IN ONE OF OUR KITCHEN cabinets is a knot shaped like the Hebrew letter “yad.” It’s something we’ve lived with for 11 years but only pondered tonight. According to some of Judaism’s lesser-publicized traditions, “yad” as the first letter of…
Tag: Torah: Output
Things said.
Fsssss. Pop!
Happy Solar Calendrical Artifact Of The Hated Romans Who Destroyed Our Holy Temple May Their Names Be Effaced New Year! (Everyone who detected the irony, raise your hands.)
Chag Chanukat Sameach from Metaphorager.Net!
Photo courtesy Ann c. 2009. The ripples roll on, Lord how they roll on.
Al Tirah – Fear Not
A MOVE TO KICK DESPAIR out of Lower North American political life is taking a Biblical imperative to the 21st century — and “joining” is as easy as deciding not to be manipulated by people who want you to hate…
5 Thoughts: How To Preach A Sermon
1. Make ’em laugh with, but not at, you and your topic. But make ’em laugh first. 2. Remember that you’re a student too, no more learned (and perhaps embarrassingly less) than those listening to you. Your task is to…
I’m Not Going To Say “God” Anymore
AT LEAST, THAT’S MY AIM, and has been for some time, only I didn’t know it then. Hear: I don’t know how any/everyone else works It, but I think It is universal, appearing to some as “God,” others as The…
Weekend Holydays
Apples and honey yesterday. Tonight, candles. This Jew’s dance card’s full.
Torah Word: Kedoshim
Torah Portion: Acharei Mot-Kedoshim Leviticus 16:1-20:27 Haftorah: Amos 9:7-15 “Kedoshim t’hyu, ki kadosh ani Adonai Eloheicha — Be holy, for I am holy, Adonai your God.” (Leviticus 19:2) The second half of this week’s double portion takes a breather from…
This Week In Torah: Vayak’hel/Pekudei
VAYAK’HEL/PEKUDEI (Exodus 35:1-40:38; haftarot I Kings 7:51-8:21 and, because Nisan starts on Tuesday making this a special Rosh Chodesh Shabbat, Ezekiel 45:16-46:18) WRAPS UP THE BOOK of Exodus by building the Tabernacle: the traveling God-tent whose structure and contents are…
R. Crumb, Darshan
MOST REVIEWS OF R. CRUMB’S “The Book of Genesis Illustrated” seem astonished that the man who kept us truckin’ through the ’60s could possibly give the Goode Booke such a serious rendering. But what astonishes me is that Crumb has…
Leaving room for silence
Of all the apparent opposites which Judaism wrestles to reconcile — free will v. predestination, universalism v. particularism, applesauce v. sour cream — one of the most paradoxically fertile is words v. the Wordless. Maimonides, the great 12th century rabbi…
Hiding the Hidden
Last week, we read in Parsha Beshallach about the departure from Egypt (Heb. “Mitzrayim”, or “narrows,” which the mystical tradition identifies with the forces of constraint and bad-habitry). Among the other nifty details is this one, from Exodus 13:21: “And…