Personal Stories
What champagne is to celebration; what flowers are to romance; what music is to joy – a story is to life.
There are those that know the place. There are those that know the time. There are those that know the ritual. There are those that know the prayers. And there are those that know how to light the fire. We may not know the place, the time, the ritual, the prayer, or the fire. So we tell the story. A story, more than a recollection, is the bridge spanning past, present and future. A story reminds us, reignites us, and inspires us. A story isn’t merely told. A story is lived. Welcome to once upon a time.
Mishpatim: The Inferno
Today, people spend too much energy fighting fires of apathy and cruelty that can be better used for growing and increasing happiness.
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Tzav: Believers
Using personal anecdotes as well as Chassidic stories, Rabbi Jacobson examines the different types of believers in light of his previous article on atheists.
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Passover: The Slavery of Freedom
While hardship and lack of material prosperity are challenging, the opposites – freedom, ease, and wealth – beget soul-numbing complacency.
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Shemini: Religious Selfishness
Using personal anecdotes, Rabbi Jacobson explores of the side effects of practicing religion by rote, and the beauty of a true “religious” experience.
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Acharei Kedoshim: Transitions and Premonitions
A personal story about a man standing on the edge of the spiritual world is shared, followed by an examination of both spiritual and physical dimensions.
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Behaalotecha: Mitchum
Parshat Behaalotcho discusses kindling the menorah that the flames rise on their own: recognizing G-d in our own lives by saying “im yirtzeh Hashem”.
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Matot-Masei: Tzugekumene
Response to a provocative letter: ‘The feeling of “us” and “them” was an undercurrent in the interactions between FFB’s and BT’s or non-observant Jews’.
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Passover: Back to Egypt
Reflections on a Puerto Rican Passover, the slavery of excessive freedom, and the search for the Divine inner light.
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Nasso: Raw Ovol
For the first time in my 48 years I am an “ovol,” a griever. My father always knew he was on a mission. With the passion of a soldier he never wavered.
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Can A Maskil Dance?
The ultimate purpose, is not to be smart and profound, but to be G-dly. Being sensitive and refined is not an end in itself but to be G-dly.
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