fasting for 25 hours, we don't seem to feel exhausted, but rather exultant: light as air, high on the palpable spiritual energy and presence we've tapped into. It's a moment I try to...
My Fiftieth High Holidays: A Personal Jubilee (Shabbat Shuva 5786)
As I was walking to shul on Rosh Hashanah morning, I did some personal accounting ('tis the season and all). My first "High Holiday gig" was blowing shofar in our minyan in Ann Arbor around age 14. The first time I led Rosh Hashanah Musaf was at the Hebrew Home for the Aged in New Haven in the fall of 1999, and I've continued doing that in various places nearly every year since. But then it occurred to me that this year is my fiftieth experience of the High Holidays. (My father, may he rest in peace, always used to love wishing us a happy birthday by saying, "Mazal tov on entering your Xth year," referring not to the number signified by our birthday, but by that number plus one: the year...
Shabbat Reflection – Shelach 5785
A few months ago, my dear friend and synagogue rabbi Ari Hart delivered a sermon that opened with a critique of an aspect of some (perhaps a lot?) of contemporary mindfulness practice: nonjudgmental acceptance. Now, I hasten to add that Ari is a participant in our Clergy Leadership Program cohort that launches next month, and he was not offering this critique to knock Jewish spiritual practices...
Rabbis, Cantors, and Kohanot Seek Spiritual Renewal in Mindful Practice
Announcing the 2025-2026 Cohort of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality’s Clergy Leadership ProgramOn July 20, 42 Jewish spiritual leaders from around the world will gather at the Pearlstone Retreat Center to meditate, pray, sing, study, and practice mindful movement, kicking off the Institute for Jewish Spirituality (IJS) 2025-2026 Clergy Leadership Program (CLP). With nearly 600 alumni now...
Josh in Conversation with Yiscah Smith
We are grateful to Yiscah Smith for sharing her insights with us. Please enjoy the conversation recording.Renowned spiritual teacher and author Yiscah Smith has spent a lifetime guiding seekers toward deeper authenticity, inner peace, and connection with the Divine. In her newest work, Planting Seeds of the Divine, she offers a rich and soulful roadmap for cultivating God-consciousness from...
Beha’alotcha 5785: And/or
Like millions of people, earlier this spring I binge-watched the second and final season of Andor, the Star Wars TV series starring Diego Luna as the titular character: a reluctant, yet willful and highly effective agent in the growing rebellion against the Empire. For many Star Wars fans, Andor is probably the greatest thing the 48-year old franchise has ever made. The quality of the scripts,...
Naso 5785: “Zalman, what’s become of you?!”
One of my favorite jokes in the (heilige/holy) Big Book of Jewish Humor is the one about a man from Warsaw who is in Chelm on a business trip. As he walks down the street, he's stopped by Yossel the chimney sweep. “Zalman!” cries Yossel. “What happened to you? It’s so long since I’ve seen you. Just look at yourself.” “But wait,” replies the stranger, “I’m—” “Never mind that,” says Yossel. “I...
Steady in the Storm: Celebrating Marc Margolius and Five Years of the Daily Sit
When the COVID lockdown began in March of 2020, IJS hosted the first Daily Sit to provide respite and comfort. Quickly we realized we’d tapped into a powerful yearning: By the end of the first week, more than 350 people were joining each day, finding 30 minutes of peace through meditation, Jewish wisdom, and community. Now, five years later, the Daily Sit is at the heart of IJS’s digital...
Shavuot 5785: Remembering Uncle Arthur
On erev Shavuot 1993, a Volkswagen van pulled up outside our house in Ann Arbor. I was finishing my junior year in high school, and we were preparing for the holiday. An unfamiliar older couple exited van and came to the door. I honestly don't remember the interaction that followed, but the long and short of it is that this was my father's brother Arthur and his wife Kate. They had driven from...
Behar-Bechukotai 5785: Arriving Home
Last Friday our family experienced a mini ingathering of the exiles: Our oldest came home for the summer, our middle one returned from nine months on a gap year program, our youngest didn't have a classmate's b-mitzvah to attend. And so, for the first time since last summer, our whole crew was around the table for Shabbat dinner. However briefly (I left on a business trip Sunday morning), we got...
Emor 5785: Da Pope
Last Thursday and Friday were, hands down, the best days in Chicago social media history. Why? Because, in the words of the ginormous headline in the Sun-Times Friday morning, the papal conclave had elected "Da Pope." Robert Prevost, born on Chicago's south side, became, overnight, Pope Leo XIV--and Chicago, where I live, was here for it. The memes were flying: The Wiener Circle, one of...
Hearing the Divine, in Silence
The holiday of Shavuot, commemorating the revelation of Torah at Mount Sinai, begins this year Sunday night, June 1. It is striking that despite the cacophonous scene of revelation described in the Torah in Exodus 19, there is a stream within Jewish tradition that emphasizes silence as the context for intimate encounter with the Divine. Rabbinic tradition offers an interpretation that at Mount...
First Cohort of 28 Spiritual Directors Graduate from Kol Dodi
In a famous Hasidic saying, the Kotzker Rebbe was once asked: “Where does God dwell?” to which he replied, “Wherever you let God in.” Spiritual direction is the practice of letting God in, of noticing the sacred thread woven throughout everyday life. Spiritual direction is a contemplative practice that invites one to grow in awareness of the sacred dimension present in every moment, no matter...
Torah from the Well: Standing at Sinai Here and Now
Hi friends. I hope this message finds you well. This month, we’re focusing on preparing spiritually for Shavuot—the festival that commemorates our collective receiving of the Torah at Sinai. Many of us were taught to relate to that experience as a one-time event in the distant past. And while this historical moment continues to reverberate through Jewish life, Sinai can sometimes feel far...
Acharei Mot-Kedoshim 5785: Of Conductors and Rabbis
My very favorite TED talk is by the Israeli conductor Itay Talgam. It's called "Lead Like the Great Conductors." In 20 minutes, Talgam shows clips of some of the greats of the twentieth century: Richard Strauss, Carlos Kleiber, Riccardo Muti (who is still alive and well, conducting here in Chicago and around the world), Herbert Von Karajan, and ultimately Leonard Bernstein, who was Talgam's...
Tazria-Metzora 5785: Eye of the Beholder
In the weeks leading up to my physical this week, I was a little nervous. I had noticed a bit of pain in a sensitive area on my skin that's not easy to see, and I couldn't figure out what was causing it. There was nothing debilitating or life-threatening, but it was on my list of things to talk about with the physician. But then I made what those of us who grew up watching "The Princess Bride"...
Josh in Conversation with Rabbi Shira Stutman
We are grateful to Rabbi Shira Stutman for sharing her insights with us. Please enjoy the conversation recording.Rabbi Shira Stutman is a nationally known faith-based leader and change maker with more than twenty years of experience motivating and inspiring groups large and small. She is the senior rabbi of the Aspen Jewish Congregation and co-host of the top-ranked PRX podcast Chutzpod! in...
Shemini 5785: Be a Blessing
On Wednesday night I had to run to the drug store. We were out of antihistamine, and, being springtime, the air in Chicago is thick with stuff that makes me sneeze. There's a Walgreens around the corner from our house. As I walked up to the entrance, I saw a man holding a sign in Spanish, but headlined with "Please help." He had three young children with him, the oldest appearing to be no more...
My Talk at the Central Conference of American Rabbis 2025
Last month I was honored to share some words of Torah during a plenary session at the convention of the Central Conference of American Rabbis in Chicago, alongside two wonderful colleagues: Rabbi Yael Vurgan and Dr. Claire Sufrin. The three of us were asked to spend 15 minutes each sharing a text that has helped us cultivate resilience over these recent difficult months. The text I taught came...
Passover 5785: Purity
The other day I found myself thinking back five years, to the first Pesach we celebrated during the Covid pandemic. I remembered the strange feeling of loneliness and isolation. I remembered how families struggled to figure out whether and how they could do "Zoom seders" (and, frequently, how they would manage to get less tech-savvy relatives into the "room"). I remembered the unusual experience...
