Mindful Torah...and more

Dear Hevre/community, This week we read in synagogue a double portion/ parashah  od  Acharei Mot/Kedoshim .   Acharei Mot  means “after death,” as it takes place following the death of Aaron's two sons Nadav and Avihu. The parashah consists of ethical and ritual laws concerning, sacrifice, Yom Kippur rituals, dietary restrictions and sexual prohibitions. These laws were an integral part of creating a new society/ The second  parashah   is  Kedoshim , which means holiness.  It includes the Holiness Code of Leviticus/ Vayikra  Chapter 19. In this code we are given a series of commandments and laws which given to teach that we are all meant to be holy because God is holy, and we are created in God's image. And so the essence of the text is the creation of a society based on holiness which is not only dedicated to God, but who imitate God. Throughout the Torah we are commanded to be a people erable: the orphan, the widow and the stranger ...

The early 20th century Jewish existentialist philosopher Franz Rosenzweig believed that the knowledge of our mortality is the ultimate negative force in our lives.  The fact that we know we shall eventually die hangs over us like a cloud, if we let it.  However, it is love that is the ultimate positive force in our lives.  It is the existence of love that allows, and even compels, us to live life in spite of the knowledge of our mortality. Hopefully, most of us don't spend our lives constantly thinking about our ultimate end.  Rather, Rosenzweig believed that the ultimate goal is to live a life dedicated to the love of God.  This goal is achieved, in good part, by loving our fellow human beings.  In loving,  we are able to find goodness and hope.  I agree with Rosenzweig in the power of love to create meaning in our lives in spite of the knowledge that we will die.  However, it is also true that we all eventually begin to f...

The early 20th century Jewish existentialist philosopher Franz Rosenzweig believed that the knowledge of our mortality is the ultimate negative force in our lives.  The fact that we know we shall eventually die hangs over us like a cloud, if we let it.  However, it is love that is the ultimate positive force in our lives.  It is the existence of love that allows, and even compels, us to live life in spite of the knowledge of our mortality. Hopefully, most of us don't spend our lives constantly thinking about our ultimate end.  Rather, Rosenzweig believed that the ultimate goal is to live a life dedicated to the love of God.  This goal is achieved, in good part, by loving our fellow human beings.  In loving,  we are able to find goodness and hope.  I agree with Rosenzweig in the power of love to create meaning in our lives in spite of the knowledge that we will die.  However, it is also true that we all eventually begin to face our own mor...

This  week's parashah, Hukkat  (Bemidbar/Numbers 19:122:1),  begins with the description of the ritual slaughter of the red heifer by Eleazar the priest. The ashes of the heifer are then to be mixed together with water, hyssop, crimson thread and other ingredients in order to make a solution that will be used to purify those who have becometamei/ritually impure (for lack of a better translation) through contact with a corpse. Following the description of the ritual slaughter of the red heifer, we read of the death of Miriam the prophet, sister of Moses and Aaron. Immediately following her death the people cry out to Moses that they have no water to drink This passage is most likely the origin of the ancient rabbinic legend of Miriam’s Well, that sustained the people through their years in the desert and dried up following Miriam’s death. As the people cry out to the bereaved Moses and Aaron for water, God instructs them to speak to a rock...