WORDS THAT BREATHE

I wrote this the day she buried her mother, trying to hold prayer and grief together as she recited the first Kaddish for her.

Even baseball can be holy. A Shabbat Prayer for the Dodgers turns “Play Ball” into “Amen” and the ballpark into sacred space. ⚾️✨

Each seder gathered a constellation of color and courage: Blacks and Jews, Black Jews and people of color—Bishops and Rabbis, churches and synagogues, choir singing, and the cacophony of connection and contemplation— We were a veritable mosaic of Moses’ people, linking arms, lifting hearts, lamenting and loving in equal measure.

We sat around tables— round like the world we wished for, flat like the matzah we broke, layered like the stories we shared. Two seders....

Jazz was my sanctuary that night in Chicago. Michelle and I had slipped into the Jazz Showcase , where saxophonist Bobby Watson , the...

In the beginning— before beginnings had breath— there was tohu vavohu, not just chaos, but collapse. Not just void, but the violence of...

A jazz club. A Torah whisper. A T-shirt with a prophet’s promise. Reflections from the CCAR rabbinic convention on listening for the sacred in unexpected places—and improvising our way toward hope.

A spoken word poem about facing the reality before our world

Source of beginnings, Teach us to treasure time: To taste the sweetness of its swift seconds, To seek truth amidst its trials, To trust...

For the Calabasas City Council Reorganization Meeting And the Installation of Peter Kraut as Mayor Eternal One, Makor HaBrachot , Source...

As we step into the tides of tomorrow, this prayer invites us to treasure the gift of time, uncover holiness in the everyday, and return to kindness, generosity, and wisdom. May the new year be one of gratitude, growth, and peace in all its forms.

Rabbi Paul Kipnes of Congregation Or Ami offers a heartfelt invocation at the Calabasas City Council Reorganization Meeting, celebrating the installation of Mayor Peter Kraut. Reflecting on leadership, unity, and the city’s vision, the prayer calls for compassion, courage, and a commitment to community care.

In this spoken word poem, explore how Abraham's parents might have felt as he went off from Haran to the Promised Land, in search of his future.

Lech l’cha ! Get moving. Your future is ahead. Become your destiny. Get going. (“Leave us behind,” it seems, Remained unsaid.) Torah...

A Psalm for our cities on fire, after the killing of George Floyd

A Psalm for our cities on fire A flame with the fires of fear With anger burning ‘bout brazen brutality: From a kneed neck Floyd’s breath...

Dear Jewish leader (that’s YOU!): I believe in you. With an abundance of Kavod (honor and respect), I ask:Do you believe in you too? Are...

An open letter to Jewish leaders about how to lead through Covid-19 present and future.

A Jewish prayer finding strength in the responses of our ancestors to the trials in their lives. Specially written for during the Covid-19 outbreak

Holy One of Blessing, Who once blessed our ancestors, Shine for us A light forward, To illumine The unknown ahead. Grant us resilience,...