art

Lilacs That in the Dooryard Bloom Early

By |

There were lilacs blooming in my dooryard. But they are browning now, and they are almost gone; they were very early lilacs. It is strange to see them at the end of their lives now, since, usually, they are my markers of my birthday – late April, the time of spring coming back, the time of the thaw, the time when everything feels like home again, like live grass and new birds. I’ve chosen houses based on whether there were lilacs there. I’ve stayed in this house, as I wrangle with the bank over possible foreclosure, sometimes only with the hope of seeing another bloom of those trees from the windows of my own office.

art

Sacred Snapshots Brings a Justice-Seeking Connection to the Holy

By |

On Saturday, April 21, Sacred Snapshots, a day-long Sampler for the Spirit, will invite participants to experience the divine, celebrate spiritual practices from a range of religions and traditions at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.) Whether exploring religion in pop culture, engaging 12-step spirituality, or experiencing Hindu ritual, attendees will create a multi-religious, multicultural and international community for one day. Rumi wrote that “there are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground,” and at Sacred Snapshots, you will have the chance to try at least a dozen. When I heard about Saturday’s event, I was curious if Sacred Snapshots could deliver a hospitable space for those who belong to a congregation and those who do not to come together and experiment in spiritual practices new to both of them. After talking with the event organizers and looking at the web site, I realized the diversity of the presenters and traditions appearing in the Sacred Snapshots line-up provided an opportunity to dabble in something I have heard of or experience something I never knew existed from a location or community with which I’ve never had contact. There is so much to explore and to taste (and I do mean taste – there is a Flavors of Faith workshop that delves into the relationship between food and religious life.)
Curious?

art

Painting Towards a Higher Self

By |

Malekeh Nayiny is a project-based artist who was born in Teheran, Iran and is now based in Paris. She has exhibited her work in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. The work featured is a series titled S.O.S. (Save Our Souls) that was first exhibited at the XVA Gallery in Dubai..Nayiny completed these portraits of Gandhi during a hard time of her life, while diving deeply into her subconscious mind during hypnotherapy sessions. Gandhi was her guide toward inner healing.

art

Why Passover is the Greatest Holiday of All Time

By |

Why Passover is the Greatest Holiday of All Time
more than the fourth glass of wine
in a family that gets drunk off two
more than the smirk you throw
at your older brother
when you recite the tenth plague,
the killing of the first-born
more than hiding the afikomen
in the exact same spot you found it
fifteen years earlier:
behind the closet door,
under the board games,
stuffed inside a box of tissues so old
it might actually be the same box
more than your Aunt Fran
sitting at the head of the table
like the orange on the Seder plate
so natural you didn’t even know
that’s not how it always was
more than your mom
adding a new section to the Haggadah
called the Ten Modern Plagues:
1. Unemployment. 2. War for Oil. 3-10.

art

How I Spent my Lent

By |

One day in Lent went like this: another scattered stupid day of laundry, a crazy amount of mediocre cooking, bad feelings about myself and my negligible achievements, and attempts to pull myself out of self-absorbed self-criticism. Scurry, scurry, worry, worry, and meta-worrying about worrying. Tiring. I got simple things done – a haircut, but only after wasting inordinate amounts of time surfing the web for “flattering haircuts for older women,” printing some images, doubting, looking for signs, irked at having to make all these decisions myself without clear divine commands. (Maybe the command I didn’t hear was, “Is this really important?

art

Weekly Torah Commentary Perashat Ki Tissa: Overcoming Edifice

By |

Things have a past and a present, but only Gd is pure presence….    A.J. Heschel, God in Search of Man pp 142
I’m proud to share with you all what is likely the “trippiest” piece I’ve ever written. In weeks past, we have discussed the inherent failure of artistic endeavor as perceived by contemporary theorists and earlier Hassidic masters. Every building, beautiful or sacred as it may be, is on the one hand subject to critique as a result of its being a “finished product”, and on the other hand, no matter how beautiful the edifice, it is also from some perspective also a barrier, a set of boundaries, a marked off perimeter. We have seen that in the Hassidic masters this problematic arises with regard to the  texts surrounding the Mishkan, the Temple, and identifies the barriers as being erected due to sin, specifically that of the golden calf.

art

Cheering & Jeering Iran/Israel at Oscars & NY Times

By |

… the Islamic Republic couldn’t stop itself from touting “A Separation,” Iran’s winning submission for the Academy Award in the Best Foreign Language category, as a victory over “Zionism” for triumphing over Israel’s “The Footnote”….

art

Photo Essay: 28 Days with 3 Million Muslims on the Hajj Pilgrimage

By |

In November 2011, I went on the Hajj pilgrimage with my parents. I spent 28 days in Saudi Arabia walking through the desert with three million Muslims from around the world. The whole experience made me believe in people’s ability to be incredibly generous and compassionate. We all shared space without distinctions of race, class, or gender. I was kissed by an old Iranian woman, I talked politics with an Egyptian man who was excited about the Occupy Movement, I shared food with a couple from Morocco, and I talked about hijab bans with a woman from Switzerland. I saw Turkish women with incredible facial tattoos, Nigerians with patterns of scars across their cheeks, and Afghan men with their beards died bright red with henna. We all stood on the plains of Arafat together and reflected on our regrets and all our hopes for the future.

art

Windows into Transcendence: Lightning and Sophia in "Red Tails"

By |

In the movie “Red Tails”, the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, we see how religious icons serve as “windows into the Kingdom of God.” The images that the fighter pilots take into combat with them help them to see a kind of divine transcendence that gives their lives meaning. The icons help them to come closer to God. One of the major characters in the movie is the skilled, fearless, self-confident, improvisational and independent-minded pilot nicknamed “Lightning.” He is a womanizer who falls in love at first sight with an Italian woman named Sophia.