"Somewhow during Shabbat my whole biochemistry seems to change. Friday night an awesome tiredness comes over me and it is a wonder if I don't fall asleep before dessert. Saturday afternoon I must take a nap; I know that I will not be able to function at a certain point if I don't sleep for at least a half an hour. "It is as if in addition to the discrete observances I perform, like candlelighting and kiddush, dinner with family and...

I do not think the torah could have anticipated the busied, hurried lives we lead today, but it nonetheless provides an incredible antidote. According to the Torah, after creating the world in 6 days, God rested. We are enjoined to do the same. We refrain from recreating the world on shabbat and we sit back and enjoy what we have been given. Literally, we smell the roses. Too many of us, to paraphrase John Bradshaw, have become "human doings" who define...

DO: Stay at home. Spend quality time with family and real friends. Celebrate with others at the table, in the synagogue, with community/ havurah, or with those with whom you best can share appreciation of God's world. Study or read something that will edify, challenge, or make you grow. Be alone.Take some time for yourself. Check in with yourself, review your week, ask yourself where you are in your life. Mark the beginning and the end of this sacred time: candle...

One of the small but significant innovations of the Reconstructionist a night of questions  ," was the rubric "wine or grape juice" that appears before each of the traditional four cups of the seder as well as in the Introduction of how to prepare for Pesach. While for many or even most people that simple supplement—"or grape juice"—may go unnoticed, for people for whom alcohol is an issue, the acknowledgment by our haggadah of the option is very visible indeed. By...

May the fringed tallisim that we wear today, which once signified free men, and on women now declares both equal stature and multi-hued individuality, Continue to tie us to the generations of Jews who wore tzitzit before us, to our traditions and to the Jewish community; Envelop each of us in a protective mantle, head-shrouded and inner-focused, floating in tradition or connected, with shawl to neighbor’s shoulder; Celebrate passage from childhood to minyan member, non-Jew to tribe. May the strings and...

How good it is to sing praises in God’s name To declare loving kindness in the morning And faithfulness by night! These were the words sung By Adam and Eve after the first night When darkness descended Without warning or explanation When they felt certainties Slipping away and fearfulness Encroaching on their dreams But in the morning dawn broke And in gratitude they sang This song in amazement As they awoke to find They were in the garden On the first...

There is a lot happening in a Torah service, more choreography than in preceding prayers, plus a range of opportunities for individuals and groups of congregants to approach in one way or another. But all this, intended though it is to draw us near, can instead yield confusion and distance. Moreover, Jews celebrating a life cycle event at the Torah are often swept into public roles that leave little time for private meditation. Over the centuries, many opportunities for private, improvisational...

Behold, my God of help, in whom I trust, and tremble not. Truly, my strength and melody is  yah, The One, who is for me the source of help. So draw, in joy, the waters from the Fount of Help. all help belongs to You. Upon your people are your blessings. Let it happen! With us is The Great One of the Multitudes of Heaven, Stronghold for us, the God of Jacob. Be it so! O, Great One of the Multitudes...

The music of Yemenite Jews typically comprises prayers, stories and chants accompanied by drums or clapping. For this optional prelude to the ceremony, click here. Translation of the Hebrew: My soul longs for the candle and the spices. If only you would pour me a cup of wine for havdalah. O angels high, pave a way for me. Clear the path for the bewildered, and open the gates that I may enter. My heart yearning, I shall lift up my eyes...

Praise the Before, Praise the After, Praise the Time In Between. I construct four walls and a roof and no windows. I put in only one door, open it once a year, and never go in. Inside the walls, Holy of Holies. Outside the walls, everything else. All I did was build a temple. I buy some fabric. I put fringes on the corners and cover myself with the cloth. Inside the cloth, I pray. Outside the cloth, I gossip. But...