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Catholic

Richard Chess

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Select a Month October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 February 2008

September 2014

September 09, 2014

Slogans in Ruins: Land for Peace, Two State Solution

“Hope lost and fear won,” said Udi Segal, the diplomatic correspondent for Israel’s Channel 2...

August 2014

August 20, 2014

The Weary Lion and the Wary Lamb

Author’s note: Like many Jews around the world, I've been following the news out of...

July 2014

July 29, 2014

Sitting with Pain in Gaza and Israel

This morning, as I tried to awaken from a fitful night’s sleep, I turned to...

July 17, 2014

Ovarian Cancer and a Circumcised Heart

Circumcise therefore the thickness about your hearts. —Deuteronomy 10:16 Her dying and death circumcised...

July 07, 2014

Seeing The World As It Is

“My religious commitment: to stay in conversation with Jewish stories.” That’s Nancy Fuchs Kreimer in...

June 2014

June 06, 2014

A Jew Prays in Venice, Part 2

Continued from yesterday. On the pleasant train ride from Florence to Venice, my wife Laurie...

June 05, 2014

A Jew Prays in Venice, Part 1

In Venice, in the Santa Maria della Salute church, in the presence of Madonna della...

May 2014

May 09, 2014

A Day Wide Enough for Wonder

To recap: my cup of Awake is half empty. What's left is cooler now than...

April 2014

April 14, 2014

New Plagues This Passover

As I write this, Passover is just a little more than a week away. This...

March 2014

March 25, 2014

Letter to Stephen Dunn

Dear Steve, I’ve had to look away for most of three decades now—away from your...

March 04, 2014

Hearing Voices

Let the words find you, you who have been hiding from them for so long....

February 2014

February 05, 2014

Searching for a Rabbi

We’re searching for a rabbi. We’re looking at the red tag rack at SteinMart, we’re...

January 2014

January 03, 2014

A Baby and a Book Burning

I’ve always wanted to have class by the fireplace, she said. Great, let’s do that....

December 2013

December 11, 2013

The Sabbath and Liberal Arts Education, Part 3

Presence to others: The sense of our presence to each other increased on the day...

November 2013

November 27, 2013

The Sabbath and Liberal Arts Education, Part 2

The Hebrew word for intention (also, direction) is kavanah. In The Sabbath World, Judith Shulevitz...

October 2013

October 31, 2013

The Sabbath and Liberal Arts Education

In The Sabbath World: Glimpses of a Different Order of Time, Judith Shulevitz characterizes the...

October 09, 2013

Goy Children and Fallen Torahs

Reflections on the Jewish High Holidays 5774. On the second day of Rosh Hashanah, I...

September 2013

September 16, 2013

Confession: Yom Kippur 5774

I rise with the congregation. I form a fist. They form a fist. We form...

September 04, 2013

Today’s Child Sacrifice

The following will be delivered as a d’var Torah, reflections on the Torah reading on...

July 2013

July 19, 2013

What Came Before Numbering Our Days?

What came before “there was evening and there was morning, a first day,” and “there...

June 2013

June 27, 2013

The Fragrance of the Unknown, Part 2

Continued from yesterday From my mindfulness meditation practice, I’ve learned the value of looking closely...

June 26, 2013

The Fragrance of the Unknown, Part 1

With less than two days before the retreat began, and only a grain of time...

June 06, 2013

How Shall I Answer If God Calls My Name?

Here I am. Out of place. The computer terminal asks for my borrower's card ID....

May 2013

May 20, 2013

Why We Make Art

“Who you actually are is far bigger than the narrative you construct about who you...

April 2013

April 25, 2013

Israel at 65: Caught in a Homeland Trap

“People caught in a homeland-trap,” writes the late Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai in “National Thoughts,”...

April 03, 2013

The Poems Left In Me

With gratitude to the poets whose poems gave me this. The poems left in me...

March 2013

March 14, 2013

It Ain’t All Bluegrass, Blues, and Ribs

I know my limits. Though often I go on saying yes to this, yes to...

February 2013

February 26, 2013

The Poverty of Language

Another exercise. This one an exercise in seeing deeply, visualization, sketching from memory, and composing...

February 05, 2013

The Value of What I Teach

“Inch your way through dead dreams to another land.” —“Box of Rain,” Robert Hunter, lyrics;...

January 2013

January 15, 2013

Silence Wounds, Silence Heals

It was there all along. Troubling me. It hurt me and aroused my sympathy for...