Mindful Torah...and more

This week's parashah /portion Ki Tetzei (Devarim/Deuteronomy 21:10 – 25:19) contains one of the most disturbing, and frequently commented upon passages in the Torah: "If a man has a stubborn or rebellious son, who will nothearken to the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and though they discipline him, he will not listen to them; then his father and his mother shall take hold of him, and bring him out tothe elders of his city, and into the gate of his place; and they shall say to the elders of his city: `This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, he does not listen to our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die; so shall you put away the evil from your midst; and all Israel shall hear and fear." (21: 18-21)." The rabbis of the Talmud claim that this practice did not take place. Rather, they believe (or claimed) that these verses were included in the Torah in order to...

Let us all take a moment to pray for peace throughout the world.  Let us pray for peace in the streets of Jerusalem and throughout the land of Israel.  Peace between Israel and all her neighbors, as well as peace among all the residents of Israel itself.        Let us pray for peace in the streets of Paris and throughout France, as well as so many other places in Europe, where Antisemitic rhetoric and violence is growing each day. Let us pray for peace between Jews, Muslims, Christians and people of all religions - or no religion.  Let us pray for the day when we will all recognize that we all come from the same place and we are all part of the one human family.        Let us pray for peace in the streets and homes of Ferguson, MO.  Peace for the family and friends of Michael Brown and all those who have been showing their support.  Peace between people of all races and beliefs in the streets of Missouri, thr...

The last blog post I wrote focused on the (then) new war in Gaza to the prophetic reading ( Haftarah ) from the opening chapters of the book of Jeremiah. Since then, the fighting intensified, as did the death and destruction. Sitting helplessly here in the USA, I truly felt for the first time like I was in galut /exile. But it was not so much that I was in exile from my homeland, but from my people. And I am speaking not only of the Jewish people, but of so many friends and family members about whom I care, but whose words and rhetoric disturbed or even angered me. What made this exile even stranger was the fact that it was not based on a particular ideology. It was not simply that I felt exiled from those on the “right”or the “left” because I disagreed with them. Rather, I felt exiled from everyone, because I did not know exactly how I felt or what I believed. I could see, and at times agree with, perspectives from all sides, except for the most extreme expressions of...

This week we conclude reading from the book of Bemidbar /Numbers with the parashah /portion of Matot . However, instead of focusing on the Torah, I would like to focus the Haftarah , or prophetic portion, which is traditionally read in synagogue following the reading of the Torah .  Usually the Haftarah is related thematically to the Torah portion. However, this is the first of three weeks when the prophetic portions are linked instead to the calendar. This is the first of the the Prophetic Portions of Admonition. These special portions are read during the three weeks prior to the Fast Day of Tisha B'Av , which commemorates the destruction of the First Holy Temple by the Babylonians and the Second Holy Temple (and Jerusalem) by the Romans. The Haftarah starts at the beginning of the Book of Jeremiah and continues through Chapter 2, verse 3. In the Haftarah (thanks to a synopsis by Saul Beck) God starts off by telling Jeremiah that he was selected as a prophet before he ...

The early 20th century Jewish existentialist philosopher Franz Rosenzweig believed that the knowledge of our mortality is the ultimate negative force in our lives.  The fact that we know we shall eventually die hangs over us like a cloud, if we let it.  However, it is love that is the ultimate positive force in our lives.  It is the existence of love that allows, and even compels, us to live life in spite of the knowledge of our mortality. Hopefully, most of us don't spend our lives constantly thinking about our ultimate end.  Rather, Rosenzweig believed that the ultimate goal is to live a life dedicated to the love of God.  This goal is achieved, in good part, by loving our fellow human beings.  In loving,  we are able to find goodness and hope.  I agree with Rosenzweig in the power of love to create meaning in our lives in spite of the knowledge that we will die.  However, it is also true that we all eventually begin to f...