Vayhi

by Arthur Waskow

[This article is extracted from Rabbi Waskow’s remarks to a Peace Gathering of Christians convoked in January 2009 by the Historic Peace Churches (Quakers, Mennonites, and Brethren), which also invited a small number of Jews and Muslims to act as participant-observers and commentators. This transcript of his talk is appearing in the Friends Journal. Copyright © 2009 by Arthur Waskow.]

I begin with a renewed version of the blessing traditionally offered before learning Torah—sharing wisdom—together:

Blessed are You, the Breath of Life, the Inter-breathing Spirit of the universe, who breathes into us the wisdom to know that we become holy by breathing together, by shaping our breath into words, and by shaping our words so that they aim towards wisdom.   Read more »

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, in GODWRESTLING -- ROUND 2, 12/10/2004

[This essay was originally written for the book GODWRESTLING, published in 1978, and then incorporated in GODWRESTLING — ROUND 2 (Jewish Lights, 1996; available by clicking on the "Bo   Read more »

Rabbi Phyllis Berman and her smikha sisters, 12/27/2004

SMICHA WEAVE AND PHYLLIS DVAR TORAH

(BEGINNING WEAVE)

Breishit : In the beginning of the process of creating four women rabbis and a rabbinic pastor there were five women living in three continents ranging in age from 41 to 61.

One, a Sabra whose Orthodox Zionist parents, arriving in Israel from Hungary and Poland, met in a kibbutz and settled in Jerusalem, comes from a family with a documented rabbinic lineage of 32 generations through her Saba, and a similar one through her Savta;   Read more »

Rabbi Arthur Waskow

The Breasted God

ONE OF THE DEEP ISSUES that today bedevils the Jewish people, and the human race, is how to understand God.   Read more »