Does my small contribution do anything? Whether it’s a donation to a fundraiser, or biking to work instead of driving, these things have minimal impact on my daily life, so how in the grand scheme of the universe does my little action make a difference?

Arriving in Jerusalem, it didn't feel like 16 years since my last visit. It felt simultaneously like returning home, and yet like a strange new city.

Although the types of messages in the Torah are different than those of today, you can imagine what ancient messages might have looked like with today’s technology. Perhaps the visual cue of the ram in a thicket would come as an animated GIF on Abraham’s iPhone. Maybe Noah would have been alerted about the flood with an emergency broadcast system notification. 

It's only human to have desires and wants, but it’s also human to find and remain in balance with the world around us. We too can be dreamers, as long as we don’t forget our reality along the way.

Rebekah, the mother of twins Jacob and Esau, teaches us the value of recognizing individual needs and talents in our children and making choices that support them.

There’s a certain power in offering blessing one person to the other in moments of transition. While the siddur is a beautiful guide for the notion of prayer, the prayers are meant to be just that, a guide, not a set-in-stone limit to what we can offer.

While we can’t predict the future, perhaps we can use what we know from the past and present to steer ourselves toward the world we wish to build.