Mindful Torah...and more

  This week’s Parashah /portion is Bereshit . It takes its name from the first book of the Torah, Bereshit /Genesis, because it is the first parashah in that book. And so, of course, it begins with some of the most familiar words in our tradition B’reshit barah elohim ...In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. The rest, shall we say, is history. Or at least religious mythology. As most of us have been taught through the years, God created Adam, the first man, on the sixth day. This was followed by the creation of the first woman Havah /Eve who was taken from Adam's rib. We all know the story. And yet, we don’t. In the first Chapter of Genesis we read that on day six “ God created Adam /the human in God’s own image, in the image of God was [Adam] created; male and female God created them.”  In other words, a singular human being, Adam, was created, but that Adam was male and female. It isn’t until Genesis Chapter 2 where we read that, after God has created all t...

The Israelites did not accept the Torah until the Blessed Holy One held the mountain over them like a vessel, as it is said: And they stood beneath the mountain (Exod. 19:17). R.  Dimi the son of Hama stated that the Blessed Holy One told Israel: “If you accept the Torah, well and good; but if not, your grave will be there….As soon as God [finally] asked them, “Will you accept the Torah?” they all responded, “We will do and hear,” - Midrash Tanhuma In this midrash the rabbis implied that the people’s response to God “we will do and we will hear” (Exodus 24:7) was not so simple, as the mountain was being held over their head at the time. Still they could have decided that death was better than becoming slaves to a new master, even though this master would be God and not Pharaoh.  This midrash reminds us that, even when the right choice may seem clear, sometimes the situation in which we find ourselves can cloud our ability to see clearly. That is the essence of this midrashic ...

This week we finish reading from the book of  Vayikra /Leviticus with the double parashah /portion  Behar-Behukotai  (Leviticus 25:1- 27:34).  Parshat Behar  begins with the laws regulating the sabbatical year and the jubilee year.  The Israelites are instructed that, once in the Promised land, they are to grow crops and tend their fields for six years. The seventh year is to be a Sabbath for the land during which they may eat whatever the uncultivated land happens to produce during that year. However, they may not  plant, sow or harvest any crops. In addition to the Sabbatical/ Shemitah   year, they are to count seven cycles of seven years and then in the fiftieth year they are to proclaim a  yovel /jubilee year. This is to be a year of release in which all Israelites were to take possession of the original lands which will be given to their ancestors at the time of entering the land.  In  Parshat Behukotai , God promises that the ...

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...