MC Matt Bar
S-Blog: What do I know?
BY: MATT BAR
Editor of Sh’ma, Susan Berrin, introduces this month’s theme with “What happens when we treat our positions — our versions of reality — as ‘truth.’” What I believe I know and don’t know and how does that inform my Jewish identity? Yeah, it gets deep. I thought I’d make a list [...]
S Blog: Who Is Rich? The Bible Rapper and Ben Zoma Weigh In.
BY: MATT BAR
“I was recently in a store where I saw a beautiful print of a teaching from Ben Zoma, one of the sages of the Mishnah. It read, “Who is a rich man? He who is satisfied with his lot.” So begins Brent Chaim Spoder’s article ‘Who Is Rich,’ using Ben Zoma’s adage concerning [...]
Sh’ma Blog: Jews and African Americans: Inside the Voting Booth. A discussion with Black poet, Jaron Varner.
BY: MATT BAR
I find myself asked to defend my song, “I’m Not White, I’m Jewish” just about as often as you might suppose. Maybe more. I understand the critique. I feel it. I certainly have been given all the privileges a beige face is granted in this country. Jews pass as white, [...]
Sh’ma Blog: Torah Mi Sinai – A Mystical Proof
BY: MATT BAR
The December issue of Sh’ma explores a multitude of reflections on personal journeys that lead some toward their Judaism, others, away from it. As usual, the Ultra-Reform Midwestern Jew (Myself) related most to the former Ultra-Orthodox Hasid from Brooklyn.
“Over the next decade or so, as my attachment [...]
Sh’ma Blog: A Tale of One City – With Two Songs.
BY: MATT BAR
It is said you can’t truly understand a subject until you can teach it. Consequently, I have always had difficulty teaching my students about Israel as there are so many layers to this country and its people. It’s a tight knot. I highly encourage you to closely examine this month’s [...]
Sh’ma Blog: “The Communal Tzadik is the Rapper, the Kooky Visionary is the DJ.” Matt Bar On Daniels S. Nevins “Rebranding Tzedakah: From Charity to Sacred Spending.”.”
BY: MC MATT BAR
There were many things that resonated for me in Nevins’ Sh’ma article “Rebranding Tzedakah: From Charity to Sacred Spending.” In what was an otherwise beautifully orchestrated piece, I couldn’t’ help but cringe at a solitary note of discord in a distinction he makes between two types of philanthropists in the Jewish world. [...]
Sh’ma Blog: The Binding of Isaac
BY: MATT BAR
View the Guide to the Lyrics
The Talmud teaches a principle by R. Ishmael which is repeated eighteen times in the course of its Tractates: “The Torah speaks the language of men’. This begs the question: how does text talk?
Midrash is the circulation of the Oral Tradition within a [...]
