Comments for Jewish Sacred Aging

Hi Carol, this post brought me to tears. I saw these stones on a visit to Budapest earlier this year and wanted some more information. Your story is such a poignant reminder not just of the horro...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/the-stumbling-stones-of-the-budapest-ghetto/#comment-17862

Old age isn’t so bad when you consider the alternative. (credited to Maurice Chevalier)

https://jewishsacredaging.com/reflections-on-sukkot-and-simchat-torah/#comment-17861

A great message, Richard, one personally Meaningful as I look beyond the major surgery next month to a life more limited socially and to an extent physically: I am now encouraged to expand my win...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/breisheet-begin-again-create-anew/#comment-17860

Thank you, Carl, for staying with it and sharing this column. Much of it resonates with me. The increasing speed of time passing, the deaths of loved ones. Aside from facing our own mortality, de...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/too-many-deaths/#comment-17855

Here we have the voice of an aged, tired, and most probably embittered Moses. The voice of God is silent. We don't know if Moses' harangue reflects the true voice of God or comes from a dark plac...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/haazinu-deuteronomy-32-to-whom-or-what-shall-we-return/#comment-17852

In reply to Marc Blesoff. La Shanah Tova!

https://jewishsacredaging.com/expressions-of-love-for-the-high-holidays/#comment-17850

Thank you, Sandra.

https://jewishsacredaging.com/expressions-of-love-for-the-high-holidays/#comment-17849

Kol haKavod, Gerry !

https://jewishsacredaging.com/a-time-trip-va-yeilekh/#comment-17847

It is curious that the Torah (7:16) uses the phrase ואלכת את כל העמים for Moses relaying Gd's command to obliterate all the peoples that stand in their way, and to show them no merc...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/ekev-deuteronomy-712-1125-opening-our-hands-for-kindness/#comment-17838

Rabbi, what a beautiful piece this is to read and contemplate. Looking at Judaism as a holistic system makes me think that this time of my life is so special. When I was younger, the richness of ...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/our-own-spiritual-growth-do-not-fear-the-challenge-and-the-change/#comment-17837

Fantastic! Thank you, Larry!

https://jewishsacredaging.com/how-to-age-blissfully/#comment-17833

In previous parashot, an aged and tired Moses, no longer at the top of his game, reacted to challenges by falling on his face (probably an idiomatic expression equivalent to the modern "threw up ...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/18938-2/#comment-17831

Thank you / I totally agree! I love the wisdom inside ‘Perfection is in the trying’. I went to a wedding about 15 years ago, where the Rabbi could not stop kvelling about the bride and groom ...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/is-imperfect-the-new-normalauto-draft/#comment-17830

I am reminded of the wise words of the poet of the Enlightenment (and anti-Semite) Voltaire: “Perfect is the enemy of good.”

https://jewishsacredaging.com/is-imperfect-the-new-normalauto-draft/#comment-17829

In reply to Bobbi Kalmanson. I doubt that Biden's decision was grounded in religious t...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/pinchas-numbers-2510-301-letting-go-and-moving-on/#comment-17827

I couldn't agree with you more. As a religious man, do you think President Biden reflected on biblical passages when he made his decision?

https://jewishsacredaging.com/pinchas-numbers-2510-301-letting-go-and-moving-on/#comment-17826

What is noteworthy is that unlike the priesthood, leadership was not to be hereditary and did not pass to one of Moses' two sons. Perhaps to add insult to injury, no more is heard about them in t...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/pinchas-numbers-2510-301-letting-go-and-moving-on/#comment-17825

In reply to Sarah Avital. Thank you so much!

https://jewishsacredaging.com/a-time-for-everything-reflections-on-age-ing-and-aicha/#comment-17823

In reply to Susan Elkodsi. Thank you so much, Rabbi! Had some practice writing - ...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/a-time-for-everything-reflections-on-age-ing-and-aicha/#comment-17822

Thank you for writing and sharing this.

https://jewishsacredaging.com/a-time-for-everything-reflections-on-age-ing-and-aicha/#comment-17821

Kol HaKavod, beautifully written and so perfect for our times.

https://jewishsacredaging.com/a-time-for-everything-reflections-on-age-ing-and-aicha/#comment-17820

In reply to Rabbi Cheryl Weiner. Biden has made the correct (albeit belated) decision to withdraw. His legacy will no...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/is-this-our-moment/#comment-17819

In reply to Gail Donner. You missed another event where people were not bearing arms. From 1936 to 1945, the people o...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/is-this-our-moment/#comment-17818

Thanks, Carl. Yes stay awake and stay vigilant and VOTE - tell others to vote, help them make a plan to vote. Don't let a position on one issue keep you home on the couch or choosing a third part...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/is-this-our-moment/#comment-17817

As someone approaching my 75th birthday, I wonder why the Democrats are so increasingly calling for Biden's to step down due to age and fears of incapacity. He has accomplished so much in the pub...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/is-this-our-moment/#comment-17816

Thank you for this. Yes, organize and vote but also keep your passport up to date. I don’t say this lightly.

https://jewishsacredaging.com/is-this-our-moment/#comment-17815

One of our two major political parties has willingly devolved into a cult of personality. National Rifle Association campaign contributions and endorsements are more important to these quislings ...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/is-this-our-moment/#comment-17814

Let's look at the Hebrew as it appears in the Torah: ''הן עם לבדד ישכן ובגוים לא יתחשב''. Unlike much of the biblical Hebrew as it appears in the Hebrew Bible, this phase...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/balak-numbers-225-259-is-it-destinay-to-be-a-people-apart/#comment-17813

The command to sacrifice an unblemished red heifer has confounded rabbinical sources through the ages. The first century CE Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai is credited with explaining “… the dead b...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/chukat-numbers-191-221-the-seduction-of-perfectionism/#comment-17811

Thanks for posting this. This will not be the first time you are hearing this from me, but I don't believe everyone gets wiser as they age. We have the potential to learn from our experiences and...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/a-conversation-on-aging-that-we-still-ignore/#comment-17810

My Partner, who is 66 years old, was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease last year. We noticed that he was experiencing hallucinations, slow movement, disturbed sleep, and twitchy hands and legs w...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/a-personal-reflection-on-living-with-parkinsons-disease/#comment-17809

In reply to David Balto. Thank you, David, for your kind response!...Regards...Sandy

https://jewishsacredaging.com/they-all-came-over-on-the-boat/#comment-17807

what a lovely heartfelt story. a beautiful reminder that every person has a legacy that should be remembered and shared

https://jewishsacredaging.com/they-all-came-over-on-the-boat/#comment-17806

I don't know if Spinoza would have been "enraged" for future generations to label his work a "Jewish Book". He did not voluntarily leave the tiny Amsterdam Jewish community (primarily refugees fr...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/a-third-torah/#comment-17804

sadly appropriate...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/the-burdens-of-the-next-generation/#comment-17803

Correction: In my posting, I theorized that one reason for the shmita (year of remission) was the need to rejuvenate the soil in place of "modern" practices such as crop rotation. It has been poi...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/a-look-at-parashat-behar/#comment-17802

During the Covid years, Temple Emanuel sent home water soluble paper for our home bound Taslich. At the time, I thought that was so much more meaningful to watch my sins disappear rather than thr...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/saying-goodbye-reframing-tashlich/#comment-17800

Regina, thanks for your thoughtful comments and insights. It is extremely troubling to see the blind adherence to intersectionality. That is, if you support cause A, you automatically (Knee jerk)...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/wurst-college-protests/#comment-17798

Powerful words

https://jewishsacredaging.com/yom-hashoah-solovy/#comment-17797

Carl, the problem as I see it is that a sermon by definition is a monologue, the Rabbi or his stand-in speaking to the congregation. There is no feedback or dialog. When you delve into political ...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/viniar20240505/#comment-17796

Terrific column, Carl, as always. Rabbis and all of us argue about everything - and often use the same text to arrive at different conclusions - or find another text to prove what we want to prov...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/viniar20240505/#comment-17795

I was always troubled by the homily “There are no atheists in foxholes”. To the best of my knowledge, there was never a study where a sociologist strapped on a Kevlar helmet and, armed with a...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/yearning-for-god-or-not/#comment-17793

How inspiring is this way of counting the Omer!!! Thanks for showing us this new significative path of becoming better and of improving the world. Chag Pessach Sameach.

https://jewishsacredaging.com/an-alternative-way-to-count-the-omer/#comment-17792

I thank you for publishing this wonderful version of Vidu'i... I usually begin with the Priestly Benediction, and end with Kol Haneshamah three times and the last paragraph of Adon Olam as well a...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/a-new-viddui/#comment-17791

In reply to Cantor Jennifer Bern-Vogel. Excellent adaptation of traditional prayers for pastoral care. Rabbi Fred Raskind

https://jewishsacredaging.com/a-new-viddui/#comment-17790

Hi Laurie, I really love this. Thanks so much for sharing.

https://jewishsacredaging.com/a-new-viddui/#comment-17789

Thank you for this beautiful Vidui prayer.

https://jewishsacredaging.com/a-new-viddui/#comment-17788

So much of this resonates. We recently moved and "passed along" my grandmothers dining table and chairs. They had decades of memories but didn't make any sense in our space any longer. Thank you ...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/a-dining-room-set-a-red-couch-and-bubbies-soup-pot/#comment-17787

As the Torah was written before vowels came into use in Hebrew, sometimes the proper conjugation of a verb is ambiguous. This may be one of those cases. וידם perhaps can be in the passive ten...

https://jewishsacredaging.com/shemini-leviticus-91-1147-what-can-we-hear-in-silence/#comment-17786

Thank you, Cindy, for sharing a beautiful and inspiring memory. You were there when the family needed you, and that was a great blessing for all.

https://jewishsacredaging.com/a-memory-not-to-be-passed-over/#comment-17784