The Ansche Chesed blog is a place where you can find enriching material to read about God, Torah and the Jewish People.
Despite being a feminist, for much of my life I assumed that to be a good shofar blower one needed a big barrel chest. I thought that the essential quality one needed to blow shofar was big masculinity. My barrel-chested father was an excellent shofar blower. He blew the shofar from the bima in my… Read more »
A treasured Rosh HaShanah poem from 13th century Spain – Ahot Ketana, “Little Sister,” by R. Avraham Hazzan of Gerona – prays תִּכְלֶה שָׁנָה וְקִלְלוֹתֶיהָ/tikhleh shana v’kileloteikha, “may the accursed year end,” and תָּחֵל שָׁנָה וּבִרְכוֹתֶיהָ/tahel shana u’virkoteiha, “may a year of blessings begin.” Have these phrases ever resonated so strongly as they do now,… Read more »
Today is the 17th of Tammuz, my favorite fast day. I like fasting. It’s not hard for me, and a little ascetic mortification, within reason, can sharpen you and make you reflect. So all things being equal I observe the “minor fasts.” Today, the 17th of Tammuz, is the hardest, because summer days don’t end… Read more »
Shalom again my friends. Here is a third note from Israel, birat haMoledet, the homeland capital of the Jewish people, written in New York, birat haGolah, the capital of the Jewish diaspora. The post is pretty long, sorry, but it covers the final two days of Ansche Chesed’s Israel trip. We spent Wednesday in Tel Aviv, beginning with a… Read more »
My Friends – my “Notes from Jerusalem” are coming a little late: this note about our Tuesday is posting Friday – after I flew back last night. What can I say? Our days were long. I will add one more about our Wednesday and Thursday after Shabbat. Shabbat Shalom from New York! The second day… Read more »
