Neglecting the Blog

The neglect I have shown my blogs over the past couple of years is the result of multiple causes – less time at my disposal being a primary one – and returning to the blogosphere feels awkward and seems like it demands a “reason”. This itself...

Laws of Ben Hametzarim 5770

נחמת יעקב – קיצור הלכות בין המצרים Essential Laws of The Three Weeks and Tisha B’av by Rabbi J. Maroof מוקדש לזכר נשמת חמותי היקרה יהודית בת שמואל ע“ה ת. נ. צ. ב. ה. שבעה עשר בתמוז – The Seventeenth of Tammuz 1. Each year we observe a period of mourning...

Laws of Pesah 5770

(Cross posted on my Ask the Rabbiblog.) Once again, I am happy to present this brief guide to the Laws of Pesah, revised and updated for 5770. Because of difficulties with GooglePages, the PDF is not currently available online. However, I can certainly email you a...

Seven Year Old Torah Reader

Take a look at this video of my son, Netanel, reading from the Torah this morning. He is chanting the text according to the Sephardi-Yerushalmi melody. Although this was not his debut performance (he read the Haftara of Shabbat Shuva as well as nearly all of the...

Yom Kippur Poem

VisionsMy eyes toward visions of God I raiseThough inner shadows obstruct my gazeAnd feet that would upon God’s path have treadLead me far away from Him instead. My God, I pray, do let Your wisdom’s lightRelieve me of the burden of my plightTake heed of my sincere...
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