Mindful Torah...and more

This is a reworking of a commentary posted last year. I apologize for not providing a new commentary, but such is my life these days.  May you all have a joyous Shabbat and Sukkot. SPN  ----------------- Though this evening is Shabbat, it also the middle of the festival of Sukkot . As one of the three pilgrimage festivals (along with Pesakh /Passover and Shavuot) it is one of the three times per year when our ancestors would make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. This pilgrimage was to give thanks to God for the fall harvest and to pray that the coming months would bring adequate rain for next year’s crops. The day after Sukkot ends, on the festival of Shemini Atzeret (which some view as the last day of Sukkot) the Jewish people around the world begin to insert the prayer for rain in our daily liturgy. On the Shabbat of Sukkot, it is also customary to read from the biblical book of Kohelet /Ecclesiastes during Sukkot. This biblical book begins with the well known “F...

It seems that every year Ha'azinu ( Devarim /Deuteronomy 32:1-52)is a parashah that I have skipped over in my Torah commentaries. I find this fascinating, as it is such a rich portion. However, this year, as with most years, it falls on Shabbat Shuvah (the Sabbath of Return), which falls between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. So here I sit, in the midst of  teshuvah /repentance, as well as leading a number of services,  trying to think about what this parashah means. I am trying my best to be mindful and in the moment, yet I find myself drawn into the future ...a week from now ... when Yom Kippur begins.  Such is life in this moment. So I will make a brief commentary, which actually makes for a nice change of pace! The parashah consists of Moses's final speech to the people before he is to die. It is written as a poem, and begins: 1 Give ear, O heavens, let me speak; Let the earth hear the words I utter! 2 May my discourse come down as the rain...

This week's Torah parashah /portion, Nitzavim-Vayelekh ( Devarim /Deuteronomy 29:9 -31:30), is one of seven double portions that are read it is not a leap year so that all 54 portions of the Torah will be read in the course of a year. This double portion is found near the end of Moses' discourses to the people that he delivered prior to his death. He begins this oration by telling the people that he is addressing his remarks to all those who "stand this day, before the Eternal your God. To enter into the covenant God swore to your ancestors. I make this covenant, both with those who are standing here with us this day and with those who are not with us here this day." One classical interpretation of this is that Moses is speaking not merely to those that have died, but of all the souls yet to be born. Therefore each of us is just as present at this mythic moment as were our Israelite ancestors. Later in the parashah Moses says to the people, "Th...