Author name: kvodwieder

Our Torah and Jewish tradition dreams of a world in which human dignity is real and the presence of God is manifest. How do we hold on to that dream, nourish it, not lose hope and not conclude that the way the world is, is the way it has to be?

Where our Passover seders are about exploring redemption in the past and present, on the 8th day, on the final day of Passover, we are invited to tune into what it might mean in the future and to orient our lives today to guide ourselves and others to that vision.

Taking the time to disengage from the news, to celebrate Shabbat, to notice the little miracles that are with us every day is essential to remind us that God’s face is not fully hidden – that is safe to keep our hearts open to the darkness and the suffering because we are part of the Divine Reality that underlies the darkness.

The more I participate in interfaith dialogue and become aware of the various religious approaches to understanding sacred texts, the more I am convinced of the uniqueness of the value and approach of midrash. Midrash means “interpretation” and comes from the Hebrew root “leedrosh” which means “to seek.” This idea means that while Judaism’s core