Blog
Understanding the Importance of Enoch in the Apocrypha
The Book of Enoch is found in the later writings which were not included in the Hebrew Bible. They are found in the books known as the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha. These books were originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. This body of literature was...
Loneliness Can Be Good For the Soul
I have felt lonely all of my life, even when I’m not alone. I can be lonely amidst a group of people who love me, despite all the evidence. I have friends, family, and support but still have deep-seated feelings of loneliness. It plagues me and I continue to fight it...
How To Be A Human Being
Learning how to be still - how to do nothing - while living in a ‘do everything’ world is a very important skill. Doing nothing seems slothful and lazy but is actually a powerful and rejuvenating experience for the soul. For those who seek a spiritual solution to the...
Do Jews Believe In The Punitive Concept of Hell?
Before we can even begin to answer the question - do Jews believe in Hell? We have to explore the earliest occurrences of a hell-like place in Torah. And that means we must explore the concept of Sheol. Sheol is the place where one goes when one dies. For instance,...
How To Have Courage to Live the Life you Desire
Wonderful and amazing things can happen, when we are willing to have courage and live into our truth. Having courage is not easy. Brené Brown teaches that the word courage comes from the French word coeur which means heart. It takes a lot of heart to have courage. The...
The Concept of Death and Afterlife in the Torah – (or lack thereof)
The Torah (5 Books of Moses as well as the beginning of The Hebrew Scriptures - Tanakh or Old Testament) is strangely vague on the topic of the Afterlife. In my former post, http://rabbicosnowsky.com/afterlife/what-happens-after-death/ I mentioned that Abraham was...
How Healthy Fear Can be Useful
I’m afraid because I did something stupid. Or crazy. Maybe it was both. What I did is really scary to me. I am afraid. Lots of fear. Sometimes fear is paralyzing. Action becomes difficult. That’s when fear is neither healthy nor helpful. Sometimes, however, fear is...
What Happens After Death?
Every religion has a narrative about what happens to us after we die. Everyone questions their own mortality and speculates about what comes next. The truth is, we don’t know. We can only speculate. But, because alone we get to ponder what happens to us after we...
How To Interpret The Messages God Sends
As a clergyperson, I am often asked two questions: Does God answer prayer? If so, how do we know when God is sending us a message? I answer, “Yes!” God does answer prayer. Sometimes, though, we need help interpreting God’s message. This is because we may...