Cantor Confidential

I just noticed that I rarely say "I forgive you" when someone apologizes. I say "thank you," "no problem," "no worries," or "it's ok." I might say, "thank you, I really appreciate it." I almost never say "I forgive you." What's that about? Forgiving someone for a harm means acknowledging both the offender's and the offense's humanity. People who ask for forgiveness have humbled themselves; forgiving means that I accept that offenders have realized they messed up, even while they tried to do the best they could given their circumstances. As a forgive-ee, I also humble myself, making myself aware of my own imperfections; if I can forgive myself for my human frailties, I can do the same for others. Yeah, it sounds arrogant, but really, it's not. So how come I rarely say, "Yes, I forgive you?" Maybe it's that I've been trained to either look past harms done to me or to not exp

JoyLot.com "See me" is the tag line of a series of commercials for a skin condition medication. Don't see the condition, see the soul inside. When God sees me (and I believe that God sees each of us), what does God see? Does God see the outer me? Does God see my real and imaginary imperfections? Does God see the impact of of a life of years? Or does God see the inner me, the soul inside this physical vessel? If God sees my soul, I imagine God sees a host of good intentions and lost opportunities. God sees someone who tries hard to do the right thing, frequently succeeding, often not. I hope that God sees love, laughter, loyalty, passion, and compassion. Since I can't see God - except in my imagination - I see love, justice, mercy, kindness, trust, sweetness, unconditional discernment, and steadfastly loving discipline. I see a desire for me to be the best Penny I can be. I see an entity to whom I can turn any time for any reason, no matter how trivial I th

Whiting School of Engineering - John Hopkins University Tinnitus is a bear. What started out over a decade ago as a constant thrum of a bassoon in my left ear eventually became a hiss that accompanies me 24/7. My right ear joined the unhappy chorus about 2 years ago. No one really knows what causes it, and it can only be controlled, not cured. My brilliant audiologist, Dr. Arthur Tepper , has worked with me to manage the condition, which is a blessing, considering that the physicians basically gave up on me. Although I often hear the world through the haze of a hiss, I am vocally healthy. My voice is still clear, my perfect pitch is still on target, and I can tell in an instant if my piano is out of tune. If the tenor misses the high note in Nessun Dorma - even by a smidgen - I squirm and shudder. So all is well that way. There's definitely an up side. Tinnitus encourages me to listen intently and hear things I might have missed if I weren't paying attention. When I&

Marilyn Today's #BlogElul prompt is "search." Like a lot of Jews, I'm embarking on a yearly pre-High Holy Day search for me. I spent a lot of years searching for myself. I looked for me in academia, in spirituality, in meditation, in therapy, in food and diets and exercise, in a bunch of different places. I looked in Judaism, dabbling with Orthodoxy in college and finding a bit of me in Reform Judaism (which is a good thing considering that I identify as a Reform Cantor). I looked for myself in other people, always hoping that someone else would tell me who and what I was. And this year, my search for myself continues. Every time I pick up the search, I ask God to help me be fearless and thorough. I ask for compassion for myself so that I don't jump feet first into self-pity. I ask for perspective so I don't focus only on the negative aspects of my being. Maybe this will be the year I finally figure out what I'm looking for.

#BlogElul #ElulGram 2017 Every year we rabbis and cantors review the  machzor  to prep for the High Holy  Days. And every year, we remember that while the words in the  machzor  don't change from year to year, in fact  we  change, so we are the ones we should be reviewing. That's what #BlogElul/#ElulGram is all about. Thank you to Rabbi Phyllis Sommer for once again welcoming us to spend the month of Elul in self-reflection through her yearly initiative. Rabbi Sommer presents daily prompts, and we are invited to write, tweet, post photos, share music - every kind of expression - about the day's prompt. For the 1st day of Elul, Rabbi Sommer suggests "Act." There's a saying that "faith without works is dead." That's such a Jewish concept. I believe that Judaism is less concerned with what I think than with what I do. And the High Holy Days are the paradigm of placing "doing" on a higher level than "thinking." The wh