The Holocaust was brought about by the opposite of hesed, by malice and treatment of human beings with clinical cruelty for the purpose of demeaning, debasing and destroying. How do we face such a legacy?

We have made great idols of our ability to harness the resources of the earth, damming rivers, moving mountains and creating great structures that reach to the sky. While we have gained great benefits from our labor, it is time to now think of how to treat the earth with kindness.

Saturday night is the anniversary of the giving of Torah at Mt. Sinai. Strange, isn't it, that on the holy day we celebrate the Giving of the Law, we traditionally study the Book of Ruth, the most transgressive of the Bible, a book that explicitly defies a Divine command.

The story of King David and of the Messiah must begin with an act of kindness. Ruth is the love inside the kingdom, the love of the Divine Presence, the love that flows through the whole world.

Hatzelponit is comfortable with the appearance of angels. She knows that the prophecy she has received is one of love.

The most common traditional translations of hod are "majesty" and "splendor." While those definitions are significant, clearly something gets lost in translation. Without context they are just words and will probably not be enough to glean a relatable meaning.

We can think in black and white and know that it serves us well and yet still allow room for awareness that the prism of possibility is larger that we intuit.

Compassion, like all emotions, is a feeling state that serves as an engine for action. Once we feel an emotion, it increases the likelihood that we'll engage in certain behaviors.

What can we learn from the fact that Moses put the broken tablets into the Ark along with the new tablets? We move on from our mistakes, but we also take the lessons along with us.

There are so many ways to be present for someone, and different situations require us to show up in a wide variety of ways.