Welcome to Sparks of Holiness.

My name is Art Grand. I’ve been a community leader and teacher of liberal Judaism for thirty years, first as president of my congregation, then as a teacher of Torah and as a leader of the Reform Movement. I’m currently a rabbinic student at the Academy for Jewish Religion in California.

I believe that we each have a spark of holiness within us – a teaching that only we can teach, a holy act that only we can do. The job of a Jew is to bring out the sparks in others.

We Jews have a special way of creating community. We sit together with a bit of Torah in front of us – a story or a teaching from a sage of the past. We each say, “This is what I think,” and we listen to each other. And somewhere, in the listening, in the silence, a still, small voice calls out, “You’re both right. And here’s what I think.” Read the posts. Comment. And God willing, we’ll hear the voice together.