Category: Challenges
How Social Work (And Secular Society) Colonizes Through “Religion”
“What I want you to think about next time somebody wants to make some vast generalization about religion is that maybe there isn’t such a thing as religion and that therefore what they say can... Read More
Reflections on Intersections of Identity with African-American Buddhist Lesbians
Recently I completed research on the psycho-spiritual experiences of African-American Buddhist Lesbians (AABLs) in the Insight tradition. One of my dissertation committee members asked me why I ordere... Read More
My experiences at an ISNA convention
Over Labor Day weekend, I had the chance to hear from and meet with an amazing group of people—a group of people who are striving for peace, education, and equality, people looking out for communiti... Read More
Dangerous Division – Torah and Nature in Pirqei Avot
There’s a famous mishna in the ethical tractate called Pirqei Avot (Chapters on Fundamentals), which says the following: Rabbi Ya’aqov said: One who is reviewing their Torah study while w... Read More
The 2015 Parliament of The World’s Religions: The Tower of Babel in Reverse
The story of the Tower of Babel has always confused me. In it, humans are punished for working collaboratively together. But what kind of god causes confusion and separation, rather than illumination ... Read More
My Hidden Inheritance by Heidi Neumark
Adapted from Heidi’s book Hidden Inheritance: Family Secrets, Memory and Faith, published by Abingdon Press and available on Amazon. I’ve recently been on my own “Who Do You Think You Are?... Read More
A Torah of Moving
Over the past few years I’ve become an unwilling expert in moving – a process that previously made me want to tear my hair out – and somehow managed to come out with my spirit intact, maybe even... Read More
A Lonely Atonement: Yom Kippur in the Islamic Studies Reading Rooom
It’s Erev Yom Kippur. Perhaps the holiest night of the Jewish year. I’m sitting in the Islamic Studies Reading Room at Columbia’s Butler Library, reading through Shi’a manifest... Read More