Jews tend to think that the whole world is Jewish – or, at least, that everyone thinks and acts as Jews do.  Simchat Torah is clear evidence that that is not so.    Read more...

Simchat Torah is a holiday of re-reading. We complete our annual cycle and begin again with the Story of Creation. I am a big re-reader. I love returning to the texts that move me most and discovering in them new resonance based on the state of my life or the state of our world. Read more...

There are two, fundamental stories that one can tell about the nature of time: In the first, most common in the ancient world, time is envisioned as a vast, unbroken circle. The moon grows and shrinks with each passing month, and then does it again. The seasons progress on in an endless loop. Babies are born, old people pass away, and the babies themselves someday have babies and then grew old. What was once will inevitably be again. There is nothing new under the sun.   Read more...