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The Book of Haggai

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Background of Haggai Time: 520BCE (Persian Period) Place: Yehud Kings:  None. Ruled by High Priest + Governor   Political Backdrop: ·        We’re back from exile! Step 1: Assyrians are the Big Bad: Northern Kingdom falls (722BCE) Step 2: Babylonians take over as the Big Bad: Southern Kingdom goes into exile (586BCE)             Exile period… 539BCE: Neo-Babylonian Empire falls to Cyrus the Great (Perisan Empire) Step 3: The Persian Empire sends us home! (538BCE) Primary Themes of Haggai: ·        The necessity to rebuild the Temple! ·        ‘On that day’ no longer refers to returning from exile   ·        Haggai speaks to the leadership – more like the historical prophets than the literary prophets! Structure of Haggai Content Verses Section 1: Accusation! Chapter 1 Superscript – so many details! 1:1 Why haven’t you built the House? 1:2-11 T
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Carrying the Blowtorch (Kashering for Passover)

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It is a running joke with my Hebrew students that I am not good at translating Hebrew into understandable English on the first attempt. The Hebrew is fine, I like to claim; it’s the English I’m having difficulty with. This is how I find myself explaining to Omar, the head of the industrial kitchens at the American Jewish University: “The way that it swallows it is the way that it throws it back up.” Omar looks at me blankly. He’s holding a blowtorch in one hand, and has just asked me the very innocent question of whether he can use the blowtorch to kasher everything in the kitchen in preparation for Passover. Omar is very excited about the blowtorch. “I’m going to try that again,” I say, peering over at my cauldron of nearly-boiling water. It’s taking forever to heat up, but I’m not; between the steaming water on the stovetop, the ovens being turned up to full capacity, and Omar’s blowtorch occasionally firing, the industrial kitchens at the American Jewish University are sweltering. I
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Tazria: Staying Outside the Temple Gates

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  Staying Outside the Temple Gates This week, I have spent time with two women whose thoughts and ideas are permeating my experience of our Torah portion. The first, Kerry, has been my best friend since before we can remember. Kerry is now Doctor Kerry, and her field of medicine is paediatrics. She spends her days (and often nights) in the NICU - the neonatal (or newborn) intensive care unit. Kerry’s babies are often just a couple of pounds, dwarfed in comparison to full-term newborns, and facing the fight for their lives. The second of these women is Rabbi Debbie Young-Somers, my guest in the Salon last week. Rabbi Debbie joined us to talk about the Wellspring Project, the building of a centre of wellbeing with mikveh - waters for ritual immersion - at its heart. Mikveh is not commonly used outside of the orthodox world anymore, with the exception of conversion to Judaism. The reasons for this are varied, but are mostly related to two things: off-putting experiences in orthodox mikva’
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