#mitzvot

[zebratoys]

מוֹעֲדִים לְשִׂמְחָה חַגִּים וּזְמַנִּים לְשָׂשׂוֹן

וּלְקַחְתֶּם לָכֶם בַּיּוֹם הָרִאשׁוֹן, פְּרִי עֵץ הָדָר כַּפֹּת תְּמָרִים, וַעֲנַף עֵץ-עָבֹת, וְעַרְבֵי-נָחַל; וּשְׂמַחְתֶּם, לִפְנֵי יְהוָה אֱ��ֹהֵיכֶם–שִׁבְעַת יָמִים.

[bfpnola]

just a snapshot of the list of Jewish laws, mitzvot, israel is breaking while weaponizing Judaism to kill Palestinians en masse

[thepomegranatewitch]

Today's inspiration yielded this wee bracha. Use it in good health.

Image description. A leafy green background with white lineart of ssuk repeated in the background. There are drawings of a shadowed almond blossom in top left, a gilded white California rose in top right, and a gilded tekhelet blue California rose on far left middle. Text os white serif with a black border. A heavier bordered larger text at top reads "a bracha for asking for and receiving help." Thinner bordered and slightly smaller text reads "blessed are You, Gd our god, Sovereign of Space Time, who invites us to help others fulfill the teachings of connection." Black text and logos at bottom give the handle @ the.pomegranate,witch for instagram, tumblr, and kofi, and Sahar Bareket for redbubble. Bottom right has the author's chop in red.

[weaversweek]

More from Lilith Fair

"Foolish games" - Jewel

Lilith Fair was organised by Sarah McLachlan, always featured Suzanne Vega, but Jewel was the star attraction.

America's most charted single of the year was a double A-side - charming song "You were meant for me" was turned for its sad flip "Foolish games". Jewel Kilcher had broken through with debut album Pieces of You, and was the biggest thing in American pop.

Lilith Fair wasn't without its criticism. Sarah Vowell, the acerbic cultural critic, made a very fair point.

Lilith Fair isn't a picture of solidarity so much as a picture of uniformity. McLachlan, the event's organizer, has chosen singer-songwriters in her own image: pretty, polite, folksy moderates with sensible hair and more melody than message.

Future editions were less white, less acoustic; future years would show rock and rap, and Latin and R&B.

"Naked eye" - Luscious Jackson

Jill, Gabby, Kate, and Vivian were on the fringes of fame over here: given quarter-hearted approval by the fashion police because they were American and influenced by hip-hop beats and were women. In the error of Britpop, that's at least four capital offences.

"Naked eye" is about being emotionally vulnerable, honest about what you're feeling. Always reminds me of a sunny day with my favourite person of the time, as banks of snow melt into puddles.

"Sleep to dream" - Fiona Apple

Twenty-seven years before Chappell Roan, Fiona Apple wore a suit of armour onto the New York subway. Photographer Joe McNally explains.

"Fiona had always been shot as a waif – tendrils of hair blowing (dressed in lingerie), out in some sort of lily field. She told me she wanted to chuck that scene and be a warrior woman in a suit of armor. I was like 'Cool, babe, works for me!' We did the whole Camelot thing in a daylight studio. A big deal with hair, makeup, styling, painted backdrop, falling rose petals, fake blood on the sword, catering, crew, managers, hangers-on. Everything. All the while her manager is heating up about how late it’s getting. I was like, 'You brought her late, okay?' Finally he explodes and says 'Gotta go now and the subway is the only way' (it was rush hour in New York and she had a gig in Jersey, 'Get on the subway in the armor?' And she said, 'Yeah, that sounds about right!' I shout for a camera, wide lens, hot shoe flash, green and magenta gels and a bunch of 100 speed 35 chrome. We bolt and slip her through the turnstiles–sword and all–unnoticed, Subway came right away and I started ripping film like crazy for 5 stops. On the train, New Yorkers, true to form avoided eye contact. The studio shot went away and the subway shot (flash on camera, 1/15 of a second at F4, a hand held mess of a photograph) ran as the lead. You never know."

from the book "The Moment it Clicks" by Joe McNally

Performance from Conan O'Brien's show.

Bonus interview

"Your new cuckoo" - The Cardigans

First Band on the Moon had yielded an unexpected hit when Lovefool was included on a film soundtrack. What are these Swedes doing in the top ten, do they think they're Ace of Base?

For their next hit, the group released something more typical of their sound, bouncy and energetic and with a nice minor key lilt. But they didn't really promote it, being on dates in Lilith Fair at the time, so only a minor hit.

Lilith Fair was well-documented at the time, but much of the history was recorded digitally. All those ones and zeroes have become halves, and the memories are in danger of being lost. Television coverage and interviews with the performers were made at the time.

Later, there have been oral histories from the fans and performers points of view.

"Closer to fine (live)" - Indigo Girls

We learn that Emily and Amy, the core of the Indigo Girls, were the glue to bind the tour together. Knock on dressing room doors, open windows, get to know their co-stars.

The energy came out on stage, with lots of the acts joining in for a mass singalong near the end of the night. Here, for instance, are Sarah McLachlan, Jewel, Meredith Brooks, and others.

[leahbasavraham]

how do we feel about my rough translation ?

[torais-life]

Shabbat Shalom ✨

With my cat Salomón who comes every morning to caress me when I want to start birkot hashajar and prayers 😁🇮🇱❤️ 🇦🇷😽

[sophieakatz]

Thursday Thoughts: Structure, Flexibility, and Torah

(I wrote this d’var for tomorrow’s Shabbat evening services. Turns out I won’t be leading services tomorrow after all - so I’m sharing it here instead!)

I love being a Jew. I see it as an active thing – BEING a Jew. Living a Jewish life, making Jewish choices, taking part in our rich, meaningful traditions and fulfilling the mitzvot of the Torah.

However, if I said that I was living a Jewish life in every possible way – making all Jewish choices, taking part in all our traditions, and fulfilling all mitzvot – that would be a lie.

Those of you who come to Shabbat services regularly on Friday nights know that you will nearly always find me here, now. However, if you also come on Saturday morning, then you know that you will almost never find me there, then. I bake challah, but I do not light Shabbat candles. I take time off from my day job on Jewish holidays when I can, but I’m not always able to. I eat kosher foods, but I do not have kosher dishes, since I share my kitchen with three people who do not keep kosher.

I do what I can. Sometimes, I feel like I’m not doing enough.

It’s easy to imagine that G-d might also think that I’m not doing enough. After all, there are 613 mitzvot in the Torah. If your boss gave you an employee handbook with 613 rules for employee conduct, then you would assume that this is a strict boss with a very structured work environment, someone who wants you to obey their instructions without fail or flexibility.

But this week’s parsha makes it clear that “obey without fail or flexibility” is not an entirely accurate description of G-d’s expectations for Jewish people.

This week we read Parshat Vayikra – the beginning of the book of Leviticus. Incidentally, Leviticus has 243 of the 613 mitzvot – more than any other book in the Torah.

(If you’re curious, second place goes to Deuteronomy at 203 mitzvot, Exodus comes in third at 109, Numbers is fourth at 56, and Genesis has only two.)

So, Leviticus is the Big Book of Rules, right? In Vayikra, the start of this book, there are a lot of rules about making offerings at the temple. These are sin offerings. A person would admit wrongdoing and atone for their sin by making the offering. In Leviticus chapter 5 verse 6, the Torah explains, “he shall bring his guilt offering to the Lord for his sin which he had committed, a female from the flock, either a sheep or a goat, for a sin offering.”

But it doesn’t end there. The next verse, verse 7, reads “But if he cannot afford a sheep, he shall bring as his guilt offering for that [sin] that he had committed, two turtle doves or two young doves before the Lord.”

And then if we jump ahead a couple verses, to verse 11, the Torah reads, “But if he cannot afford two turtle doves or two young doves, then he shall bring as his sacrifice for his sin one tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering.”

(An ephah is a unit of measurement here, and according to Google, it’s about the size of a bushel. So you would bring a tenth of a bushel of flour. I’m not sure exactly how big that is, but it doesn’t sound like much. Certainly it sounds less than a whole sheep.)

So – the commandment here, the mitzvah, is to make a sin offering. And through the Torah, G-d gives specific instructions about what to bring and what to do with it – you bring a sheep, and this is how you kill it. It’s a structure for atonement. But the Torah also provides exceptions or alternate options for this sin offering. If you can’t bring a sheep, bring two doves, and if you can’t bring two doves, bring some flour. The Torah provides structure, and it also provides different structures depending on your individual means.

In doing so, the Torah takes a behavior that could be very limited – something that only rich people could do, the people who could afford to give up an animal because they had plenty more to eat or breed – and turns it into something that anyone could do, within their means, in the way that works best for them. It’s flexible. It’s also encouraging in a way – having these different options for how to participate in the mitzvah makes the whole idea of making sin offerings feel more accessible for anyone.

And this ties in well with how I see and experience Judaism. It’s accessible for all of us. Yes, there’s structure. Judaism includes instructions for every part of our lives. And like I said before, it’s an active thing. I don’t think that you can really BE a Jew if you aren’t doing ANYTHING that’s Jewish.

But you don’t need to do EVERYTHING.

You don’t need to obey EVERY commandment in exactly the same way as everyone else in order to live a Jewish life, make Jewish choices, and participate in the Jewish community. G-d empowers all of us to show up when we can, and how we can, in the way that works best for us, to create a meaningful life as Jews. For me, tonight, that means standing up here in front of you, delivering this d’var. Last week, it meant sitting in the back row with my friends, and next week, it will mean traveling home to spend Passover with my family. And every week, every day, we get to make those Jewish choices, to create our Jewish life. Shabbat shalom.

[drabmakyo]

So much to remember, so much to process.

Fantastic interior illustration by Iris Jay!

Mitzvot is available for pre-order now as paperback and ebook! https://mitzvot.post-self.ink

[whatlieswithintheorchard]

at some point, performing mitzvot has to be about MORE than just fulfilling them

i’m not saying “find a reason for your observance” but for you to “find how you’ll do it, if at all”

[relentlesslygold]

“The miracle of Chanukah teaches us that every person, regardless of their status, can be a light in the world. The darkness of exile can be transformed into light, and each individual’s actions can illuminate the world, just as the small flask of oil caused the menorah to burn for eight days. In this, we see that even the smallest effort on our part can result in something miraculous.”

The Rebbe: Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson z”l

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Let’s light up our world with mitzvot & always look for G-d’s miracles

a hanukkiah bouquet . ݁₊᪥⋆. ݁

[torahapologetics]

Unveiling Jewish Diversity: Beyond the Talmud #talmud #torah #diversity #israel #shortvideo

PLEASE 🙏🥺 RE BLOG MY POSTS AND THANKS.

[torais-life]

Parashat Behar Bejukotay: Las Bendiciones de Dios. Rab. Natan Menashe en YouTube

[eightopals]

[ajpress]

Unveiling the Rich Tapestry of Judaism beliefs and practices

One of the oldest monotheistic religions in the world, Judaism, has a rich tapestry of doctrines and customs that have developed through thousands of years. Jewish Beliefs and Practices encompass a system of beliefs, practices, and rituals that have influenced Jewish people and communities throughout history. It is based on the covenant that God made with the Jewish people. In this investigation,…

[drabmakyo]

Mitzvot launch party

Come join me for the Mitzvot book launch this Saturday at 12PM Pacific on https://twitch.tv/ephahvix !

Will I be doing part of it in Beat Saber? You'd better believe it~

[bdkinz]

Audio - Lessons in Tanya 65

Continuing chapter 37. Today we see another layer of the debate regarding which is the greater thing, action or study. We explore how these are dueling values whose collective goals are revealing light in the world. Action reveals the light hidden in the physical while study connects to the Divine/Ein Sof light. We discuss how we determine priority of which comes first, settling on the notion…