Text study and conversation between Alex Edelman and Rabbi Sharon Brous on the Torah of Joy, and the Power, Promise, and Necessity of Laughter in Dark Times.

Hope doesn’t die, and despair is a privilege we cannot afford.

We think of t'shuvah as a process that begins quietly, internally. We take stock and then we act. But what if we need an external catalyst first? What if we need to return to a physical place in order to encounter ourselves again - a different version of ourselves, different pieces. What can returning to a place surface for us? And what does our tradition show us can come from that journey?

One year after her sister's death, Michal rethinks the Talmudic story of "the oven of achnei" and Moses's final speech to the people to reflect upon the importance of small and private acts.

Vivian Silver (founder of Women Wage Peace, lifelong Israeli-Canadian

peace activist and beloved friend to many in our community), was

murdered by Hamas on October 7th. Since then, her son, Yonatan Zeigen,

has dedicated his life to realizing her vision of peace.

Arab Aramin is a Palestinian peace activist whose sister was killed by

an Israeli soldier in 2007.

The two are members of the Parents Circle – Families Forum, a grassroots

organization of Palestinian and Israeli families who have lost

immediate family members in the conflict, and who believe that only

together can they achieve a sustained peace.

As we prepare for the High Holy Days, what difficult things do you need to say to God?  Covenantal relationship must be able to hold it all. The anger and the disappointment, the heartbreak and the rebuke.

We say Psalm 27 100 times in the High Holy day season. Why?

Six beloved hostages were executed in a tunnel beneath Rafah, leaving behind broken-hearted loved ones and a shattered nation. We must be clear about who is responsible.

At this time of year in our Jewish calendar, we

are in a season of second chances. We are reading Moshe's retelling of the

people's journey through the desert in Deuteronomy, and we are about to enter

into the month of Elul, the month of spiritual preparation for the High Holy

Days. It is also the moment when Moshe went back up the mountain to get the

second set of tablets - the ultimate story of second chances. We are about to

start our own month of reflection and repair - let's see what we can do.

Water is not only a building block of life, but also of

culture. How we receive water shapes our consciousness and has the potential to

remind us of the ultimate truth of our existence: we are always, and

inevitably, dependent.