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22 09, 2011

Parashat Nitzavim-VaYelekh

By ahsilver|2011-09-22T10:23:07-04:00September 22, 2011|

By Rabbi Robert Freedman

Two phrases vie for the honor of being the most important in the Torah, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and “Humanity was made in the divine image.” Humbly I’d like to nominate another for one of the top ten. The verse is, “For the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart to do it” (Deuteronomy 30:14). No other verse in Torah offers as strong reassuring certainty that we need not be confused or despairing about where to find life’s instruction manual.

At one time Moses protested that he was not a man of words, that for him speech was difficult and his lips were not fluent. But forty years later he preached the words of Deuteronomy. Throughout a full day he held forth, concluding by saying that the thing, the commandment, was not too far away or too difficult, “rather it is in your Read More >

14 09, 2011

Parashat Ki Tavo

By ahsilver|2011-09-14T12:39:38-04:00September 14, 2011|

By Rabbi Jaron Matlow

Lately I have been focusing on Theodicy, the problem of evil in the world. Over the last several years, I have experienced a number of health issues that left me on total disability. In Parashat Ekev, we are told that if we follow God s Torah, God œwill remove all sickness from you (Deut. 7:15). God states further œI am your Healer (Exodus 15:26). So naturally I ask myself the question, œIf I m suffering all these things, am I being punished, and given the suffering of others, are they being punished? Have we not followed Torah and Halakha sufficiently?

Our Parashah, Ki Tavo, is noted for the Tokhehot, the warnings and curses, if we don t follow Torah. In it we find Yak kha YHVH bishhin Mitzrayim uvat horim uvagarav uvehares asher lo tukhal l heirafei. Yak kha YHVH b shiga on u v ivaron u v timhon leivav, œGod will strike you with Read More >

8 09, 2011

Parashat Ki Tetze

By ahsilver|2011-09-08T12:53:31-04:00September 8, 2011|

September 11^th: Remembering to Forget, Forgetting to Remember

By Rabbi Regina L. Sandler-Phillips

“Remember what Amalek did to you on the way, in your going-out from Egypt….erase the memory of Amalek from under the heavens; do not forget!” (Deuteronomy 25:17, 19).

As we approach the 10^th anniversary of the tragedies that shook our city, our nation and our world, the final words of this week’s Torah portion are stark: Evil can be personified, and Amalek âˆ’ the personification of evil throughout the ages âˆ’ must be destroyed.

Yet questions present themselves. How do we “Remember” to “erase…memory”? If memory is erased, how can we “not forget”? And how do we understand exactly “what Amalek did”?

In the original narrative, we are told only that “Amalek came and fought with Israel” (Exodus 17:8). As the story is retold in this week’s portion, we learn of Amalek that “he tailed you, all the weakened-ones behind you; and you, weary Read More >

6 09, 2011

Parashat Shoftim

By ahsilver|2011-09-06T11:50:37-04:00September 6, 2011|

Ki ata ba el-ha’aretz, asher Adonai Elohekha notein lekha-lo tilmad la’asot, keto’avot hagoyim haheim, “When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations” (Deut 18:9).

In Parashat Shoftim, the land of which Moses speaks is the Promised Land, and his warning is specified in subsequent verses. We are to stay away from human sacrificing, divination, soothsayers, enchanters, sorcerers, charmers, wizards, and necromancers. There are no shortcuts and no special intermediaries.

Moses then continues his teaching: Tamim tihyeh, im Adonai Elohekha,”Thou shalt be whole-hearted with the Lord thy God” (Deut. 18:13). We are to be “whole-hearted” with Adonai our God. The Hertz commentary (p.827) cites Rashi’s interpretation of verse 13: “Walk with Him whole-heartedly and hope in Him. Pry not into the veiled future, but accept whatever lot befalls you. Then will you be His people and His Read More >

31 08, 2011

Parashat Re’eh

By ahsilver|2011-08-31T11:52:16-04:00August 31, 2011|

By Rabbi Dorit Edut and Cantor Liat Pelman

A Dialogue on Blessings vs. “Curses“

Dorit: As we approach the month of Elul next week and thoughts of Rosh HaShanah are not far off, we are confronted by a verse in this week’s Torah portion:

“See this day I set before you blessing and curse: blessing if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin upon you this day; and curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God….” (Deut.11:26-28, NewJPS translation).

How do we understand this verse really? Is this loving, all-powerful God also One who “curses” humans?

Liat: I am so grateful that you chose to put the word “curses” in quotation marks. Reading the Torah literally, as in this verse, is a turn-off for me; I relate to the saying: Life is hard, but God is good-all the time.

Dorit: Let’s look Read More >

10 08, 2011

Parashat VaEthanan

By ahsilver|2011-08-10T22:24:56-04:00August 10, 2011|

By Cantor Marcia Lane

In this second parashah in the book of Deuteronomy Moses continues his long death-bed peroration to the Israelite people. He reiterates the division of the land to the tribes, restates (with minor differences) the Aseret HaDibrot “ commonly called the Ten Commandments “ and states the most primary faith-statement of Judaism, the Shema. Here, in one neat package, is the legal and emotional basis for Jewish thought and practice. Creed and deed, paired in the same parashah.

In the Torah portion, Moshe tells the people of the dangers of worshipping anything other than God. œFor your own sake, be very careful “ since you saw no shape when Adonai, your God spoke to you in fire at Horeb “ not to make for yourself a sculpted image. ¦ (Deut. 4:15-16). And this is such a potent theme for Moshe that he says again, œTake care not to forget the covenant Adonai Read More >

3 08, 2011

Parashat D’varim

By ahsilver|2011-08-03T23:37:50-04:00August 3, 2011|

Vision, Lamentation, and the Question of “How?”

By Rabbi Regina L. Sandler-Phillips

The Shabbat on which the first portion of Deuteronomy is chanted from the Torah each year is called Shabbat Hazon ”the œSabbath of Vision. Its name comes most directly from the accompanying haftarah or prophetic reading, which proclaims “The vision of Isaiah, son of Amotz, which he envisioned over Judah and Jerusalem… (Isaiah 1:1).

At first glance, the œvision of these paired Torah and haftarah readings seems to be one of impending doom more than anything else. Each reading anticipates the imminent arrival of Tisha b’Av, our Jewish day of tragedy and mourning, during which we read the book that is called Lamentations in English and Eikha in Hebrew. Read More >

8 09, 2010

Parashat Ha’azinu

By ahsilver|2010-09-08T10:57:04-04:00September 8, 2010|

By Michael Kasper

How do we make sense of God as elegant, majestic, and breathtaking in one moment and vindictive, jealous, and consumed in the next?Â Is there a force more cunning than God shows himself to be in this week’s parashah?

There are only two places in all of Torah where Moses recites or sings extensive poetry – Shirat ha-Yam (Song of the Sea) and Ha’azinu (Give Ear) which is also known as Shirat Moshe (Song of Moses).Â And since the Hebrew word for song or poem is the same, shir, it is as if a heavenly light is particularly shown to direct our attention and focus our minds.Â We are left to imagine the voice of Moses, its timbre, timing, resonance, and feeling.Â And we are left to speculate what state of emotion he could possibly have been in as he Read More >

1 09, 2010

Parashat Nitzavim-VaYelekh

By ahsilver|2010-09-01T16:25:12-04:00September 1, 2010|

Nitzavim-VaYelekh, our double portion for this week, includes the 7^th Haftarah in a series of Haftarot of Comfort and Consolation, read on the 7 Shabbatot following Tisha B Av. It is read on the Shabbat just preceding Rosh Hashanah as we are entering the period of intense personal introspection and accounting that is the essence of the Days of Awe.

The Haftarah comes from the Book of Isaiah, and is generally assumed to have been written by a prophet who lived in exile in Babylonia after the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE. Â As with many of the prophetic writings, he writes about national issues, specifically God s redemption of the Israelites and their promised triumphant return to Zion after generations of exile.

The prophet is comforting the exiles with the assurance that God has forgiven their sins (presented in earlier writings) and that they will be returning to Zion, to Jerusalem. Read More >

24 08, 2010

Parashat Ki Tavo

By ahsilver|2010-08-24T18:26:39-04:00August 24, 2010|

By Steve Altarescu

If Deuteronomic theology has not troubled you so far, Ki Tavo will now challenge you as it pushes the concept of reward and punishment to the limit. For the purpose of review here are some highlights of this theology from earlier in the Book of Deuteronomy.

œGive heed to the laws ¦that you may live to enter and occupy the land. (Deut: 4:1)

œObey ¦that it may go well with you. (4:25)

œGod ¦keeps the covenant faithfully ¦of those who love God and keep God s commandments but instantly requites destruction on those who reject Him. (7:9-10)

œIf you do obey these rules ¦God will maintain ¦the covenant. (7:12)

œSee, this day I set before you blessing and curse: blessing if you obey the commandments ¦and curses if you do not obey the commandments. (11:26)

In summary, the Israelites were told that if they followed the commandments they would be blessed and rewarded, and if they did not they would be cursed and 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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