The Well {a poem}

Poetry, Jewish LifeJena SchwartzAugust 20, 2020Jewish, Jewish life, Jewish time, ElulComment

11 things after Shabbat

Jewish Life, Real LifeJena SchwartzJuly 11, 202011s, elevens, 11 thingsComment

Day 82: Walk Through the Door

Jewish Life, ResistanceJena SchwartzJune 2, 2020Jewish, Jewish life, bat mitzvah, George Floyd, AntiracismComment

Broken-Hearted

Jewish Life, ResistanceJena SchwartzApril 22, 2020antisemitism, Holocaust, Holocaust Remembrance Day Comment

It Is My Custom to Stand

Jewish LifeJena SchwartzFebruary 12, 2020Jewish life, Kaddish, Grief, Mourner's Prayer Comment

Working on My D'var Torah

For the bat mitzvah, one of the things we each have to do (there are 18 of us) is write a דבר תורה or d'var Torah.

Jewish LifeJena SchwartzFebruary 4, 2020bat mitzvah, shabbat, the sabbath, d'var, Showing Up, jewish, Jewish life, Prayer, sacredComment

"In Love"

Being part of a community that truly acknowledges and values each person's unique contribution allows each of us to show up fully -- to the page, to our days.

Jewish Life, CommunityJena SchwartzNovember 17, 2019Jewish, Prayer, community, permission, creativity, love, d'varComment

How Far Down the Rabbit Hole?

We will mess up. All of us. Every last one. It is absolutely inevitable.

Jewish Life, Community, Creative ProcessJena SchwartzNovember 13, 2019Comment

Ancestral Memory

What is "real" memory and what is imprinted on us by exposure or repetition?

Jewish LifeJena SchwartzNovember 10, 2019kristallnacht, memory, ancestors, trauma, Jewish history, Jewish memory, HolocaustComment

Balancing Practice with Action

Jews believe in two schools of being and doing.

Jewish Life, Creative ProcessJena SchwartzOctober 9, 2019Comment

Returning

Inhale. Exhale. Thought thought thought thought thought. Leaves fluttering. Eyes heavy. Inhale. Exhale. Car warm. Drowsy. Thought thought thought thought. Inhale. Exhale. Temptation to check timer. Inhale. Exhale. And then, finally, the chime. Aaaaaaaah. I did it.

Being Spiritually Equipped (Without the Bypassing)

Jewish Life, ObservationsJena SchwartzAugust 7, 2019spirituality, Judaism, Elul, High Holidays, forgiveness, introspection, Marianne Williamson, "we are the ones", reactivity Comments

If I Had Three Wishes

The first came easily -- for Mani's health to be 100% restored. The others, though, I thought long and hard about as I drove south through farmland and evening light.

Israel: From Imagination to Reality

I listened to all of it, rapt, attentive, a sponge, ears open, heart open, receptive, learning, discerning, knowing that we would have a completely different experience with a different guide, a different perspective and history.

The Four Worlds, or Why Every Offering Counts

Action, emotion, intellect, spirit. To live predominantly in only one of these worlds is to miss so much information.

Petrozavodsk, 1990

But I couldn’t help myself. My love of Russia began to bang up against something else: The undeniable truth that Jews had left this place in droves, in search of the religious and cultural freedom of expression. Sure, some small communities had cropped up, particularly in the bigger cities, but here in the north, Jews were an anomaly — suspicious, strange, other.

Jewish LifeJena SchwartzDecember 27, 2018lake onega, russian women, family, lineage, poetry, jewish, freedom, russian jewComment

Real Talk Isn't Easy

Resistance, Jewish LifeJena SchwartzOctober 21, 2018Assata Shakur, desiree lynn adaway, The Hate U Give, social justice, synagogue, refugees, white supremacy, white privilegeComment

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