Talmud of America
My recent posts..."Talmud of America" Pardes Institute, a non-denominational study center based in Jerusalem, offers immersive Jewish learning around the world. One project is “Talmud of America,” which aims to illuminate and interpret, through Jewish eyes, some...
Twilight Zone
My recent posts...Twilight Zone בֵּין הַשְׁמָשׁוֹת Bein hashemashot, literally, between the suns. בֵּין הַשְׁמָשׁוֹת A twilight zone of time, or rather, out of time, between one day and the next. Our sages of old used this concept to explain certain miraculous...
When to Pray Yizkor
My recent posts...My edited comments from this past final day of Pesach. Ellie’s mom, Julia Helfman, died on her 95th birthday, December 24, 2025. This was the first Yizkor service Ellie feels obligated to attend. She said, “I’m now a member of a club I was not eager...
Timing
It had become a Kremer household Pesach tradition, or rather, a pre-Pesach tradition. Somewhere within a couple of days prior the first seder and noon on erev Pesach, something would go awry in the kitchen.
Kedusha
The siddur, the guide to our prayer lives, is rich with yearning, with gratitude, with praise. The heart (“mimmekomecha”) of the heart (kedusha) of the heart (amida) of the morning service on Shabbat and festivals is a plea for Adonai to restore divine sovereignty over Jerusalem. (Perhaps it is only God’s hand that can establish peaceful coexistence in that sacred city….)
Last spring, I composed a new melody for that text (page 161 in Siddur Lev Shalem). Listen, learn and come sing/pray it with us on Shabbat!
Shabbat shalom! שבת שלום