How can one dare proclaim to compress the vastness of Judaism, the bedrock of all monotheistic religions, in a… nutshell? Is that not insultingly pretentious?? I would have thought so, if it weren’t for the precedents that our sages set down some two millennia ago. Rabbi Akiva narrowed down the 613 commandments to one nuclear …
Continue reading ‘Universal Judaism in a nutshell – Shalom Magazine, High Holidays 5776’ »
While standing in front of the new entrance sign to our Synagogue, I thought about the meaning of its message to us: “Inspired by our past, investing in our future” The Baron de Hirsch Congregation has lived as a Jewish family at least 125 years and even longer prior to its formal incorporation. The Beth …
Continue reading ‘125th anniversary – my message to the Beth Israel community (booklet)’ »
A variation of Song 42 but with one essential change: the imagery of Song 42, of water and sound, is replaced in Song 43 by the metaphor of a court of law. Thus the song begins, “Grant me justice, O God, take up my case….” (v. 1). The singer’s advocates are, or so he …
Continue reading ‘Literary analysis of Psalm 43 – God, my keenest joy’ »
Central to Song 42 are the images of water and of sound. Through these images, the singer creates the means of bringing himself into the presence of God Whom he seeks. As the song begins, verse 2 declares an analogy between the speaker and a deer, and between God and …
Continue reading ‘Literary analysis of Psalm 42 – When shall I come and see the presence of God?’ »
Although the majority of verses of Song 41 recount the singer’s illness and his enemies’ gloating at his suffering, the imagery in the song is, nonetheless, powerful, physical, as though belying any weakness or infirmity in the singer while, at the same time, pointing out the enemies’ aggressiveness. Thus: “his enemies’ maw” (v. 3); “his …
Both a plea and a praisesong, Song 40 describes a relationship between the singer and God based upon God’s compassion; the singer is, accordingly, renewed in strength and dedicates himself to sharing God’s teachings with his fellows. Nonetheless, he remembers the evils that surround him –he attributes their presence to both his own crimes and …
Intended to be played by the lead musician (v. 1), Song 39 is a melody of one note: five times does it sound the transitoriness of human life– “how fleeting I am”, v. 5 …
Continue reading ‘Literary analysis of Psalm 39 – O Master, my hope is in You.’ »
A dirge. A lament. A description of physical suffering that the singer –the sufferer– believes to be the consequence of his moral offenses. Thus his bodily ills –depicted vividly in verses 6 through 9– act as metaphors for his unnamed but obviously vile moral offenses. Appropriately, then, it is the idea of an offense that …
Continue reading ‘Literary analysis of Psalm 38 – Adonai, all my desire is before You’ »
Compassionate Murder My father is a man of great courage and strength. Even today, when is in his mid-sixties, he can probably wrestle down me and my three siblings with one hand tied behind his back. This, together with a big scoop of independence, led him to travel over most of the world for the …
Continue reading ‘Euthanasia – ‘Compassionate murder’ (For Shalom Magazine, spring 16)’ »
Click here to read “Psalm Thirty-seven: Translation of the Song” Song 37, a song of comfort; seemingly composed by a parent for his children, a grandparent for his grandchildren –certainly by an old man (one who identifies himself in verse 25 as “A youth I was, and have become old”) whose purpose is to instill hope …