Among Passover’s many customs, the fast of the firstborn (ta’anit bechorot) fell into disuse. This ritual fast, commemorating Egypt’s victims of the Tenth Plague’s death of the firstborn, finds little traction among modern liberal Jews. Even most traditionalists arrange a ritual joyous reason to avoid the pre-Passover fast. The day before Passover, however, this particular firstborn of Israel… Continue reading Why This Firstborn Will Go Silent Before Passover: The Social Justice Ta’anit Dibbur
Holy Ashes: Designs for Spiritual Flow
Part of a yearlong series of Torah wisdom on spiritual building and builders. How well does a spiritual practice or spiritual community “work”? One answer from this week’s Torah portion (Tzav) may seem surprising: We gauge what works spiritually by the detritus it leaves behind from what it transforms. If there’s no detritus, we’re doing… Continue reading Holy Ashes: Designs for Spiritual Flow
Controlling the High Price of Judaism (and Guilt)
Controlling the High Price of Judaism (and Guilt) A D’var Torah for Parashat Vayikra By Rabbi David Markus The Jewish value of tzedakah underscores that to “be Jewish” is partly to “do Jewish,” and to “do Jewish” means to support others. That’s one reason that Judaism calls for tzedakah as charitable acts of support for others that double as communal… Continue reading Controlling the High Price of Judaism (and Guilt)
People of the Building Fund
Part of a yearlong Torah series about building and builders in Jewish spiritual life. “Don’t give to the Building Fund,” said no synagogue leader ever. Most community leaders would love to have Moses’ problem in “fundraising” for the Mishkan. Moses received so many resources from “everyone” to build Mishkan that he had to stop them… Continue reading People of the Building Fund
Jewish Ethics Demands Independent Path Forward
Jewish clergy, seminaries, day schools and other nonprofits must not govern their own ethics systems. Most lack sufficient expertise and independence to earn and keep public trust in their capacity to self-regulate. This conclusion comes hard to me. As a pulpit rabbi with a dual career in law and governance — and as past general… Continue reading Jewish Ethics Demands Independent Path Forward
Building for Mobility: Spiritual Life on the Move
Part of a yearlong series on Torah’s wisdom about building and builders in Jewish spiritual life. So far, Builders Blog traced Torah’s first 18 portions, harvesting lessons about spiritual building from our spiritual ancestors’ lives and early journeys. Now in the 19th portion (Terumah) comes Torah’s building story par excellence, about building the Mishkan – the holy structure to… Continue reading Building for Mobility: Spiritual Life on the Move
Seeing the Voices: The Call of Teaching in Spiritual Formation
ACADEMY FOR JEWISH RELIGION Faculty Meeting Dvar Torah January 24, 2019 Good morning everyone. I'm delighted to join the AJR family. Thank you to Ora for the invitation to teach, and to Jeff for inviting me to open with my long experience of one whole day on the AJR Faculty. We're in Parshat Yitro. Our… Continue reading Seeing the Voices: The Call of Teaching in Spiritual Formation
Answering With Great Joy
It's an occupational hazard. We clergy so delight in bringing Torah to life and liturgy to life that we might unashamedly “geek out” – especially when we do both at the same time. When I link Torah with liturgy in ways that enliven both, my joy can be irrepressible. (Thankfully my New York congregation seems to like it,… Continue reading Answering With Great Joy
What Men In Jail Can Teach Us About Joy
Actually, it didn’t happen in a jail, which typically houses shorter-term detentions. It happened in Sing Sing Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison operated by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, where some inmates spend decades on custodial sentences for the most serious felonies. Behind cinder block, metal bars and barbed wire isn’t typically… Continue reading What Men In Jail Can Teach Us About Joy
Power Tools For Spiritual Building
Part of a yearlong series on Torah wisdom about building and builders. The first weeks of Bayit’s Builder’s Blog harvested keystone principles about building the Jewish future – from primordial foundations of building, to where and with whom spiritual neighborhoods create community. Now it’s time to build – but what and how? Parshat Mikeitz offers answers: first… Continue reading Power Tools For Spiritual Building
Keeping the Mind in Mind: The Essence of Pluralism
Exciting news: studying theology can teach us how to think and even build secular careers! Whatever one's beliefs, immersion in the complexities of sacred text can expand perspective and cultivate character. Studying theology can make the mind nimbler, the heart more tender and the spirit wiser. But for all of theology's great promise, theology doesn't promise certitude. The… Continue reading Keeping the Mind in Mind: The Essence of Pluralism
Genesis (En)Gendered: An Angelic View from Eden’s Way
This momentous #metoo #ibelieveyou moment urges us to see old stories with new eyes. Reading sacred texts with ever renewing eyes is one of many ways that theology teaches us how to see and think – to reach beyond ourselves, to not become calcified and thus brittle, to strengthen our capacity to hold multiplicity and nuance without falling into… Continue reading Genesis (En)Gendered: An Angelic View from Eden’s Way
First Build: Seven Foundation Principles for Spiritual Builders
Part of a yearlong series about building and builders inspired by the Torah cycle. We're all stardust, re-mixed chemical elements forged in some distant supernova. We're all broken shards, fallen from the primordial shattering. We're all reflected light, glimmering with the Source of Light. We're all builders, making and re-making the world one brick and… Continue reading First Build: Seven Foundation Principles for Spiritual Builders
The Vision Before You
Gmar chatimah tovah. It is so good to see each and every one of you on this holy vision-quest day of Yom Kippur. Vision is this year's spiritual theme. On Rosh Hashanah we explored Judaism's core truth that what's invisible often is more real than what's visible, that how we see the world – optical… Continue reading The Vision Before You
Resilience in endings… and new beginnings
Last in a series on resilience in Jewish spiritual life. For a whole year's Torah cycle of weeks, we've been looking to Torah for resilience lessons. We began with Cain as an unlikely resilience teacher. We learned resilience from Noah in the rain and Abraham never quitting because he loved more than himself. We learned resilience from Rebecca, the first to… Continue reading Resilience in endings… and new beginnings
Holy Vision and Optical Delusion
Shanah tovah. It's so good to see each and every one of you. In 1952, Ben Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, visited the U.S. on a fundraising mission. Fresh off Israel's miraculous War of Independence victory over seven invading armies, Ben Gurion arrived to a standing ovation of thousands waiting to see him. What do… Continue reading Holy Vision and Optical Delusion
When (bad) things happen to (good) people
Part of a yearlong series about resilience in Jewish spiritual life. When are you most likely to ask “why” about your life? Especially when life seems difficult or unfair, we ask “why” because we sense that understanding can help avoid pitfalls of meaninglessness. A world we (think we) can explain is a world that seems… Continue reading When (bad) things happen to (good) people
Don’t Just Sit There: Feel Something
Here’s a radical idea that I wish weren’t radical: if you consistently feel nothing in the Jewish community, it’s time to take notice and ask why. And a corollary: if you serve the Jewish community, a keystone goal should be to encourage authenticity, depth, and safety of emotional experience. True, Jewish civilization survived and thrived… Continue reading Don’t Just Sit There: Feel Something
Resilience when we would rather not remember
Part of a yearlong series on resilience in Jewish spiritual life. It's just a few weeks until Rosh Hashanah. The Jewish season of teshuvah (repentance, repair, return) is upon us. And of course, what we repent, repair and return (to) depends exquisitely on what we remember. Truth be told, there are some things I'd rather not remember. I'd… Continue reading Resilience when we would rather not remember
What We Remember in Our Feet
“What We Remember in Our Feet” Cragsmoor Stone Church August 19, 2018 Happy Sunday to you. And thank you – especially Deacon Jeff Slade – for inviting me to share in today’s service of worship and learning. Deacon Jeff and I met through the New York Theological Seminary. I’m delighted to be with you. Some… Continue reading What We Remember in Our Feet
David Evan Markus 