Mindful Torah...and more

Your throne was established long ago; you are from all eternity. I'm sorry I did not get to the psalm for Friday until now, but I have been busy preparing for a teaching weekend in Keene, NH that begins tonight.  Since Shabbat is almost here, I will keep today's comment short and sweet. God's presence is one of the few, if not the only, constant in our lives.  All else is impermanent and temporary, but God's presence is eternal.  Of course, how we experience that presence and what it means to us often changes based on what is happening in our life or simply in the moment. The idea of God's throne can be a problematic one, as it represents an image of God that no longer resonate with me (God as the old man on the throne ).  However, just as the throne is the seat of power, so too God is the source of power in my life.  It is not that God rules over me like a king or queen, makes my decisions for me or causes things to happen.  Rather, God's presence i...

Margins are still problematic. Again, my apologies if you are receiving this post multiple times. I think I figured out the problem and I'll make sure it doesn't happen again (hopefully)! spn This week's parashah /portion is Emor ( Vayikra /Leviticus 21:1-24:23). In this parashah we find the commandments to observe the three pilgrimage festivals: Pesakh /Passover, Sukkot (the Feast of Booths) and Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks).  All three of these festivals were traditional pilgrimage festival when the people would thank God for the various seasonal harvests.  Later, in rabbinical times, the festival of Shavuot became associated with the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai, since the festival occurs exactly seven weeks from the second day of Pesakh , which represents the exodus from Egypt. Immediately following the instructions for the festivals and the commandment to harvest the fields and bring grain as an offering for the Shavuo...

Raise a song; sound the tambourine, the sweet lyre with the harp. After the violent and difficult verse from yesterday's psalm, today's is a pleasant sight! This is clearly a psalm of joy.  It has always amazed me how many words there are for joy or celebrate in Hebrew, as well as in English and other languages.  Many of these words are found in the psalms and other biblical texts.  But today's verse is not simply about the need to celebrate, but intructions are given.  And these tell us that the Levites had quit an orchestra  all those years ago.  For they were the ones who would sing the psalms as part of the rituals that included animal sacrifices as well as other sacrifices and offerings to God.  And so, just as animals were being slaughtered and burned and blood was being sprinkled on the altar, so too the Levites were singing and playing their instruments.  Both song and sacrifice were part of the effort to praise and thank God in this ...

Rise up, O Judge of the earth; give to the proud what they deserve This psalm is definitely the most challenging for me.  The images are strong and often violent.  So I'm interested in seeing what arises within me as I sit with each verse. Pride is something with which I have a real love/hate relationship.  I am proud of my accomplishments in life, and yet I know that pride can easily lead to hubris.  In Christianity, pride is one of the seven deadly sins.  Judaism doesn't go quite that far.  But our tradition does give warning to those who might become too proud.  This verse is a case in point. As I have taken to writing, teaching and performing more, I have struggled with the issue of "promoting myself." It has always felt a bit haughty and certainly not modest.  And yet I know that I have something to teach and to offer others.  I wouldn't be writing this blog if I didn't. The turning point that allowed me to feel more comfortable...

How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah In many ways avoiding judgment is THE central principal of mindfulness.  "Moment by moment non-judgmental awareness" is how Jon Kabat-Zinn  once defined mindfulness.  Yet, we all judge. We judge our selves. We judge others. We judge thoughts, actions, ideas, foods, colors, clothing.....the list could go on ad infinitum . Judging of any kind can bring suffering into the world and eclipse compassion and mercy.  But another problem with judging is that it is often based on faulty observations, past experience and biases.  How often have we judged only to later realize that our judgment was based on faulty information? This verse can remind us that there really is no way to judge justly (I'm not talking about the world of jurisprudence).  Judging is unjust, or shall we say counterproductive, to being mindful and compassionate.  In passing judgment we can also run the risk of sup...

1. A Song; a Psalm of the sons of Korah Normally, if a psalm begins "A Psalm of ...." I would simply add vs. 2 and comment on both.  However, the phrase "a psalm of the sons of Korah" struck me.  13 of the 150 psalms are attributed to b'nei Korah .  How strange, since Korah was the cousin of Moses, from the tribe of Levi, who led a brief rebellion against Moses and was swallowed up by the earth as a consequence.  How is it that his descendants became not only sacred musicians, as were all the Levites, but sacred composers as well? As Rabbi Perry Netter points out in his commentary on the Torah portion of Korah , "The sons embraced the claim of the father that they were indeed holy, and they wrote holy words. His sons became poets; they wrote Psalms...Korach is the symbol of rebellion and conflict and despair; his sons are a symbol of hope." The sons who wrote the psalm lived generations after their namesake.  The fact that they were still very mu...

1 A Psalm of David. The earth is the Eternal's, and the that fills it; the world, and those who dwell within. I have always found David to be one of the most difficult biblical figures to like.  He may have been heroic when he fought Goliath.  He may have been tender in his love of Jonathan.  But he also connived, manipulated and murdered (or at least sent the 'hit men') in order to marry a woman who was another man's wife (Bathsheba).  Tradition teaches that God did not allow David to build the Temple in Jerusalem because of the blood of war that was on his hands.  Perhaps all of this is why the majority of the psalms have been attributed to David by our sages. Allowing David, the conniver, to also become the "sweet singer of Israel" in a way redeems him.  Or it least shows us that he was more than just the sum of his misdeeds.  It can also serve to remind us that we have all of these aspects within each of us as well.  We are complex beings ...

This week we read the double portion/ parashah of Aharei Mot-Kedoshim (Vayikra/Leviticus 16:1-20). These two portions contain numerous mitzvot/commandments, some of which make sense to us today, some which don't, and some which are totally antithetical to what we view as righteousness and justice. This includes the "holiness code" in chapter 19 which includes the commandment "you shall be holy, for I, the Eternal your God, am holy" as well as "you shall love your fellow human being as yourself."  This section is viewed by our tradition as the center of the Torah.  Indeed, it is actually located almost at the center of the scroll itself.  And yet, much of what is found in this parashah is still perplexing to me.  Some of it is abhorrent. I was thinking about this when I read R. Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev's 19th century commentary on a verse from the parashah: "You shall observe My statutes and My laws which, if a person do them, that pe...

The Eternal reigns; God is clothed in majesty;  The Eternal is clothed, God has girded God's self with strength; yes, the world is established, that it cannot be moved. Since I still need to post a Torah commentary for Shabbat I will keep this brief. In looking at this verse I am simply reminded of the eternal nature and the oneness of the Divine.  The created worlds, including we imperfect humans, are the majestic clothing of the Divine.  The ebb and flow of the divine energy through humanity, the world and back to God ad infinitum is the girding of strength.  The world is one with God. We are one with God.  Creation is one with God.  The essence of Divinity is unity.  That is the essence of the world.  That is what is, was and will be established.  That is what will never change.  If we humans would only remember this more often there would be far less suffering in the world!

לַמְנַצֵּחַ עַל-הַגִּתִּית לְאָסָף. הַרְנִינוּ, לֵאלֹהִים עוּזֵּנוּ;    הָרִיעוּ, לֵאלֹהֵי יַעֲקֹב For the Leader; upon the Gittith. [A Psalm] of Asaph. Sing aloud unto God our strength; shout unto the God of Jacob. [Note: Gittith is an instrument of unknown origin. Asaph, though here the name of the author or group of authors,  comes from the verb for "to gather"] Each day we must sing from our hearts.  We must make each word, each breath, each utterance a song to God. Everything that comes out of our mouths should be for the betterment of the world and not its detriment. We are commanded in verse 2 to sing to the God of our strength.  This reminds us that we must temper our inner strength and power with joy and compassion.  Singing our strength keeps up in balance. But we must also shout to the God of Jacob. When our ancestor was simply Jacob, he was a spoiled, conniving young man who stole the birthright and blessing from his brother Esau and then...

"The Eternal is a God of vengeance; avenging God shine forth!" We don't want to think of vengeance as part of God. Yet if the Divine is the source of all, we must grapple with what we label as being "negative," "bad," or "evil."  And so this psalm reminds us that vengeance, one of our most primal and primitive drives, also has its roots in the Divine energy that flows through us.  And so we are not asking God to shine vengeance on the world.  Rather, we are asking God that is the source of all (however you want to define that), including vengeance, to enable us to see the vengeance in the world. Only by shining light on it and acknowledge it can we then do what is necessary to avoid it.  As human beings created in God's image and working in partnership with the Divine, this reminds us that it is our responsibility to do the godly work of helping to rid our world of vengeance and hatred as well.

I'm going to try to comment on a verse from the psalm designated for that day in the Jewish tradition as a mindfulness practice, so I figured I'd share them with you. I hope to be able to do this every day and keep them as brief as possible. If not, I'll try not to judge myself too harshly! So here comes my first effort:Psalm 82, Vs. 1 (sorry this comes so late in the day): "God stands within God's community; in the midst of "gods" the Eternal judges." We are all connected through a power greater than ourselves. Wherever we are, we are constantly surrounded by other 'gods', other forces that pull us and tempt us. But in the midst of all this we must find our center...that sense of connection that which grounds us in the moment.

This week we read the double parashah (portion) of Tazria-Metzora ( Vayikra /Leviticus 12:1-15:33). These two parshiot dealing with issues of skin afflictions, purity and holiness.  The beginning of the parashah describes how Aaron and his sons, the cohanim /priests, are assigned the duty of examining people with tzara'at /skin afflictions both to determine the extent of the affliction and when they are healed.  While afflicted, the person must remain outside the camp. Once declared to be healed they may return to the community.  The classic rabbinic interpretation of tzara'at is that it is the result of some type of moral or spiritual "impurity" or immoral actions.  In fact, metzorah (the one suffering from the disease) is read by the rabbis as an acronym for motzi shem ra , one who one who slanders another's name. Therefore, one who slanders or gossips is punished with this affliction.  The idea that a physical affliction is an external manife...

Dear friends- I must apologize for this post being so late. I could give you all the reasons, but I don't want to bore you. So I hope you still find this post meaningful. And it will always be here when Shemini roles around next year! Shavua Tov (a good week), Steven This week’s Torah portion is Shemini ( Vayikra /Leviticus 9:1 - 11:47). Most of the final chapter of the parashah contains the rules concerning which animals are fit for consumption by the Israelites and which are not. This list is still the basis for the laws of kashrut (keeping kosher) to this day. For centuries, various rabbis and commentators have attempted to explain the reasoning behind these laws, as well as the other laws of kashrut . Some have made the case that they were created for medical reasons. Others say that they were created in order to keep the Jewish people separate as a community. Still others believe that these laws are beyond human understanding and we simply must obey them b...

Shabbat Hol Ha'moed Pesakh (Intermediate Sabbath of Passover)   In the Torah reading for the Shabbat of Pesakh /Passover ( Shemot /Exodus 33:12-34:26), we find Moses climbing Mt. Sinai for the second time after smashing the tablets of the Ten Commandments at the foot of the Golden Calf.  He is preparing to spend another 40 days on the mountain in order to receive the 2 nd set of tablets.  While there, one might say that Moses has a crisis of faith. He needs to know that God will be there with him and in front of him before he is prepared to return to leading the people on their journey.  Furthermore, he implores God to show him the Divine face so he can see God face to face.  In other words, Moses wants to see and to know God in an absolutely certain way.  After all that has happened, he not only needs reassurance that God is there and that God is going to be with him as he leads the people.  He needs to know God.  Just as the ta...