Parashat Shemini

Hazzan Marcia Lane

I’m a ‘mostly vegetarian.’ I started years ago because of stories on NPR about feed lots. Cattle raised in feed lots stay in one place, standing in their own excrement. They are fed corn – which is not what cattle normally eat. I mean, think about it. How could a cow shuck an ear of corn? Corn is really food for people and crows. Feed lot cattle are raised in such terrible conditions that they develop multiple health problems, for which they are given antibiotics and growth hormones. So I gave up beef. That was not really a problem, because I had chicken, and I loved chicken. So versatile! Less expensive! And much easier to eat without a fork and knife.

Then I heard about the conditions under which chickens are raised. The thought of stuffing hundreds and hundreds of birds into a small space and Read More >

By ahsilver|2015-04-15T21:19:18-04:00April 15, 2015|

Pesah and Sefirat Haomer

The Crossing of the Sea and Serach bat Asher
by Rabbi Jill Hammer

The Israelites believed because they heard, not because they saw the signs. What made them believe? The sign of redemption. They had this sign as a tradition from Jacob… Asher, the son of Jacob, had handed down the secret to his daughter Serach, who was still alive. This is what he told her: “Any redeemer that will come and say to my children pakod yifkod (“he will surely remember you”) shall be regarded as a true deliverer. When Moses came and said these words, the people believed him at once.

Exodus Rabbah 5:13

Rav Yochanan was sitting and preaching: “How did the water of the Sea of Reeds appear like walls to Israel? It looked like thick bushes.” Serach daughter of Asher looked into the study-house and said: “I was there, and it didn’t look like that at all. It looked like bright Read More >

By Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD|2015-04-08T11:06:25-04:00April 8, 2015|

Pesah

PESAH: THE SECRET OF JEWISH MEMORY

by Rabbi Len Levin

The taste of the maror and haroset are imprinted in my sensory memory, along with the smell of the wine and the eggs. The crunchy feel of the first seder matzah between my tongue and teeth. The sound of the familiar melodies and the voices of my family. The sights–the candles, the tablecloth, the special dishes, the Seder plate, the family gathered around the table. All the senses are engaged. Every layer of my personality– subconscious, conscious, and superconscious–focused on the ritual commemoration of our formative historical experience.

This is how Jewish group memory gets transmitted from generation to generation. This is why we have survived for over three thousand years and have kept up the journey several times around the world and back to our homeland in living memory.

In every generation each person should see himself or herself as if he or she Read More >

By Rabbi Len Levin|2015-04-03T07:46:26-04:00April 3, 2015|

Parashat Tzav-Shabbat Hagadol

by Rabbi Michael Pitkowsky

The practice of offering korbanot, sacrifices, was central to Israelite and Jewish worship for centuries. While during the Biblical period it may have been natural to offer an animal sacrifice, since then Jewish thinkers have been trying to interpret the meaning of the sacrificial system. The important 13th century Spanish Biblical commentator, Rabbi Moses Nachmanides, the Ramban, wrote an extended discussion about the meaning of the sacrificial system in his commentary on Leviticus. (See Ramban on Leviticus 9:1)

In his commentary the Ramban brings the historical approach to the sacrificial system that was offered by Rabbi Moses Maimonides, the Rambam. According to the Rambam, in order to understand the korbanot we must historically contextualize them in their ancient setting. The Ramban disagreeed with the Rambam’s approach and offered another understanding of the sacrificial system, one that interpreted the sacrifices in all their details as a mirror Read More >

By ahsilver|2015-03-26T23:11:30-04:00March 26, 2015|

Parashat Vayikra

by Rabbi Isaac Mann

In chapter 4 of this week’s Torah reading, we have four categories of people who sinned unknowingly and who have to bring some kind of sin offering (korban hatat) as a result. The Torah describes in some detail the specific animals and manner of offering for these four, who are, in chronological order, (1) the high priest, (2) the entire congregation (interpreted by the Rabbis as referring to the high court or Sanhedrin), (3) the nasi or king, and (4) the individual.

In each case, save for the third category, the Torah introduces the possibility that one may sin by the word im or ve’im, which means “if.” For the nasi, however, the paragraph is introduced by asher, which can also mean “if.” Indeed the Targum Onkelos translates it with the same word (im) that he uses for the other categories. However the Midrash (Vayikra Rabba, Read More >

By Rabbi Isaac Mann|2015-03-18T16:22:10-04:00March 18, 2015|

Parashat Va-Yakhel-Pekudei

All Together, One at a Time
by Hazzan Marcia Lane

The two final parshiyot, Va-yakhel (“he assembled”) and Pekudei (“accounting”), of the book of Exodus are frequently read together. This is due to the vagaries of the Jewish calendar and to the brevity of these two sections of the Torah, not to any particular theological statement. Nonetheless, the fact that they are so often paired can give us insights into the nature of the phenomenon of ‘peoplehood’ and individuality, and how they are perceived and fostered.

In these parshiyot, right after the section about the idolatry of the Golden Calf, Moses calls together the entire kahal, the whole congregation of Israel. Men, women, children, Israelites and hangers-on, all are present to hear a recapitulation of God’s instructions concerning the collecting of gifts (terumah) and the building of the tabernacle (mishkan) and the creation of the priestly vestments. If you’ve been following the past few weeks Read More >

By ahsilver|2015-03-11T21:08:34-04:00March 11, 2015|

Parashat Ki Tisa

Cantor Sandy Horowitz

“Wanted: Two senior craftsmen to lead team of builders in creating the largest portable dwelling ever made. Must be wise and able to learn from others; only those endowed with the spirit of God may apply. Technical skills a must.”

Imagine reading such a job posting? Say you’re a pretty good builder or engineer with solid management experience, you had decent SAT scores and attended a respectable college; now you’ve found what looks like the perfect job assignment, and they’re asking for things like — wisdom — what gives? Nobody graded you on wisdom in college!

Yet these are the qualifications cited in Parashat Ki Tisa, when God tells Moses to appoint Bezalel and Aholiav not only to build the tabernacle and the ark but all the vessels, vestments and accessories therein.

The task is daunting, and it’s got to be done right, after all, we’re talking about nothing less than God’s sanctuary-in-the-desert. Read More >

By Cantor Sandy Horowitz|2015-03-04T23:06:36-05:00March 4, 2015|

Parashat Tetzaveh

Parashat Tetzaveh: The Garments of the High Priest
by Rabbi Jill Hammer

Parashat Tetzaveh teaches us about the garments of the high priest who was to serve in the mishkan, the sanctuary: “These are the vestments they shall make: a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a coat, a turban, and a sash.” (Exodus 28:4) There are also a headplate or tzitz, and pants, mentioned elsewhere. In this parashah, we learn of magnificent and mysterious garments, of fine materials, in rich colors. When the Jews went into exile, when the Temple was destroyed, what became of these wonderful garments?

A midrash, found in Esther Rabbah, claims that during their famous parties in Shushan, Ahasuerus and Vashti wore the garments of the high priest, garments that had been carried off during the attack on the Temple in Jerusalem. This midrash gives the royal parties of the Persian empire a sinister cast: to make a claim that the Read More >

By Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD|2015-02-26T00:10:46-05:00February 26, 2015|

Parashat Terumah

God is Elevated by the Gift of Our Talents
Rabbi Len Levin

“Speak unto the Israelites, that they take for Me an elevation-offering (terumah); from each person, as his heart moves him, shall you take My terumah.” Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev commented: Every person is obligated to serve his or her Creator through deed and thought, for the person’s intention and holy thought, s/he raises the Shekhina up from the dust, and through the deed s/he raises herself up and does good on her own behalf” (Kedushat Levi on Ex. 25:2).

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak presumably knew Hebrew well enough to know that the word terumah meant simply an offering. Why was a word from the root rum (“raise high”) used to designate this? Perhaps because when a person brought an offering to the priest, he would perform the gesture of raising the basket of produce or small animal as a token of formal presentation. Read More >

By Rabbi Len Levin|2015-02-18T22:11:40-05:00February 18, 2015|

Parashat Mishpatim

by Rabbi Michael Pitkowsky

In his comments on this week’s parashah, Yeshayu Leibowitz pointed out an interesting comment by the Gaon of Vilna on Exodus 21:5-6.

But if the slave declares, “I love my master, and my wife and children: I do not wish to go free,” his master shall take him before God. He shall be brought to the door or the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall then remain his slave for life.

The Gaon makes the following comment in his book Aderet Eliyahu on these verses.

“Or to the doorpost”: The simple meaning of the verse is that the doorpost (mezuzah) is also valid, but the halakhah uproots scripture (אבל ההלכה עוקרת את המקרא), and so it is in the majority of this parashah, and in a number of parshiyot in the Torah, and this is the greatness of the Oral Law that it goes Read More >

By ahsilver|2015-02-11T23:59:38-05:00February 11, 2015|

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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