When Someone Says “Yashar Ko’aḥ:” What You’re Supposed To Do

Also, here’s another new resource:

“When Someone Says ‘Yashar Ko’aḥ:’ What You’re Supposed To Do.”

Hebrew Reading Resources

I’ve made some charts to help students of (most) ages learn read Hebrew.

Here is a basic introduction to all the consonants you might meet.

Here is an advanced introduction to all the consonants you might meet.

Here is a basic introduction to all the vowels you might meet.

Here is an advanced introduction to all the vowels you might meet.

Feel free to share!

Full TaNaKh (Hebrew Bible) PDFs and documents

Every once in a while, I do some project that requires me to search through the TaNaKh (תנ״ך). Therefore, I’ve created four very simple resources I–and now you too–can use to search through the TaNaKh:

1. A .pdf of the TaNaKh without any enumerations of chapters and verses and chapter/portion titles (as well as no indications of openings [פתוחות] or closings [סתומות] according to scribal traditions).

2. A .pdf of the TaNaKh with the regular enumerations, titles and openings/closings notices.

3. A .docx of the TaNaKh without any enumerations of chapters and verses and chapter/portion titles (as well as no indications of openings [פתוחות] or closings [סתומות] according to scribal traditions).

4. A .docx of the TaNaKh with the regular enumerations, titles and openings/closings notices.

Enjoy!

P. S. I am right now looking for verses that end and begin with certain combinations of letters. This will help me do this… somewhat.

 

Purim 5778 Materials

At this link–here–are the words to four parodies I wrote for Purim, and below videos of the performances:

1. “Some Monarch Named Achashverosh”

2. “Esther”

3. “Haman”

4. “One Less Purim Without Jews”

And I appeared in a music video my awesome spouse Rabbi Dr. Raysh Weiss made for “Talk Persian To Me.” This video is separate from the Jewish organization ABCs she also made.

Happy Purim!

A Few Gender-Neutral Torah Calls

A few years back, I was humbled to be asked by my friend and teacher Rabbi Becky Silverstein what recommendations I had regarding gender-neutral ways to call folks to the Torah.

Tonight, while going through some old files, I found a sheet I had made up for this purpose and realized I had never posted it online anywhere.

If these calls speak to you, please share wherever this is needed (and I suspect that, in reality, this is needed everywhere where non-male people can be called to the Torah).

How folks respond to the gender implications when mentioning lineages entails a chart I can provide at a future time.

New music up and on its way…

With my new recording studio set up, I am happy to be making new recordings again of which I’m proud. The two recent recordings I’ve made that are most relevant to the post are of piyyutim (פיוטים, “liturgical poems”) to which I’ve set music. Their words are by an anonymous Jewish poet from some time in the early Middle Ages; Ezra Fleischer (עזרא פליישר) collected these texts in his book Pizmoney Ha’Anonymus (פזמוני האנונימוס). Each of these piyyutim were intended to be sung for the Torah readings throughout the year (and likely–the years–as the division of the piyyutim in Fleischer’s book indicates that the author was probably used to the Torah reading not taking one year, but several years). I’ve matched the two short excerpts for which I’ve composed music in accordance with as presented below (and you can click also for text and sheet music):

Parashat Naso (פרשת נשא): “Yitbarekh Elohey Olam” (יתברך אלהי עולם) recording | sheet music | text.

Parashat Nitzavim (פרשת נצבים): “Attem Nitzavim” (״אתם נצבים״) recording | sheet music | text.

 

Parashah Im Peyrush (Torah Portion With Explanation) for Lekh Lekha (pilot?)

You can find at this link a short packet I created to introduce a little bit of the concept of midrash as well as a particular midrash for this week’s portion.  Enjoy!

Sheet Music for Hayyom Harat Olam & Le’el Orekh Din

Some sheet music I wrote back in 2011 but neglected to post: for Le’el Orekh Din and HaYom Harat Olam. They’re both audible at jonahrankliturgy.bandcamp.com.

Dorff-Nevins-Reisner & Tucker condensed: highlights from a few CJLS responsa on homosexuality from 2006

This is a .pdf file that is a selection of what I deemed some of the most crucial (and accessible) parts of Rabbis Dorff’s, Nevins’ and Reisner’s, and Tucker’s teshuvot on which the Committee on Jewish Law & Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly voted on December 6, 2006. I used this 10-page packet (double-sided, so it was only 5 pages) today–reading selectively from it–at Shaar Shalom in Halifax at an event where a few members of our community whose Jewish lives have been impacted by their LGBTQ identity spoke about their Jewish LGBTQ autobiographies. After hearing individuals’ narratives, we then studied these two responsa. We had about 50 people or so, and the program was a success in my estimation! I hope that if you want to use this resource that this will come in handy.

Elleh Ezkerah Sheet Music

I wrote a melody to sing the refrain of Elleh Ezkerah as presented in Mahzor Lev Shalem a few years back but couldn’t find this on my site anywhere. Now it is free for the world. Audio at this link.