This is another special episode of the TRADITION Podcast in which we check in with our authors and editors to hear how they are managing through the corona crisis. In this installment, R. Jeffrey Saks talks with Dr. Erica Brown about her recent thoughts concerning the Avinu Malkenu, recited on public fasts and the Days of Awe—times of introspection, repentance, and spiritual stock-taking. These certainly seem to be appropriate themes for our current circumstance. Dr. Brown focuses on the line “Our Father, Our King, remember that we are but dust” as a statement of humility in the face of uncertainty. 

Dr. Erica Brown, a consulting editor at TRADITION, is the director of the Mayberg Center for Jewish Education and Leadership and an associate professor at The George Washington University. Her most recent book is Esther: Power, Fate and Fragility in Exile (Maggid Books).