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Showing posts from July, 2009

Poetic Midrash on Parshat Balak

- July 09, 2009

This week we read a double parasha/portion from the Torah, Hukat-Balak (Numbers/Be'midbar 19:1-25:9). This week I will focus only on the portion of Balak. In this narrative, Balak king of Midian, hires the magician Bilaam to curse the Israelites. However, no matter how hard he might try, he may only utter words of praise. On his way to Balak, Bilaam encounters a fiery angel on the path. However, Bilaam does not see the angel. Only his donkey, who stops in his tracks and refuses to move, see it. Finally, after Bilaam begins to beat the donkey in order to get him to move, the donkey miraculously begins to speak. To paraphrase, he says "you've known me all these years! Doesn't the fact that I stopped dead in my tracks tell you that something is wrong? Open your eyes!" In reading this section, the old adage "never assume" came to mind. And so, this midrashic poem on the parashah. Shabbat Shalom, Steve Nathan Never assume Never assume For when you do...

Bio

Rabbi Steve Nathan is a 1994 graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Wyncote, PA. He has also trained in storytelling with Peninnah Schramm and in mindfulness meditation with Sylvia Boorstein, Rabbi Jeffrey Roth, and Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg.

Steve has served in numerous Jewish communal settings and feels blessed to be able to share his thoughts and his writings with you. He always welcomes comments or questions regarding his blog posts and is also happy to visit your community (see information below).

Currently Steve lives in Bethlehem, PA and serves as Director of Jewish Student Life and Associate Chaplain at Lehigh University. He also leads services and teaches adults learning on regular bases at Reconstructionist Congregation Am Haskalah in Bethlehem.

Bring me to Your Community as a Scholar or Artist in-Residence!

BRING ME TO YOUR COMMUNITY!
All programs can be tailored for your community. This information is followed by some "reviews" of my work.

Hear
With Your Heart
Listen
With Your Soul

A Mindful Approach to
Jewish Spirituality and Life

Experiencing the Heart
and Soul of Shabbat
Discover new meaningful ways to experience Shabbat and create spiritual community through …
• Mindfulness meditation
• Chants, songs, and niggunim
• Poetic and other original Torah commentary
• Contemplative prayer and Torah study
• Creating original Torah commentaries, poetry or midrash

Preparing Your Heart and Soul for the Holy Days
Use meditation, chanting, prayer, study and other practices to prepare your heart and soul for the High Holy Days, Sukkot, Passover, Shavuot or other holy days.

Mindful Torah and Mindful Midrash:
Finding Yourself in the Torah and the Torah in You
• Enter the Pardes (orchard) of Torah through relaxation, meditation, chanting and contemplative Torah study.
• Discover and explore personal and group connections with the Torah text and the personalities within it.
• Create original interpretations and midrash using prose, poetry, music, art, or any medium to express your personal connection to the narrative and the people in them.
• PERFECT for adults preparing to deliver a d’var torah, or who simply want to experience the Torah in a different way.
• A UNIQUE way for educators of all experience levels to engage and excite their students through learning Torah.

For more information on how to bring me to your community e-mail me at mindfultorah@gmail.com or call 215-514-3463.

A Little About Me

I was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (www.rrc.edu) in 1994. In addition to serving as a rabbi and educator in synagogues and school, as well as on college campuses, I have studied midrash and storytelling with renowned storyteller Peninnah Schram at the Institute for Contemporary Midrash. I have also studied Judaism and mindfulness practice with Sylvia Boorstein and Rabbis Jeffrey Roth and Sheila Peltz Weinberg through the Meditation Leadership Training program at Elat Chayyim Spiritual Retreat Center (www.elatchayyim.org).

Read what others have to say about me as a teacher, scholar, writer and artist ...

"Your scholar in-residence program here was wonderful! I have heard from the community how the variety of teaching, meditation, drumming, and sharing your original poetry moved people from different age groups, interest groups, and varying levels and styles of spiritual and religious connection. Thank you!"

- Rabbi Sarah Rubin, Congregation Ahavas Achim, Keene, NH

“Steven uses a Jewish sense of play-on-words in creating new worlds through words. He transforms ancient stories through connections I hadn't realized until now. He brings the stories alive with a midrashic wonder and infuses them with creative imagination and passion in a sacred storytelling voice.”
- Peninnah Schram, author of Jewish Stories One Generation Tells Another and Stories Within Stories: From the Jewish Oral Tradition

“Steven has a wonderful way of integrating mindfulness insights into his interpretation of Jewish texts. He enables us to delve deeply into them and the characters within them in order to discover something new within ourselves.”
- Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg, senior faculty, Institute for Jewish Spirituality

“Rabbi Nathan brought a deep sense of kavvanah and spirituality to our weekend together. He did this through Friday evening Kabbalat Shabbat drumming and chanting, heart-felt prayer explanations, early morning guided meditation program, his poetic interpretation of the Torah portion and his interactive Havdalah midrash program. Rabbi Nathan is the one to turn to if you want to experience Shabbat in a whole new way!”
- Rabbi Michael Beals, Congregation Beth Shalom, Wilmington, DE

“It is clear that Steven knows and cares about Jewish spirituality. His mindfulness about the material as a teacher is matched only by his thoughtfulness in helping us uncover our own feelings about its meaning in our lives.”
- Janet Ruth Falon, author of The Jewish Journaling Book (Jewish Lights Publishing)