We Jews love to argue. We argue with ourselves, with one another, and even with God. We value argument over faith, and doubt over belief. Ours is a tribe of inquiry. When we argue over our story we never ask, “What does it mean?” Instead we ask, “What could it mean?” And as soon as one of us tells us what it could mean, another of us asks, “What else could it mean?” For us misreading Torah in order to... Read more

NURTURING OUR STORY Nurturing our story is not the same as reading it annually, which we also do. Nurturing our story is reinterpreting it daily. But we go beyond reinterpreting and embrace misreading as a way of reimagining the story herself. My nurturing of our story led me to become a rabbi so that I could learn the tools for misreading our story (more on this later) and in so doing imagine new ways to live the story as well.... Read more

Our faith isn’t in creed, dogma, or belief; our faith is in story: the power of story to change lives, and the human potential to embody our particular story and bring about its promised end. It is our story that defines us, and we who define our story. Like lovers whose intimacy leaves them vulnerable to each other’s sorrows and joys, we Jews embrace and are embraced by our story. It isn’t that we believe in the story, but that... Read more

Jews are a tribe. Like all tribes you either are born into it, marry into it, or get adopted by it (we call this conversion). Our tribe is made up of many races and ethnicities; we speak many languages, some of which we borrow from the countries in which we have lived or currently live, and some we make up, blending our mother tongue, Hebrew, with Spanish, Arabic, and German, to name but three. We call these languages Ladino, Judeo–Arabic,... Read more

This blog was supposed to be a clear and simple statement of my understanding of Judaism. It has morphed into something complicated and confusing. I think the numbering of paragraphs has something to do with this, but it is more than that. The problem is that I was trying to impress myself with my own brilliance. I wasn’t writing for you but for the ages. Very narcissistic. Very silly. And very exhausting. I started to dread writing each post. I... Read more

4.6 Physics and Torah tell us creation is vibration—Elohim spoke the world into existence (Genesis 1:3). The universe is a speaking, a vibrating, a singing. This is why we Jews call ourselves Yisrael, not just Godwrestlers—yisra/wrestle El/God—but Godsingers—yashir/sing El/God. We are singing what is even as we wrestle with what might be. 4.7 There can be no song without silence. Music is a dance of notes and rests, otherwise all you have is noise. Elohim is the note. YHVH is... Read more

4.0 According to Torah, the universe is tohu va–vohu: wild, chaotic, unstable, and incapable of holding form (Genesis 1:2). God does nothing to calm the chaos, but merely calls forth form from out of the formless, “And God said….” God speaks the world into existence (Genesis 1:3). 4.1 Chaos is the fundamental reality over which we spread a veneer of order through the power of speech. The world that you and I know, the world we inhabit, the world in... Read more

2.9 The relationship between God and nature is like that of the sun and the rays of the sun. The sun doesn’t choose to shine; it can do nothing else. It is the nature of the sun to shine; indeed a sun that doesn’t shine is not a sun at all. Shining isn’t what a sun does, it is what a sun is. 3.0 And because the sun shines there are rays of the sun extending out from the sun.... Read more

[The following essay is in response to a question posted on the Patheos Public Square: www.patheos.com/Topics/Faith-in-the-New-Security-State.html. I will continue with the JudaismNext book on Wednesday.] I find it curious that we are asking people of faith to speak out about NSA spying: when it comes to surveillance the NSA has nothing on God. While the NSA may be reading my email, monitoring my phone calls, and hacking my computer and smartphone, God is collecting my every thought, word, and deed:... Read more

2.1 “God” is a word, and words need definitions if they are to be of any value to us. 2.2 There are many definitions of the word “God,” and you cannot speak meaningfully about God if you fail to define what you mean by the word “God.” 2.3 For some God is a man, often a white man, who resides up in heaven. This God created the universe, and humanity in particular. God judges the deeds (and in some religions... Read more