Episode 60: Open-Source Judaism (with Aharon Varady)
Listen Now
Open-Source Judaism
This week, we are delighted to bring you our interview with Eliana and Aharon Varady. Aharon is the founding director and primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project. We explore the alchemy of a minyan, taking responsibility for your prayer, and how to make a container to cross-pollinate our own liturgical wisdom with other people.
What prompts from our ancestors resonate with you in reading a siddur?
Join our facebook group to connect and comment.
Email us your suggestions at welcome@lightlab.co!
Follow us on socials! @lightlab on Instagram, @Light Lab on Facebook
(0:38) Shtibel - שטיבל - communal center of prayer, study, and social life. Learn more here
(4:10) Camp Ramah in the Poconos
(4:31) Nishmat kol chai - נשמת כל חי - the soul of all living beings - a prayer in the Shabbat and Holiday morning service. Learn more here
(4:33) Klezmer band
(5:09) USY Pilgrimage
(6:23) Hazon (now Adamah)
(8:31) Mashpia - משפיע - spiritual mentor. Learn more here
(11:05) Schmoozing - שמוז - Yiddish word for chatting.
(11:10) Kiddush (at shul) - קידוש - An social gathering with food after services. Learn more here
(12:45) Chevra - חברה - friends
(16:31) Nava Tehila
(18:18) Open Siddur Project
Shamayim - שמיים - sky/heavens
(19:23) Shefa
(19:44) Ashkenazi - אשכנזי - Jews who trace their ancestry to Central and Eastern Europe.
Learn more about different Jewish lineages here
Davening - דוון - Yiddish word for prayer.
Schlepping - שליפ - Yiddish word for hauling something.
(29:13) Musaf
(29:16) Drash
(30:14) Ein Keloheinu
Three steps back- adonai s’fatai, check out our episode here
Yuntif - יונטף - Yiddish word for holidays. In Hebrew: יום טוב - Yom Tov.
(14:11) Beit Knesset - בית כנסת - synagogue.
(23:02) Minyan - מנין - gathering of 10 people for prayer. Learn more here
(15:40) Shechinah - שכינה - the Divine Feminine/Dwelling. Learn more here
(17:00) Aleinu - learn more in our previous episode here - it’s on us
(20:17) Rabbi Ben Newman
(20:18) Rabbi Emmanuel Goldsmith
(20:30) Read the article “Religion and Science” published in the New York Times Magazine by Albert Einstein here
Kavvanot for Barchu, Birkat Ahavah, and the Priestly Blessing (in Yiddish) for a Shaḥarit Service, by Rabbi Emanuel S. Goldsmith ca. 2003:
God is the “the grandeur of reason
made manifest in existence.”[1]
God is the Creative Force
behind and within the universe
that manifests itself
as energy,
as life,
as order,
as beauty,
as thought,
as conscience
and as love.
1 A phrase adapted from Albert Einstein’s Science and Religion (1939): “By way of the understanding, [humanity] achieves a far-reaching emancipation from the shackles of personal hopes and desires—and thereby attains that humble attitude of mind toward the grandeur of reason incarnate in existence, and which, in its profoundest depths, is inaccessible to man.”
(21:00) Barchu - ברכו - learn more in our previous episode here
(21:04) Kavanah - כַּוָּנָה - intention
(21:05) Kabbalistic - קַבָּלָה- Jewish mysticism. Learn more here
(21:45) Gematria - גימטריה - assigning numerical value to Hebrew letters to derive their meaning. Learn more here
(22:07) Narishkeit - נארשקייט - Yiddish word for nonsense.
(24:00) Nusach - נוסח - the music of prayer. Learn more here
Chatimah - חתימה - the end of a prayer.
(32:01) Kavod - כבוד - respect.
K’gavinah - כְּגַוְנָא - “Just as they” - a Sephardic Shabbat prayer. Learn more here
Kabbalat shabbat - קבלת שבת - the service to welcome Shabbat. Learn more here
Ma’ariv - מעריב - the evening service. Learn more here
(36:00) B’meh madlikin - בַּמֶּה מַדְלִיקִין - from Mishnah Shabbat Chapter 2, which deals with the question of how to properly light Shabbat candles. In traditional liturgy, this is studied between Kabbalat Shabbat and Ma’ariv. Learn more here
(37:00) Zohar - זוהר - a foundational work of Kabbalistic literature. Learn more here
Parshat Terumah - פרשת תרומה - a weekly Torah portion. Learn more here
(39:30) Shomeah t’fillah - שומע תפילה - who listens to our prayers. Listen to our previous episode here
(39:40) Siddur Tefilat kol peh - סידור תפילה כל פה - here
Ki L’olam Chasdo - כי לעולם חסדו - For G?d’s mercy endures forever. This is a line from Psalm 107:1
(52:21) Open content license
(53:50) Mishkan - משכן - Tabernacle. Learn more here
Terumah offerings - תרומות - learn more here
(57:40) Shabbat Amidah in Greek, sans Jesus here
Sheyd- שֵׁד - demons and spirits in Jewish mythology. Learn more here
Midrash Aggadah - מדרש אגדה - a corpus of stories about ethical ideas, biblical characters, or narrative moments. Learn more here
(1:05:00) Teva
(1:06:18) Chug - חוג - elective
(1:06:19) Eden Village Camp
(1:11:00) Listen to “Magic Window” by Board of Canada here