Tag Archives: Torah

At our gates…

Posted on August 24, 2017 by Michal Kohane מיכל כהנא

What’s at our gates? “Judges and law-enforcement official”, states this week’s Torah reading. The Arizal (Rabbi Yizchak Luria 1534-1572) gives us a hint: it seems like we are talking about the city’s gates, but since “the world is a [like] … Continue reading →

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See, when all else fails…

Posted on August 18, 2017 by Michal Kohane מיכל כהנא

Vignette: We’re standing at the bottom of a 215 foot waterfall in NY’s Cayuga State Park, amazed. How does something like this form, exactly here, exactly like this? There is a little sign about the kind of rock, the force … Continue reading →

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Do Make a BIG Deal!

Posted on August 11, 2017 by Michal Kohane מיכל כהנא

Vignette: I’ve never lived in an apartment building, not like this, where it’s possible to tell what day of the week it is by the smells in the hallway, and what time. Sunday morning announces itself with strong coffee and … Continue reading →

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The morning after (Tish’a Be’av)

Posted on August 4, 2017 by Michal Kohane מיכל כהנא

Vignette: Hot, sticky summer night, and suddenly – sparks hopping around in the grass and bushes – fireflies! Until now, fireflies appeared only in my kids’ children’s books. Now they are here, dancing. Them and the beautiful, red cardinal, to … Continue reading →

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The Salt Covenant, Now & Forever

Posted on June 23, 2017 by Michal Kohane מיכל כהנא

A famous folktale of unclear origin tells about a king who asked his three daughters to describe how much they each loved him. The oldest said, like gold (or bread, or the heavens and earth and the whole world); the … Continue reading →

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shabbat shalom: going up, with a friend

Posted on June 8, 2017 by Michal Kohane מיכל כהנא

יא  וַיְהִי בַּשָּׁנָה הַשֵּׁנִית, בַּחֹדֶשׁ הַשֵּׁנִי–בְּעֶשְׂרִים בַּחֹדֶשׁ; נַעֲלָה, הֶעָנָן, מֵעַל, מִשְׁכַּן הָעֵדֻת. 11 And it came to pass in the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, that the cloud was taken up from … Continue reading →

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משונה נחלה זו מכל נחלות שבעולם

Posted on May 19, 2017 by Michal Kohane מיכל כהנא

Lunch time at Yeshivat Maharat. A very pluralistic group of women and men of all ages and Jewish denominations walks into our beit midrash (study). I walk a bit closer and say a very Israeli, “shalom”! They are surprised: “Shalom??” … Continue reading →

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On Seeing Voices

Posted on February 16, 2017 by Michal Kohane מיכל כהנא

Vignettes: The snow storms have covered up cars, sidewalks, lawns, bushes, rocks and garbage bags in strange formations, but here and there, colorful spots appear on the white carpet. A creative art project and / or anthropological survey can be … Continue reading →

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These & These are my Brothers

Posted on February 3, 2017 by Michal Kohane מיכל כהנא

Vignettes: Not long ago, I would watch “House of Cards” and wonder if I’m in the middle of a news report. Now I watch the news and can only hope I am in the middle of a crazy Netflix show … Continue reading →

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Closing Beresheet – the Torah portion of Vayechi

Posted on January 12, 2017 by Michal Kohane מיכל כהנא

The editor of the Talmud chose to place Tractate Chulin, literally meaning mundane, ordinary, inside the order of Kodashim, holy matters, which might have been his very (very!) subtle way of telling us how the two remain an inseparable part … Continue reading →

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