Elul Essays
Reuven Chaim Klein
Essays from my What’s in a Word? series related to Elul and Yamim Noraim:
- Roads and Paths; Ways and Means (2018) – about דרך and אורח.
- On the Straight and Narrow (2018) – about רחוב, נתיב, מסילה, מעגל, משעול and שביל.
- Calling the Defender (2021) – about פרקליט, סניגור and מליץ יושר.
- Shake & Quake (2024) – Part 1 about חיל, זחיל and דחיל. Part 2 aboutרעדה, זיע, רטט, and רתת. Part 3 about חרד, רגז, רגש, רעש, and געש.
- Degrees of Sin (2018) – about חטא, עון, פשע and עבירה.
- Forms of Forgiveness (2019) – about סליחה, מחילה, and כפרה.
- Return to Sender (2019) – about תשובה and חזרה.
- An Utter Embarrassment (2022) - about בושה, כלימה, חרפה, and כיסופה.
- The Shofar's Horn (2022) – about שופר and קרן.
Audio Lecture:
- Rosh HaShanah: A Tale of Two Beginnings - A special lecture at Ohr Somayach in preparation of Rosh Hashanah. [A written version of this talk also appeared on the ohr.edu website here.]
Some Hebrew essays (attached):
· "בענין כאשר זמם ולא כאשר עשה וסוד השופר", קובץ המאור גליון תמ"ט (תשרי תשע"ג).
· "מאי דמיון בנ"י למלאכים בתפלה וימים נוראים\גדר בחירה אצל המלאכים", קובץ המאור גליון תע"ט (תשרי תשע"ח)
· "ספרי חיים וספרי מתים", קובץ קול התורה גליון ע"ז (תשרי תשע"ד)
P.S. My friend Rav Yehoshua (Jeremy) Steinberg from the Veromemanu Foundation just published his sefer Niflaos Lashon HaKodesh, with essays on the weekly parshah based on his close studies of the Hebrew language. Some of the ideas he uses in this work were used to inspire soldiers during his 30+ years as a chaplain in the US Army. To find out more about the sefer and/to order a copy from anywhere in the world, please email him directly at: Yehoshua Steinberg <steinber...@gmail.com>. An English version of this sefer is due to come out in a few months. (Full disclosure: I worked for Rabbi Steinberg's Veromemanu Foundation for five years and was involved in editing some of his work.)
And once we're plugging books, don't forget that I recently released a paperback version of Lashon HaKodesh: History, Holiness & Hebrew now available on Amazon for less than $25. Also, my other book G-d versus Gods: Judaism in the Age of Idolatry is still available on Amazon (and in Israel, you can buy it here).
Kesivah V'Chasimah Tovah,
Reuven Chaim Klein
Beitar Illit, Israel
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