The Ohs And Ahs Of Torah Reading

In this encyclopedic text, completely revised and updated in this second edition, Joshua R. Jacobson presents the history of the ancient Jewish tradition of chanting the Bible and a comprehensive explanation of cantillation practice with its grammatical rules and regional variations. His unique step-by-step system of analysis shows how chanting dramatizes and interprets the meaning of the biblical text. Jacobson also provides complete notation for performing all six musical systems, an extensive guide to pronouncing biblical Hebrew, and pedagogical tips for cantillation teachers. Chanting the Hebrew Bible, Second Edition, will be invaluable to anyone interested in chanting, from beginners to advanced readers—from haftarah readers who want to chant from the Torah, to Bible students seeking greater insight into Masoretic texts, to Torah chanters who wish to fine-tune their skills, fill gaps in their knowledge, and understand the system they have known only intuitively until now. This second edition features a week-by-week guide to Torah, haftarah, and megillot readings for Shabbat and holidays; useful new examples and exercises; a new comprehensive general subject index; a new, easy-to-read, clear Hebrew font; and a link to a new website with audio recordings and video lessons. Chanting the Hebrew Bible will continue to be the definitive work on Torah chanting—the most authoritative guide and reference on the subject. For more information on Chanting the Hebrew Bible visit chantingthehebrewbible.com.

What is the relevance of the weekly Shabbat Torah reading to our every-day 'modern' lives? Using his own true life experiences, the author reveals how we can uncover the miracles that occur to each of us daily, if only we would understand the messages that the Torah readings bring to our lives. Many of these anecdotal stories can be used by rabbis, educators and laymen across the entire Jewish spectrum to highlight the relevance of the Torah to the modern experience.

The e-book edition does not include the audio CD that's included with the paperback edition. The most authoritative guide on cantillation. Joshua Jacobson?s masterpiece?the comprehensive 1000-page guide to cantillation?is now available in this e-book edition. It is an ideal instructional guide for adult and young-adult students of Torah, for b?nai mitzvah students, and for cantors, rabbis, and Jewish educators of all denominations. Like the original edition, it includes an explanation of the tradition and a description of the practice of chanting, with all its regional variations and grammatical rules. There is detailed instruction, with musical notation, on chanting of Torah, and shorter instructions for chanting the haftarah, the megillot, and readings for the High Holy Days. Joshua Jacobson, professor of music and conductor of the acclaimed Boston-based Zamir Chorale, has been Torah chanting since he was 10 years old. That life-long experience, combined with an unquenchable desire to reconnect the art of cantillation with the most convincing and accurate treatment of the ancient text possible, led him to create this indispensable teaching tool. Using Jacobson?s highly acclaimed approach, the ancient words come alive in a new, deeply emotional and most accurate way.

This volume consists of studies on the weekly Torah reading by members of the faculty of Bar-Ilan University. These studies reflect Bar-Ilan University scholarship at its best a unique combination of Torah scholarship and knowledge of traditional Jewish sources with excellence in the sciences and humanities. The studies in this volume present novel insights into the weekly Torah readings in light of diverse academic disciplines, synthesizing the sacred with the secular and the spiritual with the scientific.

Every week in synagogues around the world Jews read a portion from the Torah, the Five Books of Moses, the whole being completed in the course of a year. The reading is usually accompanied by a commentary, a derasha, by the rabbi or a member of the congregation, often drawing on traditional interpretations, but usually finding some point of contact with the realities of today's world. Some passages, especially narratives, lend themselves to immediate associations; others, obscure laws of sacrifice or lists of stages on a journey through the wilderness, represent real challenges to the commentator. Yet others are so familiar to the congregation that the problem is to find something new to say each year! This book arose out of a different kind of 'pulpit', an occasional slot on a weekly radio programme on Friday evenings called 'Shabbat Shalom'. Though ostensibly for a Jewish audience, it reached a far wider public, so the pieces in the book provide enough information to explain the Jewish background at the same time as offering an exploration of the ideas within the text to a broad range of listeners.