Mindful Torah...and more

This week's parashah /portion is Korach ( Bemidbar /Numbers 16:1-18:32).It begins with the rebellion against the leadership of Moses led by Korach, Dathan, Aviram and their followers. These three tribal leaders question the authority of Moses and end up being swallowed up by the earth.  The parashah ends with a reminder that the first born of every human being and animal is to be dedicated to God. However, the first born [male] of each human being is to be redeemed by the priests and replaced by the Levites, who are to serve in the Mishkan /Tabernacle and later in the Temple in Jerusalem in their stead. Furthermore, the first born of impure (unfit) animals are also to be redeemed, but the first born of cattle, sheep and goats are not to be redeemed for they are to be dedicated to God through their sacrifice on the altar. Though it may not seem so at first, there is a connection between these two parts of the parashah. This common thread is found in the concept of “opening.” In ...

This week’s parashah /portion is Shelakh – Lekha ( Bemidbar /Numbers) 13:1 - 15:41).  In this parasha , Moses is commanded to choose one representative from each of the twelve tribes to serve as spies. Their mission is to enter the land of Canaan , the Promised Land, and bring back a report to the people. "See what kind of land it is.....[investigate its cities, people, soil, and forests and] bring back some of the fruit of the land,” they are told. They do bring back grapes and other fruits, but ten of the twelve spies also bring back a report that, though the land is flowing "with milk and honey," it is filled with large fortified cities, "giants," and other dangerous inhabitants. Only two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, bring back a positive report and remind the people that God is with them, so they can overcome any obstacle or enemy. Unfortunately, the people are carried away by the negative report of the majority and question whether Moses brought them t...

This week’s parashah/portion is Be’haalotekha (Numbers/ Be'midbar 8:1-12:16). It begins with the instructions for the lighting of the menorah in the mishkan /tabernacle by Aaron. It then continues with instructions for the purification and dedication of the Levites, or priestly tribe.  Aaron, brother of Moses, and his sons were to be the kohanim , or main priests, meant to carry out the sacrifices.  However, the entire tribe of Levi, to which the kohanim also belonged, were to also be a priestly class meant to serve in the mishkan and later in the Temple in Jerusalem. What struck me in reading the instructions given in the parashah was what was to occur after the Levites purified themselves:  “You shall bring the Levites before the tent of meeting (or tabernacle) and you shall gather together the entire community of Israelites.  Then you shall bring Levites near to God and the Israelites shall place their hands upon the Levites.  And Aaron shall ‘present’ (...

Today and, for many tomorrow, is the festival of Shavuot (Weeks) , also known as “The Time of the Giving of Our Torah.”  In the Torah itself, Shavuot is simply referred to as one of the three pilgrimage festivals (along with Passover and Sukkot ).  It takes place after seven weeks of counting from the second day of Passover and is the holiday when the people would bring their first fruits before God.  Later, in rabbinic times, it became primarily associated with the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai.  It has always struck me as strange that the other seminal events of our biblical ancestors were celebrated with a festival, but the original biblical holiday cycle had no holiday to celebrate what we often see as THE seminal event.  Why did the Exodus receive Passover and our 40 years of wandering in the desert get Sukkot , while the giving of the Ten Commandments/Torah at Mt. Sinai initially received nothing? There are those in the world of biblical/historica...

  Dear online community: As you may be aware, I have not been writing about the daily psalms for quite sometime. As I am on retreat for the week, I decided to use this as an opportunity to start again. Since I did complete my commentaries on the psalms for Monday and Tuesday, I am now continuing with psalm 94, the psalm for Wednesday. After my commentary on verse 8, I have pasted my commentaries for verses 1-7, should you wish to refresh you memory or read some of them for the first time. Shalom/Salaam, Steven 8. Understand, you senseless among the people: and, you fools, when shall you comprehend. In my exploration of this complex psalm, the main theme is how the ego tries it’s best to make us feel separated from God, humanity and the world.  This is how the ego tries to destroy us.  The verse is simply a call to each of us, even if we do not feel that we have succumbed to the tricks of the ego. In someway at some times each of us is senseless.  Eac...

With this week's parashah/portion, Be’midbar, we begin reading the fourth book of the torah, also called Be’midbar, which means "in the wilderness.  This book of the Torah is known as Numbers in English, for it begins with the counting of the Israelites for a census. Jewish tradition has long taught that counting people can be a dangerous business.  An obsession with numbers can indeed be destructive, yet we still continue to count. In writing the poetic commentary on this parashah I had in mind two facts: 1) It  has intrigued commentators for years that the individual numbers in the census never seem to add up to the total that is given in the parashah. 2) In his commentary,  R. Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev (19th century) comments on the fact that the Levites are counted in a census separate from the other 11 tribes of Israel. The tribe of Levi is the priestly tribe that serves in the Sanctuary, or Mishkan, and will later serve in the Temple in Jerusalem. As...

Dear online community, Once again I must apologize for missing a week. For various personal reasons, these last few weeks have been quite hectic and my blog has suffered for it. Hopefully things are now back on track and you will seeing my commentaries every week once again. But before I continue with my commentary, I must do a bit of shameless self promotion ;-)  I am currently beginning to schedule visits to teach and learn together with communities across the country in the upcoming Jewish/academic/programming year (i.e., Sept-June, and even summer if you'd like).  If you would like to bring me to your community, please either contact me at mindfultorah@gmail.com or pass my information along to those who are doing the planning for your community for next year.  I would love to work something out so I can pay you a visit! This is true for synagogues, schools, JCCs Hillels and other campus venues, as well as non-Jewish or interfaith venues.  So please keep me in mi...