Meanings & Uses of Ruach
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Orthodoxy in American Jewish Life1
ORTHODOXY IN AMERICAN JEWISH LIFE1 by CHARLES S. LIEBMAN INTRODUCTION • DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF ORTHODOXY • EARLY ORTHODOX COMMUNITY • UNCOMMITTED ORTHODOX • COM- MITTED ORTHODOX • MODERN ORTHODOX • SECTARIANS • LEAD- ERSHIP • DIRECTIONS AND TENDENCIES • APPENDLX: YESHIVOT PROVIDING INTENSIVE TALMUDIC STUDY A HIS ESSAY is an effort to describe the communal aspects and institutional forms of Orthodox Judaism in the United States. For the most part, it ignores the doctrines, faith, and practices of Orthodox Jews, and barely touches upon synagogue hie, which is the most meaningful expression of American Orthodoxy. It is hoped that the reader will find here some appreciation of the vitality of American Orthodoxy. Earlier predictions of the demise of 11 am indebted to many people who assisted me in making this essay possible. More than 40, active in a variety of Orthodox organizations, gave freely of their time for extended discussions and interviews and many lay leaders and rabbis throughout the United States responded to a mail questionnaire. A number of people read a draft of this paper. I would be remiss if I did not mention a few by name, at the same time exonerating them of any responsibility for errors of fact or for my own judgments and interpretations. The section on modern Orthodoxy was read by Rabbi Emanuel Rackman. The sections beginning with the sectarian Orthodox to the conclusion of the paper were read by Rabbi Nathan Bulman. Criticism and comments on the entire paper were forthcoming from Rabbi Aaron Lichtenstein, Dr. Marshall Ski are, and Victor Geller, without whose assistance the section on the number of Orthodox Jews could not have been written. -
Rosh Hashanah Ubhct Ubfkn
vbav atrk vkp, Rosh HaShanah ubhct ubfkn /UbkIe g©n§J 'UbFk©n Ubhc¨t Avinu Malkeinu, hear our voice. /W¤Ng k¥t¨r§G°h i¤r¤eo¥r¨v 'UbFk©n Ubhc¨t Avinu Malkeinu, give strength to your people Israel. /ohcIy ohH° jr© px¥CUb c,§ F 'UbFknUbh© ct¨ Avinu Malkeinu, inscribe us for blessing in the Book of Life. /vcIy v²b¨J Ubhkg J¥S©j 'UbFk©n Ubhc¨t Avinu Malkeinu, let the new year be a good year for us. 1 In the seventh month, hghc§J©v J¤s«jC on the first day of the month, J¤s«jk s¨j¤tC there shall be a sacred assembly, iIº,C©J ofk v®h§v°h a cessation from work, vgUr§T iIrf°z a day of commemoration /J¤s«et¨r§e¦n proclaimed by the sound v¨s«cg ,ftk§nkF of the Shofar. /U·Gg©, tO Lev. 23:24-25 Ub¨J§S¦e r¤J£t 'ok«ug¨v Qk¤n Ubh¥vO¡t '²h±h v¨T©t QUrC /c«uy o«uh (lWez¨AW) k¤J r¯b ehk§s©vk Ub²um±uuh¨,«um¦nC Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu l’hadlik ner shel (Shabbat v’shel) Yom Tov. We praise You, Eternal God, Sovereign of the universe, who hallows us with mitzvot and commands us to kindle the lights of (Shabbat and) Yom Tov. 'ok«ug¨v Qk¤n Ubh¥vO¡t '²h±h v¨T©t QUrC /v®Z©v i©n±Zk Ubgh°D¦v±u Ub¨n±H¦e±u Ub²h¡j¤v¤J Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, shehecheyanu v’kiy’manu v’higiyanu, lazman hazeh. -
Ruach Shabbat Saturday, July
Tammuz-Av 5778, July 2018 Table of Contents Pg 1 Ruach Shabbat Service Ruach Shabbat Pg 2 Shabbat Service Schedule, Office Hours, New BOD listing Saturday, July 7th Pg 3 Rabbi’s Column Pg 4 Sisterhood Do you like musical Pg 5 Birthdays, Anniversaries, festivals? Welcome New Members, and Refuah Shlemah Do you love to sing Pg 6 Book Club along to your favorite Pg 7 Advertisement artists or songs? Pg 8 Rabbi’s Classes, Peek at Next Come out to our morning Month, Todah Rabah Ruach Shabbat and Pg 9 Yahrzeits bring your vocals with you! Pgs 10-11 Tributes Everyone is invited to join Pg 12 Oneg & Kiddush Info., Miller Intro. to Judaism, in with some Torah School Fundraiser of our special guests Pg 13 Condolences as we sing along! Bring the whole family for some fun. Service @ 10:30am Festive Kiddush to follow! All are welcome! 1 Clergy & Board Friday Evening Shabbat and Shabbat Morning Services Information Evening services begin at 7:45pm unless noted. -Rabbi David Cantor -Hazzan Judy Sofer, Cantor Oneg follows in the Social Hall. NEW Board of Directors, July 6, Service led by Rabbi David Cantor. 2018-2020 July 13, Service led by Rabbi David Cantor and Hazzan Judy Sofer. President Jeremy Glatstein July 20, Service led by Rabbi David Cantor . Past Presidents July 27, Shabbat Under the Stars Dinner, 6:30pm and Service, 7:45pm led by Rabbi David Cantor and Hazzan Judy Sofer. Betty Ann Downing Ed Morris Executive VP Shabbat morning services begin at 10am unless noted. Vacant Kiddush follows in the Social Hall. -
In the Beginning the Ruach Elohim Hovered Over the Watersi D En El Principio El Espíritu De Di-S, Se Movía Sobre Las Aguas
Kol Simcha October 13, 2007 Gainesville, Florida Shabbat Teaching In the Beginning the Ruach Elohim Hovered Over the Watersi D En el principio el espíritu de Di-s, se movía sobre las aguas. Pero ahora, se está moviendo dentro de mi cora- zón. E In English, “In the beginning the Spirit of the L-rd was moving over the waters. But now the Spirit’s mov- ing, He is moving in my heart…”) 2The earth was unformed and void, darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Ruach Elohim hovered over the surface of the water… 3Then Elohim said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. 4Elohim saw that the light was good, and Elohim divided the light from the darkness. 5Elohim called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. So there was evening, and there was morning, the first day. (Gen 1:3-5) In the beginning, we are told, the Ruach Elohim, hovered over the waters (the waters of creation) but it did not land anywhere⎯the earth was unformed and void. Evidently, the first step in the new creation was being immersed in water. Similarly we humans, after conception, are immersed in the waters of our mother’s womb. Creation needed an immersion, that is, a mikvah. The very next thing created is light (Or, Hebrew), and “the light was good.” The light is then divided (separated) from the darkness as one on the very first acts of creation on the very first day of creation. We also needed a mikvah to separate the light of Messiah in our hearts from the former darkness of our lives before we came to Messiah. -
Ruach Hakodesh and the State of Israel the Judaism Site
Torah.org Ruach Hakodesh and the State of Israel The Judaism Site https://torah.org/torah-portion/perceptions-5774-emor/ RUACH HAKODESH AND THE STATE OF ISRAEL by Rabbi Pinchas Winston God told Moshe," Speak to the Children of Israel and tell them that when you come into the land . (Vayikra 23:9-10) Everything is Hashgochah Pratis, Divine Providence. As the Talmud states, a person doesn't even stub his finger unless it is decreed first in Heaven (Chullin 7b), and even a blade of grass doesn't grow without an angel, or "mazal," on behalf of God, telling it to grow (Bereishis Rabba 10:6). The only question, therefore, is not if something is the will of God . A mazal has been established for each person regarding his life and sustenance, from the time he was born until the end of his life. Each person's is different from another [person's]. All of it is based upon God's hidden guidance, a function of the "Mysteries of the Merciful One" which are not revealed to any living being. It is the basis of why good or bad can occur for a righteous person, which Moshe Rabbeinu asked to understand when he said, "Make Your way known to me" (Shemos 33:13). According Rebi Meir, his request was not fulfilled, since God answered him, "I will be gracious to whom I will show favor, and I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful" (Brochos 7a). (Sefer HaKlallim, Hakdamah, Os 13.) . but what that will is based upon how it has been expressed in what has occurred. -
Interpreting Diagrams from the Sefer Yetsirah and Its Commentaries 1
NOTES 1 Word and Image in Medieval Kabbalah: Interpreting Diagrams from the Sefer Yetsirah and Its Commentaries 1. The most notorious example of these practices is the popularizing work of Aryeh Kaplan. His critical editions of the SY and the Sefer ha Bahir are some of the most widely read in the field because they provide the texts in Hebrew and English with comprehensive and useful appendices. However, these works are deeply problematic because they dehistoricize the tradi- tion by adding later diagrams to earlier works. For example, in his edition of the SY he appends eighteenth-century diagrams to later versions of this tenth-century text. Popularizers of kabbalah such as Michael Berg of the Kabbalah Centre treat the Zohar as a second-century rabbinic tract without acknowledging textual evidence to the contrary. See his introduction to the Centre’s translation of the Zohar: P. S. Berg. The Essential Zohar. New York: Random House, 2002. 2. For a variety of reasons, kabbalistic works were transmitted in manuscript form long after other works, such as the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, and their commentaries were widely available in print. This is true in large part because kabbalistic treatises were “private” works, transmitted from teacher to student. Kabbalistic manuscripts were also traditionally transmitted in manuscript form because of their provenance. The Maghreb and other parts of North Africa were important centers of later mystical activity, and print technology came quite late to these regions, with manuscript culture persisting well into the nineteenth, and even into the mid- twentieth century in some regions. -
1309-606-Idea of a Soul in Judiasm.Pdf
The Idea of the Soul in Judaism, part 1 September 17, 2013 The Idea of the Soul in Judaism Part 1: Introduction and the Bible Michael Leavitt [email protected] September-October 2013 OLLI Loudoun Campus Course Agenda Purposes – Present an historical survey of the idea of the soul in Jewish thinking – Provide background for studying anything Jewish – Suggest ways of thinking about our own spirituality Topics: the Jewish soul in . – The Bible – Greek philosophy, the Apocrypha and the Talmud – Medieval philosophy – Kabbalah & The Zohar – Lurianic Kabbalah & Hasidism – Contemporary ideas September 17, 2013 The Idea of the Soul in Judaism, part 1 2 Who am I? Retired US civil servant Second career in adult Jewish education Graduate (MA) in Jewish history and philosophy at Baltimore Hebrew University Lecture & teach about Jewish (and other) topics in the neighborhood Edited a book on Jewish mysticism: Kabbalah and the Art of Being by Shimon Shokek Came to this later in life and will be learning it as long as I’m able September 17, 2013 The Idea of the Soul in Judaism, part 1 3 © 2004, 2007, 2013 Michael R. Leavitt 1 The Idea of the Soul in Judaism, part 1 September 17, 2013 General Approach Lectures – Slides, handouts, etc. – Multiple forms of information because people absorb in different ways – “Academic” approach to naming, dating, etc. – Reference to the bibliography (in handouts) Discussion – Questions for clarification are always welcome – Other discussion might be postponed until end of session September 17, 2013 The Idea of the Soul in Judaism, part 1 4 Why Study the Soul? Important Jewish idea since Biblical times Integral part of all western religious ethical systems Suggests approaches to human psychology Essential component of Jewish mysticism May eventually provide clues with regard to the ultimate mysteries . -
The Eastern Heart and Galen's Ventricle: a Historical Review of The
Neurosurg Focus 23 (1):E3, 2007 The Eastern heart and Galen’s ventricle: a historical review of the purpose of the brain MIRZA N. BAIG, M.D., PH.D.,1 FAHEEM CHISHTY, M.ED.,2 PHILLIP IMMESOETE, M.D.,1 AND CHRIS S. KARAS, M.D.1 1Department of Neurological Surgery, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio; and 2University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland PThe seat of consciousness has not always been thought to reside in the brain. Its “source” is as varied as the cultures of those who have sought it. At present, although most may agree that the central nervous sys- tem is held to be the root of individualism in much of Western philosophy, this has not always been the case, and this viewpoint is certainly not unanimously accepted across all cultures today. In this paper the authors undertook a literary review of ancient texts of both Eastern and Western soci- eties as well as modern writings on the organic counterpart to the soul. The authors have studied both ancient Greek and Roman material as well as Islamic and Eastern philosophy. Several specific aspects of the human body have often been proposed as the seat of consciousness, not only in medical texts, but also within historical documents, poetry, legal proceedings, and religious litera- ture. Among the most prominently proposed have been the heart and breath, favoring a cardiopulmonary seat of individualism. This understanding was by no means stagnant, but evolved over time, as did the role of the brain in the definition of what it means to be human. -
Pneuma – Sexuality – Sex Difference: from Arabic to European Philosophy and Medical Practice
Pneuma – Sexuality – Sex Difference: From Arabic to European Philosophy and Medical Practice Jennifer Wynne Hellwarth Abstract: The theory of pneuma (life force, vital heat), marked largely by Galen’s notion that there were two kinds, pneuma zotikon (life principle, vital spirit) and pneuma psychikon (or spiritus animalis, the mind, or psychic spirit), came to be translated into Arabic start- ing in the ninth century. Many Arabic texts included the addition of an earlier, Greek formulation of a third kind of pneuma, which is called “natural” (spiritus naturalis). The tripartite division between spirits and their functions, which also corresponded to the tripartite division of the soul as articulated in Plato and Aristotle’s works, was largely ac- cepted in the Middle Ages as being crucial to physical and mental function and quality of life – the primary moving cause. This essay seeks to contextualize and historicize the theory of pneuma and how the theory of “vital spirits” was shaped and transmitted from Greek to Arabic, and then into European philosophy and practices. This essay defines the concept of pneuma and its relationship to the soul, sexual desire, sexuality, sex differ- ence, and sperm production. Further, it traces some of these principles to medieval liter- ary examples. Though the term Lebenskraft, describing the physical, chemical, and mechan- ical forces of organic matter, appears to have been first introduced into medicine (and then into colloquial speech) in about 1774, I would like to suggest that the history of this -
PAUL's THEOLOGY Lesson 41 Paul's Anthropological Terms – Spirit
PAUL’S THEOLOGY Lesson 41 Paul’s Anthropological Terms – Spirit Recently, we had a discussion about how cartoons have changed over the years. Some changes have been, in my humble opinion, for the worse. With all due respect, neither “Rolie Polie Olie” nor “Dora the Explorer” hold a candle to the original Bugs Bunny or Yosemite Sam cartoons. Some changes, however, have been for the better. “Phineas and Ferb,” while not the greatest cartoon ever, is excellent, and it certainly beats some of the early cartoons of my generation. One particularly bad early cartoon was called, “Casper the Friendly Ghost.” Ugh. It was a cartoon about a friendly ghost who consistently scared people, even though he was always trying to be friendly, with not a bad bone in his body (joke intended.) In 1995, a feature film was made named Casper that built off the legacy of the cartoon. The film explained that a boy named Casper had stayed out in the snow too long sledding and died of pneumonia. After death, Casper became the ghost on whom the movie (and by extension, the television cartoon) was based. Casper, and other similar ideas of “ghosts” give us a bit of a distorted meaning of a word that has an interesting history. “Ghost” comes from the Germanic aspect of the English language. In Old English (Anglo Saxon), the word used was gast just slightly removed from the cousin language of Old German which had geist. (The German word is still in use and residually found in English words like “poltergeist.”) In the Old English, the word gast (ghost) carried the meaning of “breath” as well as the soul or spirit of a person that was the source of life. -
Intimacy and Immediacy in the Odes of Solomon
chapter 6 Pneuma-Christology as Applied Christology: Intimacy and Immediacy in the Odes of Solomon Henk A. Bakker 1 Introduction Ever since the commencement of the new quest for the historical Jesus (1953) the phenomenon of pneuma-Christology or Spirit-Christology has been persis- tently debated.1 The wording may be different, but the idea of Jesus incarnated or generated or even adopted by (or as) the Spirit has extensively been explored throughout the last decades by a variety of scholars, such as Myk Habets, David Coffey, Ralph Del Colle, Clark Pinnock, Michael Welker, and Roger Haight. As for the Netherlands, in particular the names of Hendrikus Berkhof, Edward Schillebeeckx, Harry Kuitert, Gerrit van de Kamp, Piet Schoonenberg, Cees den Heijer, Gijs Dingemans, and Kees van der Kooi deservedly receive attention.2 This article contributes to the discussion on pneuma-Christology, espe- cially concerning its early Judeo-Christian identity, by focusing on the Odes of Solomon. More than in other Judeo-Christian sources, in these Odes the Spirit serves the cause of the proximity of God to human beings as exempli- fied in God’s proximity to the logos incarnate. In this way, pneuma-Christology, as a Christological domain of its own, evolves into ‘applied Christology,’ re- enacting the life of Christ in the church. So far, pneuma-Christology and ap- plied Christology have not yet been explored as a bipolar engagement. As to pneuma-Christology, the consensus at this moment—if we may speak of a consensus—is that in the New Testament as well as in other early Christian sources the coming of the Word (logos) and the coming of the Spirit (pneu- ma) serve complementary interests. -
Succession in Contemporary Hasidism
1 Succession in Contemporary Hasidism Who Will Lead Us? ZADDIKIM OR REBBES When the modern Hasidic movement fi rst emerged in the late eight- eenth century, it was led mostly by charismatic men, commonly called zaddikim (loosely translated as the saintly or pious), who were them- selves the successors of ba’aley shem (wonder masters of the name of God or healers) and their counterparts, the maggidim (itinerant preach- ers).1 While the ba’aley shem were said to possess the mystical knowl- edge of Kabbalah that enabled them to invoke and in shaman-like fash- ion manipulate powerful, esoteric names of God in order to heal people, do battle with their demons, or liberate the human soul to unify itself with God, powers they used on behalf of those who believed in them, and while the maggidim were powerful preachers and magnetic orators who told tales and off ered parables or sermons that inspired their listen- ers, zaddikim had a combination of these qualities and more. With ba’aley shem they shared a knowledge of how to apply Kabbalah to the practical needs of their followers and to perform “miracles,” using their mystical powers ultimately to help their Hasidim (as these followers became known), and from the maggidim they took the power to inspire and attract with stories and teaching while inserting into these what their devotees took to be personal messages tailored just to them. With both, they shared the authority of charisma. Charisma, Max Weber explained, should be “applied to a certain quality of an individual personality by virtue of which he is set apart 1 HHeilmaneilman - WWhoho WillWill LeadLead Us.inddUs.indd 1 223/03/173/03/17 22:32:32 PPMM 2 | Succession in Contemporary Hasidism from ordinary men and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhu- man, or at least specifi cally exceptional powers or qualities.” 2 Whether the supernatural was an essential aspect of early Hasidism has been debated, but what is almost universally accepted is the idea that the men who became its leaders were viewed by their followers as extraordinary and exceptional.