blogs/brentspodek

Building a World of Love, No Matter What

11/15/2016 07:29:00 AM

Nov15

A few years back, a neighbor asked my daughter in the playground what she was doing for Easter. It was a reasonable question and I know my neighbor meant no malice with it. Nevertheless, I was incredibly proud when my daughter said "Nothing. We're Jewish. We celebrate Passover." The neighbor smiled and wished us a happy holiday.

Right there in the playground was American pluralism at its greatest.

To live as...Read more...

The courage it takes to love

11/09/2016 10:25:00 AM

Nov9

The great kabbalist R. Moshe Cordevero says that the purpose of spiritual practice is, in short, to develop the courage to love and expand ones soul.

Today, millions of Americans are exultant that Trump has won the presidency; millions are devastated. For some there is joy; for others, particularly in historically marginalized communities, there is pain and even fear for basic safety.

It's in these moments...Read more...

Not Knowing at Auschwitz

10/18/2016 04:21:00 AM

Oct18

In some ways, I am perpetually aware of Auschwitz.

To live in this age is to know that barbarity - it's part of our families, our community, our culture and even our kitsch.

In other ways, I am perpetually ignorant of Auschwitz.

Ignorant because it can be so difficult and painful to bear witness again and again, that I turn away into ignorance.

Ignorant also because knowledge of the...Read more...

Open to the Sky

10/13/2016 06:03:00 AM

Oct13

A sukkah is a sand mandala of a building.

A house that gives no shelter, it parodies the idea of security: it's rickety and tenuous, and open to the sky for seven days around the time of the fall harvest, highlighting the impermanance of everything.

Open to the Sky: The Beacon Sukkah Project is a collaboration of spiritual + artistic wisdom, a pop-up town hall, a...Read more...

Open to the Sky: The Beacon Sukkah Project

10/11/2016 05:44:00 AM

Oct11

Dear Friends -

It's hard to be vulnerable, to be open to the sky.

Many of us attempt to conquer that vulnerability, to make a mark that will endure after we are gone. Some of us build statues and monuments, others...Read more...

Approaching the Holidays

09/27/2016 05:05:00 AM

Sep27

In Jewish thought, we have the ikar - the essential thing, and the tofel or secondary thing.

For instance, if you are having herring on a cracker, you give a blessing of gratitude on the herring, because that's the ikar, the important thing. The cracker is the tofel, the delivery system. As we all know, even the best cracker is not as important as the herring it conveys.

This is true...Read more...

Obscenity of Daily Life

09/20/2016 05:50:00 AM

Sep20

I was riding the subway not long after my grandmother died many years ago.

I was consumed with pain at the loss of this woman who was so important to me, yet all around me, people were acting as if everything was okay. I was consumed with pain and they had the gall to talk with friends, read the newspaper, stare out the window.

In my moment of pain, their banality was obscene.

I was...Read more...

Dancing into Forgiveness

09/13/2016 02:41:00 PM

Sep13

We are in the month of Elul, approaching Rosh Hashona and Yom Kippor. In synagogue and in our lives, we will have a chance to remember and renew with words and with song.

I want to share with you a beautiful dance meditation on the holidays and particularly the call to zikaron, to remember. It's a video for Basya Schechter's song Zikaron, which some of us were lucky enough to hear her play at The Towne Crier Cafe last year....Read more...

Call For Guides - 2016 Open to the Sky

09/06/2016 05:27:00 AM

Sep6

Dear Friends:

Every fall, a corner of Main Street is transformed into Open to the Sky: The Beacon Sukkah Project - a magical celebration of transience, harvest and the community of the Hudson Valley.

It's a pop-up town hall, where everyone has a chance to...Read more...

Ruth Calderon + Travel to Israel and Palestine

08/31/2016 02:58:00 AM

Aug31