Mindful Torah...and more

This week's parashah /portion is Ki Tavo ( Devarim / Deuteronomy 26:1 -29:8). The opening words, from which the parashah takes it's name mean "when you enter," and refers to the ritual that the people are meant to enact when they enter the Promised Land and bring their first fruits as an offering. When the people bring the basket of first fruits to the priest we read (translation by Richard Elliot Friedman): "And the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down in front of the altar of YHWH, your God. And you shall answer and say in front of YHWH, your God:   My father was a perishing Aramean, so he went down to Egypt and resided there with few persons and became a big, powerful and numerous nation there. And the Egyptians were bad to us and degraded us and imposed hard work on us. And we cried out to YHWH ... And YHWH brought us out from Egypt ... to this place and gave us this land ... and now, here, I've brought the fir

I just wanted to drop a short line to my faithful readers (no pun intended).  As some of you may know, I have been in the throes of ending one job, beginning a new one and preparing to move. That is why I  have not had the time or energy to write a meaningful commentary these last few weeks. I will resume in the near future. In the meantime, I leave Amherst, MA today for Hamilton, NY, where I will be the Associate Chaplain and Director of Jewish Life at Colgate University.  I am thrilled about this new position.  The school and the people there are really wonderful, and I've no doubt it will be a great place to work.  But regardless, transitions are always difficult.  So I am trying to practice what I preach and be mindfully in the moment as I embark on this new adventure. See you soon in the blogosphere! B'shalom, spn PS I am still available to visit people's communities as a teacher or scholar/artist in-residence, so please feel free to contact me yourself or pa