Hope as an Ethical Imperative

About this Episode

In Barbara Breitman’s telling, hope isn't "some fluffy thing." It's an essential Jewish practice. Hope enables leaders to imagine a different world and work to bring it out about no matter what obstacles stand in the way. Breitman, a spiritual director, therapist and scholar of religion, cites Moses, Noah and Mordechai as Biblical characters who embody this kind of hope. How can ordinary people emulate these examples?

Theme song, “Ilu Finu” by Rabbi Miriam Margles. Her album This is the Day is available for purchase at CDBaby: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/miriammarglesandthehadarensemb

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Episode Links

• Read the Evolve essay: Hope as an Ethical Imperative — Having faith in the power of an ethical/spiritual vision guides our action and activism toward revitalization, justice and compassion.
• Chapters of the Heart: Jewish Women Sharing the Torah of Our Lives — Chapters of the Heart: Jewish Women Sharing the Torah of Our Lives invites readers into the lives of twenty women for whom Jewish language and texts provide a lens for understanding their experiences. The authors don't just use religious words (texts, theologies, or liturgies) like a cookbook. Instead they serve readers something closer to a real meal, prepared with love and intention. Each essay shares one piece of its writer's heart, one chapter of experience as refracted through the author's particular Jewish optic.
• Jewish Spiritual Direction: Fundamental Assumptions — Our view of reality can be transformed when we ask, “Where is God/the Holy in this?” and “What is the invitation/opportunity at this moment?” Gradually, we can build a relationship with what is beyond our ability to conceive.
• Jewish Spiritual Direction at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College — Through spiritual direction, rabbinical students cultivate their ability to discern God’s Presence in their lives — to notice and appreciate moments of holiness, to maintain an awareness of the interconnectedness of all things and to explore ways to be open to the Blessed Holy One in challenging and difficult moments as well as in joyful ones.
• Psychology Today: Barbara Breitman