Cups . . . the gift that keeps giving
By now, most of you have seen the Rotem Cohen Cups video that the Karaite Jews of America has posted on its Facebook page and website. Today, I share with you some of the background of the video and let you know that a lot more is coming your way.
“There was light and joy . . . ” Happy Purim, Everyone
That’s a wrap on Purim 2019. Yes, I said that right. Purim is over. I’m not talking about Purim Katan. I’m talking about the real deal – the actual holiday of Purim. Purim of Adar I. The only Purim that I have ever really been into. And the Karaite Jews of America had quite an extravaganza.
So much so that maybe next year we will plan a shabbaton around it.
Filed under Nir Nissim, Priel Nissim, Purim
Boy did I mess this up.
Or: “How I whiffed in that extremely popular Tefillin video.”
Today, on the week when we read some of the “tefillin passages” in Parashat Bo, I do a massive mea culpa on a relatively minor part of the Tefillin video I posted almost two years ago. And in the process of this correction, I will (hope to) elucidate yet again, why we need more Karaite literature available in English. And why we all need to study more philosophy. Or at least I do.
Filed under Jacob ben Reuben, Tefillin
Nir & Priel Nissim (Photo by Aviram Elisha)
Nir & Priel Nissim should be Chabad emissaries – or whatever is the Karaite equivalent. Because of them, the past few months have given rise to an amazing, wonderful and spiritually uplifting occurrence in the Bay Area. The newly renovated home of the Karaite Jews of America is being filled with more learning and more blessings than I have ever seen.
It all started a few years back when Nir Nissim ha-Levy, a hazzan from Israel, visited the Karaite Jews of America in Daly City. The members of the community instantly took to his melodies, his heart and his desire. Fast forward a few years, Nir married Priel, an incredibly knowledgeable Israeli Karaite, and found their way to the Bay Area for a year.
Filed under Karaite Recipes, Moshe Firrouz, Nir Nissim, Priel Nissim, Women in Karaism
In my last post, I demonstrated how I believe the Karaite siddur contains a beautiful error with respect to a single letter in a biblical verse. Today, I want to demonstrate that everyone and – as far as I can tell – I mean everyone who is singing some version of Shelomo ibn Gabirol’s She’areikha (“Your Gates”) is singing a version that is unattested to in the fragments that are publicly available through the Friedberg Geniza Project.
Despite this, I would wholeheartedly be honored if you would sing the Karaite transmission of the poem. And I would be equally honored if this post encouraged you to learn and sing any of the versions that appear in Rabbanite siddurim or in the Geniza fragments.
Filed under Gabriel Wasserman, poetry, Prayer, Rotem Cohen
Let’s look at this highlighted line.
I recently discovered something beautiful. There is an error in the traditional Karaite siddur. It may sound strange to call an error beautiful, but I really mean it. The Karaite community has gone to great lengths to preserve – what is in my opinion – the wrong side of a mostly obscure debate over a single letter in a word in the Book of Chronicles.
I only first understood that this debate even exists two months ago, as I was working on a learner’s edition of the erev shabbat prayer book for the American Karaite community.
You can also give me your opinion on what I should print in this new edition of the siddur, by voting in the reader poll.
Filed under Abu al-Faraj Harun, Aleppo Codex, Leningrad Codex, Prayer
James Walker (second from right) with Avi Yefet, Chief H’ Moshe Firrouz, and Hazzan Rotem Cohen (Left to Right)
The Karaite Jews of America recently published The Sayings of Moshe: Insights on Living by the Tanakh. This work is a collection of sermons and Divrei Torah by the late Rabbi Moshe ben Shabbetai Ratzon, an Egyptian-born Karaite Jew who was part of the 20th century exodus of Jews from Egypt.
Of note, Rabbi Moshe was not afraid to blaze his own path and differ with his Karaite co-religionists (to say nothing of the rabbinic mainstream). Rabbi Moshe’s fresh perspectives demonstrate that Karaite thought is alive and well. Today, I interview James Walker who translated The Sayings of Moshe (Hebrew title: Imerot Moshe).
Filed under Books, James Walker, The Sayings of Moshe
