Tanach
Tanach is the song and soul of the Jewish people, its very essence. It is the voice of God and Moses in the five books of Torah, it is the majestic stories of judges, prophets and kings, it is the soaring sounds of psalms and proverbs, the intimacy of the five megillot, the tragedy and triumph of Job, and the connection with ongoing Jewish history recounted in Ezra, Nechemiah, and Chronicles.
A journey through the land
One of my passions when learning Tanach is understanding the spaces and times in which our ancestors lived. Understanding the geography of the Tanach has power to transport my mind to the locations, sights, sounds, smells that surrounded our patriarchs, kings, prophets, and ordinary people who populate the narrative and normative texts of Tanach.
A journey through the soul
The depth of insight in the writings of the Chassidic commentators takes Tanach, and in particular Torah, study to a deeper dimension. The text becomes intensely personal and studying Torah transforms into a deep analysis of my own self and psyche. Rather than a journey through the land of Israel and other places where our ancestors sojourned, study of Torah with the Chassidic masters becomes a journey through the soul.