Sonoma County, CA * (415) 779-4914 * Irwin@irwinkeller.com
Eric Edelstein of Yiddishlives.com twisted my arm to do an omnibus life story interview - af Yiddish!
My grammar disserves my Grandma. But it was an honor to do this. We discuss Yiddish, the Kinsey Sicks, my rabbi work, my family, Israel, the Old Country and more.
Something new and beautiful from Ner Shalom. Lorenzo Valensi's new setting of Kol Haneshamah - the final verse of the book of Psalms.
כל הנשמה תהלל יה הללויה
Kol haneshamah tehalel Yah. Haleluyah.
Let every living thing praise Yah. Hallelujah.
A new joyous setting of the closing line of Psalm 150: Kol haneshamah tehalel Yah, Hallelujah -- let every living thing praise Yah, Hallelujah. Music by Lorenzo Valensi. Sung by Reb Irwin Keller. Music (c) 2010 Lorenzo Valensi
It's a fast recording we threw down on Garageband, and a fast video from iMovie. But rough production values aside, I think it's a thing of beauty. Enjoy.
The rabbis sit uncomfortably with who Joseph is. They make special mention in Midrash of his curling his hair and painting his eyes in the Egyptian style. To an Egyptian this would be innocuous, but to the rabbis it certainly had a whiff of gender transgression to it. Maybe gender was the readiest hook upon which to hang their overall anxiety with who Joseph was.
Read moreThis is an odd side story in Torah. The plot doesn't require Joseph to go astray. But there's something here that adds both suspense and a sense of destiny. But for running into the stranger, the day would have unfolded differently, and so might our history.
Read moreMy uncle, always easily identifiable as Jewish, sometimes picked on for it, always proud of it, was not an observant man. I don't know if he ever said the shema outside of a synagogue. Or inside one for that matter. So instead of offering an explicitly religious practice, I simply asked him, "Do you think it might be time to let go of these grudges, Uncle Marv? Maybe you can forgive these people. Maybe they were only doing their best." His response, though startling, had the honesty of someone without much time left. "No," he replied, "never."
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