Matot-Masei 5785: Sleepless Nights
If you're a regular reader of these Friday reflections, you have probably noticed that, like a Law & Order episode, they follow a pretty predictable form: I start with an engaging personal story, pivot to a lesson drawn from the week's Torah portion, and then bring it home with a message about how Jewish spiritual practice can help us lead a more meaningful life. This week I feel a need to write differently. Even as I reach for the right story, I can't find it, other than to tell you that I've found myself waking in the middle of the night thinking a lot about Israelis, Gazans, and Jews. Now I'm not here to offer political commentary or analysis. Much as it's tempting, that's neither...
Pinchas 5785: Finding Home
I was blessed to grow up in the same house my entire childhood. My parents moved into 1258 Crosby Crescent in Ann Arbor in 1969, and my mom only left the house after my dad died 49 years later. I have no memories of moving during childhood; the first time I packed a moving box was when I went to college. My father, God bless him, had a hard time parting with material things, and by the time he passed away there was a lot of stuff in the house that had to be cleared out and repaired in order to get the place in condition to sell. That was a big enough job on its own, and it became significantly more complicated when the pandemic hit about 15 months after he died, especially because my...
Remembering Rabbi Jonathan Omer-Man (z’l)
We mourn the loss of our dear friend and teacher, Rabbi Jonathan Omer-Man, who died earlier this month.We honor Jonathan as a key founder and founding faculty member of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. However, before reflecting on his role with the Institute, please know this:“For 26 years Jonathan lived in Israel, where he worked as a farmer, until he contracted polio, and...
A Conversation with Rabbi Michael Strassfeld
We are grateful to Best-Selling Author, Rabbi Michael Strassfeld, for speaking with IJS President & CEO, Rabbi Josh Feigelson! Please enjoy the conversation recording below. Rabbi Michael Strassfeld is one of the editors of the Jewish Catalog (1973), a guide to do-it-yourself Judaism that sold over 300,000 copies. He edited the Second and Third Jewish Catalogs (1975,1979),...
A Conversation with Yossi Klein-Halevi
We are grateful to Award-Winning Journalist & Best-Selling Author, Yossi Klein-Halevi, for speaking with IJS President & CEO, Rabbi Josh Feigelson! Please enjoy the conversation recording below. In his decades of writing from and about Israel, New York Times bestselling author Yossi Klein-Halevi has earned a reputation as a leading interpreter of contemporary Israel and...
Josh’s Book Launch: Eternal Questions
Rabbi Josh Feigelson's book launch and conversation with Abigail Pogrebin took place on Wednesday, October 26, 2022. The recording of the event is now available below. Feel free to share with friends and family who may be interested. We hope you find this to be a meaningful discussion. Josh's book, Eternal Questions, is now available for purchase. Rabbi Josh Feigelson is the...
Introducing IJS’s First Faculty Fellow: Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife
IJS is delighted to announce that Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife has joined its faculty as a Faculty Fellow. The fellowship, which runs from 2022-24, is the first of its kind at the Institute. It is designed to identify and nurture exceptional spiritual leaders who can contribute new skills and perspective to IJS’s teaching and programs, while also developing greater expertise in Jewish...
A Conversation with Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg
We are grateful to Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg for speaking with us about Repentance and Repair! Please enjoy the conversation recording below. Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg is an award-winning author and serves as Scholar in Residence at the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW). She was named by Newsweek as a “rabbi to watch,” as a “faith leader to watch” by the Center for American Progress,...
![Richard Schwartz: “To be a presence that can possibly bring some healing [is] an incredible gift.”](https://www.jewishspirituality.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Richard-400x250.png)
Richard Schwartz: “To be a presence that can possibly bring some healing [is] an incredible gift.”
Our recent Evening of Gratitude was a valuable opportunity to recognize Jewish spiritual leaders of all kinds and their incredible impact on the people and communities they serve. We are so grateful for all they bring to our world, and so proud to be part of their stories. In one of the evening’s spotlights, IJS alum Cantor Richard Schwartz shared how pastoral care, mindfulness...
Alison Kur: “Spirituality is about nurturing my soul and giving my soul to others”
Hundreds of IJS supporters joined us on Tuesday, June 7, 2022 for our Evening of Gratitude, honoring and thanking Jewish spiritual leaders. We are eager to share one of the highlights of the celebration, and we hope that you will consider making a donation to support our work. Alison Kur, Executive Director of Jewish Living at Temple Beth Elohim in Wellesley, MA, was one of the...
Of Black Swans and Sabbatical Years
If you haven’t seen it yet, take a minute to watch the finish from this year’s Kentucky Derby. It’s a sight to behold.The two leading horses are racing neck-and-neck (literally), jockeying for position (again, literally), as they make the final turn of the one-and-a-quarter-mile track at Churchill Downs. Slowly and then suddenly, Rich Strike, a horse no one even expected to be in the...
A Conversation with Joy Ladin, PhD and Rabbi Dr. Erin Leib Smokler
We are grateful to Joy Ladin, PhD and Rabbi Dr. Erin Leib Smokler for sharing their insights with us! Please enjoy the conversation recording below. Joy Ladin, PhD is a teacher, widely published essayist and poet, literary scholar, and nationally known speaker on transgender issues. She is the author of twelve books, including 2021 National Jewish Book Award winner, The Book of Anna,...
Purim and the Pursuit of Wisdom
"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of...
A Conversation with Rabbi Irving “Yitz” Greenberg
We are grateful to Rabbi Irving "Yitz" Greenberg for sharing his wisdom with us. Please enjoy the conversation recording below. Rabbi Irving "Yitz" Greenberg is one of the most influential Jewish thinkers and institution-builders of our time. Currently president of the J.J. Greenberg Institute for the Advancement of Jewish Life (JJGI) and Senior Scholar in Residence at Hadar, Rabbi...
A Reflection on Jewish Mindfulness and Habits of the Heart
It often feels these days that we’re living through a Great Unraveling. Institutions, those deposits of trust that enable things to be—or at least seem to be—settled, are coming apart. News media, public health, elections, representative government, the weather, the forests, the shoreline, truth, language itself: In so many places, things I took to be more or less stable are...
How Spiritual Practices Impacted my Bearing Witness Outside the Glynn County, GA Courthouse
On Thursday November 18, 2021 I traveled to Brunswick, GA along with eleven other Jewish clergy to bear witness and offer support to the Black pastors, the community and family members gathering at the Glynn County courthouse during the trial for the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. Arbery, 25, was shot while going for a run in a suburban neighborhood. The chase and shooting were caught on...
Resilient Writers Fellowship Feature Articles
I will pour out My spirit on all flesh Your children shall prophesy Your old shall dream dreams And your youth shall see visions. These words from the prophet Joel (made even more famous by Debbie Friedman) are a perfect introduction to the essays in the enclosed booklet, which are the product of the Resilient Writers Fellowship, a joint project of IJS and New Voices Magazine. Over...
To Prevent a Crisis of Clergy Burnout, Help Them Cultivate Their Inner Lives
As a spate of recent articles have proclaimed, clergy face a crisis. In his recent piece in eJewishPhilanthropy, Rabbi Lewis Kamrass, President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), warned of the real possibility of an exodus of rabbis from congregational life, due to the extreme additional emotional and professional burdens imposed upon them by the pandemic. He urges...
A Conversation with Dr. Lisa Miller
We are grateful to Dr. Lisa Miller for joining us on Tuesday, October 5, 2021 for a special evening.In conversation with Rabbi Josh Feigelson, Dr. Miller shared her insights and research on the new science of spirituality. Lisa Miller, PhD, is a professor in the Clinical Psychology Program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is the Founder and Director of the Spirituality...
An Evening of Music with Joey Weisenberg
We are grateful to Joey Weisenberg for joining us on Tuesday, July 20, 2021 for a special evening. In conversation with Rabbi Josh Feigelson, Joey shared his music and insights. Joey Weisenberg is a virtuosic multi-instrumental musician, composer and teacher. He is the Founder and Director of Hadar’s Rising Song Institute, cultivating grassroots musical-spiritual creativity in Jewish...