TODAY IS THE SECOND OF Elul, the month preceding Rosh Hashana, and that fact lends the period an air of expectancy and overhaul. The Jewish New Year is less a time for partying all night and more a time for…
Tag: Torah: Output
Things said.
Aside
O G?D, DEAREST AND WISEST One, Maker of mercies and miracles, Describer in line and form, please: Save us from those sincere souls who know what You really meant.
Another Definition Of Judaism
ETHNOTHEOLEGALITY. (IF YOU WANT TO get more specific, then Levantine ethnotheolegality. Or pedantically: a Levantine people’s god’s code.) Eh?
Fable, With Apocalypse
IN THE MIDDLE OF A flat grey wasteland, under a grey streaky sky, a handful of figures warmed themselves at a snapping fire. “Hey! What are you doing?” One of the figures had turned to stare across the waste —…
Slake The Bitterness
FOR MY NEXT TRICK, I will attempt to adapt 1st-century Judaism for 21st-century Americans. Yesterday, the 17th of Tammuz, marked the 1,941st anniversary of the breaching of Jerusalem’s walls by the Romans (and the 2,597th anniversary of the same action…
“Judaism As Art”
or, There and Back Again Without Leaving (BECAUSE OF WORDPRESS, I’M REPUBLISHING this 2002 piece — it works better as a “post” than as a “page” — and although my kippa-wearing has become a bit less pronounced of late it…
Torah Study: Spelling It Out In Balak And White
(I’m leading services today, but here’s the dvar Torah I’m delivering this morning (and posted yesterday).) THERE’S AN OLD SAYING: “IF you don’t look closely at every detail, you miss most of the jokes.” Although there are few obvious jokes…
Aside
OUR WEEKLY TORAH STUDY SHIFTS this week, as I am honored and privileged to lead Shabbat services tomorrow morning (Sat., 7/9/11) at Sonoma’s Congregation Shir Shalom. We will begin by looking at one of the Book of Numbers’ most action-packed portions: the tale of Bilaam the Evil Wizard. (Just typing “Evil Wizard” is a thrill; but then, I’m easily amused.) If you’re not otherwise on a vacationary road trip, we hope to see you there!
Shabbat shalom,
Neal.
Torah Study: Chukat and the Passing of the Cohort
WHEN JERRY GARCIA AND GENE Roddenberry died, I shed actual tears. Although I didn’t know either of them personally, they had both played important roles in my life — Jerry taught me to dance, Gene taught me to dream —…
Reb Nachum to SF: Keep Your Laws Off My People’s Body
THERE’S A PLACE — CHELM IS its name — where all the inhabitants are so open-minded that they tolerate any behavior whatsoever from anyone they deem open-minded as themselves. It’s a nice place to visit, but I hope never to…
Why Is Purim Like Yom Kippur?
“Yom Kippur brings the joy of teshuvah; Purim the teshuvah of joy.” (TO UNDERSTAND THIS, YOU NEED to know that this was my response to Rabbi David Wolpe‘s Facebook post this morning. “Every Jewish holiday has its partner,” he said,…
When Tefilin Are Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Lay Tefilin
March 14, 2011 (JTA) — An Alaska Airlines flight crew issued a security alert after three Mexican Orthodox Jews began praying with tefillin. The flight attendants, who were concerned by the prayers being said aloud in Hebrew and the unfamiliar…