by Josh Warshawsky | Jan 9, 2019 | intentions
Darkness hovers over this week’s parsha like a plague… the ninth plague in fact! But there is a deeper meaning to this plague of darkness. What is so important about this darkness is what is mentioned right after it: וַיְהִ֧י חֹֽשֶׁךְ־אֲפֵלָ֛ה בְּכָל־אֶ֥רֶץ...
by Josh Warshawsky | Jan 9, 2019 | intentions
There is story in the Talmud that every Shabbat, two angels accompany us on our way, a good angel and a bad angel. If we come home and our table is set, the candles are lit, and we’ve created space for Shabbat, the good angel will say, “So may it be every week,” and...
by Josh Warshawsky | Jan 9, 2019 | intentions
WAKE UP! SHINE YOUR LIGHT! SING OUT! STAND UP. Lecha Dodi is a demand. A call to action. Hit’oreri! Wake up! Your light is coming, so shine it out. Especially during this festival of lights, the message of Lecha Dodi calls on us to shine light in the darkness. I spend...
by Josh Warshawsky | Nov 15, 2018 | intentions
The “I” Gets in the Way Sometimes we are our own worst enemy. In this week’s parashah, Vayeitze, Jacob runs away from Be’er Sheva, away from his brother Esau, and comes upon a certain place and stops for the night. There he has a famous dream of a ladder reaching to...
by Josh Warshawsky | Oct 31, 2018 | intentions
When 11 Souls are gone, what lives on? What can we do, as individuals, as a community, to move forward after 11 souls were taken from us at Tree of Life synagogue last Shabbat? It’s unimaginable, but I looked to our tradition to try to find an answer. This week’s...
