Vayikra Archives | Page 13 of 14 | Academy for Jewish Religion

9 05, 2007

Parashat B’har/B’huqotai

By ahsilver|2007-05-09T13:10:57-04:00May 9, 2007|

By Rabbi Yechiel Buchband

In this week of Jubilee celebrations in our AJR community, it feels good to be so in tune with the rhythm of the Torah reading cycle: our first portion, Parshat Behar, includes the Torah’s teachings concerning the Yovel, the fiftieth year, made special by its unique observances (Lev. 25:8-13): the return of all land to its original owners and the return of slaves to their only true master, the Holy One. We build up to this climactic moment in the cycle by counting off seven sets of seven years, each set culminating in its own Shabbaton of rest for both land and people. Finally, when seven ‘weeks of Years’ each with its own Sabbath, are complete, we welcome the coming of the Jubilee year with a mighty shofar blast, bringing news of freedom and equality to every corner of the land: ‘You shall have the shofar sounded throughout your Read More >

25 04, 2007

Parashat Emor

By Doug Alpert|2007-04-25T08:25:34-04:00April 25, 2007|

Parashat Emor
By Doug Alpert

Chapter 23 of Vayikra commences with God directing Moshe Rabeinu to ‘Speak to the Children of Israel – b’nai Yisrael – and say to them: These are the appointed [fixed] times of HaShem which you shall designate as callings of holiness – these are My appointed festivals.’ The parashah goes on to elucidate the calendar of festivals that were celebrated during biblical times. For these festivals (unlike Shabbat, which is set in terms of the days of the week, and which was put into effect by G-d at creation) the court is imbued with the responsibility for fixing the calendar in accordance with its declaration of a new moon. This is to say that it is the human who sanctifies these appointed times as holy.

While it is the court alone that has this responsibility, God has instructed Moshe to speak to the entirety of b’nai Yisrael. This is Read More >

18 04, 2007

Parashat Tazri`a-M’tzora

By ahsilver|2007-04-18T09:00:45-04:00April 18, 2007|

Parashat Tazri`a-M’tzora
By Simon Rosenbach

So, we had 48 hours of rain some years ago and our sump pump failed. Well, we had tons of stuff in the basement, although nothing really good, and we were leaving for Florida in four days, and we naturally went into a panic. How will we ever clean up? How will we save stuff? And, most of all, how will we avoid mold?

We’ve all heard the stories. Killer mold. It grows two feet thick behind the walls of the house. Million-dollar houses in Texas that have to be razed. Oh, man, what are we going to do?

Well, we called some outfit, and a representative came, and surveyed the damage, and said, clean up, let it dry, I’ll wash the rug for you, and don’t worry about it. I’ve been doing this for 39 years, and you will not have a mold problem.

Now, if this had happened 2900 Read More >

12 04, 2007

Parashat Shemini

By Rabbi Heidi Hoover|2007-04-12T09:26:14-04:00April 12, 2007|

Parashat Shemini
Heidi Hoover

In recent years, soy has become popular among American vegetarians and others trying to eat a more healthy diet. It is a great source of protein without the fat and cholesterol of meat. The presence of soy in Asian diets has been associated with the low level of heart disease in that part of the world. Tofu, which is made from soy, is good in stir-fried dishes, in soup, even with pasta. What could be bad? More recently, however, there have been studies showing that there can be negative health effects from eating soy products. These include possible thyroid problems, some cancers, fertility issues, and more. So what is going on here? Apparently, what many of these studies are showing is what happens when soy makes up too much of one’s diet.

We are not a society of moderation. We believe that if some is good, more must be better. If Read More >

29 03, 2007

Parashat Va-yiqra

By ahsilver|2007-03-29T07:24:11-04:00March 29, 2007|

Parashat Va-yiqra
Paul Hoffman

“And Abel he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord inclined towards Abel and his offering.” (Genesis 4:3) From this passage in Genesis we understand that the institution of sacrifice is as old as the human race itself. Religious instinct is an element of man’s nature implanted in him by the Creator and sacrificial offerings were the earliest expression of that instinct. Here in Genesis, Scripture records the first act of worship in the form of a “minhah to God,” a present offered to the Holy One, blessed be He.

This gift offering represented Abel’s acknowledgment of, and submission to, God as the purveyor of all bounty. By presenting God with his firstlings, the finest that he possessed, Abel would then be worthy to receive his portion as a Divine favor. So noble was this sentiment that it warranted Abel’s acceptance by Read More >

29 03, 2007

Parshat Tzav

By ahsilver|2007-03-29T06:41:20-04:00March 29, 2007|

Parshat Tzav: Through the Lens of Healing
by Margaret Frisch Klein

At first glance this week’s portion, parashat Tzav would appear to be dry ‘ perhaps appropriate for wandering in the desert ‘ but, in reality, there is much to glean from it about healing.

My teacher, Rabbi Nehemia Polen, talks about the importance of the sacrificial ritual. He explains that the stability of the routine, one in the evening and one in the morning, in fact brings healing, just by doing them ‘ routinely. The evening offering was left burning all night until the new one was added in the morning. That constancy was a reminder of the Divine Presence, all the time from evening until morning and back to evening again. God was always present and available. He tells the story of how important this daily ritual was ‘ both then and now. Then, the whole sacrificial system was about reconnecting with the Read More >

26 06, 2006

Emor

By ahsilver|2006-06-26T23:37:31-04:00June 26, 2006|

The Sacred Calendar and the Cycle of Time

By Michael Kohn

To everything’turn, turn, turn
There is a season’turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven¹

In his book The Sabbath, Abraham Joshua Heschel writes that ‘Judaism is a religion of time, aiming at the sanctification of time. . . . Jewish ritual may be characterized as the art of significant forms in time, as architecture of time. Most of its observances’the Sabbath, the New Moon, the festivals, the Sabbatical and the Jubilee year’depend on a certain hour of the day or season of the year.’ And these observances recur year after year after year.

At least half of Parashat Emor speaks of these observances’the mo’adim, those appointed times fixed by God, as mikra’ei kodesh, holy convocations. The first described is Shabbat. Thereafter, the Torah describes in order: Pesah, Read More >

18 05, 2006

Emor

By Rabbi Isaac Mann|2006-05-18T16:19:57-04:00May 18, 2006|

By Rabbi Isaac Mann

The opening verse of the parashah – “Say (emor) to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and you shall say (v’amarta) to them ‘do not defile yourself to someone who died amongst his people,'” (Lev. 21:1)is a major source in the Midrash and Talmud for an important rabbinic teaching. From the redundancy of “emor” “v’amarta” the Rabbis derive that the adult priests must teach their young to follow in their ways, and just as the former are forbidden to be defiled by contact with a corpse so too the young must be instructed to follow this law. Thus the phrase of “and you shall say to them – v’amarta aleihem – applies to the offspring, so as to say, “You shall teach them what I am teaching you.”

By extension, the Rabbis teach us that every adult Jew must teach his children to follow the laws of the Torah. We Read More >

18 05, 2006

Behar-Behukotai

By ahsilver|2006-05-18T16:16:19-04:00May 18, 2006|

By Yechiel Buchband

As we open our portions, we may expect to find the
common phrase ‘Adonai spoke to Moses, saying . . .’
But we get a new addition to that phrase:
‘VaY’daber Adonai el-Moshe b’Har-Sinai
Laymor’ (Lev. 25:1). We might well wonder,
weren’t all these many mitzvot in Sefer
VaYikra spoken on/at/near Mt. Sinai? Why add
these words here?

Rashi frames the question a bit differently,
anticipating the first topic dealt with in the portion,
the Sabbatical or sh’mitah year. He asks – in
words so apt that they’ve become a saying in
Hebrew ‘ Mah inyan Sh’mitah eytzel Har-Sinai?!
(What’s the issue of Sh’mitah doing next
to Mt. Sinai; or, what does one thing have to do with
another?) Quoting the midrash in Sifra, Rashi
answers that the words b’Har Sinai come here
to inform us that just as this mitzvah of
Sh’mitah was taught at Sinai along with all its
rules and detailed regulations (here in the Written
Torah, in the next verses), so all the other
mitzvot (which Read More >

18 05, 2006

Bâ€™har-Bâ€™hukotai

By ahsilver|2006-05-18T16:16:19-04:00May 18, 2006|

By Yechiel Buchband

As we open our portions, we may expect to find the
common phrase ‘Adonai spoke to Moses, saying . . .’
But we get a new addition to that phrase:
‘VaY’daber Adonai el-Moshe b’Har-Sinai
Laymor’ (Lev. 25:1). We might well wonder,
weren’t all these many mitzvot in Sefer
VaYikra spoken on/at/near Mt. Sinai? Why add
these words here?

Rashi frames the question a bit differently,
anticipating the first topic dealt with in the portion,
the Sabbatical or sh’mitah year. He asks – in
words so apt that they’ve become a saying in
Hebrew ‘ Mah inyan Sh’mitah eytzel Har-Sinai?!
(What’s the issue of Sh’mitah doing next
to Mt. Sinai; or, what does one thing have to do with
another?) Quoting the midrash in Sifra, Rashi
answers that the words b’Har Sinai come here
to inform us that just as this mitzvah of
Sh’mitah was taught at 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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