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This is a sermon I gave a few years ago. On Joy and Yom Kippur Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg Every year, a minyan I know in Jerusalem begins their Yom Kippur services at 6:30 in the morning, because they need time to Sing. Every. Word. It’s a lay-led congregation known for...

This was a sermon I gave recently. UNE TANE TOKEF AND COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY By Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg Recently, a prominent Israeli rabbi was quoted as saying, "Is it a wonder that soldiers who don't observe the Torah, don't pray every day and don't put on tefilin...

R. Hillel Chayim Yisraeli, part of my extended Jerusalem chevre, has decided to teach the internet how to blow a shofar. Now you can learn, too. Shana tovah u'metukah! A sweet and wonderful New Year!

I'm still here, just buried under a gigantic pile of High Holy Day prep stuff. If I'm not going over liturgy or working on divrei Torah (sermons), these days, I'm usually in class or meeting with my rabbinic partner in the High Hoy Day services we're doing together....

Well, the first day of school was yesterday. Granted, we didn't have regular classes--there was a Yom Iyyun (study day on a particular topic), but I also had a class last night, so I feel officially indoctrinated into my last year of rab school. I'll feel even more so...

Being away was lovely. We got up to the Central Coast for a few days of just good, old-fashioned relaxing. Some highlights: The fabulous health food store/cafe that turned out to have the only all-vegetarian menu in the area--after the yummy lunch Thursday, we had to...

I have now successfully taken and passed the infamous Daf exam. It actually wasn't so bad, being quizzed on random sections of 50 dappim and having to hold forth on them. I felt good during the test (it was an oral test, with 3 members of faculty grilling me) and I...

Original site.

Well, new to me, anyway. My friend and teacher Rabbi Alan Abrams is a hospital chaplain who is now in the process of learning how to train other hospital chaplains. Turns out he's been blogging (nobody ever tells me anything!) for a while. You can read his thoughtful...