THE SHEMA PART 2 The Shema, as I noted earlier, is an integral part of our statement of faith and of our prayer services. It consists of three passages from the Torah, Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Deut. 11:13-21 and Numbers 15:37-41. Part one dealt with the first verse (Deut 6:4), the definitive statement of monotheistic connection to Continue Reading »
THE SHEMA Part 1 The unit of biblical passages that we know as The Shema is essential to our out liturgy. It is part of our morning (Shacharit) and evening (Ma’ariv) services on weekdays, Shabbat and on holidays. It is also recited when retiring for the night. It has been referred to as “the watchword Continue Reading »
MAKING OUR SENSES PART OF OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE – PART 2 I have written before about connecting our senses and our spirituality. The earlier essay focused on the senses of hearing and sight. But what about our other, perhaps more earthly, senses, smell, touch and taste. How can these be part of our spiritual lives? Continue Reading »
SING A NEW SONG “Shiru l’Hashem shir chadash” sing unto the Lord a new song. This is the opening verse of several of the psalms. They include two of the psalms recited before “L’cha Dodi” on Friday evening during the Kabbalat Shabbat service and one psalm which is recited every morning as part of the Continue Reading »
MAKING OUR SENSES PART OF OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE While participating in prayer and observing mitzvot are important parts of our spiritual lives, they are “acts” that can be performed autonomously and unthinkingly. I use the word “acts” in quotations for a purpose. The potential problems is that while are act or perform it can Continue Reading »
Feeling and Meaning our Prayers A couple of weeks ago Rabbi Greene commented (note: one must give his or her teachers credit) that often we go through our prayers but we don’t let our prayers go through us. I believe that his point was that while we (too) quickly mutter the various prayers for Continue Reading »
Psalm 27 For the Penitential Season During the penitential season, from the first day of the month of Elul through Hoshana Rabba ( the last say of Sukkot before Shemini Ha’atzeret and Simchat Torah) it is customary to recite Psalm 27 at the end of the morning and evening services. To be honest, I Continue Reading »
Introduction To My Ritual Blog Friends, I have been offered the opportunity as Ritual Director to share, from time to time, to share my thoughts on ritual or spiritual matters. I am flattered by the offer and more than happy to take on the task. A caveat: I am not The Rabbi. I am not Continue Reading »
