“Here I am, ready to take upon myself the sacred charge of my Creator: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ This kavanah (focusing meditation) before the morning service was introduced by the kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria (c.1534–1572) of Safed. We prepare to enter the prayer community by affirming our highest obligation, as Jews and as human […]
Hareini m’kabeil alai – 2 settings Read More »
These are my own gleanings from Daniel Taub (2025) Beyond Dispute: rediscovering the art of constructive disagreement. I hope they encourage you to buy the book. I have paraphrased in order to clarify my own understanding, but there are also direct quotations from the book. The notes in square brackets are my own thoughts and
This downloadable PDF is the notes I made on the book ‘Living in the Presence: a personal quest for the Baal Shem Tov’ by Burt Jacobson (2024). The book weaves Jacobson’s autobiographical and personal thoughts with the biography and teachings of the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism. Download PDF notes
Selected with an introduction by Or N. Rose & Netanel Miles-Yepez Nataniel (2020, Orbis) These are my own gleanings from the book. I hope they encourage you to buy the book. I have paraphrased in order to clarify my own understanding, but there are also direct quotations from the book. The notes in square brackets
Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi: Essential Teachings – notes on the book Read More »
Exodus 3:1-15 Because my commentary links the Torah reading about Moses and the burning bush to the idea of making a blessing, I have included an English interpretation after the Hebrew Torah blessings. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר בָּֽחַר בָּֽנוּ מִכָּל הָעַמִּים וְנָֽתַן לָֽנוּ אֶת־תּוֹרָתוֹ: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה נוֹתֵן הַתּוֹרָה: “Blessed are You,
Burning bush & brachot (blessings) – D’var on Parshat Sh’mot Read More »
In summer 2023, these songs formed the programme for a devotional, illustrated talk I gave to the Oxford (UK) Council of Christians and Jews (CCJ); many of these texts are shared by Jews and Christians. A musical setting of a text creates its own world, and suggests a particular way of seeing, hearing and feeling.
I’ll sing a little song – Playlist Read More »
Who’s good enough? Who here is a tzaddik? (You don’t have to answer that!) The opening of the story of Noach describes a global crisis: the earth is filled with lawlessness, and people’s ways are corrupt. One man is singled out as at least more of a tzaddik, of better character, than those around him.
Moving beyond binaries (Noach) Read More »
אוֹר, זָרֻעַ לַצַּדִּיק, וּלְיִשְׁרְי לֵב שִׂמְחָה “Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart.” (Ps. 97:11) In 2020, over one 24-hour period, I composed these two very different settings of Or Zarua – one lyrical and contemplative for Yom Kippur, and the other celebratory for Shabbat. Here are the two
Or Zarua – Two ways of sowing light Read More »
In 2020 I composed a sombre, yearning setting of the 13 attributes (Adonai, Adonai No.1). Two years later, I composed a completely different setting (Adonai, Adonai No.2) that was filled with light and relief. Here are the two settings, set side by side, with their commentaries. For me, both settings carry equal weight in my
Adonai, Adonai – Two faces of the 13 Attributes Read More »
Recording coming in due course. Yedid Nefesh No.2 – Download the free sheet music (voice & guitar)
Yedid Nefesh No.2 (My Soul’s Beloved) Read More »