Reflections on Ritual and Prayer

From the desk of our Ritual Director Gordon Goldman

• WHY IS ABRAHAM A GREATER MAN THAN NOAH?
  WHAT MAKES ABRAHAM BETTER THAN NOAH There seems to be a general consensus that Abraham was a better man, better human being than Noah. I do not believe that we should dismiss Noah as a Tzaddik, a righteous person, however. Noah, imperfect though he MIGHT have been, still serves as a role model. In Sefer B’reishit (Genesis) ...
• IT’S ALL CONNECTED
  IT’S ALL CONNECTED Sometimes, to most of us, the various holidays and observances in the Jewish calendar seem unrelated to each other. They feel like each is discreet and stand-alone. We might say, in early March “ok, Purim is coming” and start to think of Hamentashen and megillah reading. Or, in December we think about preparing ...
• TREAT OTHERS AS YOU WANT GOD TO TREAT YOU SHABBAT CHOL KA MOED PESACH 5784
  SHABBAT CHOL HA’MOED PESACH (5784) Shabbat Shalom. Mo’adim l’Simcha. In a moment of great weakness, Rabbi Greene has permitted me to prepare a D’var Torah for this morning. Some of you long-time regulars in the evening minyan may recognize a familiar theme. If so, I apologize, but it is one that is very important to me. Blame ...
• IT TAKES SEVERAL READINGS TO GET THE FULL MEANING
  INQUIRE, STUDY DEEPLY, STUDY REPEATEDLY Why do we read the entire Torah in annual cycles? Every year, starting and ending at Simchat Torah we read, in the same order, the same words from the five books of Moses. Is there not some concern the repetition will become rote or even boring? Might we not just stop ...
• A QUESTION OF SEQUENCE
  A QUESTION OF SEQUENCE    A friend pointed out an interesting anomaly in a portion of our liturgy.  There are a number of places in the service, notably early in the Torah service where we say “HaShem Melech, HaShem Moloch HaShem Yimloch la’olam va’ed, God is King, God was King, God will be king for ever ...
• THE CHANGES TO THE AMIDAH FOR THE HIGH HOLIDAY SEASON
  THE CHANGES TO THE AMIDAH FOR THE HIGH HOLIDAY SEASON Each year, between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, there are changes and additions to the weekday and the holiday and Shabbat Amidah. There are changes to all of the first three blessings. To one of the thirteen weekday petitions, and to the last two. Taken together, ...
• MI SHEBERACH
                                                                   MI SHEBERACH The prayer we call Mi Sheberach, because it starts with those words, is usually recited as a request of healing. The opening ...