Category: Holidays
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The Unbearable Darkness of Being: On Ishay Ribo’s Seder ha-Avodah
Ishay Ribo’s remarkable, melancholy version of the Seder ha-Avodah, the piyyut recited in the Amidah of Musaf on Yom Kippur, traces a different theology of teshuvah than that classically outlined by Rambam in Hilchot Teshuvah. With much of the song drawn directly from the liturgy (which itself relies heavily, often verbatim, on Mishnah Yoma), Ribo’s…
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A Closer Look at Maoz Tzur
Update: I was interviewed by Sarah Ogince of the Jewish News Syndicate for an article on the history of Maoz Tzur, “Everyone knows ‘Ma’oz Tzur,’ except they don’t,” Dec. 15, 2022. This is revised with added notes from a short piece I wrote on the well-known Chanukkah piyyut, Ma’oz Tzur, and its cultural contexts, for…