mstreiffer

Finding Your “Calling”

Two Jews, two Protestants, and two Catholics walk into a hospital. It sounds like a joke, but it’s actually the way I spent the summer of 2005. Like many rabbinical students, I participated in an intensive unit of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), learning how to be a chaplain. My compatriots in this endeavour did indeedContinueContinue reading “Finding Your “Calling””

Starting the Day Off Right

This morning, when I first opened my eyes, I looked at the time and said “Aw, sh*t….” Those were the actual first words I uttered today. Granted, it had been a particularly rough night. I had gone to bed late, and had been up once with the dog, once with a kid, and once withContinueContinue reading “Starting the Day Off Right”

Hineini: Celebrating Jewish Choices

NOTE: This is the sermon that I delivered on Yom Kippur Morning 5778 (2017). It gives the thinking behind my decision to begin officiating at Jewish weddings that include a non-Jewish partner. In ancient times, long before they were synagogues or rabbis or prayerbooks, there was the shofar. In those days, the shofar was soundedContinueContinue reading “Hineini: Celebrating Jewish Choices”

From Human Doing to Human Being: A Yom Kippur Sermon About Mindfulness

I’d like to introduce you to the philosophical treatise that has most influenced my life: Calvin & Hobbes. You may laugh, but anyone who’s ever read Calvin & Hobbes knows that it addresses serious questions about existence and values and meaning…all through the eyes of the world’s most precocious 6-year-old and his imaginary tiger friend.ContinueContinue reading “From Human Doing to Human Being: A Yom Kippur Sermon About Mindfulness”