Tag: forgiveness
“When You Stand Praying … Forgive”
In summer of 2017, my wife and I taught a Sunday school series on the Jewishness of Jesus. It was not the first time we taught this topic. This delightfully progressive and thoughtful group was quick ... Read More
Careful Forgiveness: Atoning with Life in the New Year
“Let us forget with generosity those who cannot love us.” Pablo Neruda Yom Kippur is the Jewish day of atonement between humanity and the divine. Jewish tradition dictates that atonement between h... Read More
An Improvised Family: Yom Kippur with Rome’s Progressive Jews
Normally people do not go to Rome to refrain from eating. But it was Yom Kippur, and I was on my way to afternoon services at Beth Hillel, Rome’s new progressive Jewish community. My long walk to th... Read More
Seventy Times Seven, or Why Religious Communities Need to Get Smarter About Mental Health, Right Freaking Now.
We are all humans. All humans make mistakes. Mistakes can (and should, in my opinion) be forgiven. That being said, this does not give us license to keep on making these mistakes. There is part of a l... Read More
In Another Gilgul: Forgiveness, the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict, and Bedtime
Every night before we go to sleep, Jewish liturgy offers us the opportunity to forgive. The Bedtime Shema begins: “Master of the universe, I hereby forgive anyone who angered or antagonized me or wh... Read More
Politics of grace
Like many people who celebrate Christmas (or get a holiday for it regardless), I have just headed out of my usual climate to go see family for the time I get off of school. Like many people, I knew ... Read More
When Islamists Change Their Mind
Cartoons today, Egypt tomorrow? Recently a Catholic friend of mine revealed that he is considering going Episcopalian because, as a married man in his 30s, he is sensing a spiritual and vocational cal... Read More
The power of compassion: Do Not Kill Buddha, Thou would bury the dead. Burma, Boston, and Tsarnaev.
“If you see the Buddha on the road, kill him.” This phrase may sound shocking, considering the Buddha’s teachings of the Noble Eightfold Path that talks about “right” (in harmony wi... Read More