I am amazed, again and again, by the power of cyberspace. A brief comment to my website can result in a burgeoning relationship as I reply and the email begins. I adore that disembodied voice that announces that I’ve "got mail." I cherish the intimacies that flourish, the mutual support, the shared confidences.

I am intrigued by acrostics. I use them as inspiration for the psalms I write that are read during the naming ceremonies that welcome babies into my synagogue’s community. And so, it was especially wonderful to learn that the Hebrew letters of the word "Iyar" form an acrostic of the phrase "I am God, your Physician." What better way to view our efforts to return to health and wholeness than as a partnership with God.

This week’s double Torah portion, Vayakhel/Pekude, describes in exquisite detail the design of all the parts of the tabernacle and its adornments. I especially like the descriptions of the textiles and their makers: (Exodus 35:25-26) "And all the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, the blue, and the purple, the scarlet and the fine linen. And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun the goats’ hair."

Spring seems to have finally arrived where I am. The tulips bloomed suddenly last week, and overnight, the forsythia blazed yellow. Lengthening days to savor my everyday blessings, to enjoy the freedom sung by Pesach rituals, to look ahead in the newly slanted sunlight.

The Haggadah tells us "In every generation, each of us should feel as though we ourselves had gone forth from Egypt."  This psalm can be read on the Shabbat before Pesach, as we think about what happened to us in the time before our leaving Egypt and as we prepare for the festival we will soon celebrate.

B’Dikat Chametz is a meditation as we conduct the search for all things leavened. Dennis Prager’s wonderful drosh on Parashat Bo, (Learn Torah With, Vol 5, Num 15, January 23, 1999, Torah Aura Productions) talks about eating matzah not as a "a memento of a trivial aspect of the exodus-the speed with which the Jews left Egypt" but as a rejection of the death culture of the Egyptians who invented leavening, reminding us again and again to "choose life that we might live."

Here is a new hallel for Pesach to be read during the seder, words in addition to the traditional songs of praise we sing as we rejoice in our freedom.

What is your morning routine? I seem to do things in exactly the same order every morning. One of my necessities is a 20 minute breathing treatment, and a few years ago, I realized that I could use that time to daven. A bit unorthodox? Yes. But a way to sanctify some very ordinary time and use it for a blessing.

Eating the last of the hamentashen, we look ahead a month, from the full moon of Adar to the full moon of Nisan. Years ago, my now grown daughter’s synagogue nursery school focused on the holidays and she knew, simply, that Purim turned into Pesach. It’s time to get ready.

Several years ago, Rabbi Eleanor Smith, taught me the "Modeh Ani" prayer for awakening. I like the imagery of a soul restored after sleep. I think it is also a fitting image to use when awakening after surgery or in the moment after a fever breaks, when the pain finally eases, or the symptoms of chemotherapy abate. We are restored.