Introducing the Graceful Living Deck The Graceful Living deck is a deck of cards that doubles as a tool for spiritual life, designed by Steve Silbert and featuring teachings distilled from Rabbi Mike Moskowitz’s Graceful Masculinity, a volume of Torah essays that draws on a wide range of classical Jewish teachings in service of creating […]
Many liberal Jews ignore Tisha b’Av, or don’t know it’s there. For many of those whom we serve, Tisha b’Av is either a non-event or a great time to be on vacation. Who wants to sit on the floor and bewail the fall of one Temple 2000 years ago, and another centuries before? Most of […]
The Torah was never given to an individual, but rather to a nation. For far too long, many communities have forced those who come out – to get out, and as a result, we, and the Torah we study, are deficient. Our rabbis teach that if we want to properly accept the Torah on Shavuot, […]
G-d’s creation of the world was thoughtfully intentional. On Friday evenings, as we welcome Shabbat we sing: מֵראש מִקֶּדֶם נְסוּכָה. סוף מַעֲשה בְּמַחֲשבָה תְּחִלָּה. Shabbat was anointed from the outset. Last to be created, Shabbat was first in G-d’s mind. G-d’s meticulous design of all of creation challenges us to be deliberate and careful in […]
My son and I often say, “We live in a society.” For us it’s shorthand, a reminder about community. We need to be mindful of people’s needs, because we live in a society. If a kid is being bullied, stand up for them, because we live in a society. If a neighbor needs help carrying […]
Those of us observing the ritual of Sefirat HaOmer, the counting of days and weeks leading up to the holiday of Shavuot, are finishing the third week, which is associated with tiferet—beauty, balance, and harmony. According to Rabbi Min Kantrowitz, “tiferet is like a lens that magnifies the beauty in all things…the week of tiferet […]
Arts and crafts was always my favorite activity as a kid, and now, as an adult, my inner crafter is emerging in various ways. This is the first of a series of blog posts on using my untrained inner creativity to generate ritual items and to increase spiritual focus. If I can do it, you […]
Why don’t the boards of most major Jewish organizations have youth advisory councils (as many municipalities and even the federal government have), especially if a major challenge facing such communal organizations is a decline in youth involvement? How do we combat antisemitism without letting Jewish identity be defined by it? How can diving into Jewish […]
Mazal tov to Bayit builders Dr. Shari Berkowitz and Steve Silbert, author and illustrator of Color the Omer, for this feature in Bookishly Jewish! Here’s how the interview begins: Evalyn: Coloring the Omer is a great way to bring the mitzvah of counting the Omer into more Jewish homes. When did you first think of the […]
New from Bayit’s Liturgical Arts Working Group comes this offering for the Omer 5782, available both as a printable PDF and as google slides suitable for screensharing. Here you’ll find one new prayer-poem for each week of the Omer journey, as well as a new prayer before counting, and a collaborative piece that integrates the journey […]