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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

We are focused on returning to that original light to re-discovering who we really are and what our purpose is beneath all the noise of everyday life. Ultimately, we are focused on returning to the loving creative awareness that we all are beneath all the concepts and ideas we have of ourselves.

If one recognizes the presence of enemies as a trigger to cultivate humility and be more honest about the isolation and separation within oneself, then there is the opportunity to elevate that evil within, which then has the potential to turn an enemy, in Hebrew oyev into a friend, ohev.

The fulfillment of the halakhah across the generations is the perpetual human answer to the divine call, “Where are You.” When we ask ourselves the question, “What does God want of me in this moment,” we are engaging a question of halakhah.