Judaism « Oddwalk Ministries

Category: Judaism

November 6, 2009

Oddwalk at the Synagogue

by oddwalk — Categories: announcements, Judaism, liturgy, ministry, music, prayer, scripture — Leave a comment

No really, it’s true! One of Orin’s part time jobs for the last 4+ years has been accompanying services at Congregation Shaare Emeth, a Reform Jewish Congregation in suburban St. Louis. The Cantor there a while back invited Oddwalk to play tonight, to share some of our music and some of the common areas of our faiths.

Read the article from the recent temple bulletin below, and if you want, come on out, about 5:15 for pre-service music, 6pm for the service itself, the NW corner of Ballas and Ladue. They’re very welcoming, there’s food (a “gnosh”) beforehand, and an interesting window into their faith and ours during the service itself. Please come if you can!

Orin has even written a couple new pieces for their liturgy! One sets the “Shema,” the central prayer of the Jewish faith: “Hear O Israel, the Lord Your God is One…” and a more reflective prayer for the end of a time of silent prayer, part of which is a prayer for peace, part of which is Psalm 19 – “May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to you, my rock and my redeemer.” Both have a lot of Hebrew in them, which was a new and exciting endeavor!

April 13, 2009

Easter Roundup

by oddwalk — Categories: catholicism, family, holiday, Judaism, odd — 1 Comment

A couple of Cerneka-related notes from this past Easter weekend.

First off, we would like to congratulate Shannon and Erin’s brother-in-law (and all-around Oddwalk friend) Andy Puckett, for his entry into the Catholic Church on Saturday night. We are all very proud of him and wish we could have been there to witness it. The Pucketts, however, live in Anchorage, Alaska. Since it was probably cold there on Saturday night, here’s a picture of Andy from the family trip to Gulf Shores last summer:

Lastly, yesterday Shannon and Erin’s kids took part in an Easter Egg hunt. As is the case with most Easter Egg hunts, some of the eggs had a “prize” inside. Here is one of Noah’s eggs and the prize inside:

April 2, 2009

Facebook Haggadah

by oddwalk — Categories: holiday, joke, Judaism, odd, scripture, technology — 1 Comment

The “Haggadah” is the telling of the Passover story the Jewish people are commanded to do each Spring. The following website has done so, keeping in mind this axiom: “Jewish tradition says that people of each generation must imagine that they personally had departed from Egypt, and the sages say that each generation must tell the story in its own terms.”

The author continued, referring to his attempt to do so through the lens of the new Facebook layout, “The sages probably did not intend this.”

See a small sample below, read the whole thing here!

June 17, 2008

Bris Milah!

by oddwalk — Categories: Judaism — Leave a comment

Yesterday, Orin had the honor of attending his first bris! Well, it wasn’t mine (thankfully), just that it was the first on I’d ever been to. The Cantor at the Temple where I accompany services on many Friday nights and Saturday mornings, Seth Warner and his wife Shayna had a baby boy, Isaac Asher, last Monday. And, just like it had been done unto Jesus (see Luke 2:21), they brought him to the Temple.

I thought I would be there merely as an observer, but shortly before the service began, the Mohel (the Rabbi who performs the ceremony) asked if I would take some pictures and handed me a camera. So I did. Here are a few of them, there are more here. None are too graphic, if you get my drift.

Congratulations Warner family!

April 20, 2008

pOddcast – Mi Chamocha

by oddwalk — Categories: Judaism, music, pOddcast — Leave a comment

New on the pOddcast: a version of Mi Chamocha written by Dan Nichols, and recorded by Orin and Cantor Seth Warner and his assistant Dan Geigerman at Congregation Shaare Emeth in Creve Coeur, MO.

Maybe some of you don’t know: Orin on many Friday nights and Saturday mornings, when not Oddwalking, accompanies services at this Reform Jewish congregation. They are putting together a CD of some of their liturgical music to give to new members. So on Seth’s laptop (featuring what else, Garageband!) a dozen or so songs were recorded. This one is probably Orin’s favorite. The text is from Exodus, it’s the song the Israelites sang just after crossing the Red Sea and escaping slavery. It’s in Hebrew; here’s one translation. Passover has just begun for Jews. (Remarkable too that Pope Benedict visited a synagogue during his USA visit.)

As always, you can find the podcast in the gcast window in the blog sidebar or over at the main site.