One of the unfortunate consequences of our obsession with youth is that we tend to consign growth, learning and challenge to the earliest phases of the human life cycle. In our flawed understanding, childhood and youth are the only appropriate times for exploring either world or self, for asking searching questions, for rebelling and for establishing identity. The assumption that growth is only appropriate or common during youth is the equivalent to consigning most people to an early death, shelving them long before their time. Read more...

It is a truism of human nature that we often denigrate our own abilities while extolling those of the generations before us.  Our grandparents appear to us as giants, perhaps a reflection of our size relative to them when we were infants, but also because we are able to look on the challenges of their age from the perspective of the passage of time.  Events in the past look bigger, more romantic, more heroic than the puny happenings of the present.  It is no surprise, then, that ancestor worship is so common to the peoples of the earth, and that even secular America treats th Read more...

Almost every Jew who is involved in communal Jewish living can recall an older Jewish relative (or neighbor) who provided precious memories of Jewish holy days, Sabbaths, and festivals. Whether born Jewish or someone who has chosen to be Jewish, we have all been touched by a grandparent, an in-law, or a dear friend and mentor who invited us over for a Pesah Seder, showed us how to bake a Hallah, or took the time to explain and share the lighting of Hanukkah candles. Read more...

In an incredible twist of meaning, this week’s Torah portion, Hayyei Sarah - the Life of Sarah, actually focuses on her death and on the life of her son, Isaac.  Having survived being sacrificed by his father at the altar, Isaac experiences the painful loss of his mother.  In yet another transformative moment, Isaac comes face to face with Rebecca, the woman who becomes his wife and his beloved partner.  And, in the moments before their meeting, the Torah tells us "Isaac went out to talk (Hebrew – lasuach) in the field before evening."  So, who is it that Isaac speaks wi Read more...

Abraham has just buried his wife, Sarah. Linked from their youth, his separation must have felt like a severe loss, and indeed, just after concluding his mourning for her Abraham turns to the task of finding a wife for his son, Isaac, as though the impact of his loss made him realize what was still missing from his son’s life. The Torah let’s us know that his will be the last act of the patriarch, introducing this topic with the words, “Abraham was old, well along in days, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all (ba-kol) (Gen 24:1).   Read more...