Uncategorized

Smiling woman with long blonde hair wearing a blue top outdoors.

My Life in Quotes- #10

By Rabbi Bonnie Koppell | 11/30/2024 | Comments Off on My Life in Quotes- #10

“All births mean separation from the All, the confinement within limitation, the separation from God, the pangs of being born ever anew.  The return into the All, the dissolution of painful individuation, the reunion with God means the expansion of the soul until it is able once more the embrace…

Smiling woman with long blonde hair wearing a blue top outdoors.

My Life in Quotes #7

By Rabbi Bonnie Koppell | 11/25/2024 | Comments Off on My Life in Quotes #7

“What is important in life is life and not a result of life.”- Goethe   Mindfulness.  Living in the moment.  Goethe reminds us to focus on how we live our lives each day.  He was very much of a renaissance man himself, with a breadth and depth of interests. So…

Smiling woman with long blonde hair wearing a blue top outdoors.

My Life in Quotes- #8

By Rabbi Bonnie Koppell | 11/25/2024 | Comments Off on My Life in Quotes- #8

“Mankind?  It is an abstraction.  There are, always have been, and always will be men and only men.”- Goethe   Whatever our grand ideas are of humanity and the human enterprise, Goethe once again brings us into the ordinary world of our everyday lives.  That is where the real challenge…

Smiling woman with long blonde hair wearing a blue top outdoors.

My Life in Quotes- #6

By Rabbi Bonnie Koppell | 11/17/2024 | Comments Off on My Life in Quotes- #6

My Life in Quotes- #6 “The great fault of us all is that we force logic on facts, whereas it is facts themselves that create logic.”- ibid. (D.T. Suzuki, Zen Buddhism)   You have to face the facts.  There’s no hiding from that reality.  We don’t have to like the…

Smiling woman with long blonde hair wearing a blue top outdoors.

My Life in Quotes- #5

By Rabbi Bonnie Koppell | 11/14/2024 | Comments Off on My Life in Quotes- #5

  “Those seekers of wide learning are like hairs (i.e. too many), whereas those who understand the truth are like horns (i.e. too few).”- ibid.- I use ibid. in my quotes document when I quote the same source in multiple entries, but that doesn’t work when I view them independently. …

Smiling woman with long blonde hair wearing a blue top outdoors.

My Life in Quotes #4

By Rabbi Bonnie Koppell | 11/13/2024 | Comments Off on My Life in Quotes #4

My Life in Quotes #4 “. . . through the awakening of love we get a glimpse into the infinity of things. . . “- D.T. Suzuki, Zen Buddhism   When I read this quote, I don’t think I had yet experienced love in an adult sense.  As a young…

Smiling woman with long blonde hair wearing a blue top outdoors.

Veteran’s Day Shabbat at Temple Chai- 2024

By Rabbi Bonnie Koppell | 11/09/2024 | Comments Off on Veteran’s Day Shabbat at Temple Chai- 2024

         People often confuse Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day.  The difference between them is crucial.  In fact, we might say that it’s the difference between life and death.  Veteran’s Day honors all who have served in the US military.  Anyone who ever wore the uniform is recognized with our deepest…

Smiling woman with long blonde hair wearing a blue top outdoors.

My Life in Quotes #3

By Rabbi Bonnie Koppell | 11/09/2024 | Comments Off on My Life in Quotes #3

My Life in Quotes– #3 “The eye with which I see God is the same with which God sees me.”- Meister Eckhart, quoted in D.T. Suzuki, Zen Buddhism   There I was majoring in Judaic Studies and Philosophy, and expanding my horizons beyond my insulated Jewish upbringing in Brooklyn.  It…

Smiling woman with long blonde hair wearing a blue top outdoors.

My Life in Quotes- #1

By Rabbi Bonnie Koppell | 11/05/2024 | Comments Off on My Life in Quotes- #1

I love words.  I love when a word exactly captures the moment, the feeling.  How it precisely describes something that you experienced but didn’t know exactly how to express.  It’s like a warm bath or a deeply satisfying meal.           And beyond that- a collection of words.   A deeply insightful…

Smiling woman with long blonde hair wearing a blue top outdoors.

My Life in Quotes #2

By Rabbi Bonnie Koppell | 11/05/2024 | Comments Off on My Life in Quotes #2

My Life in Quotes– #2 “The only immovable point is the unlimited freedom to change, to preserve freedom without content.”- Paul Tillich, The Courage to Be   Following graduation from John Dewey HS, I went on to Brandeis University in Waltham, MA.  I knew that I wanted to be a…