Tag: Shabbat

  • Imprisoned Childhood /Holy Justice

    Right before a judge decides a sentence, they should be reminded they are sentencing that man’s children, too. Prison is full of fathers. Midjourney AI-Generated Image Some are the “stereotypical” 20-somethings who got a girl (or girls) pregnant on their way to prison, but most I’ve met are men in their 30s, 40s, 50s, and…

  • Boundaries & Birds

    Hi Friends, Hello from FCI Miami where the geese and birds had babies and are training them around the lake. It’s pretty cute, and an unexpected joy to watch. A few quick Torah thoughts for this week: I’ve been learning Bava Bathra (Basra), a tractate of Talmud that deals largely with architectural & civil planning…

  • So we’re part evil inclination…

    Earlier in the week I read in a commentary on the Torah, by Rabbi Boruch Adler, that the tradition states Cain was the product of the Nachash (serpent) and Chava, that the angel of death / evil inclination directed the Nachash to mate with Chava! Also, because Noah’s wife Naama descended from Cain, and we…

  • It’s a pleasant torture

    A friend here, Martin, was chatting with me and said his mom was always asking him, “What trouble is you trying to get out of”? It occurred to me, what if she’d asked him, “What are you trying to get into?” Are you trying to get into business? A healthy relationship? School? A nicer community?…

  • Judaism through new eyes

    Shavua Tov. This was a laid-back Shabbat with some nice highlights. “Bek” (Dennis Gogel), the German soldier who discovered he’s Jewish in prison, attended Friday night services and got his first Aliyah to the Torah (being called up to the Torah) this morning. I was leining (reading the Torah), and it was super nice to…

  • A Hopeful Shabbat

    In this week’s Parsha, our forefather Yaacov promises Laban to work seven years to earn Rachel as his wife. The Torah says that because he loved Rachel, the seven years “seemed like little time to him” (Vayetse, 29:20). The Shadal (Trieste, Italy) explains that “those days were days of tranquility and pleasure, for he took…

  • My bed tent. Eureka!

    In the Glass House, there are no full walls around your cell, just cubicle partitions, about 5′ tall, so privacy is non existent… until, Eureka! I awoke from a (failed) nap with a plan! For those new to hearing about the Glass House, imagine a corporate office, but in each 8×8 cubicle they stuck: –…

  • From moments of despair to moments of joy

    Some days you wake up in prison and some days you wake up IN prison. Today was one of those days where the steel bars feel a little colder and tighter in the morning. You think back to things destroyed, opportunities killed, relationships harmed or ended… you think of the stress, the loss, the folks…