About
Thank you for visiting my web site.
I began my writing life as a children’s book author in 1976 with Tom Seaver: Portrait of a Pitcher and The George Foster Story. My passions veered from baseball to Jewish holidays, a grave disappointment to my sons. After 20 years of writing books for young people, I took the plunge and went to the Academy for Jewish Religion and was ordained in 1998. Although I’d gotten a B.A. from UCLA and a teaching credential from USC, my seminary days were my happiest academic experience.
With the help of errant and confused Jews in Santa Fe, we created a laboratory called HaMakom: The Place for Passionate and Progressive Judaism. What I wanted to do was bring my people closer to the Unifying Energy aka G!d. Most didn’t know which way to open a prayer book. In the fifteen years I served, over fifty adults became B’nai Mitzvah and prayer leaders.
In 2016 I moved into my summer cabin of over 4o years to retire. To my radical amazement, there was a new community in the little mountain village called Temple Har Shalom and they needed a rabbi. Wow! Being a rabbi in my beloved Idyllwild is a dream come true.
I’ve become a Spiritual Director and Sageing Mentor, which gives me opportunity to help from these two effective technologies, especially for those of a certain age, like me. Because I’m aging, my next book will be about the process of lightening myself from possessions that each have a story and lessening my still busy life. It’s got a great title, stay tuned. Meanwhile, check out my books that have expanded from baseball. I have won several awards along the way, including a PEN award for White Fire: A Portrait of Women Spiritual Leaders in America.
The whole of the holy life is good friends. I claim my two sons and their partners, along with four glorious grandchildren, among them. Books, dog Sadie, and the centuries old forest in which I live, too.