Parashat Noah

Parashat Noah: Balancing Two Promises
Rabbi Jill Hammer

In Parashat Noah, God commands Noah to build an ark so that his descendants may survive the flood that God is bringing upon the earth. Noah’s role, according to the biblical text, is as a partner in covenant with God: “I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall enter the ark…” Some midrashim emphasize a second aspect of Noah’s role: as a caretaker of animal diversity. In Genesis Rabbah 19:5, Noah runs from animal to animal to provide each one with the food it needs, to the extent that Noah does not sleep the entire time he is on the ark. The phoenix is so distressed at Noah’s hard work that it does not ask for anything to eat (and is rewarded with eternal life for its empathy).

Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, the rabbi and author, adds beautifully to this midrashic thread. In her book Noah’s Read More >

By Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD|2014-11-05T12:06:52-05:00November 5, 2014|

Parashat Bereishit

Overture: Our Place in God’s Purposive World
Rabbi Len Levin

“In the beginning God created heavens and earth” (older translation)

or

“When God began to create the heavens and the earth
— the earth being chaos-shmaos (Yochanan Muffs’ paraphrase of tohu va-vohu
with darkness over the face of the deep
and the spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters —
God said, Let there be light,
And there was light.

Any way you translate it, it is a fitting opening to the most formative book in the world. Like a classic overture, the beginning chapters of Genesis articulate the themes that will reverberate through the rest of the Torah as well as the historical and prophetic writings, the psalms, and the other components of the Bible. In broad strokes, it lays out the important elements of the biblical world view:

The world is ordered by God’s creative plan.
Everything in the world — skies, seas, land, Read More >

By Rabbi Len Levin|2014-11-05T12:05:31-05:00November 5, 2014|

Parashat Hukkat

Hukkat
Rabbi Michael Pitkowsky

This week’s parashah contains a somewhat strange description of what happened to the Children of Israel after they complained to God and Moses about their current precarious state. God’s response was to send poisonous serpents as a plague among the people. The people then come to Moses, admitted their fault, and God proceeded to tell Moses the cure, a serpent made of bronze.

“From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.” Then the LORD sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and Read More >

By ahsilver|2014-11-05T12:01:03-05:00November 5, 2014|

Parashat Korah

Korah
Rabbi Len Levin

The Question of Freedom

“For the congregation are all holy, and Adonai is among them; and why do you exalt yourselves over the congregation of Adonai?”
(argument of Korah, Numbers 16:3)

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
(American Declaration of Independence)

In 1976, Shabbat Korah came out on July 3, the eve of the United States bicentennial. I was attending a havurah retreat, and to stimulate discussion and reflection I composed a manifesto of the Kommunistishe Organisatzion fun Revolutioneren Anarchisten und Hard-hats (KORAH), which transposed Korah’s political agenda into modern revolutionary jargon and ended: “To your tents, O Israel! You have nothing to lose but your slave mentality.” It was conceived tongue-in-cheek but was intended to raise the serious questions: What, if anything, Read More >

By Rabbi Len Levin|2014-11-05T11:59:30-05:00November 5, 2014|

Parashat Shelah

Shelah
Rabbi Isaac Mann

The opening Rashi of this week’s Parashah (Numbers 13:2) addresses himself to the question of what is the connection between the story of the twelve spies sent by Moses to scout out the Land of Canaan and the end of the previous sedra (Beha’alotkha), which recounts the incident of Miriam speaking against her brother Moses. In answer to this question, Rashi quotes the Midrash that explains the connection on the basis of both stories involving speaking ill of someone or something, or what we would call lashon ha-ra. In Rashi’s words – “…for she [Miriam] was punished for speaking ill of her brother, and these wicked people [ten spies] saw it [the punishment meted out to Miriam] and didn’t take it to heart.” In other words, the ten spies who claimed that the Israelites would not be able to conquer the Land and disparaged it as well (“a land that devours its inhabitants” – Read More >

By Rabbi Isaac Mann|2014-11-05T11:31:11-05:00November 5, 2014|

Shavuot

Shavuot-Meditation on the Mountain

Rabbi Jill Hammer

1. “The Eternal called to him from the mountain, saying: ‘Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob, and speak to the children of Israel: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagle’s wings and brought you to me.'”

Exodus 19:3-4

Close your eyes and pay attention to your breath. As you sit in meditation, imagine climbing on the back of a great bird and being lifted on the wings of a great bird, so that you can see the world from high above. What do you see? What does it feel like to be carried by this winged presence? What perspective do you gain from high in the air? What does this new vision of the world ask of you?

Now, imagine that, from Read More >

By Rabbi Jill Hammer, PhD|2014-11-05T11:24:52-05:00November 5, 2014|

Parashat Bemidbar

Bemidbar
Hazan Marcia Lane

Where Am I? (or “Stuck in the Middle Again!”)

The fourth book of the Torah, Bemidbar, begins with one of those statements that sounds, at least to me, as if it was being narrated by Charlton Heston.

“The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, on the first day of the second month of the second year, after they came out of the land of Egypt, saying: Take a census ….” (Num. 1:1-2)

It’s a cinematic moment. The entire nation (together with all the hangers-on) have been camped at the foot of the mountain, growing and weaving and building all the elements of the mishkan– the movable sacred space – and learning the necessary laws for what will be their life as an independent nation, living in its own land. For two years and one month the people have been sojourning here, in the wilderness of Sinai, at the Read More >

By ahsilver|2014-11-05T11:21:59-05:00November 5, 2014|

Parashat Behukotai

Beukotai
Rabbi Michael Pitkowsky

The Ramban (Moses Nachmanides, Spain/1194-1270) makes a number of comments on this week’s parashah that relate to miracles and medicine, in other words, the relationship between trust in God and human initiated healing. It is worth remembering that not only was the Ramban a Biblical and Talmudic commentator, but he was also a physician.

“In general then, when Israel is in perfect [accord with G-d], constituting a large number, their affairs are not conducted at all by the natural order of things, neither in connection with themselves, nor with reference to their Land, neither collectively nor individually, for G-d blesses their bread and their water, and removes sickness from their midst, so that they do not need a physician and do not have to observe any of the rules of medicine. just as He said, “for I am the Eternal that healeth thee.” (Exodus 15:26) And so did the righteous Read More >

By ahsilver|2014-11-05T11:19:56-05:00November 5, 2014|

Parashat Behar

Behar
Rabbi Len Levin

All Persons Free under God

“Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” (Leviticus 25:10, inscription on the Liberty Bell)

“The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is Mine, for you are strangers and sojourners with Me.” (Leviticus 25:23, motto of the Jewish National Fund)

“For they are My servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as bondmen.” (Leviticus 25:42)

The liberation from Egyptian slavery, which we celebrated a few weeks ago during Passover, marked the beginning of a new regime of liberty for ancient Israel. But in the modern world, the spirit of freedom in the pages of Israel’s Bible served as an inspiration for the founders of the American Republic, and more recently for Zionism and the State of Israel.

The code of civil laws starting in Exodus Chapter 21 Read More >

By Rabbi Len Levin|2014-11-05T11:17:29-05:00November 5, 2014|

Parashat Emor

Emor
Rabbi Isaac Mann

The beginning of this week’s Torah portion is in a sense a continuation of last week’s, which dealt with the tenets of kedushah (holiness) that are incumbent upon all Israelites. In Emor the Torah begins with the specific strictures that apply only to the kohanim (the priests of Israel) due to their added state of holiness.

The Talmud (Yevamot 114a) takes note of the unusual wording of the first verse in this parashah (Lev. 21:1) – “G-d said to Moses ‘Say (emor) to the kohanim, the sons of Aaron, and say to them (ve’amarta aleihem) do not defile yourself by coming into contact with the dead…” The duplication apparent in this verse (see Rashi and Siftei Hakhamim ad loc.), which rabbinic interpretation generally eschews, is interpreted by the Rabbis as a warning to the priests – and by extension to everyone else – not to cause their offspring to violate the laws of the Torah. Thus, the first emor is directed to the Read More >

By Rabbi Isaac Mann|2014-11-05T11:15:05-05:00November 5, 2014|

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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