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The Zohar teaches that we are obligated to praise Hashem for the miracles and kindnesses He shows us. Yet we often reserve the word miracle for splitting seas and dramatic rescues, while [...]

Howard Thurman, the twentieth-century theologian and civil rights leader, famously advised people not to ask only what the world needs, but to discover what makes them come alive. The world, he [...]

Some books offer information. Others change our moral eyesight. Adam Grant’s Give and Take belongs to the latter category. Grant describes three relational styles. Takers seek advantage. Matchers [...]

I feel deeply blessed that, for much of my life, I have been able to open my eyes and feel gratitude for what I see. Perhaps I was born with a certain native optimism, inherited from my witty, [...]

The other day, after a cold contrast shower, I chose not to warm up in the usual way. I did not stay under hot water, nor did I rush into getting dressed and returning to productivity. Instead, I [...]

Why is it that a stranger can bump into us on the sidewalk and we exchange polite apologies, yet a spouse brushing past us in the kitchen can evoke a response wildly disproportionate to the moment?

There is quiet theology in an apple’s crunch, in melting chocolate, in the aroma of a tisane. The world was not engineered solely for survival; it was composed for encounter. Judaism treats [...]

This morning, I lasted just thirty seconds in my cold contrast shower. If you know Buffalo, you know the cold here isn’t subtle. By January, it’s not novel, it’s elemental. The water doesn’t [...]

There’s something delightfully innocent about a small child playing hide-and-seek. Sometimes, the child will simply cover their eyes and assume they’ve vanished: “If I can’t see you, you can’t [...]

Pas b’salo appears in the Talmud (Yoma 18a), which teaches that a person who has bread within reach is fundamentally more at ease than one without. This isn't just about food. It’s about mindset, [...]