On Second Thought Ezra

Tag: faith

  • The Work That Doesn’t Show — Epilogue 

    The Work That Doesn’t Show — Epilogue 

    The work that keeps a life going is often the least visible. It cannot be easily measured or recognised, yet without it, very little would endure.

  • Choosing a Life That Holds — Part VII

    Choosing a Life That Holds — Part VII

    A life does not need to stand out to be good. In a culture that equates worth with growth and visibility, choosing sufficiency may be less about settling — and more about refusing to postpone living.

  • Pip and the Lights by the Water

    Pip and the Lights by the Water

    Pip attends a Chanukkah gathering by the water and senses that something has changed. After a frightening event, he watches a community choose to keep lighting candles, learning that feeling scared is okay — and that courage doesn’t mean hiding, it means staying who we are.

  • Immediate Gratification vs. Sacred Struggle

    Immediate Gratification vs. Sacred Struggle

    Have We Stopped Talking With The Divine Because AI Answers Us Faster? Part of the ‘On Second Thought’ series By: Ezra Nadav This week my Rabbi’s drash got me thinking more deeply. He reminded us that Judaism is not about easy answers but about the wrestling — with the Divine, with text, with ourselves. In…

  • Born Into Journeys

    Born Into Journeys

    A Drash on My Birth Parsha: Matot–Masei Part of the ‘On Second Thought’ series By: Ezra Nadav On 26 July 1979 (2 Av 5739), I entered the world. In Jewish tradition, every life begins with a portion of Torah: a parsha and haftarah tied to the week we are born. Mine is Matot–Masei, a double…

  • I Am Not What I Know

    I Am Not What I Know

    A part of the ‘On Second Thought‘ series By: Ezra Nadav I’ve spent most of my life gathering knowledge, storing it, curating it, offering it to others in the hope it will matter. In classrooms and consultations, workshops and webinars, I’ve been praised for clarity, for insight, for translating the complex into the digestible. It’s…

  • Living the Story — A Life Repeated and Renewed: Part 6

    Living the Story — A Life Repeated and Renewed: Part 6

    Genesis as the Story of Every Human Life: Part 6, the Final Installment A part of the ‘On Second Thought‘ series By: Ezra Nadav Previously in the Series: In Part 1: Conception and Innocence, we stood in the Garden, in that wordless, early knowing of goodness and belonging. Life began not with striving, but with…

  • Blessing and Legacy — Reckoning with the End: Part 5

    Blessing and Legacy — Reckoning with the End: Part 5

    Genesis as the Story of Every Human Life: Part 5 A part of the ‘On Second Thought‘ series By: Ezra Nadav Previously in the Series: In Part 1: Conception and Innocence, we began in Eden — a space of unearned goodness, pure being, and safety. It is a state we all begin in but cannot…

  • Covenant and Identity – Becoming a Self: Part 3

    Covenant and Identity – Becoming a Self: Part 3

    Genesis as the Story of Every Human Life: Part 3 A part of the ‘On Second Thought‘ series By: Ezra Nadav Previously in the Series: In Part 1: Conception and Innocence, we began with Eden — a symbol of our earliest beginnings, when we live in unconscious trust, gifted goodness, and untested belonging. It is…

  • Knowledge and Estrangement – The Loss of Innocence: Part 2

    Knowledge and Estrangement – The Loss of Innocence: Part 2

    Genesis as the Story of Every Human Life: Part 2 A part of the ‘On Second Thought‘ series By: Ezra Nadav Previously in the Series:In Part 1, Conception and Innocence, we explored the Edenic beginnings of human life — a time of unearned goodness, unconscious trust, and belonging without condition. But innocence, however beautiful, is…