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Torah Study: January 17, 2015

01/23/2015 01:19:19 PM

Jan23

Torah Study: “The Torah of Rabbi Schulweis" Shabbat: December 27, 2014 and January 3, 2015

01/15/2015 06:42:19 AM

Jan15

Torah Study: “The Torah of Rabbi Schulweis"
Shabbat: December 27, 2014 and January 3, 2015

In Jewish tradition, the month following a death -- the Shloshim -- is devoted to gathering the wisdom and affirming the legacy of our loved one. These past weeks at...Read more...

A PRAYER BEFORE I PRAY

07/03/2011 08:45:00 AM

Jul3

Before I open the prayer book, or embrace myself in a tallit prayer shawl, and give praise or thanksgiving or petition, it all begins with me. 

I cannot petition God without petitioning myself.  I cannot pray for health or peace or love without involving myself, my heart, my thought, my spine.

I cannot pray God for peace while my arms are folded, my mouth sealed, my feet dragging.

I cannot pray for...Read more...

NOT WHERE BUT WHEN

02/03/2011 11:45:06 AM

Feb3

NOT WHERE BUT WHEN Birth/Brith by Harold M. Schulweis

There are matters not subject to the senses
taste, sound, smell, sight, touch
Matters elusive to definition
yet known without doubt.
Known to make us cry and laugh
to move us to unimagined heights
to courage and self-sacrifice.

Experiences -- like love or God
Cannot be fingered, placed or poked.
Of such things
it is wiser to ask
Read more...

IN MY ARMS

02/03/2011 11:45:05 AM

Feb3

IN MY ARMS Birth/Brith by Harold M. Schulweis

In my arms a child is held
a nameless being
possessed of unknown potentialities.

In my arms an infant is held
Upon whom we confer in the presence of her people
A name to be known in Israel as

_____________________ bat ______________________________________________.
Child's Hebrew Name Parents' Hebrew Names

That name includes...Read more...

From Where Did You Come?

02/03/2011 11:45:04 AM

Feb3

FROM WHERE DID YOU COME? Birth/Brith by Harold M. Schulweis

From where did you arrive?
out of the womb of Eve and the seed of Adam.

Angels show the unborn soul
the secrets of heaven and of earth
The soul pleads with God not to push him from
the comfort of the womb.

"I am well pleased with the world
in which I have been living since the day You called me to be.
Why do you...Read more...

CLEFT ON THE UPPER LIP

02/03/2011 11:45:03 AM

Feb3

CLEFT ON THE UPPER LIP Birth/Brith by Harold M. Schulweis

The infant comes
into this world with a former wisdom,
having been shown the mysteries of the universe.
A the moment of birth, an angel struck the baby
on the upper lip, left an unexplained indented mark.
With that blow, the child forgets all it has learned
in another world.

That forgetfulness is a blessing,
not the...Read more...

Brith Covenant on the Eighth Day

02/03/2011 11:45:01 AM

Feb3

Even on the Sabbath,
Even during festival or fast,
The covenant brith takes place on the eighth day.
What is the Sabbath or Yom Tov or Yom Kippur
But a reminder of the constancy
That entwines our life with God's.

On the eighth day our child is covenanted,
Having lived through the Sabbath,
No stranger to creation,
No passive particle
Thrown into the world.
Our...Read more...

ABOVE ALL, TEACH THIS NEWBORN CHILD

02/03/2011 11:30:01 AM

Feb3

ABOVE ALL, TEACH THIS NEWBORN CHILD Birth/Brith by Harold M. Schulweis

Above all, teach this newborn child
To touch, to never stop. To feel how fur
Is other than leaf or cheek,
Diamond from glass, Mezzuzah from anything else
In the world. The same with Challah.

As the child grows, teach this baby to reach
The shoulder of another before sadness
Brings it inhumanly low, to stroke...Read more...

A Parent's Dream

02/03/2011 10:16:58 AM

Feb3

A PARENT'S DREAM Bar/Bat Mitzvah by Harold M. Schulweis

"Protect my children from my secret wish
to make them over in my image and illusions.
Let them move to the music that they love
dissonant perhaps to me." (Nissim Ezekiel)

We have raised them, sculpted them, schooled them
Exposed them to our ways and our world.
Who can blame our parental conceit
Imposing our dreams on their...Read more...

Fri, March 29 2024 19 Adar II 5784