I could bore you with my professional bio. If you really wanted to, you could find it here. But we all know that professional bios only represent one part of our lives. And my life…oh, my life is honestly a lot messier than that.
So…Here is my authentic, spiritual bio, if you will:
I am a work in progress.
That’s right.
My past life experiences continue to shape the person I am today. To the extent that I shed places of sadness and embrace the joys of my life as well as possibilities of a hopeful future, I strive to be the most authentic and happy version of me as possible. Like I said, I am a work in progress.
My life is full of challenges: losing a sister when I was 13; burying my father when he was 58; undergoing years of infertility treatments, followed by a divorce; saying goodbye to so many friends and chapters of my life. I’m still learning how to deal with those losses and strengthen the core of my support and resilience within.
My life is also full of joys: I experience God in moments of tremendous gratitude and blessing – when I dance in a horah, when I sit and cry with someone who is happy, when I hear the good news of another birth, another marriage, another life saved through organ donation or one of these miracles that you read about that just brings you to tears. My greatest joys in life are those closest to me, especially my children, whose hugs and wet kisses continue to give my life a purpose that I never thought imaginable.
I love being Jewish and I love being a rabbi and I’m experimenting with what it means to be the Jew and the rabbi who I am, instead of the Jew or rabbi that others what me to be.
I love people and I’m learning how to better connect with them, to truly listen to them and to celebrate them for being…them. I celebrate and love you, too.