Mitzvah Stories

First published in the Philadelphia Jewish Voice.

This is the story of how over a decade ago, my teacher Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi sent me to the grave of Reb Nachman of Breslov in Uman to ask a question of Reb Nachman's soul. Now, visiting dead rebbes was not the sort of work I had in mind at that phase of my life. Although I was already past the "fabrente" feminist phase of my development, I was very busy with creating vehicles for women's inclusion in Jewish leadership and researching herstory.

We are en route to Tula, home of the samovar and location of the Tolstoy estate. I am very excited to be going there, having been granted scholar’s rights to access the books in his library, a side benefit of the Hanukkah seminar for Jewish women and girls we have been requested to give there.

I didn't spend a penny on my last trip to Canada and so I noted that on the customs form. The smiling agent stamps a big red word "Extest" onto my form and sends me around the corner where all the people with large suspicious boxes go. Ugh. A zillion overseas trips and today, winging my way back to my beloved, to get stuck in bureaucracy. 

As a child of maybe seven, while exploring the basement of our suburban home, I found a curious item, a velvet bag containing little boxes with long black leather straps attached to them. Hauling them upstairs I asked my father if I could use the straps for a craft project.

First published in Living Jewish Life Cycle: How to Create Read more »