Dear all,
We had to get an x-ray of Eli’s hand this week. (He’s 100% fine!)
But as I watched his tiny fingers appear in shades of white and shadow, I was reminded of the Hebrew word for “bone”: etzem (עֶצֶם).
In Hebrew, etzem doesn’t just mean bone:
It means core.
It means essence.
It means true self.
It means identity — the part of you that is unshakable.
Our bones are what remain when everything else falls away.
They are what holds us up, what gives us shape, what endures.
So when we say, “I can feel it in my bones,” we’re not speaking about anatomy.
We’re speaking about the deepest place inside us — the place where our truth lives.
So I ask:
What is the etzem of you?
What are the values you hold so firmly that they shape your footsteps, your words, your way of being in the world?
What part of you is so essential, so true, that even when life gets loud, confusing, or painful — it remains?
Because here’s the beautiful part:
When we let that truest, deepest part of ourselves be seen —
when we live from our etzem —
the world in that moment in time does, in fact, become brighter, more honest, more whole.
May we have the courage to live from our bones.
From our essence.
From our etzem.
With love and shalom,
Rabbi Zachary R. Shapiro
