Mindful Torah...and more

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...

The week's parashah is Yitro ( Shemot /Exodus 18:1-20:23). It begins,  "And Yitro (Jethro), father-in-law of Moses, heard all that God had done to Moses and to Israel his people, that God had taken Israel out of Egypt." The parashah then continues with Yitro's advice to Moses that he not take on the duty of judging the people's grievances alone, but appoint judges to help him. Finally, it  reaches a climax with the central event of our religious mythology, the giving of the law/Torah at Sinai. It is at Sinai that the ragtag bunch of former slaves finally covenant themselves to God as a people. At Sinai the nation/people of Israel is born. Whether or not one believes in Sinai as an historical event, does not concern me. For what matters is not the historical veracity of the narrative, but rather, the "Truth" within; the spiritual message that it is meant to teach. I believe that the ancient rabbis too cared more about the ...

This week's parashah /portion) is Yitro ( Shemot /Exodus 18:1-20:23). It contains within of the central, dramatic mythic moments, when God speaks the Ten Commandments (literally, the ten utterances) from the mountain.  But the text is unclear as to what the people heard and what Moses heard. There is a story about a group of rabbis who were arguing (what a surprise) about exactly what the people heard at Sinai. The first rabbi said that the people heard the first two commandments: I am the Lord and You Shall Have No Other Gods Before Me (nor make any graven images).  No, exclaimed the next rabbi, the people only heard the first commandment "I am the Eternal, Your God.  That's all they needed to hear in order to begin their relationship with the Divine!' Each rabbi claimed that the people heard progressively less and less until the final rabbi stated that all the people heard was the first letter of the first word of the first commandment. That letter ' alep...