Words of Torah (my blog!) — Rabbi Amy Josefa Ariel (she/her)

Posts in TORAH

The Good Place

HA'AZINU
Have you seen The Good Place? I don't mean the actual "Good Place", of course. I mean the NBC show. Basically, The Good Place packs in everything we do in this High Holiday season.

TORAHAmy ArielSeptember 18, 2017Torah, D'Var Torah, Ha'azinu, Shabbat ShuvahComment

You Standing Ones

NITZAVIM-VAYEILECH
How do we, with our bodies and our souls, best take in and express - best experience our relationship with God? How do we best honor the relationships with God others experience? Perhaps we could broaden the way we think about the concept of standing, of being upright in soul and in body.

TORAHAmy ArielSeptember 11, 2017NITZAVIM, TORAH, 5777Comment

The Days of the Years

VAYIGASH

I received my first blood transfusion, of A- blood, on December 16, 2010 the night before I was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia - 2,214 days ago as of this Shabbat.

TORAHAmy ArielJanuary 2, 2017AML, BMT, blood donation, Vayigash, TorahComment

Hineini, Hineini: Parshat Shoftim

They aren’t super neat or well-edited, but I have some thoughts to share about Elul and this week’s Torah portion.

When I came out of the bathroom today at one of the medical clinics I’ve been frequenting, that was the picture hanging on the wall in front of me. It isn’t a mistake. It isn’t incidental. It is right outside the gender neutral bathrooms in a medical clinic. That photo on that wall in that place is someone’s fierce pursuit of justice. And kol hakavod. I’m here for it.