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Sep 27, 2024, 4:32 PM

Believe: For Parshiyot Netzavim and Vayelech

Can you believe it? We are approaching the end of another Torah cycle. This week we read two short parshiyot, but perhaps we should say that we savor these two parshiyot, because they are very special. Moshe, whom we...

Dec 28, 2023, 9:37 PM

17 years: A song of gratitude

(courtesy)

Jacob lived 17 years in the land of Egypt, so that the span of Jacob’s life came to 147 years. * * * The final 17 years of Jacob's life are not recorded as one of the stories in Breisheet. The...

Dec 21, 2023, 7:37 PM

It’s OK to Cry

Someone I know posted on his Facebook feed this morning that today is October 78, 2023, which is exactly how these past few months have felt to me and perhaps to you.It feels like October 7, 2023 was so...

Dec 6, 2023, 7:57 PM

Be That Light
Photo by Leann Shamash

Be That Light There is a space in our hearts where a soft light glows. Its flame glows even when darkness surrounds us, even when anger sweeps us up like a hurricane. Even then. Even now. There is light in our hearts. even when the despair threatens...

Nov 1, 2023, 5:59 PM

Photo by Leann Shamash

Parshat Vayera contains the stories of at least three women. The first is the story of Lot’s wife, who fled S'dom before it was destroyed. She was instructed not to look back, yet the midrash says that she turned...

Oct 11, 2023, 6:19 AM

Pendulum: A Prayer for the State of Israel

Pendulum the pendulum swings dependably left right right left again again Tick Tock Holding hopes mirroring ...

Sep 27, 2023, 4:58 PM

Sukkot – You Can Do It!

What could be finer than the holiday of Sukkot which follows on the coattails or Rosh HaShannah and Yom Kippur. As we make transitions to a new year, to a new reading of Torah, to the autumn and to...

Sep 6, 2023, 7:18 PM

Image by Albert Lew. Posted here with permission of the photographer.

The combined parshiyot of Nitzavim and Vayelech bring us almost to the close of the yearly cycle of Torah. In brief, these unforgettable chapters include all of us in the text. We are all present as Moses tells the...

Aug 23, 2023, 10:06 PM

The mother bird

How do we act when we are given tiny moments by ourselves, with no human witness to our conduct? (Ki Teitzei)

Jul 19, 2023, 8:03 AM

To Be a Teacher

I sometimes think that the experience of Moshe Rabeinu with the Hebrews in the desert is akin to a classroom teacher's experience. Moshe juggled so many balls at once, that it was difficult to keep them all in the...

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About Me

After a career in Jewish education, Leann Shamash is the author of the blog Words Have Wings, which addresses the parsha of the week through poetry.

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