“O my dove, in the cranny of the rocks, Hidden by the cliff, Let me see your face, Let me hear your voice; For your voice is sweet And your face is comely (Song of Songs 2:14 - sefaria.org).” Rabbi Eliyahu interpreted the verse as referencing...
“The climate quickly changed to cold and the trees burst into color, the reds and yellows you can’t believe. It isn’t only color but a glowing, as though the leaves gobbled the light of the autumn sun and then released it slowly. There’s a quality...
“Raising my voice in thanksgiving" - these are the Offerings. "And telling all Your wonders" - (Is it possible to tell all Your wonders?) Rabbi Avin said, That is Hallel, as it has of the past within it, and it has of the future within it, and...
Countdown to Chanukah 27 - A Good Eye I find it fascinating that although we so honor the miracle of the Menorah oil of the Chanukah story, there is a natural miracle that parallels the oil described in a verse: “The generous man is blessed, For...
(The night of the Plague of The Firstborn,) Pharaoh went out into the street and cried out, “In the past you were my slaves. Now you are free people; you exist only as servants of the Holy One Blessed is He. You must sing Hallel...
He illuminates the earth [and provides light] for those who dwell on it, with compassion (Morning Prayers, Blessings of Shema - sefaria.org) The Abudirham connects this line of prayer to, “Dominion and dread are His; He imposes peace in His heights. Can His troops be numbered?...
“and pierces the windows of the firmament (Shabbat Morning, Blessings of Shema).” [sefaria.org] Rabbeinu Yehudah ben Yakar calls our attention to the following verse to explain the intention of the word pierces: אָ֣ז יִבָּקַ֤ע כַּשַּׁ֙חַר֙ אוֹרֶ֔ךָ וַאֲרֻכָתְךָ֖ מְהֵרָ֣ה תִצְמָ֑ח וְהָלַ֤ךְ לְפָנֶ֙יךָ֙ צִדְקֶ֔ךָ כְּב֥וֹד יְהוָ֖ה יַאַסְפֶֽךָ׃ “Then shall your...
“And my soul is removed far off from peace, I forgot prosperity” (Lamentations 3:17). What is: And my soul is removed far off from peace? Rabbi Abbahu said: That is the lack of opportunity to engage in kindling the Shabbat lights, which a refugee is...
My father’s lap, while he sat in his big white Lazy-Boy and taught, was a world all to its own. An exquisite sense of safety in every sense of the word, emotionally, physically, all while exploring different worlds of Torah, science, literature, and all sorts...
The context fails me, however, I recall a conversation about Tisha b’Av with NK, that triggered a favorite line from Auden’s Oratorio, “Stuck on the stutter of a decimal point.” One thing led to another, and on Tisha b’Av, Auden’s “Tribute to Melville,” came to mind,...
This is Simcha Weinberg for the BNN (Biblical New Network) Festival book review. (Dedicated in honor of MJ, AC) We have been on a journey since Rosh Hashana: We have discovered the “Meeting Place Between Knowledge and Imagination,” We have studied “Gaps In The Clouds,” Found “A Kedem Compass,” Uncovered,...
The Days of Awe, 1997, followed a harrowing and challenging year. Serious illness. Major changes in my family. Negotiating a life in a new community. It was a year of doctors imagining and predicting the worst, and Debbie and I imagining life at its highest...
[caption id="attachment_29927" align="alignleft" width="300"] John Ruskin's "Fragments of the Alps"[/caption] There are many spots among the inferior ridges of the Alps…, which, though commanding prospects of great nobleness, are themselves very nearly types of all that is most painful to the human mind. Vast wastes of...
I discovered a perfect formula to describe the segue from the intensity of Yom Kippur in David Hartley’s vest-pocket edition of his moral and religious philosophy in the formula W = F2 / L Where W is the love of the world, F is the fear of God And...
It’s a challenge when even Amazon doesn’t carry one. I need a special compass each year to find a magical place called “Kedem” when positioning my Succah. A common Yom Kippur refrain, “Bring us back, O God, toward You, And let us come back; Renew our...
Morning Prayers; Mishna Zevachim, Chapter 5 is recited as our daily study of Mishnah for a number of reasons, including the fact it is the only chapter in Mishnah in which there is no halachic dispute. It is the perfect chapter of Mishnah to study...
The discomfort with my confession, Yom Kippur 1967, was not triggered by my (in my sister’s mind) many sins but when I realized I was using the words as a weapon. “For the sin that we have sinned before You through hardness of heart (Artscroll Yom...
Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: Four must offer thanks to God with a thanks-offering and a special blessing. They are: Seafarers, those who walk in the desert, and one who was ill and recovered, and one who was incarcerated in prison and went out....
Step By Step Idea: The Ten Confessions of Yom Kippur and the constant review of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy (Exodus 34:5-7, and Micah 7:18-19) are not two distinct parts of our Yom Kippur Service. Together they form a single form of Service: The Gratitude Confession. Framework Confession -...
Long accustomed to the dogs’ help, a new expression of their commitment to help me with my humility was still an adjustment. Many of those with whom I learn ignore my wishes and speak to me in third person. All treat me with far more respect...
Pythagoras, when asked what a friend was, replied: “One who is the other I, such are 220 and 284.” Expressed in modern terminology this meant: the divisors of 284 are 1, 2, 4, 71, and 142, and these add up to 220; while the divisors of...
There is at the back of every artist’s mind something like a pattern or a type of architecture. The original quality in any man of imagination is imagery. It is a thing like the landscape of his dreams; the sort of world he would like...
In Xander Miller’s lyrical novel of Haiti, love and determination, “Zo,” the destitute orphaned protagonist travels the island finding work wherever he can. Ravaged by malaria, burning with fever, he is rescued by a pair of fishermen and sets sail with them to Grande Anse,...
I don’t claim to be King Solomon, but it was quite clear, at least to my mind, what our dogs were thinking when they observed a woman bringing her dog to the riverfront in a stroller; “why don’t we have strollers?” I tried explaining that as...