My recent posts…

Twilight Zone

My recent posts...Twilight Zone בֵּין הַשְׁמָשׁוֹת Bein hashemashot, literally, between the suns. בֵּין הַשְׁמָשׁוֹת A twilight zone of time, or rather, out of time, between one day and the next. Our sages of old used this concept to explain certain miraculous...

When to Pray Yizkor

My recent posts...My edited comments from this past final day of Pesach. Ellie’s mom, Julia Helfman, died on her 95th birthday, December 24, 2025. This was the first Yizkor service Ellie feels obligated to attend. She said, “I’m now a member of a club I was not eager...

Timing

It had become a Kremer household Pesach tradition, or rather, a pre-Pesach tradition. Somewhere within a couple of days prior the first seder and noon on erev Pesach, something would go awry in the kitchen.

A Moment of Hebrew

My recent posts...רֶגַע שֶׁל עִבְרִית regga shel ivrit: A moment of Hebrew The summer of 1970, I was one of 250 teens in Israel with Camp Ramah. (Ellie was on the same program, but we didn’t meet then.) I got an outsized pleasure of riding an Egged public bus in...

Release, Return

Jan 20, 2025 | A Rabbi Writes

Release. Return.

מִמַּעֲמַקִּים קְרָאתִיךָ יי (mima’amakim k’raticha adonai)

From the depths, from the depths of our souls, Adonai, we call to You:

we pray for healing the minds and hearts of those newly released from sadistic confinement.

we pray for repair of their trust in the good of which humanity is capable.

we pray for easing their fear when a door is closed, when a room goes dark, when sounds are too loud, when a loved one’s voice cannot be heard, when a hug is a but dream, when the sky cannot be seen…

we pray for their fortitude to not be overwhelmed by memories and by the certain continued suffering of those still confined.

we pray for recognition of the cynical malicious physical and psychological warfare perpetrated against our people, against all Israelis, all Jews, all humans with a conscience.

we pray for opening the aggressors’ minds and hearts, something we cannot do alone.

מִמַּעֲמַקִּים קְרָאתִיךָ יי (mima’amakim k’raticha adonai)

From the depths, from the depths of our souls, Adonai, we call to You….