Liturgy

Yaakov Jaffe delves into two possible themes of the song Maoz Tzur.

In Part II of his series on trop, William Gewirtz explains the principle of recursion and how it helps us interpret texts.

Yosef Lindell recounts the controversy surrounding different attempts at translating the Tishrei prayers.

Daniel A. Klein reviews a new book on Hebrew by Mitchell First.

What can a medieval piyut (and famous modern chassidic tune) teach us about people's superiority over angels? Yitzchak Szyf explores how our Shavuot liturgy proclaims man's partnership with God in Torah.

With lyrical prose, Natan Oliff teaches us how to view prayer as a virtue and let it enter every aspect of our lives, making us into prayerful people.

As we near 150 days since the murderous attack by Hamas, Chaim Trachtman wonders whether continuing to recite Tehillim and Avinu Malkeinu is the best way to keep Israel front-and-center in our prayers.

Several reasons are given in our tradition about the reason for the fast on the Tenth of Tevet. The liturgy for the day takes a stand on what the true reasons are, but Yaakov Jaffe questions whether this stand is the right one.

Yosef Lindell argues that the explanatory Kinot model, where fewer prayers are said but they are delved into in more depth, should be adopted for reciting Selihot.

In unpacking the meaning of a tricky verse from Eikhah that we say as part of the Shofar service on Rosh Hashanah, Mitchell First introduces us to the literary principle called hendiadys, which can help us understand various phrases throughout Tanakh.