Shalom שלום
You have found the garden where I share my essays, poems, thoughts and sometimes music. A garden is a place where things grow, die, blossom, hide, surprise, struggle, comfort, and are reborn. A garden is a place for renewal and resourcing. I hope you find visiting Chaya’s Garden a healing place for you.
I will share my joy and my heartbreak. I will get personal. I will share what my creative unconscious asks of me. Please join me on this journey.
I will share with you what is on my heart, my anger, what moves me, and the questions that are very much alive within and often spill gently and not so gently out.
I will offer healing thoughts and prayers. I hope to hear yours.
What a surprise! I was studying Torah and looked at past writings from colleagues on a specific Torah portion I was thinking about. This one was from 2016 by my friend Rabbi Lori Klein. Torah is timeless, so looking at commentaries from any age can be enlightening. I was surprised to see my own experience […]
I heard the call from the bima (the stage of the synagogue) during the Torah service, for those who had come through a life altering/threatening time recently. Those who hear the call and want to respond, come before the community with our shaken and relieved hearts to say a prayer and mark the moment. (We […]
At a time when so much is unpredictable and completely distressing, I find myself reflecting on what is important. Part I Sacred Attunement In Jewish tradition 70 years is considered a “natural lifespan”, the “fullness of years”. (Pirkei Avot 5:20, Psalms 90). At 83, some have another b’mitzvah, having lived 13 years past 70. As […]
Dolores is an amazing artist. Her paintings are on our walls throughout our home, filled with images of color and shapes with hints of movement, emotion and breath. She gave them to us before she moved from New York to Florida, following the death of her beloved partner of 42 years, Bernice. When we arrived […]
During these shocking and precarious times, I appreciate the ritual of blowing shofar so much. Whether it is for Rosh Hashanah, or to sound it as an alarm, or to gather us together in celebration of a rabbinic ordination, it heralds to an ancient sound evoking the Sacred. I start to blow shofar a month […]
Recently, someone held up a mirror to me and I saw something which didn’t really surprise me, but required action. In the mirror I saw my life’s work gently accompanying others as they reflect on, notice, and attempt to deepen their relationship with the Sacred. Torah, song, ancestral wisdom, art, writing, devotional listening, dance, and […]
There was a simple rabbi who was known for being genuine and wise. Not just genuine. And not just wise. She understood the sacred task of Being With, of Showing Up. She wasn’t perfect and definitely made mistakes. Many people sought her out to share their sadness, their yearnings, their confusion, their chaos. Some sought […]
Dear Ilene, I am so moved by you reaching out. I know you have changed your name to Chaya, and that is so beautiful. It fits you well. But you will always be Ilene to your mother. That was the name she gave you when you arrived in the family, third child, unplanned, but welcomed. […]
Dear Irma:I hope you don’t mind we have given you a name, Irma. It helps me remember how you came to us 15 years ago by giving you my mother’s name. You lived with my mother for a long time. She loved you so much. When she had to move out of her home as […]
I write about grief because it’s normal. I write about grief so you know it’s ok to talk about, not just ok, but healing, even yummy at times. (really? Yummy? Sometimes, yes) I write about grief because it’s just like eating or sleeping, laughing or dreaming. It’s a regular feeling, visitor, companion, guide, even mentor. […]
I was welcomed into a home of four. Together we made five. Five chairs at the dinner table. Five seats in the 60’s station wagon, no seat belts. Five fingers on each hand, five toes on each foot. And then there was four chairs. Always an empty chair. And then we were three chairs, always […]
God who keeps faith with those who sleep in the dust… May human and Divine intervention come swiftly to protect the lives of elders and children, mothers and brothers, fathers and cousins… May the protective wings of the shechina unfurl to protect all of Rafah, where millions of Gazans have come to seek shelter. May […]
Friends, Most of you know that grief and mourning, especially in our wise Jewish traditional ways, has been one of my portals to the Sacred and to Healing. As my friend R. Shifrah Tobacman says, “grief attended to is lifegiving”. I am honored to be part of a series of classes offered online and in […]
Delicious food, conversation, gentle and strong rain, creativity, and promise. Torah, wisdom, guidance, prayer, and curiosity. A sweet phone call from across the world. Shabbat. Music. Tenderness. Rejoicing. And with every day the touch of grief arrives from where it was hiding, or bursts forth with surprise. The suffering of so many are ever present. […]
I recently listened to an episode of the California Report that shared news about a Jewish bakery that closed in the Los Angeles Fairfax district after more than 77 years. I was so surprised to find myself sobbing. Over the closing of a bakery? Yes, I loved their baked goods, especially the “racetrack” which was […]
Things are changing every day in this historic moment. Lots of feelings, thoughts, actions. I have noticed one thing has stayed pretty similar throughout since October 7. In my American Jewish and ally world I have an avoidance of talking about what I believe or am thinking about until I know exactly where the other […]
I am making art, listening to panels about Palestine/Israel, reading articles, but don’t have much to say yet. Please stay in touch. Again, I am posting a few offerings that have inspired: 1. https://www.allmep.org/about-us-allmep/ ALLMEP is a coalition of over 170 organizations—and tens of thousands of Palestinians and Israelis—building people-to-people cooperation, coexistence, equality, shared society, […]
This moment in history invites a desire to add to the many statements and resolutions addressing the war. I want to add to some of the brilliant writing. My soul wants to say the perfect thing: to comfort, inspire, calm, fix, but mostly, to save lives. Yet, none of my words can fulfill that job. […]
The events since Simchat Torah reminded me of the crisis in Texas, when Rabbi Charlie and a few of his congregants were held hostage in their synagogue in January, 2022. I was of course thrilled that the hostages were not killed, but horrified to hear in the press “no one was killed.” The truth […]
I had never been to this synagogue. My friend was the new rabbi and I wanted to attend. It was supposed to be over 95 degrees and I didn’t know if they had AC. I hadn’t slept much the night before due to my mind which wouldn’t turn off. What if I fell asleep during […]
She was celebrating in a room filled with hope, pride, Shabbes, and connection. Flowers, hearts, and song dancing with the smells of delicious food, Torah, laughter, and tears. There was truth shared over bagels, about pain, dreams, visions, how to cope with disappointment, regret. And joys spilled forth over lox and capers. Whispers of family. […]