May 1, 2023

With chill still in the air here in Pittsburgh, it’s hard to believe that May is here! Nonetheless, the days are getting longer (and hopefully warmer) as we move into spring.

Each year at this time, Jewish people everywhere engage in the practice of counting the Omer, helping us to make our way from Passover, when we remember collective liberation, to Shavuot, when we receive liberation. The closer we get to revelation, the longer the days get (at least here in the northern hemisphere.) One takeaway is that this gives us more time for mitzvot, for social action, to change the world.

However, I want to offer another idea too: in a season when it stays lighter later, we could easily find ourselves busy from morning until late at night, with little time to rest. As we move into this month, I want to offer the blessing that we make the most of our waking time and that we also make sure that we prioritize rest and caring for ourselves.

There is so much need in the world and we have the power to take action which merits the good - may each of us rest deeply so that we’re able to show up for each other, for our communities, and for the wider world.

Shortly, Tim and I will be on the move again - we look forward to sharing our inspirations and excitements with you over the coming months. Before then, we hope to be together for Kabbalat Shabbat on May 12!

April 4, 2023

Though we have traveled far and wide, there is really nothing quite like a Pittsburgh spring. Though it might have false starts, when it finally arrives, the increase in temperature does something good for our collective mood and hope fills the air again after weeks and months of grey.

This year is a little different for us, having avoided most of the grey weeks, in favour of sun, heat and humidity. These past few weeks have included so much wonder and we are so grateful for both the chance to experience the world from a different angle, and to have taken some time for rest and delight. I can't overstate how nourishing it was to feel the sun on my skin (while sitting still!) and to counteract it with the coolness of ocean and pool. Or to smell the sweet incense that pervades the island, and to know the aliveness of the more than human world.

There's a lot that we could share about how spending a month in Bali reoriented us and, perhaps, in time we will.  For now, though, I can't help but notice that, as bittersweet as it was to leave, there is something deeply imprinted in my being that has been yearning to feel the coming of spring.

For me, spring is deeply intertwined with Passover and the ways that I’m inspired and humbled by recalling the Jewish story of liberation. There is power in making sure that the next generation knows the story of the Exodus and how the Jewish people came to be born as a nation. And there’s also something deeply grounding to remembering what we’re made of, how we got here, and what’s incumbent upon us as people who were delivered to the other side of the narrows.

For generations, Jewish people have been moving through narrow places and celebrating freedom, only to find ourselves in the wilderness again. These days, the world is providing enough wilderness backdrop for all of us. It can be so easy to get swept up in the doom and gloom, or in righteous outrage, especially in this season of haste and matzoh.

This story, which has been with us for generations, goes something like this:
It’s important to tell this story because it’s a source of gratitude, compassion and empathy, and because it not only connects us to our ancestors but because it might inspire us towards the work of collective liberation in our day. AND...nobody is chasing us today. There is a difference between “telling the story as though we were there” and actually being “there” today. In this moment, we are safe. It’s OK to slow down, to rest so that we can fully bloom, to enjoy ourselves along the way.

Thank Goddess, the world is not binary, and we can hold multiple truths at once. When the full moon makes herself known this Passover, I pray that we feel our connection to those ancient ones for whom that very same moon guided their way towards liberation. And I also pray that we also make space for our bodies and beings to slow down and ease into freedom. May we celebrate, may we nourish our bodies, may we care for one another (loved one and stranger alike), may we rest deeply...and may we know ever greater liberation than what we thought possible.

Chag sameach and much love,
Keshira (and Tim)

PS - We’ll be bouncing back into town for Kabbalat Shabbat on April 21 and hope to be there together!

March 1, 2023

Adar is here and Purim is nearly upon us! For some of us, this might conjure memories of the Purim carnivals of our youth, raucous parties from our younger days, or Megillah readings which had us in stitches. I can remember one particularly funny year where our Rabbi, dressed as Bert from Sesame Street took center bimah to read the Megillah, only to be upstaged by a mystery congregant who wandered into the sanctuary in a full penguin suit. I love how Purim brings an annual invitation to consider “what is concealed?” And, in choosing our masks, “what is revealed?”

Last month, we found ourselves driving down the end of a “road” on the west end of Jamaica, all gravel and jungly green, trying to find our way to our airbnb. With little reception, not a person in sight to ask for help, and a steady drizzle, we did manage to find it but not before passing this sign:

Who would have guessed that just when we thought that we were at the end of the line, “Torah Road” appeared, not only providing a giggle but also reminding us that there is truth all around us, if only we’re willing to search for it.

This reminds me of a teaching, by the Kabbalist Sarah Yehudit Schneider: when we encounter paradox, it’s an invitation to hold opposites and seek greater truth inside. The contrast may stop us in our tracks with its starkness, or it may arrest our hearts in wonder or helpless confusion.

For example, as we prepare to celebrate Purim, which is rooted in ancient Persia (modern day Iran), just to the west, the death toll continues to climb in the aftermath of a tragic earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

And just beyond, I’m filled with pride as I see photos and hear stories of friends and colleagues who are out in the streets of Tel Aviv, demanding that Israel-Palestine not concede to ultra-right wing forces. And, at the same time, I’m horrified and ashamed of the footage of settlers stopping their vicious attacks in Huwara, to pray Ma’ariv.

When we feel our hearts being pulled in two directions at once, we have the opportunity to hold opposites and seek a deeper truth, to consider what is being revealed through this paradox? In doing this, we not only come to understand ourselves better but perhaps come into closer contact with what wants to come out from concealment within us.

Needless to say, the process may not be smooth. It may take us down a gravely road in a storm. However, if we’re lucky (as we were), sweet shelter and good company await.

As the world continues to turn upside down and inside out, may we find good company in one another, and may our prayers and actions bring better days head.

With love and blessings,
Keshira

PS — We are excited to be back in Pittsburgh for a bit at the end of March. We hope that you’ll join us for KPGH Kabbalat Shabbat on March 31 - to register, please click here!

February 1, 2023:

Dear Kesher Pittsburgh friends,

We hope that this message finds you well amidst all that's unfolding in the world. With an even greater rise in mass shootings, hate crimes, and policy brutality in the US, and tragic violence in Israel/Palestine, 2023 is off to a difficult start on the world stage.

Having recently spent some time with the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, I was reminded of the power of our spiritual practices which keep us grounded and centered in these heartbreaking times.

Of course, we can also take solace in the onward spiraling of time. Just when it seems like winter might never end, Tu BiShvat arrives! Not only is this holidays the birthday of the trees but it’s also, as the Kabbalists teach, the date on which the sap begins to move beneath the surface. Even though we can’t yet sense it, spring is on the way.

This theme has been on my mind a lot lately - moving around seems to have a particular effect on me, loosening my mind and helping me experience the world differently. Lately, each time I’ve noticed a new thought or idea, I've stopped to consider when its seed entered my being, and what conditions allowed it to begin flowing towards my conscious awareness.

These days, we’re enjoying life on the road - something about being in motion and experiencing the world from different places makes me curious about what seeds are being planted within us. As we unwind and allow ourselves to wonder, I get the sense that we are about to thaw after a long, deep winter. I expect that the weeks ahead will bring both sunshine and rain...and I'm excited about what might sprout come spring!

With love from the road,
Keshira (and Tim)

January 4, 2023:

Dear KPGH friends,

As the winds were howling this past week, I felt the gusts of change coming. And, though it’s not a Jewish New Year, 2023 brings the opportunity for newness and I love the feeling of a fresh start. Even as a child, a fresh notebook or new crayons gave me a particular thrill, a feeling which I later came to name as being “empty of experience and full of potential.”

The first time I consciously experienced this sensation was in 2008.

Inspired by the Australian concept of the “gap year”, Tim and I set out for long travels. In those early weeks, I came to realize that the sensation of that comes from the spaciousness with potential for delight brought my sheer joy. Some people chase sunshine, I chase spaciousness. And, perhaps because my day-to-day, year-on-year life doesn’t have a lot of spaciousness in it, the contrast that I feel when spaciousness floods in feels like the weightlessness of floating in a perfect pool.

And so, after fifteen months of experiencing parts of Asia, the Middle East, Europe, America, and New Zealand, we returned to Australia in 2010 with an intention to bring what we learned to bear on our work and on our community…and to do it again 7 years later.

Shortly after that, we learned about the Jewish imperative of shmitta, the year of release and, even though we were lightly mis-aligned with Jewish time, the resonance was there so we went with it, leaning into Jewish time.

Fast forward to 2016 and we opted for a cross-country road trip. Perhaps it was the open roads of Wyoming and Montana, or the majesty of the Canadian Rockies, perhaps it was the difference in our pace as we moved; either way, spaciousness flooded in again and I was effervescent.

That trip was life-changing because the endless road ahead gave us time and space for new conviction to emerge with clarity: it was time to move back to Pittsburgh.

Now, as 2023 begins, it’s time for us to make tracks again. This trip will be much different because, while we intend to change locations, we also intend to remain connected, to work from various airbnbs and airplanes, and to come back to Pittsburgh seasonally. What does this mean for Kesher Pittsburgh? In some ways, not much will change - we have a stellar Leadership Team and an incredible Program Manager (Brenna!) who will continue to hold our community. We will take turns leading with Sara Stock Mayo lined up to lead the first Kabbalat Shabbat of the year.

I will be back for Kabbalat Shabbat services throughout the spring, I’ll be teaching the b’mitzvah cohort as planned, and I’ll be here for some amazing simchas including b’mitzvahs, baby namings and, of course, High Holidays.

Yes, it might be easier and more smooth if we were to stay and yet, at the same time, so much of my leadership, and indeed my life, is informed and inspired by my firsthand experiences of the world. At the formal end of the shmitta this year, I learned that one way to understand these 7 years cycles is through a Kabbalistic framework which teaches that we are now run a year of chesed, or loving kindness. In this year of grief, as we rage and remember and shift and settle, I can think of nothing better than weaving lovingkindness into spaciousness.

That this is possible at all is a testament to many things, including the strength of our community and the commitment of our leadership; I hope that you will continue to support Kesher Pittsburgh so that our team can continue to build and grow.As we move into 2023, we are poised for an amazing year ahead. I hope that it’s one of wellness and wholeness, peace and prosperity, joy and justice, laughter and love…may all of that be so, and may it be joined with song, spirit and spaciousness!

With much love and blessing,
Keshira