Passover
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5
11, 2014
10
04, 2014
Parashat Aharei Mot
Aharei Mot
Jerome Chanes
Chapter 17 of Sefer Sh’mot (the Book of Exodus) begins by recalling the deaths of Aaron’s sons, Nadav and Avihu. The parashah thence goes into the details of the behavior of the person who is about to enter the sacred precincts of the Mishkan (tabernacle) or the Temple, God’s house. The description of the service in the parashah is conventionally read as preparation for entering the sacred precincts, the kodesh ha-kodoshim, on Yom HaKippurim, but there is nothing in the text to indicate that this is so. More about this question below.
Why are the rules of the kodesh ha-kodoshim preceded by the comment about the death of Aaron’s sons? What do we learn from the proximity of the two texts? In the initial story of the death of Aaron’s sons, the reason given is that they “brought strange fire”, whatever that means. In our parashah, the reason given Read More >
30
03, 2014
Parashat Metzora
Embracing the Marginalized
A Dvar Torah for Parashat Metzora
By Len Levin
“This shall be the ritual for a leper on the day that he is to be purified.” (Leviticus 14:2)
“Once leprosy had gone, and the figure of the leper was no more than a distant memory, these structures [the medieval European leprosaria or lazar-houses] still remained. The game of exclusion would be played again, often in these same places, in an oddly similar fashion two or three centuries later. The role of the leper was to be played by the poor and by the vagrant, by prisoners and by the ‘alienated’ [i.e., the insane], and the sort of salvation at stake for both parties in this game of exclusion is the matter of this study.” ― Michel Foucault, History of Madness
We are social beings. As such, we create hierarchies. Even Read More >
27
03, 2014
Parashat Tazria
This week’s Torah portion, Tazria, begins with laws pertaining to the ritual cleanness or uncleanness of a woman who just gave birth and then proceeds to deal at length with the same ritual issues regarding someone with tzara’at (often mistranslated as leprosy). That this parashah follows on the heels of Shemini, which largely deals with the cleanness or uncleanness (more commonly referred to as laws of kashrut) of various species of animals calls forth the attention of the Midrash.
In a well-known statement attributed to R. Simlai found in the Midrash Rabbah (quoted by Rashi to Lev. 12:2), he remarks on the order of the above two Torah portions. Instead of dealing first with laws pertaining to the ritual status of man/woman and then that of the animal kingdom, the Torah inverts the order and seems to give priority to the latter over the former. R. Simlai resolves this “illogical” sequence by referencing ma’aseh bereishit (Creation) – “Just as the creation of man took Read More >
18
03, 2014
Parashat Shemini-Shabbat Parah
This Shabbat, Shabbat Parah, is the third of the special Shabbatot that are observed from before Purim, beginning with Shabbat Shekalim, and continuing through the Shabbat before Rosh Hodesh Nisan, Shabbat ha-Hodesh. This week’s special maftir Torah reading is about the Parah Adumah, the Red Heifer. This section of the Torah is read because the use of the Red Heifer’s ashes was a necessary step in the process of purification before the offering of the Korban Pesah, the Paschal offering. The meaning of the Red Heifer has challenged commentators and interpreters since late antiquity. The following midrash addresses the meaning of the Red Heifer, contrasting the explanation that was given by a rabbi sage from the first century CE to a Gentile with the explanation that he gave to his students. Raising the question of whether we should tailor our teachings and opinions to different audiences.
A gentile asked Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai, saying Read More >
9
03, 2014
Purim
The Faces of Purim: A Journey
Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD
Cursed be Haman who sought to destroy me; blessed be Mordechai the Jew. Cursed be Zeresh the wife of the one who terrified me;
blessed be Esther for my sake. Cursed be all the wicked; blessed be all the righteous; and may Charvonah also be remembered for good.
Shoshanat Yaakov
Rabbah said: A person must get drunk on Purim until he does not know the difference between “blessed is Mordechai” and “cursed is Haman.”
Babylonian Talmud, Megillah 7b
On Purim, Jews all over the world will dress in costume and hear a ceremonial reading of the book of Esther accompanied by merriment and noisemaking to blot out the name of Haman. They will send presents of food to one another, give gifts to the poor, make a Purim feast, and make fun of traditions and sacred texts. This rite of spring gives us a chance to break out, to Read More >
3
03, 2014
Parashat VaYikra
Give it up!
Harold Ramis, the actor/director/screenwriter of Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day, just died. May his memory be for a blessing. His movies treat the absurd with earnest seriousness. They are works of comic genius. While discussing Groundhog Day he likened the experience of watching the movie with reading Torah.
The film is the film; It does not change…. But we are different each year, each time we see it…. It’s like Torah. Every year, every Jew all over the world reads the Torah. We start it on the same day, we read the exact same section each week as every Jew around the world. But it’s different each year. I mean, the Torah is the Torah. It hasn’t changed. But we’ve changed.
This week we begin the book of Vayikra, the central book of the Torah. Most of this book depicts a world that simply doesn’t exist anymore, a world of Read More >
24
02, 2014
Parashat Pekudei
This week’s parashah continues the detailed description of the different components of the tabernacle, its vessels, and the priestly vestaments. An interesting theme within Jewish interpretation is the parallel drawn between the Tabernacle, the Holy Temple, and the universe. The following sources trace this idea over a period of a thousand years. They begin with Philo, who was born in the first century before the common era, and end with a Kabbalistic text from the Middle Ages. They all understand the Tabernacle or the Temple to correspond to something greater than their component parts, whether it is the celestial beings of the heavens or humanity itself.
Philo of Alexandria (20 BCE-50 CE):
The highest, and in the truest sense the holy, temple of God is, as we must believe, the whole universe, having for its sanctuary the most sacred part of all existence, (namely) heaven; for its offerings, the stars; for its priests, the Read More >
16
02, 2014
VaYakhel
Prayer, Shabbat and Halakha: The Portable Mishkan
A Dvar Torah for VaYakhel
In his essay “Halakha and Agada” the modern Hebrew poet Hayyim Nachman Bialik compares the structure of Jewish observance to a cathedral. “Halakha is a creative process. It is the supreme form of art — the art of life and of living. The creations of Halakha grow little by little, piece by piece, out of all the stream of human life and action, till in the end the fragments add up to a single total, and produce a single form. Halakha is the master-art that has shaped and trained a whole nation, and every line that it has graven on the nation’s soul has been inspired by a supreme wisdom which sees the end in the beginning.” (Bialik, Revealment and Concealment, Ibis Editions, 2000, 49–50)
I have earlier expressed in this forum how — in Abraham J. Heschel’s felicitous formulation — classical Read More >
13
02, 2014
Ki-Tissa
Parashat Ki-Tissa
Rabbi Michael Pitkowsky
“The LORD said to Moses, “Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely.” (Exodus 32:7)
When the Children of Israel worshipped the Golden Calf, Moses was confronted with one of the greatest challenges to his role as leader of the people. God laid part of the blame on Moses’s shoulders. “Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely.” It is “your people” who have acted perversely, not “the people.” They didn’t just leave Egypt, you brought them out of Egypt. The following midrash addresses how a leader should react when he or she is faced with a crisis. According to this midrash, leaders should not remain aloof and above the people, rather, they must “go down” from their greatness. While it may be easier for a leader who is Read More >
