Portion / Parsha

Kedoshim 5774 – How can we ‘be holy’?

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’,

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I lift my eyes to the mountains (Ps 121)

Written and first performed for the Oxford Unitarians service at Harris Manchester College, Yom Hashoah 5774/2014 Composition and audio © Alexander Massey 23 January 2014 In English: In Hebrew: Essa Einai / I lift my eyes – BUY the sheet music (Eng & Heb) – $4.95 Many commentators have seen this psalm as expressing total

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The Priestly Blessing (Y’varech’cha)

Y’varech’cha Adonai (May You Be Blessed) – Composition and audio © Alexander Massey, 3 July 2013 BUY the sheet music (solo & pno) – $4.95 BUY the sheet music (SATB & pno) – $11.25 (5 copies @ $2.25) The simple meaning I have always loved the sounds of this blessing (sometimes called the ‘Priestly Blessing’), whether

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Tazria-Metzora 5773 – The three holy garments, and the personal touch

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

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