A couple summers ago (the summer before The Pandemic, to be specific), I signed up for an eight-week marriage course. A friend had highly recommended it, and I was looking forward to it. Marriage is like a plant: You need to take care of it for it to thrive, but, like a plant (at least… Continue reading Creating A Deeper Connection In Your Marriage
I’ve felt it coming for a little while now. The spark of joy when making my spreads was a little less, the feeling of it being a chore was a little greater. But I didn’t want to acknowledge that. I’ve been doing bullet journaling for more than two years (the first time I wrote about… Continue reading BuJo Update: The End Of An Era
If there was ever a year that we are happy to put behind us, 2020 is definitely a contender. But especially in years like this, it’s so worthwhile to look back and see everything that’s happened. We can celebrate our successes, we can learn from our failures, and we can laugh at the many, many… Continue reading 2020 Year-End Review
The entire purpose of our existence is to overcome our negative habits. -Vilna Gaon If you have been paying attention at all to what I’ve been writing about for the last decade or so, you’ll know that this is, hands down, my favorite part of Judaism. So many tools and resources to improve myself. It’s… Continue reading The Meaning Of Life
I have loved this verse (or, more specifically, this section of verse) from Mishlei (Proverbs), because of its validation about how failing is not only okay, it’s almost expected. To be a righteous person, a Tzaddik, is kind of what we should be striving to be, and here this verse is telling us that we… Continue reading Why Failure Is Good
“Shavuot … is a calling to bring transcendence and spirituality into this world. We don’t aim to escape this world, we aim to transform it.” Rabbi Shmuel Reichman One of the things that most appealed to me when I was first learning about Judaism was the way it touched every aspect of life. Something as commonplace as… Continue reading Why My Laundry Is Holy
Every day is a new chance. Don’t get bogged down by the (probably long) list of things you wish you’d done, the times you wished you could’ve helped, or any other normal and understandable disappointments. These are strange times, and the kindnesses you may have been doing on the regular may not be an option… Continue reading Acts Of Kindness During Coronavirus Times
“Im ein ani li, mi li? Aval im ani rak l’atzmi, ma ani?” “If I am not for me, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I?” -Hillel (Pirkei Avos 1:14) We all have own strengths, the things that come naturally to us, that we might even excel… Continue reading Being Your Own Advocate
Every life is full of difficult moments and less difficult moments. We tend to remember the hard times, the disappointments, the embarrassments. They loom large in our memories. That’s normal. But when I look back at those hard times, the ones where I cried so hard and thought that things would never get better, that… Continue reading Difficulty and Opportunity
It is that time of year again, time for the crunch of needing to prepare spiritually while having so much to do physically. It’s a common dilemma, especially for those of us who are in charge of cooking, baking, shopping and all the details of running a household. I’ve written about it for Jew In… Continue reading Quick Thoughts For Elul 5779
Rivki Silver ~ thoughts & music 