Prayer
The academic and podcast host joins us to talk about why the words of prayer don’t work for him, and why nonetheless he’s prayed daily for 30 years.
Its meaning in the Bible is “Truly said!” or “So be it!” After that it acquired its intense liturgical emotion, and then hasn’t changed much since.
Accompanied by a master player of the santur.
An ancient rabbinic dispute pitted eminent scholars against one another. The Taḥanun prayer is rooted in that story of public shame and private distress.
Some reflections on solitary prayer and mixed-sex seating.
Not an expression of indignity, but of commitment to being an agent of the divine will.
When ancient practices for honoring the dead become a threat to the living.
To pray is to be human; to be human is to pray.
And how it enriches other realms of life.
An illuminated manuscript reflecting the Roman Jewish rite.
It’s at once the most famous affirmation of Jewish belief—no other sentence in Judaism is more powerful—and the most misunderstood.
Feelings of awe, and dependence on God, are not the same as devotion.
Agnon or Herzog?
In a biblical book many of whose poems express anxiety and apprehension, Psalm 104 is a confident and joyous singalong.