Trope Trainer (Video)
Next week, I chant Torah for the first time. My portion, Tazria, offends modern ears. But it all depends on the telling. Here’s mine.
And Here’s What Happened Next
So a week ago I applied to rabbinic school. Here’s what I learned today.
A Badge to Visit Your Rabbi (Video)
Overly earnest security measures can carry a great price. They can make of our synagogues unnecessarily unwelcoming places. I explore that idea in this video post.
The Amidah Project: Modeh Ani (Video)
The Modeh Ani: prayer upon waking or jaunty country song? It’s how I greet the world every morning, thanking God for the gift of another day. But I’m never able to get a certain Kol B’Seder melody out of my head. And that’s okay. Gratitude is never something to be embarrassed about.
The Amidah Project: Laying Tefillin–Wearing Your Prayer on Your Sleeve (Video)
Phylacteries. Except, no Jew calls them that. They’re tefillin, and Jews are commanded to wrap themselves in them before morning prayer. They’re a part of my morning ritual. Here’s what that looks like.
The New View from Here (VIDEO)
When I moved eight miles north from downtown Chicago, I traded in one spectacular high-rise view for another. Here’s a set of videos to show how living across from the Loop compares to living on the edge of Lake Michigan–in all its inland-sea glory.
Marina City Parting Gift: A(nother) Flood to Remember (VIDEO)
Yesterday I thought I shared my last thoughts on Marina City. But today, Chicago’s infamously flood-prone corncobs decided to have one more watery word.
Getting to the Point with the Yetzer Hara
If life were always perfect, why would God bother to put us here? A meditation on the need for the Yetzer Hara–Judaism’s ‘evil inclination’ that makes the world go ’round.
Splashdown
When I woke up this morning, Michael Doyle wasn’t a Jewish name. It is now. Today, I officially joined the Jewish people.
I’m Not a Mac #10–How Android Won Me Away from iPhone (Video)
Last week, I replaced my Apple iPhone 3G with a Google Android phone. Here’s why I did it, why I think Android is the better smartphone platform, and a look at what I did with my former 3G. Think: hammer…