#mizvot

[ask-jumblr]

I know it’s probably a long shot, but in case anyone has any old or unused tallises, The Chevra Kadisha of Queens and Long Island and The Hebrew Free Burial are in dire need of them because of the number of deceased from COVID-19. 

If you’re able to either;

1) Drop off at 136-06 71st Road in Kew Garden Hills by placing in the labeled plastic bin on the front porch (this way there is no need for any physical proximity) 2) Mail it to: Mount Richmond Cemetery 420 Clarke Avenue Staten Island, NY 10306

This is a big mitzvah as not everyone has tallises at home to be buried in. If you are abroad or in other parts of the U.S., I would also recommend reaching out to your local chevra kadisha to see if they need them as well.

Mod here. If anyone knows of another chevra kadisha in need of tallitot, feel free to reblog or comment with information.

[waywardbooks]

A Philosophy of Mizvot: The Religious-Ethical Concepts of Judaism, Their Roots in Biblical Law and the Oral Tradition

(Gerison Appel, Ktav Publishing House, 1975)

Regular readers will know how interested I am in Judaism.  I studied Judaism about as extensively in college as I could, and I try to maintain a good collection of books about Judaism.  Mizvot is one aspect of Judaism that appealed to me since I first heard about it my freshman year, and when I saw this book in the used book sale donation pile I grabbed it almost without thinking.

It’s an accessible book, and not difficult to get into at all, but I still haven’t managed to do more than pick at small pieces of it since I got it.  It definitely fills a gap in my Judaism library, and the book itself is gorgeous for a scholarly paperback.  This book is almost certainly not intended for a commercial audience, but rather for a scholastic one, so its aesthetics shouldn’t be a big deal.  But the cover design and layout of this book are absolutely phenomenal for what is essentially a textbook, and I just love it.