The Leningrad Codex
My Chabad envy is well chronicled by now. Today I am taking this envy to new heights by taking the bold steps of proving that the first Chabad Rebbe, Shneur Zalman (1745-1812), was almost certainly right about the spelling of a particular word in the Tanakh. And I relied on some old sources, with a little help from my friends, to do it.
Filed under Aleppo Codex, Chabad, Leningrad Codex, Moshe Firrouz, Nehemia Gordon
Where to begin? I’ve spent the better part of two weeks explaining that the holiday Jews just celebrated is not “Rosh Hashanah” – and I’ve also tirelessly explained that Karaites do not observe an additional day for our holidays.
So, I never thought I’d be writing a post about profound life lessons I learned on the Second Day of Rosh Hashanah.
Filed under Chabad, Daniel al-Kumisi, Rosh Hashanah, Yaqub al-Qirqisani, Yefet ben 'Ali, Yom Teruah
(Source: WikiMedia Commons; David Cohen, Photographer)
Maybe it’s the internet or maybe it’s that we’re all simply more curious these days, but the inertia that once confined Jews to a single Jewish movement our entire lives is eroding rapidly.
The transient nature of Jewish observance and identity was recently on display when CNN’s Belief Blog interviewed Matisyahu. (See Q and A with Matisyahu: ‘Hasidic reggae superstar’ sans the Hasidim.) Matisyahu described how he “started out with the Chabad movement . . . with the idea that ‘this is it.'”* Matisyahu eventually opened up to other Jewish movements.
I’m not saying that Matisyahu would ever explore Karaite Judaism (or even that Karaite Judaism is the right path for Matisyahu), but many Rabbanites are drawn to Karaite Judaism for the same reasons that Matisyahu recently underwent a very public “rebirth.”
Continue reading
Filed under Chabad, Daniel al-Kumisi, Matisyahu, Ortho-Curious, Women in Karaism
