I have a confession to make: I have math dyslexia. It’s never been diagnosed formally, but I have always had a sense of it. Sometimes, when I read math problems, the numbers mix up in my head. A clock that says 7:30PM looks like 3:70PM. Although I am the Executive Director of PunkTorah, I don’t [...]
In this week’s haftorah, some of the many (and I do mean many) specifications of the rights and responsibilities of the kohanim are iterated in painstaking detail from how they shall dress in the Temple, to whom they may marry (sorry, no divorcees), to personal care rituals like when and how much they must [...]
Today is the Jewish Holiday of Hoshana Rabba. Customarily, we beat five willow branches on the ground. Afterwards, we recite a prayer beseeching the Creator to sweeten all harsh judgements. This seems like a bizzare mystical ritual that begs for deeper explanation. During the past seven days, we took a date palm frond, a citron, [...]
We’ve started a fun, new Twitter account @JewishLaw. Every day (hopefully!) we will post a line of text or an insights from the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, an abbreviated compilation by Rabbi Solomon Ganzfried (translated by Hyman Goldin). Please follow us and get involved in the dialogue about Jewish law, spirituality and text! Do you want [...]
Help Write The OneShul Torah Commentary
PunkTorah will soon publish the OneShul Torah Commentary: an English translation of the five books of Moses with text commentary written by members of the PunkTorah/OneShul community! The book will be in print and ebook format. But we need you write it! Below is a link to our Google Document. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PCtd0a1I2c-eGxewZ4CS-Oej-SFaHdEqaiZ374obzsU/edit?hl=en_US All you do is follow the instructions at [...]