What I am calling The Jewish Toolkit consists of three things:
- Torah
- Shabbat and Holy Days
- Hebrew Language
I call this the toolkit, because it’s for anyone to use to make your own Jewish life. There isn’t only one way to build. There isn’t only one way to do Shabbat — but something about a day of rest and celebration every week is essential. There certainly isn’t only one way to understand the Torah — but the Torah gives us the storylines and the frames to talk about our thoughts and questions. Hebrew language doesn’t mean fluency — each Hebrew word is a unique concept, something you can’t quite say in English.
This part of the site is expanding, so check back often!
Torah
- What is the Torah? Here is one description of the big picture.
- A lot of what I make out of the Torah is on my sermons page.
- A great place to look for teachings about the weekly Torah portion is at myjewishlearning.com.
- I am putting together a series of videos about the Torah generally and specific parts of the Torah — they will be linked here as I create them!
Shabbat and Holy Days
- 3 Models of Shabbat: Walker, Museumgoer, Painter (from Mark Dov Shapiro and Scott-Martin Kosofsky, Gates of Shabbat, Central Conference of American Rabbis)
- Blessing children on Friday night — one page how-to and explanation
- Blessing for bread/challah on Friday night — one page how-to and explanation
Hebrew Language
- Coming soon — the first 36 Hebrew words to learn
