A quick word about the Noah story. Our ancestors believed that there was an ocean suspended above our heads. That’s clear from the Creation story — “God separated the upper waters from the lower waters (Gen 1:6).” It was just a giant vat of water up there*. That’s where rain comes from — the upperContinue reading “Safety After the Flood”
Category Archives: Weekly Torah Portion
Strange Fire and Holy Pride
This week’s Torah portion, Parashat Shemini, contains what has to be one of the most disturbing narratives in the entire Torah. It’s the story of Nadav and Avihu. For the past little while in the Torah, we’ve been getting instructions about building the Tabernacle (the portable sanctuary in the desert), and the details of the sacrificesContinue reading “Strange Fire and Holy Pride”
Holy Suffering?
I will never say that it’s good to suffer, or that suffering is a gift. But maybe, just maybe, it is a sign of something holy within us.
Grace
I’d like to talk for a moment about grace. It’s something we don’t talk about often enough in Judaism, probably because it’s talked about so often by our Christian neighbors that it’s started to feel somehow un-Jewish, but it’s not. Not in the least. “Grace” is simply the idea of unearned blessings — of havingContinue reading “Grace”
Hope In the Future Tense
When I was younger, I heard a story about a tribe which had no concept of time. As I remember it, it was some small tribe in the jungles of South America, and supposedly this people had never developed any concept of past or future; all that existed was an eternal “now.” And, apparently, thisContinue reading “Hope In the Future Tense”
Names
Names are pretty silly. What I mean is, the idea of names and, more to the point, caring about names is silly. Why do we pretend that a person’s name carries any real significance to it? My name was given to me by my parents before they ever really knew me. It has no moreContinue reading “Names”
A Moment
No real surprise, but a global pandemic and ongoing quarantine haven’t been so conducive for me writing on this blog. Anyway… This week’s Torah portion, Bamidbar, begins, “On the first day of the second month, in the second year following the exodus from the land of Egypt, Adonai spoke to Moses…” The Birkat David isContinue reading “A Moment”
People First
This week, we begin reading the next book of Torah, the book of Vayikra, or Leviticus. Almost the entire book is dedicated to the laws of sacrifice in the ancient Temple in Jerusalem. Animal sacrifice was the main public ritual of Judaism up until about 2000 years ago, and it was the holiest ritual actContinue reading “People First”
Raising Donkeys and Raising Ourselves
This week’s Torah portion, Parashat Mishpatim, contains the quirky but beloved* mitzvah of helping your enemy’s fallen donkey. “If you see the donkey of someone you hate fallen under its burden, do not refrain from helping him — help him to raise it. (Exodus 23:15)” *At least, by me. In part, this commandment is aboutContinue reading “Raising Donkeys and Raising Ourselves”
Everything Follows From the Intention
This week’s Torah portion contains some instructions about how to observe Passover (or, to be more precise, about how we were supposed to observe Passover back when we still performed animal sacrifices). “Speak to the whole congregation of Israel, and say that on the 10th of this month, they shall each take a lamb forContinue reading “Everything Follows From the Intention”
Tehom El Tehom 