Laura Duhan-Kaplan

Join author Laura Duhan-Kaplan in the Kabbalah practice of Sefirat Ha'Omer, a forty-nine-day program of spiritual reflection. Rabbi Laura weaves Kabbalah, philosophy, psychology, and her own experiences of love and loss into a series of daily reflections. She invites readers to explore the meaning of love, boundaries, beauty, endurance, gratitude, grounding, and presence. With a mix of stories and ideas, she helps readers find Shechinah, a divine archetypal mother, in the intimacy of ordinary life.

The Hebrew Bible is filled with animals. Snakes and ravens share meals with people; donkeys and sheep work alongside us; eagles and lions inspire us; locusts warn us. How should we read their stories? What can they teach us about ecology, spirituality, and ethics? Author Laura Duhan-Kaplan explores these questions, weaving together biology, Kabbalah, rabbinic midrash, Indigenous wisdom, modern literary methods, and personal experiences. She re-imagines Jacob's sheep as family, Balaam's donkey as a spiritual director, Eve's snake as a misguided helper. Finally, Rabbi Laura invites metaphorical eagles, locusts, and mother bears to help us see anew, confront human violence, and raise children who live peacefully on the land.

... CONTENTS Editorial Foreword Joseph C. Kunkel xi Preface Laura Duhan Kaplan and Laurence F Have xiii Acknowledgments xv SECTION I DOMINATION AND ITS ALTERNATIVES Introduction 3 ONE Domination and Other Kinds of Power Robert Litke 5 TWO The Violence of ...

In the Biblical imagination YHWH unleashes locust swarms as a divine punishment for those who exploit people and lands. The idea is well-developed across the Torah and Prophets. This understanding of locusts is not inconsistent with biological understandings. Scientifically, grasshoppers metamorphose into locusts as a response to environmental disruption.

Here I read the book of Zechariah as it is presented in the Bible, as a unified whole with an integrated message. Using apocalypse (chs. 1-6), Zechariah calls on his audience to have faith in the power of the spirit. Using symbolic morality play (chs. 7-11), he urges them to choose an area of activism and step up. Using eschatology (chs. 12-14),  he reminds them of the power of hope. On this reading, the historical ambiguity of chapters 9-14 appear as a deliberate invitation to imagination and hope.

Psalm 69 speaks of praying at "eit ratzon," a time of desire. Later Jewish sources interpret this both as a time of the petitioner's desire to offer prayer and as a time of God's desire to answer prayer. This essay explores an intersection between the two interpretations.

Because our sages speak in the anthropomorphic language they drew from the Hebrew Bible, one might hastily conclude that they hold a rather mechanical theurgic view of prayer: when a person prays, God hears, and adjusts the person's fate. Deeper analysis shows that the sages question this mechanical view. They use it as a gateway into an alternate view of prayer as reflexive: its spiritual efficacy lies in its effect on the person praying. This alternative view of prayer is expressed in the Rosh Hashanah (New Year) liturgy, particularly in sections with strong allusions to classical midrash.

On September 11, 2001, giving blood was a powerful collective response of Americans, even as the Red Cross insisted it could not accept more. This symbolic action is understood as a modern version of the hatat (purification) offering described in the book of Leviticus. The hatat and its modern symbolic reenactment are placed in the context of the system of offerings.

Traditional Christian philosophical approaches to Theodicy attempt to solve a logical inconsistency between God's existence, God's justice, and the suffering of innocents. Midrashic commentary on Deuteronomy (Sifre) offers an alternate approach, understanding suffering as a mutual expression of love between God and human beings.

Beginning with a narrative about social reactions to my own temporary disfigurement, I note that an individual's disfigurement can affect others by making them feel unsettled and unsafe. One contemporary approach to disfigurement, exemplified in the practice of cosmetic surgery, focuses on changing the disfigured individual. In contrast, ancient priestly rituals in Israelite culture focus on reintegrating the individual into the community. I compare and contrast the two approaches, noting the value of reintegration rituals, but also recognizing their insufficiency in several contemporary situations.

Hurtful speech is significant when it occurs in the personal sphere and does not enter the legal arena. Avoiding hurtful speech requires two levels of activity: following a set of simple behavioral rules, and learning to monitor carefully one's inner states. These points are supported by three kinds of data. (1) observations made by children; (2) last summer's Colorado wildfires; (3) ancient philosophical analyses and narratives in the Talmud. The philosophical analyses develop the behavioral rules, while the narratives reveal the inner states required to carry out the rules.

Chapter 1 Introduction: Integrating Global and Local Perspectives Part 2 Part I: Exploring Affinities between Feminist Bioethics and Human Rights Chapter 3 What Feminism Can Teach Global Ethics Chapter 4 Integrating Bioethics and Human Rights: Toward a Global Feminist Approach Chapter 5 Bioethics, Difference, and Rights Chapter 6 Feminist Bioethics and the Language of Human Rights in the Chinese Context Chapter 8 Feminist Perspectives, Global Bioethics, and the Need for Moral Language Translation Skills Chapter 9 On Learning How to Care Appropriately: A Case for Developing a Model of Support to Those in Need Part 9 Part II: Contextualizing Reproduction: Particular Perspectives Chapter 10 Feminist Bioethics and Reproductive Rights of Women in India: Myth and Reality Chapter 11 Globalizing Reproductive Control: The Consequences of the "Global Gag Rule" Chapter 13 A Boy or a Girl: Is Any Choice Moral? The Ethics of Sex Selection and Sex Preselection in Context Chapter 14 Righ...

Autobiographical writing assignments can be useful tools for philosophy teachers who want to stimulate students' interest in philosophy.  They can be delightful journeys of intellectual discovery for students.  And they can be opportunities for students to develop some of the less talked about but essential skills of philosophical creativity: metaphorical thinking, reading one's own questions into a text, and engaging readers in one's own writing.  For teachers interested in using such assignments in the philosophy classroom, I offer examples of student writing, a theoretical foundation of the approach, suggestions for integrating the practice into courses, and comments on a few practical worries.

In Likkutey Torah (Achrei Mot 1:1), Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812) presents a Hasidic spin on the idea of “atonement,” kapparah. Our atonement, he says, happens when we perceive God’s infinite presence within us and around us. He supports his view with an interpretation of Lev. 16:30. His presentation of seder hishtalshelut (chain of emanation) in the Tanya (sec. 36) helps clarify his interpretation.

In Tzav veZeruz, Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira offers a deceptively simple template for making New Year’s resolutions.This template brings together its author’s sophisticated understanding of education, spirituality, visualization, and creative Torah interpretation. And then it invites you to re-imagine your own spiritual journey anew each year—on your own terms, setting your own goals, engaging different parts of your psyche.

God's name: it can heal and it can hurt. How will you choose to speak it? What options does the Torah offer? Here I analyze the Hebrew language and alliteration of the commandment "Do not take the name of the LORD in vain." (Exod. 27). I juxtapose it with the priestly blessing (Num. 6:24-26) and the story of the son of Shlomit bat Divri (Lev. 24:10-23), to show two different ways of speaking God's name and  the consequences of each.

The Zohar, a classic imaginative kabbalistic text, describes a community of friends who study esoteric theology together. One famous section of the Zohar reflects on the nature of that community. In times of spiritual drought, it says, members of the community adopt one another as family, build a world together, and model divine unity-in-diversity. It is an idealized vision, to be sure; but elements of it can come to life in a university classroom. In fall 2001 in the USA, in the weeks leading up to and following the 9/11 terrorist attack, I was teaching a philosophy course. That term, I was experimenting with several classroom strategies, including journaling, intentional listening, and a ritual activity. These strategies, I believed, would help us open as individuals to big existential questions. But they also helped our class bond as a group; travel to one another’s social and personal worlds, and become a unity by honouring our diversity.

Here, I present a passage from the Zohar about the kind of friendship its community of comrades share. Using appropriate hermeneutic tools, I draw out its many meanings. Next, I describe the social context of our philosophy class, with its diverse group of students learning together in a stressful time. I focus on our “WOW Journal” listening practice, and its impact on the group. Finally, I theorize about why the practice worked, drawing on Maria Lugones’s understanding of “’world’-traveling,” Lawrence Hoffman’s concept of a “ritual moment,” and Ray Aldred’s discussion of “making relatives” through treaty. All these dynamics, I believe, are subtly present in the Zohar’s story.

One way to understand the thought of Abraham Joshua Heschel is to as a unique synthesis of (a) the economic critique offered by the Frankfurt school of critical social theory; (b) the spiritual vision of the Jewish Hassidic movement; and (c)  the del-reflection of the philosophical phenomenological movement.

Depth psychologists have resisted the prevailing positivistic paradigm of research and practice in psychology. That does not mean, however, that their studies lack grounding in a well-formed epistemological model. In this paper, I begin by describing a positivistic approach to psychology. I present a few key ideas from Jung’s depth psychology, showing how they bypass positivism. Next, I offer two examples of epistemological approaches that can be used to legitimate the study of depth psychology: Husserl’s phenomenology and Steinsaltz’s Kabbalistic theology. Finally, I conclude with a few reflections on my method of drawing analogies between ideas from different disciplines.

Psychologist James Hillman, in his own work, has developed a vocabulary for understanding and exploring soul-making (Hillman, 1975), and for speaking about the development of imagination (Hillman, 2000). Both vocabularies can be helpful in looking beyond biblical literalism. Key Biblical characters, Hillman has said, often receive “a lesson about literalism,” showing them literalism’s limits, and initiating them into a life of imagination (Hillman, 1971, p. 116). Balaam’s story, read through the lens of Hillman’s description of soul-making, shows Balaam to be such a character.

The purpose of this hermeneutic study will be to explore and understand C.G. Jung’s concept of the “psychoid” realm through the concept of Eyn Sof (Infinity) as presented in selected Kabbalah texts from Hebrew and Aramaic traditions. At this point in the research, the psychoid is defined as a realm “beyond apprehension,” that “precedes conscious experience” (Jacobi, 1959). Eyn Sof is understood as the undefined infinite source of all realities (Tishby, 1989).

Today, in some political circles, lack of critical thinking is a marker of belonging. Some religious communities actively teach people to avoid critical thinking. And legislators in some US states are moving to make some kinds of critical thinking illegal.  Here I explore how this decay of critical thinking emerged, and how religious communities can respond. First, I focus on the role our changing media technologies played. Then, I note why some political actors exploit these media trends. Finally, I describe strategies religious communities can use to weave critical thinking education into their liturgy, preaching, scripture study, and classes. To do this, I offer three examples from my own Jewish tradition, based on early rabbinic traditions of midrash (Biblical interpretation), chavruta (paired study), and liturgy. To craft this interdisciplinary exploration, I draw on the work of historians, journalists, educators, media theorists, political scientists, biblical scholars, and theologians.

Chavruta study is an educational technique that encourages students to develop critical thinking skills and relational skills at the same time. Here, I explain the Talmudic roots of chavruta study, summarize recent educational literature about its effectiveness, and describe a not-always-successful experiment in teaching using some of its principles.

The Biblical book of Joel is a prophetic response to devastation by a locust plague. Today, some scientists argue that increased locust swarms result from climate change. So, this paper will interpret the prophet Joel's call-to-action in contemporary terms. Joel calls people into community, draws parallels between locust swarms and human armies, and encourages his people to fight in the name of God. While Joel's actual historical situation is unknown, his intertextual allusions make his politics clear. Joel draws on (a) Isaiah to affirm that locusts are God's response to greed; (b) Genesis to hint that humans cannot naively return to paradise; (c) Leviticus to note how humans have failed one another; (d) Numbers to show that, through collective action, humans can be as powerful as a locust swarm.  As I see it, Joel's book is an ancient parallel to Seth Klein's book A Good War. Like Joel, Klein argues that lessons from a national response to war can help us organize for the climate emergency.

A "WOW Journal" assignment becomes a practice of friendship in diverse group university of students, in the weeks following September 11, 2001. Journal sharing becomes a ritual (as per Hoffman) and a kind of protocol (as per Aldred & Black Elk), making it possible for students to travel to one another's "worlds" (as per Lugones).

Graduate theological students choose an ecumenical affirming seminary like Vancouver School of Theology partly because they want to be activist change agents in their religious communities. In my experience, these students seem to be particularly aware of three kinds of trauma: intergenerational trauma, moral injury, and spiritual abuse. They want to learn how they, as religious leaders, can contribute to healing. One challenge for educators is creating a classroom environment where, in the context of relevant course material, students can work towards this goal. Some resources can be found in critical pedagogy, trauma studies, and inter-religious studies.

Texts of Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical wisdom tradition, offer detailed accounts of a soul's journey after death. The soul travels through stages of physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual purification. How do the texts' authors and their teachers know about these stages? From two sources, I think. The Kabbalistic account of the afterlife reflects (1) a particular theory of the soul's development and (2) glimpses of higher consciousness by living spiritual seekers. And how should the texts' readers make use of the information? As a guide to a lifetime journey into an expanded experience of soul.

confuse self-esteem with self-centredness, as the author points out. Many children who seem to have a high level of self-confidence are hiding under negative feelings of self. This bookisvaluable for parents, teachers, caregivers, and extended family members who deal with children and have the ability to enforce positive selfesteem on a day to day basis. Most parents may also consider that once their children become teenagers or young adults that it is too late to make changes to encourage positive self-esteem. Jean Illsley Clarke points out that it is never too late to instill positive self-esteem and gives examples ofways to interact with children of all ages. The author suggests that parents can use her book to feel better about their parenting abilities during various stages of family life.