Mindful Torah...and more

This week’s parashah /portion is Vayishlach (Bereshit/Genesis 32:4-36:43) . It contains within three important central events in the narrative of the patriarchs and matriarchs of Bereshit /Genesis. First, Jacob prepares to reunite with his brother Esau decades after he had stolen his blessing and his birthright. The night before the reunion Jacob wrestles with a man/angel. At sunrise, before, before leaving Jacob, he blesses him and gives him the name Israel, meaning one who has struggled with the divine. Not long after this we read the disturbing incident of the rape of Dinah, Jacob’s only daughter. She is raped by Shechem, the regional prince,  who then asks to marry her, because he supposedly loves her.  Jacob and his sons agree to this on the condition that Shechem and all the men of his community agree to be circumcised. While they are recovering, her brothers Shimon and Levi lead an attack and slaughter Shechem and all the men of his community. They do so supposedly in d...

This week’s parashah /portion is Hayei Sarah , or the life of Sarah. It begins by telling the reader that Sarah dies at the age of 127. Abraham searches for a place to bury her and settles on the cave of Machpelah outside of Hebron. Isaac is in deep mourning for his mother, so Abraham sends his servant back to his homeland to find a wife for Isaac from among his kin. The servant meets Rebecca, Abraham’s niece, at a well, where she provides water for him and his camels. The servant tells Rebecca who he is and why is there. Sarah tells her father Bethuel and brother Laban that she is ready and willing to return to Abraham’s tent with the servant and to marry her cousin Isaac. Upon their return, Isaac and Rebecca meet. He then takes her to his mother’s tent, they marry, he loved her and found comfort with her after Sarah’s death. Sarah, after whom the parashah is named, and Rebecca oare really at the spiritual core of this story. This is true in spite of the fact that it is the men who...

Dear Hevre/community: As you know, I usually try to avoid direct political or partisan commentaries. However, when the political and the spiritual/religious values that I believe are at the heart of Jewish teaching collide (or intersect) I feel it is my duty to discuss the issues. And that is the case in so many ways this week. As someone once said (it's been attributed to many) our job is to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." I believe with this commentary (at least for some) I may be doing the latter, but it's in service of achieving the former. Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Steve 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: Pesach /Passover, Sukkot (the Feast of Booths) and Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks), which later became associated with the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai,  Immediately following the instructions we find a reiteration of...

This week's  parashah /portion is the double portion called Matot-Maasei , which brings to a close the book of Bemidbar /Numbers. I will focus on the text of  Matot , in the beginning of the  parashah  we read that if a man makes a vow it is binding on him. However, if a woman makes a vow while still living in her father's house and her father becomes aware of the vow and agrees to its terms, then the vow remains in effect. However, if he does not approve of the vow, then he may render it null and void. The same applies if the woman is married and her husband discovers the vow. If her father or husband do annul her vow, the woman is not to be held as guilty for not fulfilling the vow she has made. However, if her husband agrees to the vow upon discovering it and later changes his mind and annuls the vow, then there is guilt, but it is to be upon the husband's head. Viewing this text through 21st century eyes, it is yet another example of how women had little ...

The last blog post I wrote focused on the (then) new war in Gaza to the prophetic reading ( Haftarah ) from the opening chapters of the book of Jeremiah. Since then, the fighting intensified, as did the death and destruction. Sitting helplessly here in the USA, I truly felt for the first time like I was in galut /exile. But it was not so much that I was in exile from my homeland, but from my people. And I am speaking not only of the Jewish people, but of so many friends and family members about whom I care, but whose words and rhetoric disturbed or even angered me. What made this exile even stranger was the fact that it was not based on a particular ideology. It was not simply that I felt exiled from those on the “right”or the “left” because I disagreed with them. Rather, I felt exiled from everyone, because I did not know exactly how I felt or what I believed. I could see, and at times agree with, perspectives from all sides, except for the most extreme expressions of...