Shifting Gears – 929 – 5782

~ The Tales Torah Tells

Hi folks! As you may be able to tell by the title of this post, I’ve decided to shift gears a bit with this blog. It has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life to read the Torah front to back multiple times over the past 5 or so years. I have learned an immense about about Jewish text, Jewish tradition, peoplehood, and most importantly myself. In order to continue doing all of those as well as push myself out of my comfort zone, I am embarking on a new journey that I would love to bring you along on 🙂

The TL:DR is that there’s an international community starting to read the Tanakh from front to back, one chapter for day (Sunday-Thursday) for the next 3ish years, and I want you to be a part of it!

The longer version is that there’s an organization called 929 whose mission is to bring people together to read through the Tanakh (Torah, Nevi’im/Prophets, Ketuvim/Writings) “together” over the course of a few years. Not a lot of people are able to make the time to intensely study these canonical Jewish texts, but partnering with 929 gives us a framework, support system, and attainable opportunity to learn Tanakh. Most of my textual knowledge is about Torah, but I know very little about Nevi’im and Ketuvim. Joining this 929 cycle is my attempt to push myself outside of my comfort zone, learn more about myself, and interact with people I normally may not.

So! Here are some ways you can get involved too:
1) You can read the daily chapter with the rest of us 929ers(?) via Sefaria or 929:
a) You can bookmark 929’s “daily chapter” page, set a time in your calendar for every Sunday through Thursday, and read the chapter and other’s reflections here.
b) You can sign up for their newsletter (daily email of content about the chapter) here.
c) You can add 929’s calendar to a google calendar (which is what I’m doing) (this one is in Hebrew but I’m still looking for an English one) here.

2) You can join the online community I’m creating on Padlet so that we can all contribute, learn from each other, and engage with people throughout the cycle (which can be tough to do without support)! You can join that here.

3) You can sign up for notifications from this blog, where I am working on figuring out how and how often I will share about the Tanakh (and I’m taking suggestions!!).

4) You can check out my experiential Jewish Instagram here, where I am aiming at creating other ways of engaging with Jewish texts, traditions, holidays, and rituals.

Please let me know if I you want to chat about any questions, comments, or thoughts related to this endeavor or other Jewish things. Sending you love, a comforting cup of your favorite warm beverage, and encouragement when it comes to thinking intentionally about how you want to engage in/explore Judaism.

Made with Padlet

Published by The Tales Torah Tells

I am currently living in Chicago and working for Moishe House, after finishing up my MA in Jewish Experiential Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and the Pardes Institute for Jewish Studies, and am always thinking and talking about Jewish rituals. As a Jewish professional, I aim to continue creating and facilitating intentionality and meaning-making in immersive spaces for young Jewish adults. One ritual I love is learning about the Torah portion we read every week, and then writing my thoughts on it. I usually read the parashah (portion) on Sunday or Monday, and it rolls around in my head throughout the week. A few years back, I decided to put my thoughts and questions out into the world by creating this blog - I hope it makes you think and gives you a chance to make your own connection with Jewish texts and traditions! Please comment on my posts or message me with your thoughts - I would love if this became conversational :) If you're interested in seeing some of these reimagined rituals and experiences, please check out my Instagram @talestorahtells, where I am constantly trying to balance pushing the boundaries of traditions and keeping their essence.

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