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”
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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”
Shabbat Shemini: Not Why. How.
Our parashat hashavua this week brings us back to our regularly scheduled Torah text after two weeks devoted to special Pesakh Torah. We are back to the Book VaYikra, or Leviticus, and expect nothing more or less than the initiation of the mishkan (the sacred space the Israelites created in the wilderness) with the firstContinue reading “Shabbat Shemini: Not Why. How.”
Shabbat and Pesakh and more, oh my!
Hag sameakh! Today and tomorrow are hagim, holy days that end our Pesakh Festival. Jewish offices are closed today and tomorrow, and Passover ends tomorrow evening at sundown with the end of Shabbat. On this Shabbat, the Shemini or 8th day of the holiday, we depart from our usual Torah parashat hashavua (reading of the week) and readContinue reading “Shabbat and Pesakh and more, oh my!”
Shabbat Pesakh I: What is this Matzah?
Tonight at sundown over 70% of all self-identifying Jews will observe the beginning of Pesakh (Hebrew for “Passover”). At the very least, they will all have matzah, the symbolic bread of affliction, on their tables – gluten free, locally made, even homemade, matzah is the ultimate symbol of the holy day period. Hag haMatzot, “The FestivalContinue reading “Shabbat Pesakh I: What is this Matzah?”
Shabbat HaGadol: It’s the Details
This Shabbat is Shabbat haGadol, the “Great Shabbat” which is the last before Pesakh. It is traditional on this Shabbat to spend time reminding ourselves and each other of two things, that neither may take precedence over the other: the meaning, and the details. it’s quite typical in this time of ours to downgrade theContinue reading “Shabbat HaGadol: It’s the Details”
Torah for the 21st Century by Rabbi Ariel Stone 