Noah and a Pair of Lions: Its Not What You Think (Noach 5775)

(c) Paul Goldstein as featured in Daily Mail

This summer we took our niece and nephew to the zoo. She was fascinated by a lioness carrying a cub in her mouth. Which brought to mind a folktale about mothers carrying their young.

Once there was a lioness teaching her very young cub how to walk. As the cub builds some muscles, the lion watches over the cub, walks alongside the cub, keeps the cub from falling into gullies or stepping on snakes. "I will teach you how to walk in the world. Stay by me," she said. Wherever they went, the lioness and the cub walked together - side by side.

As the cub grew into the next season it comes time for the pride to cross from one plain to another across a wide river. But the river was too deep and too

From 'Why me?' to 'Why not me?' (Yom Kippur 5775)

This is the season for reflection and transformation. For some of us reflecting on the year that has just ended it is tempting to cry out, "Why me?" The accumulated weight of a year's worth of challenges and disappointments, of sadnesses or tragedies seems too much to bear. "Why me? Why did this happen to me? What did I do to deserve this?"  

For some our enduring ability to nurse grievances or "pick-at-the-scab" of hurts blocks our path forward in the coming year.  Our preoccupation with disappointment can be a barrier to transformation at this season.  

This end-of-year dilemma is reflected this year in the end-of-life drama of Moses in the Torah portion we read in the week leading up to Yom Kippur, V'zot Habrachah.  [Note: The portion is read during this week but not on Shabbat because Yom Kippur, which coincides with Shabbat this year, has its own special Torah readings.]