About

Shalom chaverim! We’re an online community of Jews building something meaningful. We’re passionate about:

• Torah study as a way of connecting to the divine and improving ourselves

• improving Jewish education. Too many synagogues have classes for beginners but little to sustain those of us who want more.

• healing the fractured Jewish community. Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh Bazeh.

• We draw from the wisdom of our classical and modern rabbis, including those from Conservative Judaism, Hadar, Open Orthodoxy, the Jewish Catalog, Masorti movement, neo-Hasidism, the philosophy embracing wing of Modern Orthodoxy, and the tradition-embracing wing of Reform Judaism. Jews of any or no denomination are welcome with love.

• Accepting Jews whether Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Maghrebi or Mizrachi; whether born Jewish or who converted; married or unmarried; straight or gay; more observant or less observant; rationalist or mystic.

• When it comes to history we consider Marc Shapiro’s “Changing the Immutable: How Orthodox Judaism Rewrites Its History.” No one is criticized for citing scholarship that doesn’t match strict traditional beliefs.

• When it comes to theology we consider Marc Shapiro’s “The Limits of Orthodox Theology: Maimonides’ Thirteen Principles Reappraised.” Judaism certainly has important theological parameters, but they are wider than what Haredi sources claim.

Read resources here on our website, and join us in our Facebook discussion community, the Coffeehouse.

Contact us at  jewish.merrimack@gmail.com

People join in our discussions because they love Torah Lishmah, and have been looking for a place to learn or teach in a halakhic egalitarian Jewish milieu, without politics or fundamentalism.

Coffeehouse Torah Talk (Facebook group)

 Glossary of Jewish words and ideas.

Cheat sheet of important rabbis and rabbinic terms

What you need to know if you are converting to Judaism

How to argue Jewishly

For just about any category, what Jewish books should we have?

Art, graphics and photo resources

PikiWiki, Israel’s Free Photo Database

Gustave Dore Bible images gallery

Gustave Doré’s illustrations for La Grande Bible de Tours

The Doré Gallery of Bible Illustration

Looking up Hebrew words

Online sources (Jewish)

Pealim Hebrew Verb Tables

Jewish English Lexicon, HUC-JIR Jewish Language Project

Books

“A comprehensive etymological dictionary of the Hebrew language for readers of English”, Ernest Klein

“How the Hebrew Language Grew,” Edward Horowitz, 1960 and subsequent reprints

“201 Hebrew Verbs fully conjugated in all the forms,” Abraham S. Halkin, 1970 and subsequent reprints

Online sources (Christian)

Bible Hub Online Parallel Bible

Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon; Brown, Driver, Briggs, Gesenius Lexicon;.

StudyLight Old Testament Hebrew Lexical Dictionary

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Some great Biblical artwork

The Doré Bible Gallery Woodcuts by Gustave Doré (1832-1883)

Gustave Dore Art Images

Historie des Ouden en Nieuwen Testaments : verrykt met meer dan vierhonderd printverbeeldingen in koper gesneeden. Author: Martin, David, 1639-1721
http://www.pitts.emory.edu/dia/booklist.cfm?ID=3595

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This website is educational.  Materials within it are being used in accord with the Fair Use doctrine, as defined by United States law. Title 17 of the United States Code is the United States Code that outlines United States copyright law. It was codified into positive law on July 30, 1947.

§107. Limitations on Exclusive Rights: Fair Use

Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phone records or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use, the factors to be considered shall include:

1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
2. the nature of the copyrighted work;
3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. (added pub. l 94-553, Title I, 101, Oct 19, 1976, 90 Stat 2546)