Shalom Shir Tikvah Learning Community, On this Shabbat we read a double parashah, both Matot and Masey, and at the end of it we finish the Book BaMidbar, the account of much wandering in geography and in relationships. And in this specific Torah narrative, part of the second year of the Triennial Cycle of reading,Continue reading “Shabbat Matot-Masey: We’re In This Together”
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Shabbat Balak: Do You Know Where You Stand? Do You Know Why?
Thousands of years ago, a prophet appearing in our parashat hashavua, Bil’am ben Be’or, stood on a high place overlooking the tents of the people of Israel. He had been tasked with cursing the people, at the order of King Balak, who had hired him. Balak feared the presence of these immigrants at his border andContinue reading “Shabbat Balak: Do You Know Where You Stand? Do You Know Why?”
Shabbat Shelakh L’kha: There Are People Living There
Once again, the scouts of Sh’lakh-L’kha are left holding the bag. Every year around this time we Jews who engage in weekly Torah study again reach this story, of the moment when our ancestors stood at the verge of the land they had traveled to find, the land of their ancestral home. Scouts sent aheadContinue reading “Shabbat Shelakh L’kha: There Are People Living There”
Shabbat BeHa’alot’kha: Lift It Up
Last week the parashah began with the command to lift up every face; this week, the word beha’alot’kha, “in your lifting up” refers to raising up the lights of the menorah, the seven-branched lamp designed by G*d, according to Jewish tradition, to illuminate the holy place. To lift up the face is to see theContinue reading “Shabbat BeHa’alot’kha: Lift It Up”
Shabbat Naso: Look Me In The Eye
The word that identifies this week’s Torah text is naso, part of the idiom naso et rosh, is correctly translated “take a census,” or, more simply, “count heads.” The actual Hebrew wording is more beautiful; it literally says “lift up the head.” In other words, for our ancestors, to count someone was to look that person in the eye, and toContinue reading “Shabbat Naso: Look Me In The Eye”
Shabbat BaMidbar and Shavuot 5778: Into The Wilderness
Our parashat hashavua is called after the name of the book it opens, BaMidbar, “in the wilderness.” The first verse is both simple and completely mysterious: וַיְדַבֵּר ה’ אֶל-מֹשֶׁה בְּמִדְבַּר סִינַי G‑d spoke to Moshe in the wilderness of Sinai (1:1) This is the Shabbat before Shavuot, the Festival on which we commemorate the day when theContinue reading “Shabbat BaMidbar and Shavuot 5778: Into The Wilderness”
Shabbat BeHar-BeHukotai: Love Your Mother
This week we finish reading the Book VaYikra, Leviticus, with another double parashat hashavua. The name of the first of the two, BeHar, offers already a nice little learning. The word behar, actually three words in English, means “at the mountain” and refers to Mount Sinai. The first verse goes on to specify: וַיְדַבֵּר ה’ אֶל-מֹשֶׁה,Continue reading “Shabbat BeHar-BeHukotai: Love Your Mother”
Shabbat Emor: Against the Cruelty
In this second year of the Triennial Cycle of Torah reading, our congregation, like many others throughout the Jewish world, begins to read not at the beginning of parashat Emor but with chapter 22, verse 17. This is about one-third of the way in, since the Triennial Cycle makes its way through one third of eachContinue reading “Shabbat Emor: Against the Cruelty”
Shabbat Akharey Mot-Kedoshim: In All This Death, Where Is Holiness? Right Here at the Door
How often does Torah arouse human beings, how often does she raise her voice in every direction to awaken them! Yet they all sleep, with slumber in their sockets, neither observing nor caring….Woe to them, woe to their souls! For Torah admonishes them, saying, “Whoever is a fool let him turn aside here, the oneContinue reading “Shabbat Akharey Mot-Kedoshim: In All This Death, Where Is Holiness? Right Here at the Door”
Shabbat Tazria-Metzora: Lift Every Voice
Why does the mind so often choose to fly away at the moment the word waited for all one’s life is about to be spoken? (Alice Walker, The Temple of My Familiar) This week we have a Torah double-header. Our parashat hashavua (Torah text for this week) is two: both Tazria and Metzora. Both refer toContinue reading “Shabbat Tazria-Metzora: Lift Every Voice”
Torah for the 21st Century by Rabbi Ariel Stone 