At best, my relationship with Death is uneasy. I rail when It prematurely steals a life – a child, a teen, a young parent. It wounds me...

Days of Awe My Mussar chevruta (group of study buddies) is studying “awe” this month, coinciding with the Jewish calendar, the ten Days...

I have a confession to make. I’ve read about gratitude, studied gratitude with my Mussar groups, developed intentional ways to feel and...

“Grim care, moroseness, and anxiety—all this rust of life ought to be scoured off by the oil of mirth. Mirth is God’s medicine.” – Rev....

Jewish tradition talks about two types of generosity, according to Alan Morinis in Everyday Holiness. One is tzedakah, planned and/or...

Springtime at 8700 feet. Saturday – short sleeves, sandals and sunscreen. Sunday (aka Mother’s Day) – snow boots, sleds and shovels. And...

I ran out of sympathy cards. Again. I buy them in boxes, Like thank you notes. And yet they disappear ever more quickly. Sympathy cards...

Not again! I can’t write about it. I can’t write about anything else. Surely can’t polish my unfinished blog about generosity. Not today....

Over six decades ago, my husband, Irv, made friends with a boy named Malcolm in third grade at PS 235 in Brooklyn, NY. About ten years...

Candles have always been an important part of my Jewish cultural tradition – the Sabbath candles lit by my mother every Friday night; the...

“The words of a president matter.... At their best, the words of a president can inspire. At their worst, they can incite.” Joe Biden,...

Last night was the final evening of Chanukah 2020, the Jewish festival of lights. I love the ritual of lighting the candles, an...

2020 has been a year of mourning the loss of old rituals while creating new ones with zerizut (enthusiasm). * The first ritual casualty...

Stately Press Club, boarded windows, Downtown storefronts cloaked in plywood, The people’s house, choked in fencing. Foreign hackers,...

Growing up in Brooklyn, I had few opportunities to experience nature. Yes, we had some lovely roses and a favorite snowball bush in our...

Dear Justice Ginsburg, As a student of Mussar, Jewish ethics, I looked to you as a shining example of how to practice the middot, soul...

When I worked for Jeffco Schools, our assistant Jean kept a decorative jar, stocked daily with M&Ms for all to share, on her desk....

My grandchildren, Selam, a sixth grader, and Dian, a fifth grader, are enrolled in an online academy this fall. I volunteered to be their...

I’ve been thinking a lot about final goodbyes lately. One of the challenges of aging is that I find myself at more memorial services...

I am not, by nature, an adventurous person. I grew up with the constant warning of “Be careful, you’ll hurt yourself.” Yet a couple of...