Monday, December 30, 2013

Bo 5774

Stumbling in darkness.
This ancient tale chains my heart
With painful freedom.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Vaera 5774

Permission. Denied.
Navigating to freedom.
A slow, complex dance.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Vayechi 5774

Does the blessing change--
Whispered in a shared moment.
Witnessed by brothers.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Chanukah Second Night

Light and Gratitude
It is good to remember
Two flames in the dark.

Chanukkah Chaiku 5774

To my son in Korea...

First Night

Lights in the window
Sent halfway around the world
Miracles today.

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Mikketz 5774

In this complex world
So much and so little trust
Should we act or wait?

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Vayeshev 5774

When one stands ready
The story flows line by line.
I wait for what's next.

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Vayishlach 5774

If a poem could
Soften the rawness of life
I'd like to write it. 

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Vayetse 5774

Help me understand--
Why these tales of strife and gain?
Our troubled past. 

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Toledot 5774

Was it a missed chance?
Perhaps a mother's blessing
Might have healed the rift. 

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Chayei Sarah 5774

Like Sarah, we trust--
Love stories always enchant.
And life tumbles out.

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Vayera 5774

What was it he heard?
That voice on the dusty plain
Calling him to act.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Lech L'cha 5774

We, like Abraham--
Seeking family and food--
Circuitous paths.  

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Noach 5774


What is the teaching?
Sure it's a pretty rainbow-
The rest--a question! 

Sunday, September 22, 2013

B'reishit 5774

What if those first words
Were not a proclamation
But a whispered prayer.

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Chol HaMoed Sukkot 5774

Intimate portrait--
Fierce, Loving, Patient and Kind--
We harvest in awe. 

Friday, September 13, 2013

V'zot Ha-B'racha 5773-4

Breathe in the blessings
Your own and those for others.
Mark this moment now. 

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Ha'azinu 5773

There at the mountain
See!  Moses still stands and pleads:
The Teaching is good.

Nitzavim/Vayelech 5773

Like a Torah scroll--
Sometimes wrapped and closed away
Sometimes expansive.

Friday, August 23, 2013

Ki Tavo 5773

Strangely comforting--
With consequences revealed,
I make my choices.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Ki Tetze 5773

Mingled with harsh words
Abiding acts of kindness.
Messy text of life. 

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Shoftim 5773

In awe and humbled
Reading the fierce honesty 
Of this ancient text. 

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Re'eh 5773

So much human life
Unfolds between these mountains
Tangled rules of love. 

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Ekev 5773

Struggling to embrace
The essential if-then clause
At the heart of love.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Va'etchanan 5773

This is the teaching:
For our children's children
Faith in tomorrow.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

D'varim 5773

Listen and read well--
The one who tells the story
Shapes what we will learn. 

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Pinchas 5773

Bright gems to guide us
Shimmer through countless details:
Listen.  And choose well. 

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Balak 5773

Do not ask others
To speak that which you want heard.
Chances are they won't.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Chukat 5773

Water. Death. Battle.
No matter where we journey
Hovering close by

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Korach 5773

So much rests upon
How one poses the question.
The earth scorched and scarred.  

Monday, May 27, 2013

Shelach L'cha 5773

Those two who trusted-
What had they already learned
From long desert days?

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Naso 5773

Duties of service
Strange spells and bitter water
So foreign this text. 

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Shavuot 5773

We receive the gift
As a people.  Together.
Harvest of teachings. 

Friday, May 10, 2013

B'midbar 5773

Numbered and assigned
Ever more like a people
The promise beckons

Friday, May 3, 2013

Behar/Bechukotai 5773

Knowing start and end,
Measuring forward and back,
Why are we still lost?  

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Emor 5773

My heart wrenched.  Confused.
Feeling safe in "for all time"
And then that stoning.  

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Chol Ha-Moed Pesach 5773

In both dry, flat bread
And the seasonal harvests
God's face is revealed. 

Pesach 5773

One year wandering.
Still here in the wilderness.
Confused, but not lost.


Sunday, March 24, 2013

Sh'mini 5773

I too long to be 
Part of a holy people.
Are these rules the way?

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Tzav 5773

Marking the sacred
And a portion for the Lord
Still speaks to my soul.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Vayikra 5773

In the white spaces
Between the smoke and fire
I seek forgiveness.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Vayakhel-Pekudei 5773

With hearts, hands and minds
Take all that is beautiful
And craft holy space

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Ki Tissa 5773

Each unfolding verse
Confuses, thrills and frightens
Ends with a veiled light. 

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Purim 5773


Both delight and fear.
Drop all my everyday masks.
Is it upside down?


Saturday, February 16, 2013

Tetzaveh 5773

Blood, stones, gold and wood.
Offerings to holiness.
Now: the open heart. 

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Terumah 5773

All the sacred words
Enshrined in layered beauty.
Pull back the tent flap.  

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Yitro 5773

Who wouldn't tremble
At that bellowing mountain?
Words fierce in my heart. 

Friday, January 25, 2013

Tu B'shvat 5773

The leaf on the tree
Unaware of its beauty
Reflects time passing.



winter branches lit
sun's kiss like a mother's lips
softest whisper bloom
                          by Laura Hegfield

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Beshallach 5773

Each new encounter
Offers faith and wilderness
How to find my way?

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Bo 5773

Great darkness descends,
A whirlwind of destruction.
Freedom tastes of ash. 

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Vaera 5773

So much pain and strife--
Struggling to understand
This need for power.