Sara Debbie Gutfreund

I try to get back to that place within in me that still reaches unceasingly for meaning. I can't get back. As I kiss my children good bye by the door, the glare of the morning sun is sharp and unforgiving. I want to climb, to run, to inspire. But the ...

And there I am, perched on the edge of birth and death, merged into each other. How can it be? I am terrified. I am so far from my potential. How often have I devoted my life to the mundane details of the day? And now here I am. About to be judged. And I ...

She says that she is running on empty. She says that there is vast, useless space inside of her. She looks the same on the outside. But things are subtly falling apart. She is bored literally to tears even though her schedule is full. She can’t find ...

One of the most fascinating traits of scientists, artists or really experts in any field is how enthralled they are with their subject. And when you are so curious about the world around you, you cannot possibly be bored. Ever.

There are two ways to use the beauty of this world. One way is to walk into the wild in order to escape one’s inner turmoil, the other is to walk into the wild in order to go towards one’s self . . .

Tu B'Shevat is the day when the sap begins to rise through the tree. In other words, we can't see the fruit yet, but we are celebrating the process of growth itself...

We all have these latches in our lives—different defenses and fears that hold us back from learning how to fly. We're scared of change. We are more comfortable on the ground, but there is a voice inside each of us reminding us we can fly...

The time of Chanukah is a time to listen for the signals for growth that are taking root beneath the surface of our lives. It is a time to gaze into the climbing flames and to believe that we, too, can climb...

Sometimes I imagine my grandparents' sukkahs in the courtyards and on the rooftops of the Lower East Side tenement buildings. I think of the sukkahs in Poland and Hungary before the war; maybe they were also once covered in pure, white snow. Maybe my ...

On Shabbat morning I would sit beside my grandmother in synagogue, and the exhaustion of the week would melt as we prayed. But as soon as Shabbat ended I would go back to my struggle to create a picture perfect life instead of a real one...