וְזָכַרְתָּ֗ כִּ֣י עֶ֤בֶד הָיִ֙יתָ֙ בְּמִצְרַ֔יִם וַֽיִּפְדְּךָ֛ ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ מִשָּׁ֑ם עַל־כֵּ֞ן אָנֹכִ֤י מְצַוְּךָ֙ לַעֲשׂ֔וֹת אֶת־הַדָּבָ֖ר הַזֶּֽה Remember that you were a slave in Egypt and that your God ה redeemed you from there; therefore do I enjoin you to observe this commandment. (Deut. 24.18) Our teacher Gershon Winkler has pointed out that the Hebrew word forContinue reading “Shabbat Ki Tetze: Respecting Boundaries”
Tag Archives: shabbat
Shabbat Ekev: Down at the Heels
We must risk delight. We can do without pleasure,but not delight. Not enjoyment. We must havethe stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthlessfurnace of this world. To make injustice the onlymeasure of our attention is to praise the Devil. from Jack Gilbert, “A Brief for the Defense” This week we read parashat Ekev, inContinue reading “Shabbat Ekev: Down at the Heels”
Shabbat Hazon: Seeing
The human capacity for avoiding uncomfortable truths is so very well-developed. Consider the time-tested, familiar, absolutely transparently false ways we get around what we don’t want to face: it’s someone else’s fault. I was busy and must have missed it. That can’t possibly be true. I was unavoidably detained. Circumstances conspired against me. You don’tContinue reading “Shabbat Hazon: Seeing”
Shabbat Shelakh: Telling Time in Jewish
לַכֹּ֖ל זְמָ֑ן וְעֵ֥ת לְכׇל־חֵ֖פֶץ תַּ֥חַת הַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃ A season is set for everything, a time for every experience under heaven (Kohelet 3.1) Before clocks and calendars, our people knew where we were in time by the sun, and by the Shabbat. On our ritual documents until today, traditionally we identify a day by its position inContinue reading “Shabbat Shelakh: Telling Time in Jewish”
Shabbat BeHa’alot’kha: Yes, It Can Get Worse
Sometimes the brain freezes and all one can do is say oh no. Stay with me now, for a moment: Our parashat hashavua is an amazing snapshot of many different human emotions and actions. People complain, people gossip, people go about their lives; and all while living through the profound impact on their lives of escaping slavery, and nowContinue reading “Shabbat BeHa’alot’kha: Yes, It Can Get Worse”
Shabbat Pesakh 5785: Uncertainty
What if this Pesakh We recall precarity Versus redemption? – Jen Van Meter This year Shabbat occurs on the seventh day of Pesakh. The Torah story assigned to this day recalls the most uncertain time of all in the course of our ancestors’ redemption. First, HaShem leads us on a deliberately circuitous route to avoidContinue reading “Shabbat Pesakh 5785: Uncertainty”
Shabbat VaYetze: This is a holy place, and I didn’t know it!
“What if this is the darkness not of the tomb, but of the womb?” – Valarie Kaur, Revolutionary Love Project In our parashat hashavua a young Jacob is on the lam. He is escaping the rupture of his family relationships, with no clear sense of what he is running toward. He flees his brother’s wrath,Continue reading “Shabbat VaYetze: This is a holy place, and I didn’t know it!”
Shabbat BeHukotai: House Rules
When chaos threatens, what rules still make sense? Jewish time continues. Even this week, still heartbroken by the massacre of ten beautiful souls in Buffalo New York, and now reeling from the tragedy of the massacre of nineteen children and two teachers in Uvalde Texas, it’s going to be Shabbat again. Lately it’s Tevye, dancingContinue reading “Shabbat BeHukotai: House Rules”
Shabbat Pekudey: It’s Not a Sin to Take a Break
Actually, the opposite is true. שֵׁ֣שֶׁת יָמִים֮ תֵּעָשֶׂ֣ה מְלָאכָה֒ וּבַיּ֣וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֗י יִהְיֶ֨ה לָכֶ֥ם קֹ֛דֶשׁ On six days work may be done, but on the seventh day rest is holy (Ex. 35.2) As of sundown today, the work has to be done. Whatever it is you are doing, after sundown on the sixth day it isContinue reading “Shabbat Pekudey: It’s Not a Sin to Take a Break”
Shabbat Naso: Lift Every Face
We have passed thirteen weeks of social isolation now; a most disconsolate tally, longer than our Sefirat haOmer count and much more uncertain. We try to remain patient, and struggle to contain our fears of contagion into vessels of reasonable size. Shabbat comes again, once more without the chance of seeing our Torah in ourContinue reading “Shabbat Naso: Lift Every Face”
Torah for the 21st Century by Rabbi Ariel Stone 