I got that letter from the water board a few weeks back —the one I am sure you have all gotten—
telling us we are in a drought and water rationing will begin.
If we use anything above our allotted allowance, we pay a penalty……
As many of you know, this year I gave birth to my newest recording, Becoming.
It was the product of 7 long months of hard work, and during that time I wrote two stories in connection to this project……
About a year and a half ago, a woman I’d been friends with and worked with for over 15 years
said some unkind things about me to a mutual friend and colleague.
I was hurt. I felt betrayed……
Welcome to 5766!
Once again we have the opportunity to review our lives and make improvements over the past year.
This is both a very private and public time……
In just a little while we will chant one of the most powerful and difficult of all the High Holiday prayers,
Unetaneh Tokef, a prayer which embodies the central myth of these Days of Awe as days of judgment……
A story.
It takes place during the time of the Inquisition, and it’s called The Shofar of Don Fernando Aguilar.
Each year at the Jewish New Year, many Conversos
(Spanish Jews who officially converted to Christianity but many of whom secretly held on to Jewish practices)
yearned to hear the sound of the Shofar……