Mindful Torah...and more

With the new year approaching, I thought that this was a good time to re-post my midrashic story for this week's parashah /portion. I am posting this early, as I may not have internet access on Friday. I hope you enjoy it and find it meaningful. Early Shabbat Shalom and a Happy (secular) New Year to you all! SPN --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This week's Torah portion, Vayigash (Genesis 44:18), begins " Vayigash aylav Yehudah.. .." "And Judah drew near" to Joseph to plead for his brother Benjamin's freedom. Judah volunteered to be taken as a slave in Benjamin's place, so that his father Jacob would not 'lose' the only other son of his beloved Rachel (believing still that Joseph was dead). Judah pleads with Joseph to keep him in Egypt, instead of Benjamin. Moved by Judah's appeal, Joseph, moved to tears, decides at the moment Judah offers himself to reveal his true

In this week's parashah /portion, Miketz (Genesis/ Bereshit 41:1 - 44:17), the saga of Joseph and his brothers continues. We read in the narrative of Joseph interpreting Pharaoh's dreams, being made vizier of Egypt and then of his brothers coming to seek food during the famine. We also read of Joseph hiding his true identity from his brothers and "torturing" them – and indirectly his father Jacob – by sending them back to Canaan to bring back his youngest brother Benjamin while keeping Simeon captive. Then, when the brothers return with Benjamin, much against Jacob's wishes, Joseph has his silver goblet hidden in Benjamin's sack and accuses him of stealing, sentencing him to remain as Joseph's slave. One can view the entire Joseph saga as an allegory for  the journey of the ego. When Joseph is filled with pride and hubris, he is the personification of the ego. It is the job of the ego to obfuscate one's view of reality and replace the sense of union

אַשְׁרֵ֤י הַגֶּ֣בֶר אֲשֶׁר־תְּיַסְּרֶ֣נּוּ יָּ֑הּ וּֽמִתֹּורָתְךָ֥ תְלַמְּדֶֽנּוּ Happy is the one who is chastened by God, and those whom You teach from Your Torah. In my commentary on Psalm 94:10 (two weeks ago), I discussed the issue of “chastisement.” In that Psalm, God was referred to as the One who chastises the nations. In my commentary I wrote that chastisement was simply punishment for its own sake, whereas rebuke (also used in that verse) had the greater purpose of educating as well. In this verse, it seems strange at first that those who are chastised should be happy. However, it also seems that the psalmist is also in some way connecting chastisement with learning. That is what leads to happiness. But, it's not just any teaching, but God's teaching, or Torah. However, in reading this verse it is also important to note which name for God that is used. The Psalmist here does not use the full tetragramaton (4 letter name

This week we begin reading the story of Joseph with Parshat Va'yeishev ( Bereshit /Genesis 37:1- 40:23). In this parashah we read of Joseph's contentious relationship with his brothers, his receiving of an “ornamental tunic” (read: Technicolor Dreamcoat) as a sign of his father's favoritism and of his dreams which seem to symbolize that his family members would some day bow down to him. Then Joseph is thrown into a pit by his brothers and eventually they sell him to a traveling nomadic caravan rather than kill him. The brothers convince Jacob that Joseph must have been killed. Once the caravan arrives in Egypt, Joseph is sold as a slave to Potiphar. While in Potiphar's house, his (nameless) wife attempts to seduce Joseph numerous times, but to no avail. We read of her first attempt, “After a time, his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph and said, 'Lie with me. But he refused (Genesis 39:8).” In her final attempt, she grabs hold of Joseph's ga

יְֽ הוָ֗ה יֹ֭דֵעַ מַחְשְׁבֹ֣ות אָדָ֑ם כִּי־הֵ֥מָּה הָֽבֶל׃ God knows the thoughts of human beings, for they are breath. I must begin by admitting how glad I was to first read the verse for this week, especially since I waited until the last minute to write my commentary!  It's not that this is such a simple or transparent verse, since I don't believe that any verse in the psalms is either of those. However, it was a verse that spoke to me the second I read it. For it is a verse that in some ways expresses my idea of mindfulness. It may be true that the essence of mindfulness is the concept of “moment to moment non-judgmental awareness”, as Jon Kabat-Zinn once said. However, from a religious/Jewish point of view, this is just the starting point. For to me, it is about the moment to moment awareness of God's presence, however one chooses to define that.  To say that God knows the thoughts of human beings means simply that God is a part of everyth

This week's parashah/ portion is Va'yishlakh ( Bereshit / Genesis 32:4 – 36:43). The parashah begins with Jacob wrestling through the night with the stranger/divine being/angel (take your pick) and his reunion with his brother Esau. It then continues with one of the most disturbing narratives in the Torah, the rape of Jacob's only daughter Dinah. In this narrative (Gen. Ch. 34) Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and Leah, “goes out to see the women of the land.” Then, Shekhem, the son of Hivite, chief of the country in which they were dwelling (also called Shekhem) “saw her, and took her and lay with her by force.” We then read that he is in love with “the maiden” Dinah and he demands that his father get her for him as a wife. Hamor negotiates with Jacob for Dinah. Jacob has already heard of Dinah's rape, but says nothing. His sons, who had been working in the fields, are incensed by the fact that Shekhem had “committed an outrage against Israel by lying

הֲיֹסֵ֣ר גֹּ֭ויִם הֲלֹ֣א יֹוכִ֑יחַ הַֽמְלַמֵּ֖ד אָדָ֣ם דָּֽעַת׃ Shall the one who chastises the nations not rebuke; Shall the one who teaches humanity not know? There seems to be a difference of opinion as to the correct translation of the second part of the verse. Some translate it as I have above. Others translates the verse as, “Shall the one who chastises the nations not rebuke? The one who teaches humanity knowledge!”. The first translation follows the same pattern as verse 9 (see last week's commentary): “Shall the one who implanted the ear? The one who formed the eye not see?” And so that seems to me the more likely. However, nothing says I can't use a little of each translation when writing my commentary! In this verse, God is portrayed as the one who chastises the nations. This is certainly a powerful image of punishment. However, the other verb in the first half of the verse has a different connotation. Rebuke can also be translated as “r

In this week’s parashah, Va’yetze (Genesis/ Bereshit 28:10 - 32:3) the saga of Jacob/Yaakov continues. After fleeing from the anger of his brother, Esau, he finally arrives in the land of Haran, his ancestral homeland. Almost immediately upon arriving, he meets his cousin Rachel at the well. There he is immediately so smitten by her that he, the one often portrayed as weak, sedentary and studious – is miraculously able to role a heavy stone away from the well with a single push! When taken to meet his maternal uncle Lavan he is embraced warmly. When Lavan agrees to allow Yaakov to work for him, he asks what his salary should be. Yaakov responds that he would like nothing more than to work for Lavan seven years in exchange for Rachel’s hand in marriage. Lavan agrees. Of course, most of us are aware of what ensues: Yaakov works for seven years in order to marry Rachel. Lavan, reminded that in his part of the world the younger is not to be married before the firstborn, substitutes R

הֲנֹ֣טַֽע אֹ֖זֶן הֲלֹ֣א יִשְׁמָ֑ע אִֽם־ יֹ֥צֵֽר עַ֝֗יִן הֲלֹ֣א יַבִּֽיט .9 Does the One who has implanted the ear not hear? Does the one who formed the eye not see? In my commentary on this verse I continue the them from my previous commentaries (sorry it has been so long since my last one. See my posting from May 31, 2011 for verse 8 and a recap of the first 7 verses). I read this psalm as the struggle between humanity and the ego. The ego is what tries to separate us from the Divine in the universe. The ego is the enemy of Oneness. What struck me immediately in this verse is the use of the singular nouns eye and ear, as well as the use of the two different verbs to describe their creation. God implants (literally, “plants” the ear and forms the eye. Then the psalmist asks the rhetorical question: “doesn't the one who created the eye and ear hear and see what's going on (even when we try to hide it)?” This is a theme first broached when God asks A

I hope those of you in the USA are enjoying their Thanksgiving holiday.  As this is a holiday weekend, I am publishing a previously published post from two years ago.  However, it is also in keeping with much of what I have been thinkin about recently, especially having led a men's Shabbaton (Shabbat retreat) in Boston two weeks ago.  I hope you find it meaningful. Shabbat Shalom. Mindful Torah: Toldot: On Being a Jewish Man : This week’s parashah /portion is Toledot (Bereshit/Genesis 25:19 – 28:9). It begins with the phrase “these are the generations of Isaac, so...

This week's parashah is Hayei Sarah ( Bereshit /Genesis 23:1 - 25:18 ), which begins by informing the reader that Sarah was 127 years old when she died. It then continues with the story of Abraham buying the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron in which to bury her and to then serve as the family burial site. He then commands his chief household servant to return to his homeland of Haran in order to find a wife for Isaac from among his kin. The servant returns with Rebekah, the daughter of Abraham's nephew Bethuel. Isaac then marries her and they begin their life together. The parashah ends with Abraham's death and Isaac and Ishmael burying him together alongside Sarah in the Cave of Machpelah . This is the parashah which marks the transition from the first patriarch/matriarch couple to the birth of Jacob, who is to be born in next week's parashah, whose sons are to be the patriarchs of the future 12 Tribes of Israel. Without the birth of Isaac, God's promise of

This week's parashah /portion is Lekh L'kha (Genesis/ Bereshit 12:1-17:27). It begins with the call from God to Abram (later Abraham), “Go forth from your land, and from your birth place and from your father's house to the land that I will show you.” It seems that every year when I comment on this parashah, I never get beyond this particular verse. Yet each year I find new meaning in it. Such is the way of Torah. I have focused in the past on the phrase “ lekh l'kha – go forth.” Because of it's unusual construction the phrase can mean, and is interpreted by many as, “go (in)to yourself.” The central idea of these commentatories is that Abram is commanded by God to take a journey inward to find his “authentic self, to learn who he was meant to be” ( Mei ha'Shiloah ). Others comment on the fact that God commands Abram not simply to leave his home, but to leave his land, his birth place and his father's home. Each place that he is commanded to