The Rabbis juxtaposed the three separate paragraphs of the Shema, because they touched on so many themes and layers of meaning central to Judaism. Reading the Shema therefore enables us to fulfill the commandment to study Torah (Berachot 60b). For about a year and a half, I have studied the Shema closely, as well as …
What weight should we give to the voices from the past? After all, we don’t do exactly what was done in the past, not least because we cannot know for sure what was done, but also because conscience, common sense, or new knowledge to which the Rabbis did not have access persuade us to do …
Hebrew has a structure of correspondences between words by their root (shoresh) that provides layers of subtlety and multiple meanings. Comparison of passages that use words similarly or in special ways gives scholars opportunity for a range of interpretations. In kabbalistic thought, the letters themselves have meanings, and gematria (numerology) provides another relatedness between words and phrases …
Composition and audio © Alexander Massey 8 March 2011 BUY the sheet music (1 or 2 vces & pno) – $4.95 The music for this came to me in the week of Tisha B’Av (the 9th of the month of Av), the day that marks many sadnesses for the Jewish people – the date it …
© Alexander Massey 9 Oct 2008 BUY the sheet music (2-4 vce round) – $2.25 I wrote this originally as a musical meditation to prepare for leading Mincha (the afternoon service) at Yom Kippur 5769 (2008) with the London Ruach Chavurah community (Jewish Renewal). Some commentators on the Book of Jonah have said that the …
Composition and audio © Alexander Massey 1 September 2008 BUY the sheet music – $1.95 (lead sheet) I wrote this after coming back home from my first ever experience of a Limmud conference, camping in a field in the heart of the English countryside, where I heard the most amazing gig that mixed Israeli and …
Composition and audio © Alexander Massey 4 May 2007 BUY the sheet music (lead sheet, optional pno part) – $1.95 This nigun was written to mirror the movement of the angels on Jacob’s ladder, ascending and descending between earth and heaven (Gen 28:10-19). I originally thought of the melody spanning 10 pitches (B to D), …
These are my personal notes that I made when I read: Prager, Rabbi Marcia (1998) Path Of Blessing: Experiencing the Energy and Abundance of the Divine, Jewish Lights. When I make notes, they are just to jog my own memory of the book, so I am aware that they may not always make sense to the general …
The Path of Blessing (Marcia Prager) – notes on the book Read More »
In Lev. 10, Aaron’s two sons are consumed by fire, and die. There is a cryptic sentence in the text: “Vayidom Aharon.” This is often translated as ‘Aaron was silent’, or ‘Aaron held his peace.’ But neither of these does justice to the Hebrew verb, which really means, ‘Aaron was struck dumb / became still’. Rabbi …
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