Lesley Hyatt
I was raised by a devout tribalist. My mother worshipped the god of family but like many personal gods, hers was a particular invention — the seasoned product of her own fantastic yearning. My mother’s family disappointed her: my grandfather traveled six months a year… … More »
The Four Perplexities
Richard S. Cohen
I have been thinking about mystery for a while now. Not the literary genre. Not the esoteric cults of Egypt, Greece, or Rome. Not the Christian mystery of divine grace. These are apocalyptic mysteries. They harbor an implicit promise: Hidden behind the dark veil lies a deep reservoir of truth. If one is privy to a secret initiation or receives an uncanny revelation then all will be brought to light. Mystery, here, is the ultimate solution to the profound risks of being human. For me, mystery is not so dark and not so light. It is, rather, a perplexity on a continuum of perplexities. … More »
Opening to the Mystery
Eitan Fishbane
The Zohar and other kabbalistic texts frequently represent the moments of mystical experience and insight as a flash of lightening, as a blinding radiance that consumes the present, and then, in an instant, is gone. … More »
A Prescription for an Ethical Religious Practice
Irene Lehrer Sandalow
Standing in Postville, Iowa, I was faced with a fiercely rumbling stomach and a personal decision: ethics vs. halakhah. … More »
The Physics of Belief
God According to God: A Physicist Proves We Have Been Wrong About God All Along, Gerald L. Schroeder (256 pages, HarperOne, New York, 2009, $25.99)
Judaism, Physics and God: Searching for Sacred Metaphors in a Post-Einstein World, David W. Nelson (300 pages, Jewish Lights Publishing, Woodstock, VT, 2005, $24.99)
Reviewed by Andrea Wershof Schwartz … More »
A Revolution in Science and Religion
Howard Smith
Science has provided answers…to the fundamental questions that used to be the sole domain of religion, especially the two big ones: How was the universe created? What is the nature of life?… This revolution means that faith is not the result of being ignorant…. … More »
NiSh’ma – Mystery & Awe
Featured Artist: Tuvia Katz, Ruth K. Ben-Dov, Ken Aptekar, Victor Raphael and Bonita Helmer … More »
Discussion Guide – Mystery & Awe
Is it necessary to resolve the unknown? What do the early chapters of the Book of Genesis teach us about mystery? What is the relationship between awe and mystery?