I recently revisited a very special place from my childhood called Burnham on Crouch in the County of Essex on the east coast of England.  Some very profound reconnecting with the river, the landscape and dear old friends produced these words.  Not the usual fodder of A Dash of Drash.

Episode 109: Burnham Ballads - 2 poems about a special place

This is the first Dash of Drash for several months and we hope it brings you joy. As a tribute to the Vietnamese Buddhist teacher of mindfulness and the month of Adar, whose promise is of increased joy and the Chinese New Year, this offering is a reflection of the beauty and complexity of cultivating joy.

Episode 110: The Joy Of Presence, The Presence of Joy

Pedro, a Black pastor, and Marc, a white rabbi are embarking on a creative adventure together, based on their friendship and musings on art, religion, justice and love inspired by the relationship between Rev Martin Luther King Junior and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.  As they work on developing a performance piece together, they reflect on the process in 7 episodes, mirroring the 7 days of creation

Episode 111: Creativity #1 with Rev Pedro and Rabbi Marc

Pedro and Marc delve deeper into creativity focusing on the power of poetry.  They each share one of their own poems and someone else's and discuss the rich world of words.

Episode 112: Creativity #2 - Poetry with Rev Pedro and Rabbi Marc

In this third episode on creation with Pedro and Marc, we reflect on the theme of darkness and shadow and how it plays into the creative process.

Episode 113: Creativity #3 - Cloak Of Shadows with Rev Pedro and Rabbi Marc

Rev Pedro and Rabbi Marc continue their 7 part exploration of creation and creativity in this episode about animals, especially dogs and all that they bring us.

Episode 114: Creativity #4 - Animals, especially dogs!

Recorded on Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day - a complicated day politically, celebrating the capture of Jerusalem in 1967 from Jordan.  Inspired by the chorus of Naomi Shemer's song Yerushalayim shel Zahav (Jerusalem of Gold), I wrote a poem called "I am a Violin for all your Songs," read here.  May we see peace in Jerusalem in our lifetime!

Episode 115: The Violin Of Your Songs - A Poem for Jerusalem Day

Live from Krakow - Rabbi Greg Alexander from Cape Town, SA joins his old friend and study partner Rabbi Marc as they reflect on an extraordinary few days of riding and reconnecting following the 60 mile ride from Auschwitz to Krakow, Shabbat in Krakow, Ruah - the Jewish Cultural Festival and so much more!

For Episode 116: For the Living - From Auschwitz To Krakow

Episode One: Ending the Book – Encounters and Blessings. As our cycle of Torah reading brings Bereshit/Genesis, the first book of the Torah to a close, we reflect on some of the extraordinary stories of human relationships and their lessons for us.

Ending the book: encounters and blessings

Faced with a sea in front and Pharoah's army behind, the Sea of Reeds splits open and the Israelites cross over to other side to a whole new reality. How can we sing songs of freedom in a new land?

Episode 5: Redemption: Song of the Parting Seas

How do we see the world around us? How do we see ourselves?  The eyes process information, but do not always give us the full picture and vision, insight and perception are often beyond physical sight.  In this episode of Torah, Shlech L'cha, 12 spies are sent into the land to come back with a report. What they see and how they process the information is very revealing.

Episode 23: Vision

I am joined in this episode by my rabbi, friend and mentor Jonathan Wittenberg, senior rabbi of Masorti Judaism in the UK and an inspirational leader in many areas. Korach and his followers attempt a political coup in challenging the leadership of Moses and Aaron.  Is there a time and place for rebelliousness?  When must we speak truth to power?  Two rabbis discuss these questions and more.

Episode 24: Truth To Power? With special guest Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg

Are you ready? can we ever be?  This week's double parsha Nitzavim-Vayalech begins with the power of everyone standing there, present and somehow ready to cross over, to return, to commit.

Episode 36: Ready or not...

"Let them take offerings for Me; every person whose heart is generous..." With this instruction from Parshat Trumah (Exodus 25-27), the detailed spiritual work of constructing a Mishkan (Tabernacle) and Mikdash (Sanctuary) begins and occupies many, many verses of the Torah.  What does it mean to have a generous heart and how do we build sacred space?

Episode 58: Generous Hearts

After a little break of a few weeks, Dash of Drash producer Sari Levy has some burning questions about havdalah, the soul and so much more.  Join the conversation.

Episode 68: Havdalah, Prayer, Soul, Salvation - A Conversation with D of D Producer Sari Levy

In Parshat Korach (Numbers 16:1-18:32), the leadership of Moses and Aaron is challenged and the source of that challenge is Korach. He seems to have some sound arguments, but does he really?  We learn most not from the challenge, but from the response of Moses.  Is this incident about truth or power?

Episode 69: Truth Or Power?

The film maker Jonathan Glazer is Rabbi Marc's oldest friend and for years, they have enjoyed conversations on where art, religion, spirituality and culture meet and diverge.  They met at JW3, London's Jewish Community Center, and talked for hours. On the Jewish calendar, we find ourselves in a period of three weeks of mourning as we approach Tisha b'Av, commemorating the destruction of two Temples in Jerusalem and other catastrophes. Among their discussions, Jonathan and Marc talk about destruction, loss and human brutality through the lens of Jonathan's new film project on Auschwitz and our troubling world.

Episode 71: The Film Maker and the Rabbi: Jonathan Glazer, Screen Writer/Director, in Conversation

Towards the end of The Book of Numbers, there is a list of 42 places on the Israelite's journey as they approach their new home.  It is reminiscent of the wanderings of refugees, migrants and asylum seekers of which there are some 65 million in our world today.  Marc's mentor, teacher and friend Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg of New North London Synagogue, has been an important activist and together they reflect on a Jewish approach to the desperate situations facing immigrants and refugees in our times.

Episode 72: Refugee Journeys Past and Present - with Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg

The third Jonathan from London is Jonathan Boyd who is the Executive Director of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (http://www.jpr.org.uk) in London.  Jon, a good friend, uses statistics wisely and carefully to define trends in the Jewish community.  As Tisha b'Av, when we commemorate destruction and loss, approaches, this discussion reflects primarily on what the research shows about antisemitism today.

Episode 73: Antisemitism, Tisha b'Av and Statistics with Jonathan Boyd ED of JPR

In Parshat Etchanan, the second portion from Devarim, the Book of Deuteronomy, along with the Shema and second version of the Ten Commandments, we are introduced to the concepts of devekut, cleaving to Godliness, and ayn od milvado; there is nothing other than God.  Does this mean that if we are spiritual, we transcend all the grossness of our physical world? It means so much more than that.

Episode 74: Ayn Od - Nothing Else

This week we begin the Torah over again with Bereshit, Genesis.  Adam, the first human, was created on the sixth day, seemingly as the pinnacle of creation before the first Shabbat.  The eternal question is whether the creation of humanity was a good thing or not.

Episode 77: Creation Of Adam - Good or Bad?

On a writing retreat in Santa Fe with Natalie Goldberg and Rob Wilder, I learned a lot about writing as a spiritual practice and the importance of details.  This applies to all forms of creativity, including the construction of the Mishkan (Tabernacle/Sanctuary) in the desert, which begins in this week's parsaha, Terumah (Exodus 25:1-27:19).  What does it mean to create?  With the help of Natalie Goldberg and the German-American architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, we explore that question.

Episode 89: Creativity

Recorded live at Camp Ramah in the Rockies, Rabbi Marc is joined by Rabbi Noah Farkas of Valley Beth Shalom in Los Angeles.  They reflect on identity, leadership, unique personal gifts and so much more; all inspired by Parshat Hukkat (Numbers 19-22) and the experience of being up at camp.

Episode 95 - Water, Manna, Cloud - from Ramah in the Rockies with Rabbi Noah Farkas

This was a Yom Kippur sermon offered as a response to contemporary antisemitism and reflecting on some of my recent journeys.

Episode 96 - Standing Up! Yom Kippur 5780

This Rosh HaShanah sermon inspired by Greta Thunberg, Jonathan Safran Foer and others, expresses the urgency of the climate crisis and calls for physical and spiritual action.  Since giving the sermon, out community has collectively planted close to 2,000 trees.

Episode 97 - Trees, Animals And The Weather - Rosh HaShanah 5780

Greg and Marc started their rabbinical journey together over 20 years ago in London. Rabbi Greg Alexander is rabbi of Temple Israel in Cape Town, South Africa and has just finished a sabbatical with his family in New York City, where Greg and Marc spent time together.  In this episode, they reflect on havruta, spiritual friendship, angels, dreams, light and ladders.

Episode 99: Angel of Friendship with Rabbi Greg Alexander

In this week's Torah portion, Vayishlach, Jacob wrestles all night long with an angel of God and, in his victory, gets a new name and a new identity - Yisrael - the one who wrestles with God. Wrestling with God can mean so many different things to each of us.  In this episode (100!) the focus is on the dynamic tensions that exist in religious and spiritual life.

Episode 100: Godwrestling - Halacha and Aggada, Law and Narrative

Author, psychotherapist and spiritual leader Rabbi Tirzah Firestone in discussion with Rabbi Marc about ancestral trauma and healing as we end Bereshit/Genesis, the first book of the Torah with its complicated family dynamics. Reb Tirzah's newest book Wounds into Wisdom, Healing Intergenerational Jewish Trauma, was published last year to great acclaim for its compelling insights into these subjects.

Episode 101: Ancestral Healing with Rabbi Tirzah Firestone

As we begin the Exodus narratives in the Torah, Reverend Pedro Silva, Minister at the First Congregational Church in Boulder, and a friend and interfaith colleague, in conversation about name, place, freedom and more in honor of the legacy of Rev Martin Luther King, Jr.
Here is a link to Pedro's song New Me - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnqLEGRjQeQ&feature=youtu.be

Episode 102: A Name and a Place - Honoring MLK's Legacy with Special Guest Reverend Pedro Silva

I stumbled upon a profound meditation practice taught by Reb Zalman about connecting to Divine Breath, which is offered here. These are very difficult and frightening days for most of us as our worlds get smaller and we are confined to our homes.  We begin the third book of the Torah this week, Vayikra/Leviticus with its details of animal sacrifices.  The first word is written in the Torah with a small alef.  This is a time when we need prayer and other spiritual practices to keep us balanced and whole.  Let's breathe together and offer whatever ways we can to come close in these diminished moments.

Episode 104: Keep Breathing

Some reflections as Passover approaches on a very different holiday in the time of COVID19. Can we still have "dayenu" moments?

Episode 105: A Different Passover - Dayenu

I have been pondering how you smile from behind a mask on the trail.
I wrote a piece about it shared here, recorded on Lag Baomer where there is much reflection about eyes and mouths.  What will happen when we come out of the isolation of our caves?

Episode 107: Smiling behind a Mask

A reflection on entering the Days of Awe and the possibility of returning to the land of our soul. Whatever that means.

Episode 108: Return to the Land of your Soul

Welcome to A Dash of Drash, a weekly podcast reflection on our world through the lens of Torah with Rabbi Marc Soloway and special guests. 
Produced by Sari Levy. Open and closing music from "Nishmat" by Joey Weisenberg

Marc Soloway has been the Rabbi of Bonai Shalom Synagogue in Boulder, Colorado since 2004. Marc is a native of London, England where he was an actor and practitioner of complimentary medicine before training as a rabbi in London, Jerusalem and Los Angeles. He loves skiing, mountain biking, sacred music and milking goats.

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