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Parshat Balak. To Bless or To Curse (and why I have decided not to celebrate July 4th)

- July 02, 2020

This week's parashah /portion is Balak ( Bamidbar /Numbers 22:2-25:9). In this narrative, Balak, king of Midian, hires the magician Bilaam to curse the Israelites. However, Bilaam tells Balak that he may only utter words provided to him by God. Three times Bilaam tries to curse the Israelites. No matter where he stands or what he is ordered to do, he may only utter the words which are placed in his mouth by God. His final utterance curse is instead a blessing: “How good are your tents Jacob; your dwellings Oh Israel.” These words are the ones with which the traditional morning service begins every day. To bless or to curse? That was the question. Balak desperately wanted the Israelites to be cursed. Still, all Bilaam could do was bless the beauty of the Israelite camp. Yet, I wonder what the camp was really like. Was it all beauty, peace and harmony, as the blessing suggests? Or perhaps, based on the Israelites' history o...

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.

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Hear
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A Mindful Approach to
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Experiencing the Heart
and Soul of Shabbat
Discover new meaningful ways to experience Shabbat and create spiritual community through …
• Mindfulness meditation
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• Enter the Pardes (orchard) of Torah through relaxation, meditation, chanting and contemplative Torah study.
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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)