Evergreen

A guide to the prayerbook and the standard service.

The very structure of the normal Jewish blessing formula (Barukh Atah…) reflects the tension of recognizing and responding to God's immanence and transcendance.

How the balance of keva (routine) and kavanah (intention) inform Judaism and the thought of Abraham Joshua Heschel.

The Rabbinic and Hasidic understandings of gossip focus on the impossibility of repairing the damage it causes.

The duty of the Levites to accompany the Tabernacle service with music and song reminds us to serve God with joy.

The Israelites' troubles, and indeed our own troubles, begin when we turn away from God.

The nazirite exemplifies actively choosing a sacred status with a higher level of responsibility.

The deviant use of human freedom, not God, is the source of evil and suffering.

According to some thinkers, the events of the Nazi era initiated changes in the nature of Judaism.

Judeo-Spanish -- also known as Ladino -- mixes 16th-century Spanish, Hebrew, Turkish and other languages.