Rhymes and Reasons

In reckless disregard of the advice in Proverbs 17:28, “even a fool is thought wise if he keeps his lips sealed,” I offer here a wide range of writings on various topics in the Jewish tradition (with some excursions).

Andy Oram

Series

• Commentaries (divrei torah)

• Holidays

  • Passover

  • Purim

  • Ḥanukah

• Prayers

• Poetry

• Essays

  • Jewish

  • Christian

  • Ecological

Glosses

• Commentaries (divrei torah)

  • A prophetic shift (A Yom Kippur d’var haftarah on Isaiah 58)

  • Prophecy as farce: The Book of Jonah

  • The inversion of God’s will in the Balaam story (a d’var torah on Balak)

  • The confrontation (The youth of Moses)

  • A point on the globe (story of Judith, updated)

  • Lech L’cha and the living tradition

  • The primacy of hope (A d’var Torah on the portion Vayera)

  • Why does God test the righteous? (A Rosh HaShanah d’var torah on the Akedah)

  • One question too many (the precarity of Job)

  • The Book of Job redefines righteousness for a debased world

  • Rescuing Dinah

  • Why Moses defended the Israelites against destruction

  • Coming to terms with the Korach story

  • Hannah’s decision (A Rosh HaShanah d’var Haftarah on Samuel 1)

  • We make for ourselves the Jewish high holidays

  • Risk-taker (Eve)

  • Why call for a king? A d’var torah for organizers

  • God’s steps (Solomon and the Temple)

  • The nationalist meaning of the book of Ruth

• Holidays

  • Passover

  • Why the Passover Hagadah is a wreck

  • The four children engage with climate change

  • Why the Hagadah comes down so hard on the wicked child

  • The confrontation (The youth of Moses)

  • Purim

    • Two words hold a key to Purim

  • Ḥanukah

    • Ḥanukah and the popular revolution

    • The Ḥanukah dilemma and the reflection of doctrine in secular life

• Prayers

  • Amidah for Shabbat Ma’ariv (poem)

  • Blessing for the sanctuary (Mah Tovu)

  • Prayer song

• Poetry

  • Rosh Chodesh Elul (published in Volume 10, issue 1 of the The Deronda Review, 2023)

  • L’chah Dodi: A stanza-by-stanza interpretation

  • Other poems on Jewish themes

  • Poems on Christian themes

• Essays

  • Jewish

    • Did Yehuda HaNasi get the wrong idea when he wrote the Mishnah?

    • Karma and the sparks that restore the unity of the cosmos

    • Why Deuteronomy?

    • The Biblical approach to the Jewish diaspora

    • What I learned as president of my synagogue

  • Christian

    • What’s the big deal about Christ?—A Jew takes a closer look at Christianity

    • The meaning of Palm Sunday and the mysterious origins of Hosanna

    • Why the blood libel has been an effective anti-Semitic weapon: a psychoanalytic interpretation

  • Ecological

    • Sacred species: The ecological message of the red cow

    • Opening our eyes to the water crisis

    • Divorced from the soil: d’var torah on the first city

    • Through evil deeds one loses sustenance

    • Through affliction to a more sustainable life

    • Exacerbating climate change: Why do people pursue evil policies?

    • Fearing God as a response to fear: Meditation (Earth Etude) for Elul, 2015

    • Saving the Earth to save our children: Meditation (Earth Etude) for Elul, 2016

    • Collective versus personal action in the Jewish Bible: Meditation (Earth Etude) for Elul, 2017

    • Working together: Will a single plan ameliorate climate disruption? Meditation (Earth Etude) for Elul, 2018

    • Tshuvah is an answer: Meditation (Earth Etude) for Elul, 2019

    • Fear God, Love the Earth: Meditation (Earth Etude) for Elul, 2020

    • Where Heaven Is Here: Meditation (Earth Etude) for Elul, 2021

    • How do we hear the silent sound of the Earth? Meditation (Earth Etude) for Elul, 2022

    • Priestly atonement and cleansing the environment: Meditation (Earth Etude) for Elul, 2023

    • Greenwashing initiatives pollute the mikvah: Meditation (Earth Etude) for Elul, 2024

    • A T’shuvah for the After Days: Meditation (Earth Etude) for Elul, 2025

    • How does God address all parts of creation?

    • The four children engage with climate change

    • Our health, our climate: Learning from the ancient rabbis

    • How does the tree of good and bad affect ecology?

    • The world in every detail is sustained by God

    • How great are Your works—and how fragile

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