This book by Rab­bi Joe Black has a lim­er­ick for every Torah por­tion. As a song­writer and musi­cian, Rab­bi Black has always found lim­er­icks to be a won­der­ful blend of sto­ry­telling, rhythm and rhyme. As a rab­bi, the chal­lenge of find­ing five per­fect lines of poet­ry to encap­su­late every por­tion in the year­ly cycle of Torah read­ings became some­thing of an obses­sion for him as he approached his 25th year on the pul­pit. He start­ed shar­ing them with friends and post­ing them on social media. Soon, oth­er peo­ple began post­ing their lim­er­icks in response. After receiv­ing sev­er­al requests to pub­lish them in book form, he final­ly gave in. 

Some of these lim­er­icks sim­ply tell a sto­ry. Oth­ers refer to midrashic and Tal­mu­dic pas­sages. Some por­tions have only one Lim­er­ick — oth­ers have two or three.

Read Rab­bi Joe Black­’s Vis­it­ing Scribe Posts

“Torah Lim­er­icks?” ​“Real­ly?” ​“Why?”

Tack­ling the ​“Sticky” Torah Por­tions in Lim­er­ick Form