Halleluyah Psalm 146 This psalm is a song of hope and encouragement for the oppressed. The Psalmist in verse 2 shows us that the Creator endows every person with two gifts. Psalm 146:2"I will Praise Hashem while I live, I will make music to my God while I exist." First, He gives life, the basic …
Ashrei - Praiseworthy Psalm 145 Many of my readers know that I spent 6 + years studying and preparing for Orthodox Jewish Conversion. During that time, this particular psalm became my favorite for many reasons. It is the inspiration of the ‘Blessing before meals’ that I recite in thanking the Creator for His provision of …
A Psalm of Thanksgiving Psalm 100 The introduction to this psalm in the Artscroll Tanach Series Tehillim/Psalms, gives us interesting history and background information. “This psalm was sung in the Temple during the service of the Thanksgiving offering, an offering that one would bring in thanksgiving after having survived great danger.” It is suggested that …
As we begin our journey into the body of the Verses of Praise and Pruning. One or all of these passages can be recited to help aid you in approaching the Creator with the rest of your heart felt prayers. The first set of verses are found in the book of 1 Chronicles. In the …
The section of the Jewish prayer book that this series of blogs will be examining is, Pesukei D’Zimrah. “Pesukei D’Zimrah is translated as ‘Verses of Praise’. However, many commentators relate ‘zimrah’ to the verb ‘tizmor’ - ‘prune’ (Leviticus 25:4). In this view we recite ‘Verses of Pruning’, which are designed ‘to cut away’ the mental …
One of the most commonly asked questions among those who have left the religions of this world and have turned to the God of Israel is, “How do I pray?” Those of us on this journey have followed the pattern of prophecy, we have sought out the Jew to learn how to know and serve …
This is a Thanksgiving blog. It was inspired by a friends post of a painting of Noah that seen at the top of the blog. I have a similar one but his gave me this current inspiration. When I first saw the picture, I was taking in by what it spoke to me. What I …
