Friday night erev shabbat (short-long-reanslation) – Printable version ============== The shorte Firday night Kidush version – like the one seen in the tutorial בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’. אֱלהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעולָם בּורֵא פְּרִי הַגָּפֶן בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ אֱלהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעולָם. אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְותָיו וְרָצָה בָנוּ. וְשַׁבַּת קָדְשׁו בְּאַהֲבָה וּבְרָצון הִנְחִילָנוּ. זִכָּרון לְמַעֲשֵׂה בְרֵאשִׁית. כִּי הוּא יום …
Money makes the world go round, and round, and round. Viewing it in perspective leads to the inevitable conclusion that anything that accelerates needs an inhibiter to balance it, because just like the world itself, people too, very often find themselves going round. Once you’re on top, often you might find yourself glancing upward from …
For the entire month of Elul, leading into Sukkot, this Psalm is traditionally read at both morning and evening services. Perhaps because its last stanza –“Hope in Adonai; be strong and of good courage!”`– may fortify those who recite it, as they face the Days of Repentance and Judgement. Perhaps because the first line of …
Continue reading ‘Literary analysis of Psalm 27 – One thing I ask of Adonai’ »
Shalom Chaverim, Until the Beth’s website will be updated, please use this webpage, and get ready for the upcoming High Holidays services. We are fortunate to have our old-new home cantor, Cantor Ed Berkovits, coming back to Halifax after serving several congregations in the U.S. (See Cantor Berkovits’s letter to the Beth Israel Family, below …
The structure of Song 20 has a precise symmetry: the 10 verses divide into two equal parts; the name Adonai is repeated 5 times. In contrast, the content is a labyrinth, puzzles within puzzles. The first puzzle presents itself immediately: verse 1 identifies the composer of the song as David. But what is not made …
Click here to read “Psalm Six – Translation of the Song” Three ideas inspire the praisesong: the essence of creation; the revelation of God’s teachings; the promise of redemption. These are the same three themes that make up the daily prayer service (whether the division into these three specific parts is based on Song 19 is not known). The …
Continue reading ‘Literary analysis of Psalm 19 – Creation, revelation and redemption’ »
Three distinct elements inspire Song 18: David’s feelings of gratitude (afterall, it is a Praisesong); imagery so startling that it seems the stuff of dreams; and, finally, David’s desire to establish his dynasty . The first verse gives the context of the song’s composition: King David is celebrating his having been saved “from the grip of …
Continue reading ‘Literary analysis of Psalm 18 – Covenant of the dynasty of David’s house’ »
Kristallnacht is no longer just a dark memory in the world’s history, that night when evil emerged as a force that was not thwarted before it was too late.Destruction of synagogues and Jewish-owned stores, deaths of over a hundred and the expulsion of thousands, were encountered by the world’s silence. (Nov 9th 1938, ‘the night of broken …
Click here to read the Translation of Psalm Sixteen Opening with three problematic verses, Psalm 16 is, nevertheless, stately, hopeful and sure of God’s beneficence. The song centres about the image of a boundary in verse 6: “Legacies have fallen to me, pleasant [ones].” Both Hebrew and English infer an allotment, …