Adina Ellis

Matan Emunah Essay:

Intellect and beauty find a sacred home

The writing of the Septuagint was celebrated by many, yet our sages describe this moment as darkness descending on the world. Why?

Matan Emunah Essay:

Becoming the hero of your story

Every human being is invited into a hero’s journey, maybe not quite as dramatic as Yosef’s or the Maccabees,’ but equally holy.

Matan Emunah Essay:

Rachel is still weeping, waiting for them all to come home.

Mothers are always praying for their children, even when they aren’t aware of doing it.

Matan Mid-Month Emunah Essay:

Let us be renewed

We are invited not just to remember that God created the world—but that He is still creating it, and us, every day.

Matan Emunah Essay:

Tammuz, idol worship, and the call for spiritual clarity

The Sara Litton z”l Monthly Emunah Essay for Tammuz.

Matan Emunah Essay:

Sivan: A month of threes

The Sara Litton z”l Monthly Emunah Essay .

Matan Iyar Emunah Essay:

Optimism in Iyar

Rabbi Akiva refused to see suffering as the end of the story, hopefully we can learn from his perspective and find hope in the ashes.

Matan Emunah Essay:

Nissan: The developed craft of Emunah

The Zohar refers to matzah, the quintessential food of Pesach, as the bread of faith. Nissan, and specifically Pesach, thus becomes a crucial time to explore and cultivate this active art of emunah.

Matan Emunah Essay:

Many Mentors in Megillat Esther

If we look at the Megillah characters and their behaviors, each choice and action can teach us a lesson for our own lives.

Matan Emunah Essay: Tevet

Sibling harmony

While we see ourselves as a nation, (Bnei Yisrael), we began as a family, Bnei Yaakov. Let us act like one!

Matan Emunah Essay:

Kislev: On the Path of Love

Chanukah is a time to strengthen the positive energy in the home, as the mitzvah is emphasized as נר איש וביתו (Shabbat 21b), an obligation on the family to add light to the home.

Matan Emunah Essay:

Marcheshvan: Building new habits like a drop in a bucket

This month's Sara Litton z"l Mid-Monthly Emunah Essay talks about how even a small change in habits can be significant.

Matan Emunah Essay:

First mind, then heart

How in the world can we be joyous? Mind over heart. How do chayalim enter into battle? Mind over heart.

Matan Emunah Essay:

Bringing blessings for the New Year

How can we view our mundane activities as connecting, positive and meaningful? When can we take a few moments to pay more attention to the blessings in our lives and thereby invite more blessing?

Matan Emunah Essay:

Grieving and Growing

Today's tragic news of six hostages murdered in Gaza reminds us of the suffering described in Eicha, Lamentations. But there is more in Eicha than mourning - there is new growth.

Matan Emunah Essay:

The mosaic of our lives: cherishing our broken pieces

Tammuz is a time of brokenness. It’s a month where the luchot habrit were broken. The walls of Jerusalem were broken.

Matan Emunah Essay:

The importance of being In the desert

The desert is a place which inspires inner peace, calm, simplicity, silence.

Matan Iyar Emunah Essay:

There is hope - Hatikvah

We are a people who hope. Always.

The golden flowers of the Jewish Ghetto

"The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind" --Mark Twain.

Godliness in ourselves and the world on Tu B’Shvat

The Sara Litton z"l mid-monthly Emunah essay. Many of us in Israel have had the unique privilege of seeing the amazing abundance of beautiful fruit growing on the trees and in the ground.

We are a people who dream

The Satah Litton z'l mid- month Emunah Essay: If we dream as Yaakov and Yosef  did, perhaps that is already 1/60th of prophecy.