New Job in my new life

Fall is the time for new beginnings in my life, perhaps because the Jewish holy days focus on re-a-tune-ment and realignment and return. Perhaps because it is my favorite season, one full of a certain quality of light and beautiful colors. Perhaps it is because schools starts in the fall. It is the season of walking and changing. So how fitting that this season should be marked by a new job.

A couple weeks ago I was offered the position of
Dean of the school of Humanities and Social Sciences at Regis University. 
It is my third Dean position; my first was at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, the second at the Community College of Denver, and this is the third.

 I came to Regis in part due to the mission which, while it is Jesuit, reflects Jewish themes, especially the notion that learning brings us closer to G-d. How appropriate for this year of discovery through my wedding dress journey. Learning about my own spiritual journey, my own sense of 
meaning and purpose, and learning about my own strengths and challenges deepens my connection to G-d. 

And all of this is grounded in Shabbat, my weekly anchor. The great Zionist, thinker and ideologue Ahad Ha'am is quoted as saying, "More than Jews have kept shabbat, Shabbat has kept the Jews." The Jewish notion of time is that time is a spiral that is marked by the sacredness of Shabbat. We are welcoming this time, embracing this time, because it is truly different. That hours between sundown Friday and Saturday are sacred. We have an extra soul, an extra dose of holiness, an easier connection to the divine. We are closer to G-d and closer to our true self. 


What does this have to do with my wedding journey? Shabbat becomes a Chuppah each week, a holy place to return to, a sacred space in time to renew my marriage and soul. Each Friday I can set the table, straighten the house, prepared the candles, bread and wine, and yes, cover my head, as a way to re-create the moment of prayer and promise under the chuppah. 

Why a chuppah? This is a great youtube talk about the way a chuppah starts a Jewish marriage with a lesson of sacred space why a chuppah?

And what is the wedding dress up to? Just wait...Halloween is coming!