blogs/brentspodek

Dear Friends:

This coming Shabbat (June 13) we will be dedicating the Ritter Family Library and introducing our new machzorim (High Holiday Prayerbooks). Meditation will be at 2:30, Mincha services will be at 3:30 PM and the dedication will be at approximately 4:30 PM. We very much hope you'll join us.

The library is being dedicated in memory of Leo Ritter, of blessed memory, who passed away on September 5,...Read more...

Two weeks ago, when Zoketsu Norman Fischer was here, I had the opportunity to talk with him briefly about the dynamics beteween the Zen householder and monastic traditions.

In short, there is a Buddhist monastic practice, in which people retreat from worldly pursuits in order to fully devote themselves to spiritual work and there is a householder practice, in which people have families and houses and jobs and practice Buddhism...Read more...

When it comes to Judaism and Buddhism, there is a complicated story to tell, a story about post-war American Judaism's "lifeless devotion to external actions" and the generation of American Jewish seekers whose paths led to the east.

There is also a simple story to tell.

As a young adult looking for spiritual sustenance, I was carried away by the passion and energy of learning and praying praying Torah seriously...Read more...

"…one could not come near the other all through the night." (Exodus 14:20)

When the Holy One was about to drown the Egyptians in the sea, Uzza, the heavenly prince of Egypt rose up and prostrated himself before the Holy One, saying "Master of the Universe, You created the world by the measure of mercy. Why then do You wish to drown my children?" The Holy One gathered the entirely...Read more...

I hate to swim. 

The feeling of being suspended in water, nothing solid within reach, is deeply unnerving. I like to know that something reliable and dependable is nearby as waters that can drown me swirl all around. 

It not just in our aquatic lives, but our emotional and spiritual lives as well, that we look for something solid. We want to know that there is someone, something we can lean on when we...Read more...