June 2009

30 06, 2009

Parashat Huqqat-Balaq

By Rabbi Irwin Huberman|2009-06-30T07:55:35-04:00June 30, 2009|

Judaism’s Prime Directive

By Irwin Huberman

There have been many attempts in our tradition to boil down the
entire Torah into one clear directive.

Over the generations, Jews and those from other faiths have wrestled with the difficult question, “what exactly does God want from me?”

The Talmud (Shabbat 31a) tells the story of three persons who wished to convert to Judaism. In each case, they were initially rejected by the scholar Shammai, known for his strictness, but they were later accepted and converted by the more lenient Hillel who, when asked to describe the essence of the Torah “on one foot” responds, “What you dislike, do not do to your friend. That is the basis of the Torah. The rest is commentary; go and learn!” Read More >

24 06, 2009

Parashat Korah

By ahsilver|2009-06-24T20:57:12-04:00June 24, 2009|

By Boaz Marmon

“Can you hear them? They talk about
us, telling lies – well, that’s no surprise.”

This is the first verse, not of
Parashat Korah, but of the Go-Go’s’ 1982 hit “Our lips are
sealed” (you may be familiar with a recent cover by Hilary and Haylie
Duff). I doubt that Belinda and the girls had Moshe Rabbeinu
– Moses Our Teacher – and Aharon Ha-Kohen – Aaron the Priest
– in mind when they wrote the song, but not only do I think Moshe
would sympathize with the sentiments of the song, he also seems to have
internalized the strategy advocated by the Go-Go’s in response: “There’s
a weapon / which we must use / in our defense: / silent lips!”

Our Sages anachronistically applied
the title, “Rabbenu – Our Rabbi” to Moses. Those of us
serving in leadership roles Read More >

17 06, 2009

Parashat Shâ€™lah Lâ€™kha

By ahsilver|2009-06-17T13:44:24-04:00June 17, 2009|

Perception vs. Reality
By Rabbi Sharon Ballan

One of my favorite television shows when I was
growing up was “All in the Family.” I distinctly remember sneaking out of bed
and watching secretly from the top of the stairway, because it was shown past
my bedtime. Later, my parents let me watch with them and it became a weekly
family ritual. One episode in particular stands out in my mind. Edith, Archie,
Mike, and Gloria are at a restaurant, discussing the events of the day. Their
refrigerator had broken, and a repairman and his helper (who happened to be
black) had come to repair it. Mike and Archie had radically different memories
of what happened. Archie insisted the young black man, large and menacing,
threatened him with a knife. Mike, on the other hand described the man as
gentle and polite, and maintained that there was no knife at all. Finally Edith
tells the real story: the repairman had Read More >

9 06, 2009

Parashat Bâ€™Halotekha

By ahsilver|2009-06-09T13:56:57-04:00June 9, 2009|

Be Careful What You Ask For
By Gary A. Kabler

In this week’s portion the people complain to Moses that the manna
that G-d has provided so abundantly for them to eat no longer satisfies them. Like
petulant children, the people whine, “If we only had meat to eat! We remember
the fish that we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons,
the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. Now our gullets are shriveled. There is
nothing at all! Nothing but this manna to look to!” (Num. 11:1-6)

Obviously the people have forgotten that to get the foods that they
were whining and complaining about they had to do back-breaking slave labor in Egypt, but
apparently that was seen as a triviality when compared to actually having the
food. Apparently it was far easier to recall the meager struggle of walking
freely towards a place that Moses has assured the people was, and would
eventually be, again their Read More >

2 06, 2009

Parashat Naso

By ahsilver|2009-06-02T20:08:54-04:00June 2, 2009|

By Molly Karp

Parashat
Naso begins with the continuation of the counting of the Gershonites and the
Merarites, the Levites who are responsible for transporting the hangings, poles,
planks and hardware of the Tent of Meeting. Just as the Tabernacle would not be
complete without all of its parts, so too, the Levitical family would not be
complete without all of its members.

Envisioning
the wilderness camp as a nest of concentric circles: the Torah places the space
for holiness, God’s presence, at the center, surrounded by the precincts of the
Mishkan, surrounded by the Levites, who are surrounded by the Israelites.

The parashah

continues with a number of apparently unrelated cases. We learn that anyone who
has become tamei, (unfit to approach the Holy space) is to be removed
from the camp, so as not to render the entire camp tamei
– unfit for God’s presence within it. We learn that any Read More >

All shall unite to do God's will with an open heart.

All shall unite to do God's will with an open heart.

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