Elul is the month that we open ourselves to the possibility of holiness and connection in preparation for Rosh HaShanah. Through our teshuvah, repentance, or turning, we attempt to repair what needs fixing. This year I face the holiday with a broken heart, and it is hard to figure out how to begin. I do… Read more »

The words of Shoftim, tzedek, tzedek tirdof – justice, justice shall you pursue – have guided my life’s work. They’ve become foundational since I was appointed to the bench as I have spent the past year learning to become a judge and to sit in judgment. When I think about what I’ve learned, and particularly… Read more »

Despite being a feminist, for much of my life I assumed that to be a good shofar blower one needed a big barrel chest. I thought that the essential quality one needed to blow shofar was big masculinity. My barrel-chested father was an excellent shofar blower. He blew the shofar from the bima in my… Read more »

A treasured Rosh HaShanah poem from 13th century Spain – Ahot Ketana, “Little Sister,” by R. Avraham Hazzan of Gerona – prays תִּכְלֶה שָׁנָה וְקִלְלוֹתֶיהָ/tikhleh shana v’kileloteikha, “may the accursed year end,” and תָּחֵל שָׁנָה וּבִרְכוֹתֶיהָ/tahel shana u’virkoteiha, “may a year of blessings begin.”   Have these phrases ever resonated so strongly as they do now,… Read more »