What Are All These Words About Mourning? Originally published June 8-9, 2018
When, in the course of life, someone passes away, Jewish tradition has many words which get bandied about. Here are a few, may you be blessed not to have to use them. Let’s jump right in, after a person has died. Tahara is the ritual washing of a body prior to burial. After this purification […]
What Was Manna from Heaven Made Of? Originally published June 1-2, 2018
In this week’s parashah (portion of the Torah) we read about manna. It is described as a fine, scale-like thing, fine as the hoar-frost on the ground (hoar-frost is a greyish frozen dew), and it is also described as white coriander seed. Manna would fall over night, and it was collected each morning (except on […]
What Is an Aufruf? Originally published May 25-26, 2018
An aufruf is a formal presentation to the congregation of the intended couple very soon to be married. The word is Yiddish, אויפרוף (often pronounced OYF-roof), and in its verb form it is אויפרופן. (We could do a box just on Yiddish pronunciation in various areas of the world!) We pronounce it here in our […]
What Do Babies Have to Do with Shavu’ot? Originally published May 18-19, 2018
Many think of Shavu’ot as the time for graduations, and that it is! We also celebrate the spiritual awakening of our people with the giving and receiving of the Torah. (Also we eat cheesecake because it is rich and sweet like the words of Torah.) And we celebrate the “new fruits” of the season. Shavu’ot […]
What Is Yom Yerushalayim? Originally published May 11-12, 2018
An Israeli national holiday, יום ירושלים or Jerusalem Day commemorates the reunification of Jerusalem and the establishment of Israeli control over the Old City in June 1967. Interestingly, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel at the time declared Jerusalem Day a minor religious holiday to thank God for victory in the Six-Day War and for answering […]
What Is an Omer and Why Are We Counting Them? Originally published May 4-5, 2018
An omer is a tenth of an ephah. These are dry measures that were used in ancient times. An “omer” may also mean a “sheaf” of grain, in this case barley, and that is what we are counting during these days. In Leviticus 23:9-11 (this week’s parashah!), we read that we were forbidden to use […]
What Are Those Hands Above the Ark Doing? Originally published April 27-28, 2018
At the Second Temple, there were steps leading up to a platform, behind which sat the Holy Ark. The Temple priests, the Kohanim (descendants of Aaron), would stand on the platform (or on the steps leading to it, depending on the source of information and the scholar discussing it) and bless the public standing below […]
What Are Ofanim? Originally published April 20-21, 2018
The notion of a many-eyed many-sphered transporting creature (I envision something like an armillary sphere with eyes) which can travel in any direction and looks like shining beryl (emerald is a common type of beryl, for instance) is intriguing. Yet for all their wonder, and even though they appear daily in our liturgy, the Ofanim […]
What is that young man doing: what is involved with chanting Torah? Originally published April 13-14, 2018
What does it take to chant a Torah reading? Let’s get to the basics. The text in the Torah scroll is handwritten by a scribe in ink on parchment, and the reader points with a pointer (a yad, a “hand”) without touching skin to the scroll. Now, in Hebrew the vowel sounds and consonant variants […]
Is Profanity Prohibited in Judaism? Originally published April 5-6, 2018
With thanks to Rob Menes for posing the question and providing some of the answer, let’s look at profanity. The English word has its roots in religion: fanus in Latin is a temple, and profanus refers to being before or outside the temple, not yet holy, but not the opposite of holy, either - really […]