courageous living

MOONWALK MONTHLY: ELUL - A High Holiday Appeal for the Skeptics Among Us 🎥

MOONWALK MONTHLY: ELUL - A High Holiday Appeal for the Skeptics Among Us 🎥

This time of year, I hear my own inner skeptic say, “Why bother?” Isn’t this idea of starting the new year over a bit outdated? After all, we are Jews. There’s no Times Square fanfare or a ball to drop. Yes, there are apples and honey, but frankly, I’d rather eat a brownie. 

MOONWALK MONTHLY: AV - Tender, Brave Love 💗 What do you hear? 👂🏽

MOONWALK MONTHLY: AV - Tender, Brave Love 💗 What do you hear? 👂🏽

Shalom, Rabbi, I have a question. Why is it that when I experience true beauty, a mama lion serenely cradling her cub, a cub fully vulnerable and relaxed into her mama’s embrace, do I experience a pain in my heart? I immediately feel a pain and a fear that someone will harm either of them or that bad things will happen to them? What in me needs healing to let go of this fear and despair that beauty is under attack, that vulnerability and love will be destroyed?

A New and Sweet Year

A New and Sweet Year

A blessing for you and yours in the video above. 

For insights into the shofar, hear my recent song-filled sermon here. 11 min.

To join us tonight and over these Awesome Days at my shul in San Diego. We will broadcast live - tune in here.

Shana tova!

Professor Elie Wiesel - Catalyst or Memory?

Professor Elie Wiesel - Catalyst or Memory?

Our world is becoming an increasingly scary place. 

We need to strengthen our resolve to seek tov, to seek goodness.

One way: seek peace by looking in each other's eyes.

Click here to listen to me preach about this man as I look into his eyes.  

A Wilderness Prayer: Passover to Shavuot

A Wilderness Prayer: Passover to Shavuot

Walkin' with the One. Such a relief. A prayer for the sacred count up from Passover to Shavuot. Walk with me through the barley fields.  

Tambourines of Hope: 10 Tips so Passover Doesn't Pass Us Over

Tambourines of Hope: 10 Tips so Passover Doesn't Pass Us Over

Check out my 1st published piece in Elephant Journal! Share with your people and try out at home. Would love to hear your favorite Passover Tip! xo

Moon by Firelight

Moon by Firelight

Picture this: In rabbinic times, after the destruction of the Temples, Jews lived throughout the Middle East and North Africa. In order to synchronize the calendars, long before Iphones or satellites, a rabbinic court in Jerusalem waited for two witnesses to come and testify that they had seen the New Moon crescent.

Upon hearing from each witness, the judges scrupulously compared their testimonies to make sure they were identical. Once the New Moon was confirmed, the news had to spread immediately to people living far and wide. How, you ask? 

Bonfires. Want in? Click to learn more. 

Big & Small Mind

Big & Small Mind

When you walk on the beach, where do your eyes rest? A VIDEO teaching inspired by Hassidut, Judaism's mystical wild-side. An opportunity to train in spiritual warriorship, to notice our mind's patterns to cultivate choice and empowered self expression. 

Want more? Join me on an upcoming FREE CALLS. Details inside. 

Does Opportunity "Knock"?

Does Opportunity "Knock"?

הִזדַמְנוּת - OPPORTUNITY.

At the root of the the Hebrew word for opportunity is the word for time, or moment. 

What does opportunity look like and sound like, in your life? What is the potential of one moment to alter our lives? Here's a peak into Moses' life and just one of those tiny, GIANT, moments. 

How to Stop

How to Stop

Each day we light fires and put them out. We break things and build. We plant and harvest, tear and smooth. Six days a week we effort, tirelessly to create. In the year 200 C.E., the rabbis of the Mishna got radical. They took a list of 39 artisan techniques -- threshing, winnowing, sowing, skinning, weaving and tearing -- and transformed it from a checklist to create into an invitation to be created. Shabbat is one of these nights. 

Happy New Year, To Our Crooked Hearts

Happy New Year, To Our Crooked Hearts

As I boarded the plane in Los Angeles to fly to Cape Town for the High Holy Days, I paused, touched the side of the open plane and said to myself, “b’yado afki ruchi,” in Your hand I place my spirit. This line from Adon Olam is my “all aboard” ritual and prayer. 

A Soul Reset

A Soul Reset

A Rosh Hashana invites us to press reset. When the New Year begins its tempting to feel apathy upon arrival, disillusioned to begin again, fatigued by our futile resolutions made last year. That’s where community, ritual and a good kick in the tush can really count. Hope to hear from you! Where are you this year and where do you want to go?