Category Archives: Days of Awe

Sea of Memories

Posted on September 22, 2022 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

(A conversation submitted by Ariele Sager Rosen, daughter of Rabbi Steve Sager. Ariele is a Jewish Studies teacher in Israel, where she lives with her family) The world is filled with remembering and forgettingAs it is with sea and dry … Continue reading →

Posted in Blessing, Days of Awe, Memory, Midrash, Poetry, Talmud, Torah | 2 Comments

The Nature Of Teshuvah

Posted on October 4, 2019 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

An early rabbinic teaching concerns our place in the world’s time: How should we count the years and account for the crops tithed to the Temple? Each season would begin on the first day of the well-chosen month, except for … Continue reading →

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The Binding Of God

Posted on September 29, 2016 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

To my mind’s eye, Rabbi Berechiah appeared stoop-shouldered and mournful on Rosh Hashanah as he listened to the Torah reader recite Genesis 22, The Binding of Isaac. Berechiah, a 4th century sage of the land of Israel, was pained by … Continue reading →

Posted in Days of Awe, Holidays, Midrash, Poetry, Torah | 1 Comment

Heaven, Holiness, And Harmony

Posted on September 20, 2015 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

On erev Yom Kippur, 1990, the heavens broke open over kibbutz Bet Hashita. In the moment, after the singing, no one spoke; no one wanted to leave. Later, individual recollections of heaven, holiness, and harmony seemed woven into one story, … Continue reading →

Posted in Days of Awe, Holidays | 2 Comments

Before and Within

Posted on September 29, 2014 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

A strange Yom Kippur story was told by Rabbi Ishmael, a High Priest of the 2nd Temple: Once, I entered before and within (the Holy of Holies) to offer the incense and I saw Akatriel Yah, the Lord of Hosts, sitting on … Continue reading →

Posted in Blessing, Days of Awe, Holidays, Poetry, Talmud | Leave a comment

Beginnings Ripe And Ripening

Posted on September 9, 2014 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

Rabbi Eliezer asks:  From where do we learn that the world was created in Tishrei? From the verse: God said, let the earth sprout grasses, seed bearing plants, fruit trees of every kind on earth bearing fruit with the seed … Continue reading →

Posted in Days of Awe, Holidays, Passover, Poetry, Talmud | 2 Comments

Seeing Life In the Distance

Posted on September 11, 2013 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

Imagine a life in which repentance—teshuvah—is not necessary; a life in which there is no distance to close between action and ideal. According to the 3rd century sage, Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba, the promise of such a life was beyond … Continue reading →

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To Forgive Is Human

Posted on August 28, 2013 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

How divine is forgiveness? asks the poet, Marge Piercy: It’s a nice concept but what’s under the sculptured draperies? We forgive when we don’t really care… We forgive those who betrayed us years later because memory has rotted through like … Continue reading →

Posted in Days of Awe, Mishnah, Talmud | 1 Comment

“Pleas” Knock

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

That place, just above the latch to the left that no one has or ever will touch the place hidden, on which no one has laid a hand the place that does not know how to ask- It is the … Continue reading →

Posted in Days of Awe, Holidays, Poetry, Prayer | 2 Comments

The Pot Becomes the Potter

Posted on September 13, 2011 by Sicha, Continuing the Conversation

We are like clay in designer’s hand, As he wills—to contract, as he wills—to expand, So are we in your hand to lovingly define, Look past our designs keep the covenant in mind. An anonymous prayer poet shaped Jeremiah’s image … Continue reading →

Posted in Days of Awe, Holidays, Poetry, Prayer | 7 Comments