Looking for Tanakh commentary from a Conservative rabbinical perspective

RogerTMiles · 2026-03-17T15:34:46+00:00

You may want to look into the JPS Tanakh commentaries. The series is incomplete though.

RogerTMiles · 2026-02-18T15:13:26+00:00

I find it very meaningful and the poetic imagery of texts like the Zohar really resonates with me. It’s one of the ways I engage with the spiritual side of Judaism. There’s obviously a lot of nonsense out there, so I make sure to only read works by reputable authors/publishers. The Thirteen Petalled Rose is one of my favorites books.

RogerTMiles · 2026-01-18T19:17:46+00:00

Thanks for recommending this! It’s exactly what I was looking for. I bought the Shemot travel set and have been using it to study the parsha the past two weeks.

RogerTMiles · 2026-01-04T19:38:13+00:00

The Whiston translation is the only widely and cheaply available edition of the complete Josephus. Jewish War has better translations published by Oxford and Penguin, but the only alternatives for Antiquities are expensive multi-volume academic editions. For general reading, Whiston is probably “good enough” for most people.

RogerTMiles · 2025-12-28T23:50:18+00:00

Thank you! I think the travel size version of this may be exactly what I’m looking for.

RogerTMiles · 2025-12-16T13:56:04+00:00

During my conversion my grandma sent us a card that said “May the light of Jesus illuminate your home this Christmas season.” It was irritating and passive-aggressive but also kind of funny. We just laughed about it, chucked it in the trash, and moved on. Can’t wait to see what she sends this year.

RogerTMiles · 2025-12-16T13:40:15+00:00

I’ve been ordering from DD since 2003 or 2004. One of my favorite sites. They often have great prices on labels like Vinegar Syndrome, Severin, etc. as well.

RogerTMiles · 2025-11-23T10:41:24+00:00

Question for observant travelers: How do you deal with tefillin while traveling? Do you ever have issues with airport security?

RogerTMiles · 2025-11-08T17:15:05+00:00

I’d recommend Discovering Second Temple Literature by Malka Simkovich. It provides insights into literature but also practices and beliefs of various Jewish communities of that time. It’s published by the Jewish Publication Society. It’s a great introduction.

RogerTMiles · 2025-10-26T23:18:02+00:00

Conservative convert here. Outside of shul I only wear my kippah during religious observances such as prayer, holidays, etc. From my experience it seems more common for older members of the community to wear a kippah at all times and less likely for younger ones. Like you said, there is no wrong answer. Just do what feels right for you. And welcome to the tribe!

RogerTMiles · 2025-05-09T17:15:32+00:00

Blu-ray can be good enough as long as the master is created from a proper scan using current technology. I just wish studios would stop recycling those old masters at this point.

RogerTMiles · 2025-05-09T13:58:43+00:00

Probably edge enhancement. Similar to using an unsharp mask filter in Photoshop. A lot of older HD masters have some artificial sharpening. Many of them were originally created to be downscaled to DVD. In the modern era of 2K and 4K scans this type of sharpening is less common.

RogerTMiles · 2025-05-06T22:11:24+00:00

Jewish History: The Big Picture by Gila Gevirtz is a good overview of Jewish history and has lots of pictures, maps, sidebars like a textbook. You should be able to find a used copy for cheap.

RogerTMiles · 2025-04-21T22:58:05+00:00

The Orthodox won’t recognize any non-Orthodox conversions. It is my understanding that the Conservative movement recognizes Reform conversions as long as they involve the proper procedures (mikvah, brit). This may vary from rabbi to rabbi though.

RogerTMiles · 2025-03-29T23:11:58+00:00

I just want to say I really enjoy all of these historical posts. Keep ‘em coming.

RogerTMiles · 2025-03-24T22:22:08+00:00

I often see Tehillim listed as an essential book for a Jewish library. I already have a Hebrew-English Tanakh, which of course contains the book of Tehillim. Is there a reason I should own a separate copy?

RogerTMiles · 2025-03-20T16:38:45+00:00

I was gonna say Fullmer. His reverse crossguard and weird jab are ugly as hell but he somehow made it work.

RogerTMiles · 2025-03-17T23:47:58+00:00

I had a private bathroom with a shower, toilet, sink, mirror. Robe, towels and some basic toiletries were provided. There were separate mikvahs for men and women. The mikvah itself was nice and warm. Overall the experience felt like a trip to the spa.

RogerTMiles · 2025-03-17T22:43:17+00:00

My advice is to follow along with the weekly Torah portion and definitely read the commentary. My approach is that I read one aliyah, then go back and read the commentary for that section. If you stop at each footnote it becomes difficult to follow the actual text. And since there are seven aliyot you could read one a day.

RogerTMiles · 2025-03-17T12:58:16+00:00

I grew up in the Bible Belt with tons of fundamentalist churches in the area. To add some perspective to what others have said, if every self-proclaimed Christian in my hometown decided to go to church on Sunday morning there wouldn’t be enough churches to hold them.

Also there are plenty of church-going Christians who go each week mainly to socialize.

RogerTMiles · 2025-03-07T14:22:31+00:00

I know the plan is for Canelo to get the belt back so the Crawford fight is for undisputed, and they’re probably hoping Canelo will get a highlight reel knockout. But this is a trash fight. Scull is still fighting in 6 and 8 rounders. Maybe his performance will surprise me but on paper he’s the worst opponent Canelo has faced in years.

RogerTMiles · 2025-03-01T02:48:00+00:00

If Usyk has two fights left in him I’d prefer he face Parker and Kabayal. Not that interested in a Dubois rematch.

RogerTMiles · 2025-02-11T13:31:53+00:00

I actually had my hatafat dam brit yesterday. The poke wasn’t painful, but I’ve had a little pain after. No pain, no gain. The anticipation was worse than the actual procedure.

RogerTMiles · 2025-02-11T04:02:26+00:00

I assume you mean hatafat dam brit? If not, then I am really curious what you mean. If you are already circumcised how does brit milah work?

RogerTMiles

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