Tree of Life

A small stream flows through lush green grass and dense plants in a peaceful, wooded area.

This acrostic piece spells out “Tree of Life Pittsburgh Tree of Life.” It is, of course, a response to the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue (October 27, 2018). […]

Taharot in Pittsburgh

A small stream flows through lush green grass and dense plants in a peaceful, wooded area.

As the Jewish world mourns the murders at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, a group of private individuals are preparing themselves to perform taharot. Taharah (taharot, pl) is the ritual preparation […]

How to Pray While the World Burns

A small stream flows through lush green grass and dense plants in a peaceful, wooded area.

Go outside. Find a patch of grass, sand, dirt. Sit, kneel, place a hand or just A finger to the soft earth. Feel it pulse back. Open your palms and […]

Prayer for the Tree of Life Synagogue

A small stream flows through lush green grass and dense plants in a peaceful, wooded area.

Sure as we lay tefillin on bruised bodies, and walk cautiously down the halls of seminaries, and sure as we collectively hold our breaths as we drop off frightened children […]

Where God Is

A small stream flows through lush green grass and dense plants in a peaceful, wooded area.

There is no place that God is not Even in the barrel of a gun Bullets sing their own psalm A deadly hymn to the true judge The Creator of […]

Dream of the Red Tent

A hand touches a colorful mezuzah on a doorpost in a home.

I want to write about tenderness a year of exhaling into presence finding myself and my tribe the lost tribe of Dinah of Miriam of Zipporah of Sarah wildly unabashed […]

Interpretive Sheva Brakhot

A hand touches a colorful mezuzah on a doorpost in a home.

Created for the wedding of my daughter, Emily 1.  Blessed is the fruit of the vine, that we may drink of it now to celebrate this union. May you both […]

A Caregiver’s Prayer

A person drapes a white, embroidered tallit over their shoulders, hand resting on their chest.

Shekhinah, we live in a broken world, and the light gets in through the cracks. I come seeking this light and I come seeking lightness. I have opened my heart […]

The Reconstructionist Network

Serving as central organization of the Reconstructionist movement

Training the next generation of groundbreaking rabbis

Modeling respectful conversations on pressing Jewish issues

Curating original, Jewish rituals, and convening Jewish creatives

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The Reconstructionist Network