Tag Archives: quotes

Paying a price

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From my blog:

This week, in Israel, has been particularly focused on the costs of establishing an idealist state in a previously inhabited plot of land. I’m not trying to dig too deep into the politics of it; rather I’m interested in the idea of the prices we pay to live where we do.

After all Carlos Arredondo, brought back into the public eye by the current tragedies in Boston, has paid high prices. It is not an infrequent thing, the terrible burdens families bear on their backs for their communities, for their countries.

This past Sunday, at my Yeshiva, we had a panel of faculty speaking about their personal Israel narratives. They spoke as individuals and then in a dialogue. In light of today’s theme, I’d like to highlight what Leah Rosenthal said.  Continue reading →

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[PCJE Dvar Torah] Tzav: The Burnt Offering by Joseph Shamash

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In last week’s Parsha, the first 5 Chapters of the book of Vayikra described the variety of sacrificial practices that were addressed to the Children of Israel (Burnt, Flour, Peace, Sin and Guilt Offerings). This week, in parshat Tzav we continue with more details and regulations that are directed to the priests, namely Aaron and his sons but in a slightly different order (Burnt, Flour, Sin, Guilt, Peace). Peace falls two spots from 3rd to last place!

burnt offeringFor our purposes, we’re gonna focus on the first sacrifice, the Olah (burnt-offering):

“And God spoke to Moshe saying, Command Aaron and his sons saying: This is the law of the olah; it is the olah which shall burn upon the altar all night until the morning, and the fire of the altar shall burn in it. And the kohen shall wear his linen garment, and he shall wear linen trousers upon his flesh, and he shall take up the ashes which the fire has consumed with the olah upon the altar, and he shall place them beside the altar. And he shall remove his garments and wear other garments, and he shall remove the ashes outside of the camp, to a place that is pure. And the fire upon the altar shall Continue reading →

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Review of ‘Relics for the Present: Contemporary Reflections on the Talmud’ by Levi Cooper

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Think of it as divrei Torah for the Talmud. Rabbi Dr. Levi Cooper’s Relics for the Present is an innovative, insightful, and thoroughly practical look at Mesechet Brachot that is sure to provide inspiration for Talmudic newcomers as much as long-time scholars. Whether read cover-to-cover or piecemeal, whether you’ve ever studied Tractate Brachot, or any other part of the Talmud, you are sure to have no trouble finding meaning in this book. Moreover, for beginner students especially, Relics can serve as the perfect introduction to the personalities of the Talmud and of it’s many commentators.

While in the Preface, Rabbi Cooper says he published his book on Tractate Brachot to coincide with the renewal of the Daf Yomi, or daily Talmud cycle,there seems to be more to the selection than this. If Tractate Brachot and its placement as the introductory section of the Talmud teaches us anything, it’s that the importance and problematics of Jewish prayer has not changed in the last 2,000 years. As such, Relics provides a refreshing modern voice in the ongoing Jewish conversation on how best to converse with God that should prove meaningful to Jews of all stripes. Continue reading →

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do not make your self afraid at all, the world is a very narrow bridge

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From my blog:

The important thing to remember is to not make yourself afraid at all

Somehow this song, always comes back to me. In times that i least expect it….

I first came across this song at Jewish sleep away camp, singing it on the top top of my little lungs

Kol Ha’olam kulo
Gesher Tsar me’od.
Veha’ikar – veha’ikar
Lo lefached -
lo lefached klal.
The whole world
is a very narrow bridge -
And the main thing to recall -
is not to be afraid -
not to be afraid at all.

But I am not sure I really understood the song. Continue reading →

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the layers come off

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From my blog:

The layers come offIMG_1993

Did that grab your attention? Well don’t get too excited, sorry to disappoint.

I was bracing my self for that cold shock on my face, but I got off the bus, and the sun hit my face. Oh hello sun! I walked to a coffee shop (duh) and sat outside…as the sun’s rays was beating down on me I started to have this weird feeling, warmth! Oh I haven’t felt you in what felt like forever! The sun was so strong I took off my jacket, heavy sweater, scarves, and cardigan! At this point I was only wearing a tang top! Scandals! I became so aware of how much skin I was showing, something where when I used to live in nyc I would give a second thought to, all of a sudden seemed so revealing. But the feeling on the sun on my skin, the vitamin D was so amazing!

IMG_2035

I stayed in tel aviv for 3 days, although I totally felt like I was in a different dimension. With the weather sunny, people smiling, and couldn’t stop saying “ahh hashemesh!” (the sun!) everyone looked so trendy, hip, and beautiful and I realized I am defiantly not in Jerusalem anymore! Continue reading →

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a new struggle i didn’t see coming

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From my blog:

“An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.”

I know this sounds naive, but I really didn’t see this one coming.

aw

Just some clarifications before I start. I love being Jewish. I love not using electricity on Shabbat, I love keeping mitzvot, I love davening, I LOVE Torah. I choose to believe Torah is from Sinai. I like dressing conservatively, although I don’t always wear skirts. I often think about being orthodox and marrying an orthodox man.

I grew up in a place that I didn’t have anyone to raise me Jewish, to answer my questions, or help me become the Jew I wanted to be.  I grew up in a predominantly farming community in Indiana, where there weren’t any other Jews. My dad is Catholic. My Jewish education is also about survival. At this point in my life, I wouldn’t choose to raise my family there, because I want to them grow up more Jewishly observant, but I did grow up there, and there weren’t people who could teach me. Continue reading →

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[Alumni Guest Post] Ben Barer: Why Pray?

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Ben Barer (Fellows '11-'12) tackles the issue of
Jewish prayer as an Atheist in this blog post:

One of the toughest questions for me, as a religious atheist, is what do I gain bydavenning (praying).  Alain de Botton, in his fabulous book Religion for Atheists; a Non-believer’s Guide to the Uses of Religion, offers a number of answers that apply well to the Jewish context.

“If we have managed to remain awake to (and for) the lessons of the Mass, it should by its close have succeeded in shifting us at least fractionally off our accustomed egocentric axes.  It should also have given us a few ideas which we could use to mend some of the endemic fractures of the modern world.”

de Botton here, while talking about the Christian context of prayer, hits upon some of what makes prayer universally important.  Continue reading →

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Shared Experience of Divine Reality

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Adam Masser shares a poignant quote:

 

As deeply as any ideology may stand apart from, even in stark opposition to, its contemporary environment, if this outlook is to be shared beyond the confines of a small band of elite souls, who need no supportive experience to confirm them in their convictions, its beliefs must in some way correspond to, or at least, somehow be consonant with the world of people and things that is daily experienced.

-Haym Soloveitchik
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[Alumni Guest Post] Shira Abramowitz – The Burden of Legacy: It is no dream.

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Shira has left us for another adventure, and we miss her...
But her insightful writing continues (x-posted here below)!
Shira Bee

Shira Bee

Legacy.

A pretty big word around here.

Here being Jerusalem, a city that many nations hold dear due to its history and importance in relation to their people, their culture, their religion. As a proud member of the Jewish religion and culture, I find this place resonates with me on an impossibly deep level. I feel the ties to the land, not magically or mythologically, but rather in a historical sense; with understanding and awe that my ancestors have considered this land sacred for longer than I can truly comprehend. That this land has served as a place of refuge and of tragedy, of life and of death. And that the experience I have today while living in Jerusalem is inextricably tied to the experience my ancestors had in this land so long ago. Continue reading →

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New day, New adventures, New post

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Originally posted on my blog in Oct.:

So I decided today to go to the botanical garden in Jerusalem. I have always wanted to go, but have never found the time, well now I made the time!

So I brought my map, and the multiple bus directions that I looked up and hoped I would find it. Well I did but it was not as easy as I thought it would be. I ended up getting off the bus too early, walked for about 30 minutes and finally found a sign for the botanical gardens. But you got to love Israel and their lack of signs, I could not find the entrance!! I was so close, I could see the garden, but I couldn’t find a way in. It reminded me of Kafka’s Before The Law. A short story I read in high school.

This fence, where i couldn’t even find an entrance, was there for a reason.

So I ended up pretty much walking almost the entire circumference until I found the entrance! I have never been so happy to find an entrance sign in my life!!

Continue reading →

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