By Rabbi David Jaffe Image Description: Blog image with a photo of a sunrise over an ocean beach. Text on top says, Elul 5786, by Rabbi David Jaffe. The one summer I spent at a sleep-away camp as a child, I wrote six-page letters to my parents almost every day. Thankfully, my mother saved these letters, and I’ve been reading them daily over the past six weeks. What is striking to me, and why I am starting a blog about Elul with this story, is how I recognize the contours of m

By Rabbi David Jaffe Image Description: Blog image with a photo of large burnt tree with new branches growing out of it. Text reads, “Av 5786 by Rabbi David Jaffe”. The spiritual practice of these three weeks from 17 Tammuz (July 1-2) to 9 Av (July 22-23) invites us to stand on the edge of a spiritual precipice, overlooking a valley of despair. The destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem 2000 years ago was the shattering of the key vessel used for repair—between people an

By Yehudah Webster Image Description: Blog image with a photo of a mountain lake on a cloudy day. The lake is on the foreground,with layers of trees and mountain edges fading behind fog in the distance. Text reads, “Tammuz 5786 by Yehudah Webster”. “Hamalach Hagoel Oti…The Messenger that Redeemed Me from all Evil: Bless my descendants and the world they live in. Create the conditions for them to continue to fight for Me, for Us, for You, for WE. Every generation has empires