There’s a Talmudic teaching that, as a condition of being born, every creature has to consent to God to accept the form it is being given, and the life that will ensue from that. Following on from that, here is my reading of the first two verses of Ki Tavo (Deut. 26:1-2). “Now it shall […]
Being deployed by God – Ki Tavo Read More »
Last Saturday, I turned 60. That means that, if I’d had a bar mitzvah at 13, it would have been in 1977, and Tzav would have been my portion. At that age, I think I would have felt very hard done by to get this parsha, with its exhausting minutiae on sacrifices: what flour and
All are honoured, no one goes without (Tzav) Read More »
Introduction before leyning Chapter 15 of Exodus Today is Shabbat Shirah—the shabbat of song, because it’s the week when we read Shirat Hayam—the Song of the Sea, the story of when the Israelites escaped through the miraculously parted sea, while behind them, Pharoah, his army, and their horses drowned. Moses and Miriam led the Israelites
Beshallach 5784 – God of now Read More »
Music and audio © Alexander Massey 24 August 2021 Download the free sheet music here (voice & guitar) A simple blessing suitable for many occasions. Other than the title, Baruch Atah, B’ruchah At, this song is entirely in English. Hebrew blessings for people have historically always been in the masculine. In more recent times, there
Baruch Atah, B’ruchah At (Blessed Shall You Be) Read More »
Composition and audio © Alexander Massey 16 Feb 2017: V’asu li mikdash v’shochanti b’tocham. Recording with English words: “We will make You a holy home, and You will live with us.” Download the free sheet music (2 voice round with guitar or piano, and 2 optional single line instruments) וְעָשׂוּ לִי, מִקְדָּשׁ; וְשָׁכַנְתִּי, בְּתוֹכָם “And
V’Asu Li Mikdash (I’ll Make You A Holy Home) – The ‘Holiness Project’ Read More »
Context In the previous parsha (Vayeshev), we have met Joseph with his multi-coloured robe, the envious brothers who sell him into slavery, and learn of their wicked deception of their father Jacob. In an interlude we hear of Tamar’s righteous deception of Judah. Returning to Joseph, after his swift rise to success in Egypt, Potiphar’s
Dreams, Chanukah & Human Rights (Miketz 5776) Read More »
This translation of the second paragraph of the Sh’ma intersperses close reading of the original Hebrew with meditative interpolations to expand on multiple meanings and ambiguities in the Hebrew, as well as in the translation itself. The reader is invited to use this as a starting point for personal meditation on the deep power and
Love and Follow (Sh’ma #2) Read More »
This translation of the first paragraph of the Sh’ma intersperses close reading of the original Hebrew with meditative interpolations to expand on multiple meanings and ambiguities in the Hebrew, as well as in the translation itself. The reader is invited to use this as a starting point for personal meditation on the deep power and
Listen and Love (Sh’ma #1) Read More »
Lev. 19:1-20:7 The portion Kedoshim begins: “And G-d spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to all the congregation …” So this is an ideal opportunity to consider what Moses was told to share with us as a community. Kedoshim tih’yu – ‘you shall be holy’, or, more literally, as kedoshim is plural, ‘you shall be holinesses’,
Kedoshim 5774 – How can we ‘be holy’? Read More »
Tazria-Metzora (Lev 12:1-15:33) Thought, word and deed As my own personal response to a section of Torah that I find difficult to relate to in modern times, I have been looking at Tazria-Metzora through the lens of a traditional, but unrelated, teaching I learned from Rabbi Zalman Shachter-Shalomi1 (ZT”L), the founder of the 20th century Jewish
Tazria-Metzora 5773 – The three holy garments, and the personal touch Read More »