On Second Thought Ezra

Tag: judaism

  • 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.

  • Pip and the Festival of Many Lights

    A Chanukkah Story in the Whispering Woods of Willow Glen. “On the first night of Chanukkah, the forest had only enough oil for a single lamp. But when a cold wind blew out the flame, a shy glow-worm named Noa stepped forward. Her little flickering glow—uneven, trembling, brave—became the spark that relit the menorah and…

  • Leadership Lessons from the Mishnah: Part I

    Leadership Lessons from the Mishnah: Part I

    The Mishnah isn’t just ancient law — it’s a leadership manual hiding in plain sight. In the very first chapter of Tractate Berakhot, the rabbis wrestle with questions that sound strikingly modern: When should you start a project? How do you set deadlines? What happens when instructions conflict? In Part I of this new series,…

  • 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…

  • Pogrom by Any Definition

    Pogrom by Any Definition

    A part of the ‘On Second Thought‘ series By: Ezra Nadav Only in Australia would the firebombing of a synagogue on shabbat with 20 people inside not be classified as an act of terror. But that’s Melbourne, Australia, in 2025. A place where virtue-signalling criminals are permitted to run roughshod over public order, while law-abiding…

  • 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…

  • Dreams and Detours — The Price of Maturity: Part 4

    Dreams and Detours — The Price of Maturity: Part 4

    Genesis as the Story of Every Human Life: Part 4 A part of the ‘On Second Thought‘ series By: Ezra Nadav Previously in the Series: In Part 1: Conception and Innocence, we explored the beginning of life, both in the world and in ourselves. Eden is a place of trust, safety, and unearned goodness. But it…