Author Archives: eng4820

Avot v’Imahot

Posted on May 19, 2013

These days, I seem to be a channel for loose, chatty, non-dualistic English-language riffs on traditional liturgy, responding line by line to ancient impulses. Here is #1 of 19. ברוך אתה יי אלהינו ואלהי אבותינו ואמותינ, אלהי אברהם, אלהי יצחק, … Continue reading →

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ASHREI

Posted on May 12, 2013

Happy are those who dwell in Your House. Continually, they praise You. Selah. The Ashrei (“Happy”) is a heart|mind opener built into every traditional Jewish service. It’s an acrostic — each line starts with a sequential letter of the Hebrew aleph-bet, … Continue reading →

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Ki Tissa

Posted on February 28, 2013

Exodus 32:3-8 And all the people took off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. This he took from them and fashioned it and made it into a molten calf. And they exclaimed, THIS … Continue reading →

Posted in d'var torah, torah | 2 Comments

2012 in review

Posted on December 30, 2012

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: 600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 6,300 views in 2012. If every person who reached the … Continue reading →

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Food Stamp Challenge Day 1

Posted on November 12, 2012

The Backstory This year, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs launched the Food Stamp Challenge, an experiential event to draw hearts and minds to the millions of people in the United States who live on what used to be called “food stamps.” The … Continue reading →

Posted in Food | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

The Illusion of Control and the Food Stamp Challenge

Posted on November 9, 2012

Jewish liturgy returns to one aspect of G-d’s nature over and over: G-d doesn’t care about human power structures and is usually itching to upend them. The Exodus story smashes the illusion of human control, laying bare the truth that … Continue reading →

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The Sh’mantra

Posted on September 3, 2012

The Sh’ma is the central prayer of Jewish life, an affirmation that our God is Everything-That-Is-Was-and-Will-Be, the One Sovereign Reality of the Universe. Not long ago, I had the privilege of leading a beautiful community in reciting this prayer using … Continue reading →

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Romancing the Scroll

Posted on August 10, 2012

Reposting this from last year in honor of this week’s Torah portion, Ekev … So Here’s the Backstory. My husband and I are now devoted groupies of an organization called Nehirim, from a Hebrew word for “lights.” Founded by author … Continue reading →

Posted in Journal Entries, Observations, Prayer, torah | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Romancing the Scroll II

I think it’s official now, so I might as well admit it. My name is Michael, and I am a leynaholic. Leyn or leynen is an old Yiddish word that just means ‘to read,’ but when used in English, the word … Continue reading →

Aside | Posted on June 20, 2012 | 2 Comments

Poor Shmuel: A One-Act D’var Torah on Leviticus

Posted on May 6, 2012

Stop me if you’ve heard this one. A married gay couple in their forties, neither of them born in to Jewish families, decide to convert to Judaism. A few years after their respective trips to the mikvah, the ritual bath … Continue reading →

Posted in d'var torah | 3 Comments