Yeshua Centered Judaism

Gabriels Revelation

The inscription dubbed “Gabriel’s Revelation” is from the collection of David Jeselsohn of Zurich and Jerusalem, who lent the stone to the Israel Museum for the temporary exhibition. We continue to be grateful to collectors who allow their artifacts and inscriptions to be studied by scholars and shared with the public, especially when, like this…

Shofar Blowing 101

Shofar Blowing There is a positive Torah commandment to hear the Shofar blasts on Rosh Hashanah, as the Torah states, “A day of blasts shall it be for you.” It is forbidden to speak between the various sets of Shofar blasts and this is certainly the case during the time the Shofar is actually being…

Selichot for Yom Gimel

Please Wipe Out My Wickedness like a Cloud(Selichot for the house of IsraelRecite loudly:‫א‬ ָ‫ּנ‬ ‫א‬ ָ Please wipe out my wickedness like a cloud,and forgive my sins, for they are great.‫ה‬ ‫ׁשּוב‬Return the remnant of a shadowed people,And send a messenger [of good news]to inform them of the covenant,That which will take place after…

Parashat Ha’Azinu / פרשת האזינו

Torah Reading: HA-AZINU, Deuteronomy 32: 1-52 THE SONG OF G-D’S JUSTICE Some songs are happy, some are sad. Some are for entertainment. Some come to tell a story or teach a lesson. Some express the inner heart and soul. Unique among all songs is the song of Moses in our parshah. HA-AZINU is the song of…

Speech Lashon Ha-Ra

When non-observant people talk about how difficult it is to observe Jewish law, they usually mention the difficulty of observing Shabbat or keeping kosher or other similarly detailed ritual laws. Yet the laws that are most difficult to keep, which are most commonly violated even by observant Jews (unintentionally, of course!), are the laws regarding…

Unetaneh Tokef: Do We Control our Fate?

The prayer that asks us to consider our mortality is an urgent call to examine our lives. By Cantor Matt Axelrod If there’s one word that is closely connected with the High Holiday season, it’s teshuvah, repentance. It’s a part of the vocabulary taught to even young religious school children: looking at one’s behavior and…

Aliya Parshas Netzavim / Vayeilech

Note: The Shabbos Torah Reading is divided into 7 sections. Each section is called an Aliya [literally: Go up] since for each Aliya, one person “goes up” to make a bracha [blessing] on the Torah Reading. It’s about time we stopped making excuses and took responsibility for who and what we are. It’s long overdue….

Leil Selichot 2020 / סליחות

Leil Selichot (Prayers for forgiveness in preparation for the High Holidays) for Hebrew Year 5780 ocurrs after nightfall on Saturday, 12 September 2020. Selichot or slichot (Hebrew: סליחות) are Jewish penitential poems and prayers, especially those said in the period leading up to the High Holidays, and on Fast Days. In the Ashkenazic tradition, it begins…

Various Categories of Atonement

The month of Elul, which we currently find ourselves in, is a time for repentance, forgiveness, and atonement, as we have already discussed. Let us now discuss various categories of sin, which are more severe than others, and how to completely erase these sins. The Four Categories of AtonementThe Baraita (Yoma, 86a) tells us that…

TORAH: NITZAVIM-VAYELECH

TORAH: NITZAVIM-VAYELECH By Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum Torah Reading: NITZAVIM: Deuteronomy 29:9-30:20 VAYELECH: Deuteronomy 31:1-30. DECLARING THE END FROM THE BEGINNING “Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying ‘My counsel shall stand and all My pleasure I shall do’ ” (Isaiah 46:10). Parshas NITZAVIM is always…

Parashat Nitzavim / פרשת נִצָּבִים

Mekhilta d’Rabbi Yishmael 12:6:1(Exodus 12:6) “And it shall be to you for a keeping”: Why does the taking of the Pesach precede its slaughtering by four days? R. Matia b. Charash says: It is written (Ezekiel 16:8) “And I passed by you and I saw you, and behold, your time was the time for love”:…

The Gospel of Q

The following translation has been committed to the public domain and may be freely copied and used, changed or unchanged, for any purpose. Q is the designation given to a hypothetical sayings source that many scholars believe was incorporated into the Gospels of Luke and Matthew. Though some notable scholars have questioned the theory, others…