Mindful Torah...and more

Mistakes do happen. I accidentally posted a commentary for last week's Torah portion earlier today instead of this week's. please accept my apologies . I hope you will find this one enlightening anyway. Pun intended :-) shabbat shalom

This week's parashah is Be'haalotekha (Numbers/ Be'midbar 8:1-12:16). At the end of the last parashah , immediately following the completion of the building of the mishkan / sanctuary, God spoke to Moses from between the wings of the cherubim that hovered over the Ark. In the opening line of Be'haalotekha Moses God tells Moses that he must instruct Aaron concerning his ascent to kindle the lights of the seven-branch menorah in the mishkan . The light of the menorah represents, among other things, the light of the Divine. The Kabbalists/ mystics imagined that the seven branches of the menorah represented the seven lower sefirot /divine emanations or attributes that human beings can experience in this world. Light as representing God's presence is also found in the image of the fire enshrouded in the cloud that hovered over the mishkan signifying God's presence. According to the text, the fire/presence of God would be seen within a cloud over the mishkan...

I often procrastinate. But this week I waited until the very last minute to write this commentary (so if you find more typos or other errors, you will know why!). It was as if I believed that if I kept putting it off, the events unfolding this week in Boston would somehow disappear, become resolved or I would suddenly awaken from this nightmare. But, of course this is not the case. Nor is it the case that I am at a loss for words. On the contrary. Words, thoughts and feelings have been flooding my mind all day today and for every day since the horrific events at the Boston Marathon occurred on Monday. But what words shall I impart to others? How can I say anything meaningful in the face of such evil and tragedy? I know I've done it before. I remember the first sermon I ever gave on the face of evil in our world. The year was 1995 and I referenced an article about the existence of evil in our world that was in the NY Times magazine. That article focused ...

This week we begin reading the third book of the Torah, Vayikra /Leviticus. Also known as Torat Kohanim , the Torah of the High Priests, much of Vayikra is dedicated to the laws of sacrifice and ritual purity that were the domain of the ancient Israelite priests. There is a long-standing custom within traditional Judaism that children begin their religious studies with Vayikra . It has always seemed strange that children were to  begin with the book of Vayikra and its detailed descriptions of animal sacrifices and its intricate laws and regulations. It always seemed more logical to start with the creation story or the intricate family dynamics of our ancestors found in Bereshit /Genesis or the drama of slavery and redemption found in Shemot /Exodus? Our sages asked a similar question in Yalkut Shimoni , a collection of midrash /rabbinic stories and commentaries, believed to have been written in the 12 th or 13 th centuries. Here we read, “Why do yo...

This week's parashah /portion is Ki Tissa ( Shemot /Exodus 30:11 – 34:35) and includes the narrative of the Golden Calf.  As I mentioned two weeks ago, according to Rabbinic tradition the incident of the Golden Calf precedes the giving of the instructions for the building of the Mishkan / Tabernacle.  Sinai and the Golden Calf are inextricably linked to one another.  Sinai represents the creation of a relationship between the people of Israel and God.  The Golden Calf represents, among other things, their refusal to completely let go of their past, as well as their inability to maintain their commitment to God when their patience is tested.  In short, Sinai implies trust and the Golden Calf implies its rejection. Aviva Zornberg discusses the fact that the two sides of the coin that is the Golden Calf may seem to be contradictory, yet are in reality complimentary, or perhaps even symbiotic.  A main reason for the building of the Golden Calf is t...

The following is not a comment ary on the Torah or other Biblical text .  Rather, i t consists of my musings about the nature of time and its role in our lives. -----------------------------------------------------------  This past weekend we celebrated the festival of Purim.  Purim celebrates the victory of the Jews over their Persian enemy Haman, viceroy to King Ach a shverosh.  The story is told in the biblical Book of Esther, because the Jewish Queen Esther is the heroine of the story. Purim usually occurs in March.  But these year, for the first time I can remember (though my memory is not what it once was) it fell on the evening of the 23rd of February.  This is indeed quite early!  As a matter of fact, all of the holidays for the remainder of 5773 on the Jewish calendar (the end of August) through Hanukkah of 5774 will be “very early” this year. As a matter of fact, for the first time in history (and the last time until about 400 year...

This week's Torah parasha /portion is Terumah ( Shemot /Exodus 25:1 - 27:19).   In it , God begins instructing Moshe on how to construct the Mikdash (Tabernacle) , or portable des ert sanctuary .   A key concept can be found in the beginning of the parashah when God says to Moshe, "And let them make Me a sanctuary/holy place that I may dwell among them" (25:8).   The Hebrew word for "I may dwell" is the single word v'shakhanti .   The root of this word is the same as for the word Mishkan , the other name used in the Torah for the Tabernacle.  It appears from this verse that the Mikdash / Mishkan is to be built so that God can dwell in the presence of the people.   Yet isn't God to be found everywhere?   Nahum Sarna, in the JPS Torah commentary, points out that the verb sh-kh-n connotes a temporary, nomadic dwelling, not a permanent home.   In other words, as we find later in the Torah, God dwells periodically in the Mikdash / Mishkan .   ...