By Sharon Brous
Modern spirituality through ancient Jewish wisdom
Subject
Themes
In a world gripped by loneliness, division, and despair, ancient Jewish wisdom offers a transformative path towards healing both individual hearts and collective wounds. At the core lies a deceptively simple yet profound practice: showing up for one another in moments of profound vulnerability, particularly in grief and celebration. This concept, drawn from the Talmudic ritual of pilgrimage to Jerusalem's Temple Mount, reveals that true human connection requires presence, witnessing, and the courage to hold others in their pain without turning away.
In a world gripped by loneliness, division, and despair, ancient Jewish wisdom offers a transformative path towards healing both individual hearts and collective wounds. At the core lies a deceptively simple yet profound practice: showing up for one another in moments of profound vulnerability,…
Sharon Brous emerged as one of America's most influential rabbis through founding IKAR, a groundbreaking spiritual community in Los Angeles that reimagined Jewish religious life for the twenty-first century. Published in 2024, "The Amen Effect" synthesizes two decades of pastoral experience, ancient…
Ancient Temple pilgrimage rituals reveal a profound truth about human connection and healing. During festivals, pilgrims would ascend Jerusalem's Temple Mount, circling counterclockwise around the sacred space. Those carrying sorrow, however, walked clockwise, moving against the flow of the crowd.…
Modern society faces a loneliness epidemic more deadly than smoking or obesity. Studies reveal that chronic isolation increases mortality risk by percentages comparable to major diseases, yet the crisis deepens as communities fragment and technology promises connection whilst delivering isolation.…
The Hebrew concept of b'tzelem Elohim, that every person is created in the divine image, stands as one of humanity's most radical ideas. It declares that human worth is intrinsic, not earned through achievement, status, or utility. This principle challenges every system that measures people by…
Many people spend decades pursuing goals society deems successful whilst feeling increasingly hollow and disconnected from authentic purpose. They achieve wealth, status, and recognition yet experience profound emptiness, sensing they have climbed the wrong mountain. Coming alive requires discerning…
Life constantly demands holding contradictory truths simultaneously: celebrating blessings whilst mourning losses, acknowledging pain whilst pursuing joy, remembering trauma whilst building hope. The either-or thinking that pervades modern culture insists on choosing between grief and happiness, but…
Standing in Gail's crowded living room following the funeral for her two teenage children, killed by a drunk driver, reveals the terrifying courage required to truly show up for those in crisis. Another bereaved parent offers wisdom: anyone who walks through that door is a friend, because entering a…
When Sarge lost his balance during a pandemic check-in, helping him up risked dangerous contact, yet not reaching out carried its own perils. The pandemic stripped away our best tool for connection precisely when it was needed most, creating devastating spiritual void as people could no longer hug…
A devastating storm on a New York mountaintop becomes the gateway to understanding fundamental human dignity. After narrowly surviving the tempest, a young seminarian learns of Layla, a teenager who died saving her brother when a neglected tree crushed her during the storm's aftermath. This tragedy…
Terminal illness confronts us with urgent questions about purpose and meaning. Erin, dying from breast cancer as a young mother, wrote from a cancer retreat about the mission only each person can fulfill, challenging us to unearth our profound desires and stop sabotaging their accomplishment. Her…
The High Holy Days invite an annual reckoning with life's fragility, asking who will live and who will die in the coming year. But some years, tragedy tears through a community so powerfully that these rituals become touchstones for holding one another rather than reminders of vulnerability. When…
Visiting the sick is considered not merely kindness but sacred duty in many faith traditions. When God commands three angels to visit Abraham recovering from circumcision during a heat wave, they protest that the place is too hot and dirty for angels. God responds that if they will not go, God will…
When Shifra learns her partner Michael has late-stage lung cancer incompatible with life, the conversation turns to Jacob, who wrestled all night with a stranger before reconciling with his estranged brother. Badly injured from the fierce struggle, Jacob refused to release the stranger until…
The day after the 2015 Jerusalem Pride Parade, sixteen-year-old Shira Banki lies dying from a religious zealot's stabbing. Hannah, who witnessed the attack, finds herself at Shabbat dinner seated across from Asher, a radicalized twenty-year-old extremist whose movement is more outraged by the parade…
By Sharon Brous
Subject
Themes
In a world gripped by loneliness, division, and despair, ancient Jewish wisdom offers a transformative path towards healing both individual hearts and collective wounds. At the core lies a deceptively simple yet profound practice: showing up for one another in moments of profound vulnerability, particularly in grief and celebration. This concept, drawn from the Talmudic ritual of pilgrimage to Jerusalem's Temple Mount, reveals that true human connection requires presence, witnessing, and the courage to hold others in their pain without turning away.