Jewish Relationships Initiative

Category: Relationships

  • Jewish End Of Life Care In A Virtual Age: Our Traditions Reimagined

    Excited to share that our new book is now available on Kindle and in paperback!

    https://amzn.to/316sYV4

     

     

  • Shabbat Shalom and Chag Pesach Sameach

    Passover 613 style

    and Shabbat Shalom

  • To Mom, Zichronah Livracha- a toast with Chocolate Milk

    A small gathering of family said goodbye to the matriarch this past Sunday.  Adult children and wives, adult grandchildren, and a “bun in the oven.”  I was asked to officiate because that is what the family believed mom would have wanted.  They and their mother understood themselves in a humanist way, but they believed it was the appropriate honor for mom- to bury her Jewishly.  The boys never had a chance to have this conversation with her as she had dementia that ravaged her by the end.

    I did my best to honor her and those who were trying to honor their mother by weaving rituals with stories that each family member was eager to share and reluctant to stop.  This beautiful family time ended by raising a glass of chocolate milk, mom’s favorite drink, toasting her life and the family that is her legacy.

    As I was preparing to leave, the sons presented me with the replica Torah Scrolls given to each of them by the rabbi from their Bar Mitzvah.  They found them among the few possessions mom brought with her to the care facility.

    May her life be for a blessing.

  • Shabbat Shalom

    I share the wonderful rendition of Amazing Grace performed by Garth Brooks at the Inauguration.

    This beautiful song is for all of us.  There was a time when Jews avoided this piece because of historic frictions.   But if we are brave enough, we can embrace the power, beauty, and majesty of the music as we march forward with all our brothers and sisters in love.

    Shabbat Shalom

  • Our Country, May it Be

    Inspiration and ideals in familiar music, as befitting the inauguration of our 46th president.  A prayer in a song for our country

  • Shabbat Shalom

    Shabbat Shalom

  • As 2020 draws to a close

  • Chag Urim Sameach

    I usually post music to help welcome Shabbat.  But today, halfway through Hanukah, I could  not resist sharing the incomparable Cantor Azi Schwartz’s Hanukah medley.  Enjoy and Chag Sameach!

     

  • There is work we can do

     

     

  • Between the Holy and Profane

    I live between the Holy and Profane

    a moving song that describes the space we find ourselves  A song that helps us understand the need for the sacred protective space that is Shabbat.

    Shabbat Shalom.

    (The English lyrics are below the song.  )

    Between the Sacred and the Profane

    I live between the sacred and the profane
    With the truth that rages within me
    With a thousand habits
    With every scar on my face
    I go out again to scatter the words
    Between reality and madness, it’s all coming back to me
    The place from whence I came has no peace in it
    And this journey is heavy and a little too much for me
    I need to grow out of it and that’s it
    To grow out of it and that’s it
    I live between the sacred and the profane
    Between the truth that rages within me
    With a thousand habits
    With all the fear upon my shoulders
    I go out again to scatter the words
    Between reality and madness, it’s all coming back to me
    The place from whence I came has no peace in it
    And this journey is heavy and a little too much for me
    I need to grow out of it and that’s it, to grow out of it and that’s it
    Please, keep me safe
    So that my feet shall not fail
    Between reality and madness, it’s all coming back to me
    Even the place from whence I came has no peace in it
    And this journey is heavy and a little too much for me
    I need to grow out of it and that’s it
    To grow out of it and that’s it
    I live between the sacred and the profane

    https://lyricstranslate.com