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Hande Gençünal

Sep 27, 2026, 11:04 PM

The Name Written in the Body

In a podcast I watched recently, the following words distilled one of the most profound themes of Kabbalah into a few sentences. "The human body is a representation of God's name. The essential name of God is Yud and Hei...

Hande Gençünal

Sep 26, 2026, 10:07 PM

A House With One Side Always Left Open on Sukkot

Where I live, unfortunately, building a sukkah simply isn't possible. But I came to understand, later than I would have liked, that this impossibility doesn't mean I can never step beneath that fragile roof, because certain houses can be...

Sep 24, 2026, 7:10 PM

Book Review – New Year, Lots of New Books on the Parsha

Daf Yomi, like the weekly Torah reading, creates a shared Jewish intellectual calendar. On any given Shabbat, an Orthodox Jew anywhere in the world is likely to be hearing the same Torah portion as Jews in Jerusalem, London, Teaneck,...

Sep 20, 2026, 5:07 PM

Kapparot Where Everyone Stays Alive — Including the Chicken

Teshuvah, Tzedakah, and the Moral Evolution of a Jewish Tradition After Shabbat ended, following Havdalah, I was told that I could perform kapparot in one of two places: on Avenue J near East 29th Street, or on President Street in...

Sep 18, 2026, 8:32 PM

The Problem Isn’t Playing Ball on Shabbat

In a recent article, an author shared how children can “upgrade their kdeushas Shabbos” by not playing ball or riding on scooters. In other words, they can improve the way they sanctify Shabbat by refraining from these activities. He...

Sep 17, 2026, 8:01 PM

Book Review – I Read This Over Shabbos: Reading Jewish History in the Parasha

Pirkei Avot 1:6 advises, “Acquire for yourself a friend.” In I Read This Over Shabbos: Reading Jewish History in the Parasha (Koren Publishers), Rabbi Dr. David Bashevkin shows that he has certainly taken that advice to heart. Throughout the book,...

Bruce D. Forman

Sep 16, 2026, 11:46 AM

Ed Sheeran, Bill Maher, and the People Who Know Everything Except the History

Of all the people I expected to find myself quoting during the Days of Awe, Ed Sheeran and Bill Maher were nowhere on the list. Yet here we are. According to the BBC report, the remaining opening acts on Ed...

Sep 14, 2026, 7:30 PM

From Jerusalem to Jericho, Did Gold Classify Water Quality in the Copper Scroll?

From “Waters of Gold” to a Water Registry: The Linguistic Sources of the Copper Scroll The use of “gold” as a metaphor for exceptional quality, purity, and supreme value is familiar in modern Hebrew expressions such as “the golden age,”...

Hande Gençünal

Sep 13, 2026, 9:27 PM

Hidden in Forty-Two Letters, on Ana BeKoach

Every time we usher in Shabbat, right after the six psalms, we say the same seven lines, Ana BeKoach. To say these words without knowing what they carry is to open a door with no lock on it at...

Sep 11, 2026, 2:32 PM

Can an AI do Teshuvah?

Marish hagazul — the stolen beam of Gittin 55a.

The season asks us to turn. This week some of the people building superintelligence admitted they don't know how to make their machines turn either. Elul is ending. In a few days we will stand in front of the open...

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