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Parshat Emor: Finding Compassion and Connection in Today's World

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...

Beyond Us and Them.....How Do We Create a World In Which There is Only the One?

- February 10, 2015

Bloggers Note: This is a VERY lengthy post, as I felt the need to deal with so many different issues which have arisen over the past months. Please take your time to read it and to respond, privately or on the blog itself, if you would like. I'm sure you won't agree with everything, but that's not the point is it? L'shalom/In Peace, Steven _______________________________ I would like to apologize for my lengthy absence from this blog. When last I wrote we were still reading about the sibling rivalry between Jacob and Esau in the middle of the book of Bereshit /Genesis. Now we are in the middle of the book of Shemot /Exodus. This past Shabbat we read the Parashah /Portion called Yitro (Jethro), which is the name of the High Priest of the nation of Midian who is also the father of Tzipporah, Moses' wife. In this parashah he comes to see Moses (and one would hope, his daughter as well, though the text seems to ignore this....hmmm) for he h...

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.

Bring me to Your Community as a Scholar or Artist in-Residence!

BRING ME TO YOUR COMMUNITY!
All programs can be tailored for your community. This information is followed by some "reviews" of my work.

Hear
With Your Heart
Listen
With Your Soul

A Mindful Approach to
Jewish Spirituality and Life

Experiencing the Heart
and Soul of Shabbat
Discover new meaningful ways to experience Shabbat and create spiritual community through …
• Mindfulness meditation
• Chants, songs, and niggunim
• Poetic and other original Torah commentary
• Contemplative prayer and Torah study
• Creating original Torah commentaries, poetry or midrash

Preparing Your Heart and Soul for the Holy Days
Use meditation, chanting, prayer, study and other practices to prepare your heart and soul for the High Holy Days, Sukkot, Passover, Shavuot or other holy days.

Mindful Torah and Mindful Midrash:
Finding Yourself in the Torah and the Torah in You
• Enter the Pardes (orchard) of Torah through relaxation, meditation, chanting and contemplative Torah study.
• Discover and explore personal and group connections with the Torah text and the personalities within it.
• Create original interpretations and midrash using prose, poetry, music, art, or any medium to express your personal connection to the narrative and the people in them.
• PERFECT for adults preparing to deliver a d’var torah, or who simply want to experience the Torah in a different way.
• A UNIQUE way for educators of all experience levels to engage and excite their students through learning Torah.

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)