Our parashat hashavua (the week’s Torah text) describes the ultimate I-Thou moment, between Moshe Rabbenu (the way Moses is known in our tradition, as “Moshe our Rabbi”) and HaShem (the way G*d is known in our tradition. Out of respect, the word “adonai” is avoided, in speech and in print, outside of prayer). ‘וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר אֱלֹהִ֖ים אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֑ה וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֵלָ֖יוContinue reading “Shabbat VaEra: To Appear, Perchance to be Seen”
Tag Archives: parashat hashavua
Shabbat Shuvah: Remember Who You Are
Every year we observe Shabbat Shuvah between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur. It is not the same parashah every year, though; this year, our Torah text is parashat VaYelekh, “he went.” It refers to Moshe, called in our tradition Moshe Rabbenu, “our Rabbi” – our teacher, our guide, our spiritual support. וַיֵּלֶךְ, מֹשֶׁה; וַיְדַבֵּר אֶת-הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה,Continue reading “Shabbat Shuvah: Remember Who You Are”
Shabbat Matot-Masey: We’re In This Together
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”
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 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 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 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.”
Torah for the 21st Century by Rabbi Ariel Stone 