Mindful Torah...and more

I apologize if you tried to read this prior to now. I didn't realize that there was something weird with the formattin. I'm pretty sure I fixed it. ________________________________ This week’s parashah /portion is Tzav (Leviticus 6:1 - 8:36). In this Torah portion, God continues to describe the different laws of sacrifices that began with last week’s portion.. This Shabbat is also known as Shabbat Hagadol , or the Great Shabbat, and it is the Shabbat immediately prior to Passover. There are many theories as to why it bears this particular name. According to one tradition, it comes from a verse in the Haftarah (prophetic portion) read in synagogue this Shabbat. The Haftarah comes from the prophet Malachi and foretells the messianic era, which will be heralded by the coming of Elijah, the prophet. During the Passover seder we welcome Elijah symbolically to our seder table and pray for the time when he will announce the coming of the Messianic Era, a time of peace and...

This week's torah portion is Tzav ( Vayikra /Leviticus 6:1 - 8:36). In it the detailed descriptions of the various sacrifices to be offered continues. I would like to focus on one particular sacrifice and what we might learn from it today. The final sacrifice mentioned in the parashah is the zevakh shelamim . This is usually translated as the "peace offering" or "good-will offering.” The word shelamim comes from the same root as shalom /peace and shalem /whole. One contemporary understanding of this sacrifice is as an offering of greeting. According to Baruch Levine and other scholars, it was a meal shared between the priests, the people who brought the offering and God. In other words, through sharing a sacred meal there was a connection being made between the people, the priests and the Divine. Not only was this a meal of greeting, but the sharing of the sacrificial animal could also bring a sense of peace and wholeness that was a direct result of ...