Every so often, someone asks me a question that gives me genuine pause. My niece recently asked my thoughts on the concept of the firmament—not the flat-earth notion that has found a second life on social media, but something more considered. She sent along an image: one of those collectible display bubbles, the kind used
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“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
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You don’t notice a fire going out. Not at first. The room cools so gradually that by the time you feel it, the coals have been dark for hours. The wood is ash. The morning is already gone. This is not how fires die in stories. In stories, fires are extinguished—by wind, by water, by
A friend was recently pondering a question she couldn’t answer. What is the question for which my life is the answer? She turned it over for days. Most people would. It has the shape of a riddle but the weight of something more serious—the kind of question that, once heard, refuses to leave. She brought
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“Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear
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The book of Leviticus opens with blood and fire and the smell of burning flesh. Most modern readers recoil—or skip it entirely. This is a mistake. What looks like primitive ritual is, on closer reading, a sophisticated theology of approach. It asks a question that has never stopped being relevant: how does a finite creature
Everyone has been taught how to pray. Very few have been told what prayer is actually for. The gap between those two things is where most people live—reciting words they were given as children, wondering why the words feel hollow, suspecting in private that no one is listening. Some abandon the practice entirely. Others double down on the
“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you
The final parashah of Exodus opens not with drama but with a ledger. Eileh pekudei ha-Mishkan—these are the accountings of the Mishkan. What follows is precise: 29 talents and 730 shekels of gold. 100 talents and 1,775 shekels of silver. 70 talents and 2,400 shekels of bronze. Every ounce of material gathered from the willing
Parashat Vayakhel opens with an assembly. Moses gathers—va-yakhel—the entire community of Israel. Before a single board is cut or a thread spun, Moses does two things. He reaffirms the command to observe Shabbat—even the holy work of building G‑d’s dwelling must stop for it—and then he invites the people to bring the materials from which
