YouTube version. Better recording coming soon. In the meantime, here is the sheet music (free). Music and audio © Alexander Massey 24 August 2021
Baruch Atah, B’ruchah At (Blessed Shall You Be) Read More »
Music and audio © Alexander Massey 1 May 2017 These words, based on 2 Samuel 10:11, are traditionally spoken as we finish reading a book of the Torah. They can be translated: “Be strong, be strong, and we shall be strong!” The first half is in the singular, and the second half is in the
Composition and audio © Alexander Massey 16 Feb 2017: V’asu li mikdash v’shochanti b’tocham. Recording with English words: “We’ll make You a holy home, and You will live with us.” BUY the sheet music (2 vces & pno) – $6.75 (3 copies @ $2.25) The sheet music is also available for purchase as part of
V’asu Li Mikdash and 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 »
Shel Silverstein’s children’s book, ‘The Giving Tree’1 has sold many millions of copies since 1964, but has been dogged by controversy ever since it first appeared. It is a tale of the relationship between the Tree and a boy, always able to magically communicate with one another, as the boy moves from childhood to old
It is a tree of life Read More »
In 2012, I attended the inaugural prayer leaders’ retreat of the European Academy of Jewish Liturgy (EAJL), led by Chazan Jaclyn Chernett, Chazan Jack Kessler, Rabbi Marcia Prager, and Chazan Jalda Rebling. I was asked to lead a tisch on the Friday night, and these are the questions and resources that I created for that,
Beha’alotcha 5772 – The vocation of the ba’al tefillah (prayer leader) Read More »