Does anyone really care what Jews pray for and why? It turns out one particular subject relating to the natural world keeps popping up in our prayer books. A look at the Jewish tradition of prayers for rain, and how they are connected to the holiday of Sukkot.
The Ledger Is Open and the Hand Is At Work: The Book We Have Yet to Write Together
How did the ethos of writing and inscription take shape in Judaism, and what lies behind it?
An Illustrated Song: The Tale of a Book
The Song of Songs is meaningful on multiple levels. For the author, who came across a unique copy of the famous biblical text, it represents a formative experience of youth, one that extended into adulthood and continues to hold meaning today.
Nature: The Language of Love in the Ancient World
The Song of Songs stands out within the Bible for its sensual use of flora and fauna to depict love and longing between lovers. Yet the genre of “garden poetry” was not unique to ancient Israel. It was familiar across the ancient world. A reading of the “Turin Papyrus” from ancient Egypt offers a fresh lens through which to view these nature-infused love songs.
The Story of the Destruction
What do we mean when we speak of the Destruction of the Temple? For most of us, the phrase evokes the destruction of the Second Temple – the catastrophe that ushered in nearly two thousand years of exile and is documented in relatively abundant historical sources. Yet Jerusalem had already known devastation long before then, and the Ninth of Av (Tisha B’Av) was established as a day of mourning and fasting centuries earlier.
So, what led to the destruction of the First Temple?
“The First Step”: Zalman Schachter-Shalomi’s Early Hasidic Meditation Tract
How a rare 1958 booklet helped carry Hasidic contemplative practice from Chabad into Israeli mystical circles and the “Jewish Renewal” movement.
Shavuot: The Biblical Festivus
You might think Shavuot has a set date on the Jewish calendar – but think again. The holiday’s timing has long been the subject of debate, a dispute that once split the Jewish people. So who won, and why? And what does any of this have to do with Frank Costanza and “Seinfeld”?
Celebrating Hanukkah in Times of Danger
The light of the Hanukkah candles shining through our windows is one of the most important aspects of the holiday, symbolizing the triumph of light over darkness. Yet, there have been moments in Jewish history when even lighting candles posed a danger to Jewish communities around the world. Over the centuries, how have Jews coped when the simple act of lighting the menorah put them at risk?
Rabbi, Lord, Professor: On Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
The archive of one of the most important Jewish thinkers of our time recently arrived at the National Library: the personal files of the former Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, a Jewish leader who was admired around the world, and a close friend of King Charles III. This is the story of a person who would have preferred “man” and “Jew” to any other title on earth.
The Jerusalem Talmud: The Beta Version of the Gemara
The Babylonian Talmud and Jerusalem Talmud had roughly the same starting point, so why did only one of them become a canonical book?
