by Rabbi Misha

The rabbis in the Talmud are big on accountability. But I'm not sure how they would feel about some of our current societal methods of holding people accountable for their actions.

by Rabbi Misha

On the night of the ninth of the Hebrew month of Av some decades ago, my parents made their way through the streets of west Jerusalem, entered through the walls of the old city and walked down to the Western Wall.

by Rabbi Misha

You’re coming home from work or from running around town. Your mind is busy. Your heart full of concerns. You unlock the door to your apartment and are about to step in. Your eye catches sight of the Mezuzah on the doorpost. You remember the first word in the scroll inside of it: Shma, Listen!

by Rabbi Misha

One thing Covid didn’t cure me of, is my continuing obsession with Psalm 27. In the Kabbalistic poem Yedid Nefesh, which we often sing to welcome Shabbat, there’s talk of a love-sickness that reminds me of this poetic obsession:

by Rabbi Misha

Last week I laid out some thoughts about how our poets of old pointed us toward a quiet that can transcend even the most difficult moments. At the heart of these is Psalm 27, attributed to King David. Here are two very different renditions of the Psalm, along with the original Hebrew text. The first version stays very close to the Hebrew, and the second is not quite a translation, more an expression of what I see as the main idea behind the Psalm, using elements from many different lines in the text.

by Rabbi Misha

Imagine you had the ability to put the world on mute.

by Rabbi Misha

Last week was the last class of the year at the School for Creative Judaism, the New Shul’s Hebrew school partner. Each year we have an annual theme, and this year’s was the Year of the Peacemakers, wherein students learned about activists for peace and justice from all stages of Jewish history.

by Rabbi Misha

A conversion candidate asked me recently what to expect as a Black Jew in New York City. What, he implied, is the current state of the racism and exoticizing of African American Jews in Jewish America?

by Rabbi Misha

On Rosh Hashanah we say that the Earth is תלוי על בלימה, a poetic phrase meaning something like hanging on nothingness, suspended in air, sitting on a void. The first word, תלוי means hanging or dependent.

by Rabbi Misha

I wake up from an intense dream. I go over its details in my mind. I’m full of the ramifications of this dream: psychological, emotional, spiritual. I turn to a loved one or friend and begin describing it. Their attention fades quickly.

by Rabbi Misha

The question is how do we respond to such a devastating week? One answer is: with a bell. (If you have one nearby grab it, it might come in handy.)

by Rabbi Misha

The South Indian spiritual sensation Sadhguru drove his motorcycle across the border from Jordan this week and made his way to Tel Aviv.

by Rabbi Misha

Non-Attachment is generally considered a Buddhist notion. Jews tend to attach themselves to creatures and objects, then cling to them, and if possible, eat them.

by Rabbi Misha

I’ve been exhausted all week. No amount of sleep seems to be enough. Nor caffeine. Until Monday morning I was full of energy, the house felt alive and filled with hope. As the news of the leaked draft began to sink in, so did my energy sap. The atmosphere seemed to cloud.

by Rabbi Misha

In Talmudic fashion, artist Ghiora Aharoni views shattering as the beginning of creation. The Brachot tractate tells us what it means when something breaks in a dream.

by Rabbi Misha

A few days ago, I took the boys on a pilgrimage to Leonard Cohen’s gravesite in Montreal.

by Rabbi Misha