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