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Home » Virtual Shabbat Box » Virtual Shabbat Box Archives: September 2022

Virtual Shabbat Box Archives: September 2022

September 16-17

Leslea Haravon Collins’s poem plays on the phrase re-nefesh (to “re-ensoul”), coined by Alan Lew in his book, This Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared.

Silhouetted person with backpack pausing mid-hike in front of sunset

There is a Jewish tradition of immersing in a mikveh before Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Lisa Braun Glazer presents this opportunity to prepare oneself to enter this time of renewal.

Young woman swimming in a lake

This video of Solomon Hoffman’s (rabbinic leader of Mishkan Ha’am (Westchester, N.Y., and RRC student) setting of Psalm 147 has been played in services around the world and was profiled by the public-radio program “Interfaith Voices.”

Art print of heart with leaf emerging

In this week’s d’var Torah, Rabbi Jonathan Kliger teaches that, as they enter the Promised Land, the Israelites “will not be able to build a trustworthy community unless each one of them is able to monitor their own moral choices … and take responsibility for his or her own actions, whether or not anyone else will ever know.”

Young man sitting with head down and hands together with reflection in glass window

Noted historian Jack Wertheimer discusses his research into how “ordinary” Jews are experiencing Judaism in the 21st century.

#Trending Jewish 24: The New American Judaism

September 9-10

This poem by Maia Conrad marks “the grace of a dedicated separation between the mundane and the sacred, prescribed by G-d’s compassion” to restore the soul’s tranquility.

two candles in wooden box with heart-shaped windows

This setting for the opening lines of Psalm 27 the penitential Psalm, which in Jewish tradition is recited every day in the month before Rosh Hashanah is sung by Rabbi Dayle Friedman and accompanied by Peter Simpkins.

looking up at tree branches in front of blue sky

Rabbi Josh Snyder offers a ritual to bless our animal friends as a hillula an annual rejoicing on the anniversary of the death of an important Rabbi for Rav Avraham Yitzchak Ha-Kohen Kook (1864-1935), the first Chief Rabbi of Eretz Yisrael, who envisioned the Messianic age as a time when all would be vegetarian, and no animal sacrifices would be offered.

dogs sitting in the grass

In his comments on this week’s Torah portion, Rabbi Lewis Eron teaches that “in time, all the material blessings promised by Torah will fade. What is good and lasting in the Torah are the words themselves and the actions they demand.”

open Torah

Rabbi Kevin Bernstein has performed hundreds of b’rit milah ceremonies. In this segment, he responds to critics who question the safety and continued relevance of circumcision, including our two prior guests, Gary Shteyngart and Max Buckler, and attempts to demystify and explain what happens at a b’rit milah.

Rethinking the circumcision part 2 with rabbi kevin bernstein

The Reconstructionist Network