by Rabbi David Levin | Aug 3, 2018 | Blessings, Chesbon HaNefesh, Teaching
This week in Parashah Eikev, Moses teaches and shares his Ethical Will. He admonishes us to live a full life and to do that we need to remember and embrace the precepts that have brought us to this time and place, the edge of the Promised Land. Moses’ is concerned...
by Rabbi David Levin | Jul 24, 2018 | Chesbon HaNefesh, General, Teaching
In going through my dad’s things, I came across an old Pepsi soda can from the 1960s. It had clay surrounding it. Old dried and yellowed bands of once clear tape were barely keeping the brittle shards together. The clay was painted faded hues of what was once...
by Rabbi David Levin | Jul 17, 2018 | Blessings, Chesbon HaNefesh
As we begin the last book of the Torah, Moses confronts this question in Parshat Devarim. Even the title begs the question. Devarim, what are the words and things? What is the story we will tell to those we hope will carry it in their hearts after we are gone? For...
by Rabbi David Levin | Jul 10, 2018 | Blessings, General
Your loved ones are your legacy. That is an important message I learned from last week’s Torah Portion Pinchas. We must consciously remember those closest to us, especially even when our work, our mission, or our very essence might have us focus on everyone else....
by Rabbi David Levin | Jun 28, 2018 | Blessings, Teaching
I ask my wedding couples: What your Judaism looks like? It is an important question because how they will embrace Judaism as they become a family and teach their children will become uniquely their own. It is different than the Judaism they learned growing up but it...
by Rabbi David Levin | Jun 20, 2018 | Chesbon HaNefesh, General
I walked into the labyrinth with intention. I paused at the beginning and then strode purposefully inside, carefully watching, following the path set between the small rocks wandering, meandering weaving back and forth slowly drawing me finally to the center. I...
by Rabbi David Levin | Jun 17, 2018 | Blessings, General
In my work on re-imagining Ethical Wills at Conversations for Life and Legacy®, I often speak about what we might have left unsaid to those who are gone. On this Father’s Day the line from Dan Fogelberg’s The Leader of the Band comes to mind; “And papa I don’t think...
by Rabbi David Levin | Jun 12, 2018 | General, Teaching
In my early training as a lifeguard, I was taught that you can only do so much to save another. You swim out to the distressed and offer a life ring, once they grab on to it, you can swim into shore rescuing him/her. But they had to grab hold of the flotation device...
by Rabbi David Levin | Jun 5, 2018 | Chesbon HaNefesh, Teaching
Parashah Shelach helps me understand a fundamental part of the human condition giving perspective into the fickle nature of the Israelite people’s relationship to their God as the Almighty leads them from bondage to the Promised Land. Put simply, the people lack...
by Rabbi David Levin | May 23, 2018 | General, Teaching
In her book I Remember Nothing, the wonderful late Nora Ephron shared the things she will miss as she contemplated toward the end of her life. Nora Ephron invites us to look back and recall the truly special things of our life. Her list also helps us to...
