Today is September 22, 2020 /
Today is September 22, 2020 /
It’s been almost 3 years since I read Kate Bowler’s New York Times op-ed, Death, the Prosperity Gospel and Me and I haven’t stopped thinking about it. At the age of 35, professionally successful, in a loving marriage and the mother of a toddler, Kate was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer. She is the Continue Reading »
I direct Ayeka’s Becoming a Soulful Parent program. I have three kids. And I spend a lot of time with them. But I actually don’t really read many parenting books. What is drawing me in right now is reading about aging. I can’t get enough of it. I am halfway through Atul Gawande’s, Being Mortal: Continue Reading »
Something is seriously askew. We all know that the peak moment in Jewish prayer is the silent standing prayer. Not saying the Shema, not the singing, not Hallel, not any ecstatic group experience. Everything leads up to this one silent prayer. The silent prayer usually only takes 3 or 4 minutes. A morning service can Continue Reading »
Can a person ever really change their nature? Can I? There are moments as a parent — and as a person — when I feel I have had it. When patterns of behavior (mine or my children’s) make me feel like I am locked in an endless repetitive cycle. Why are they behaving this way? Continue Reading »
Many years ago I received a very unusual gift – a gift I did nothing to deserve. I never met the giver of this gift. It came anonymously. The unusual thing about this gift was that it continually changed. It kept changing and growing, transforming and unfolding. With the passing of time, I now know Continue Reading »
It’s that time of year; the new school year is coming, the time when educators are supposed to be thinking about beginnings. Instead, I find myself thinking about endings, which of course, always precede (and succeed) beginnings. I have always been this way, prone to nostalgia and melancholy about things coming to a close. I Continue Reading »
The hard truth I need to face during these 3 weeks is that I have become someone that I don’t want to be. I have fallen into an unhealthy spiritual routine. I have become full of anger, judgment, and self-righteousness. I have endless knee-jerk judgments. These responses are shallow, unnecessary, and do not help me Continue Reading »
The hard truth I need to face during these three weeks is that it’s time for me to get on with my life, to get back to being myself, as if I can. It’s been almost nine months since my father died and I’ve been coasting. It’s ironic that at a time of national mourning, Continue Reading »
What does a year of Ayeka bring? For the student, countless gifts: focused learning, spiritual reflection, exploration of the soul. And for the teacher? After a school year of teaching Torah with the help of Ayeka, educators on our faculty found that the most significant gifts emerged directly from the greatest challenges. What started as Continue Reading »
By: Adam Mayer, Ayeka Educator and Jewish Studies teacher & Beit Midrash Fellow at Kohelet High School As I approach Passover this year, like most years, I am overwhelmed! How can I possibly prepare everything in time? The cleaning and the cooking will get done; But how can I prepare myself to experience the freedom Continue Reading »
