Torah for now

Posts tagged ‘torah’

Priorities

If you had to list your three most important values, the guides of your neshamah/ soul, what would they be? My cousin asked me this at dinner recently. What do you dream and spend time and effort pursuing? And for what aim? Sources here, and to see my own

In our Torah drama tale, the Freedom project begun in Egypt has led us to the brink of the Jordan River. This double portion, Matot-Masei begins with a section of the three types of vows: the neder, assur, and shevua –the vow, the “I’m going to abstain” and the oath. (For more on women vs. men’s oaths Sources here) Words that you swear in a vow or oath must be fulfilled! Is your word your bond? Interestingly these opening words of Matot, meaning tribes, are directed to the leaders of the Israelites. According to Ibn Ezra, the words are directed to the Leaders because the Israelites have just been through a war together. (One of the most troubling, violent passages in Torah. Check out the bottom of source page) In this Freedom Project the leaders of the tribes, under direction of Moses, have certainly vowed to have each others’ backs. Could some temptation cause them to abandon these vows? Apparently, after this war, two of the tribes, Reuben and Gad have accumulated riches in the form of herds of cattle. How did this happen? One can imagine by grabbing rather than equal distribution. And on the shores of the Jordan they say to Moshe, we’re good here, can we please be excused? Their reason? This is great cattle country, a great place for our possessions (how can we protect our stuff if we go?)

Moshe (Moses) is a bit upset at this abandonment of their obligations to their “brothers” In fact the same words of “doing what comes out of your mouth” is repeated in Moshe’s argument. (Ibn Ezra) The Reuvenites and Gaddites have a compromise. They will build enclosures for their flocks, shelters for their families, and then come join the other tribes in the conquest of the land. Moses corrects them in their word order and accepts the deal. “You may build homes for your families and enclosures for their flocks, and then join us” Rashi says they have their priorities backwards.

The second of this double reading is Masei meaning Journeys. “These are the journeys of the children of Yisrael through the wilderness. There were forty two times when the Israelites camped, and then traveled, guided by a pillar of cloud to camp, and of fire to journey. Why this naming and travel-log? Priorities are great. But to focus only on priorities can be problematic. What about the every day? R. Ingber’s podcast “Detours and Destination” asks all guests about their plans, and then what actually happened in their lives. Sometimes the most important things are what happens on your way to the priority! Zohar says each of the forty two stops were opportunities to see and uncover the holy sparks within the ordinary. Perhaps after the catastrophes of the calf and the spies, these wanderings were the healing. The Barbara Streisand Song On My Way to You jumps to my mind. “if I had changed a single day, what went amiss or went astray, I never would have found my way to you. I wouldn’t change a thing that happened on my way to You. I wouldn’t change a thing that happened on my way to You”

Rashi asks “why name all the stops if the destination is the promised land? he answers with a parable And Rabbi Tanhuma explained it with a different drasha: This can be compared to a king who had a sick child and he brought him someplace very far to be healed. And once they return home, his father recounts all of the journeys and says, “here we slept, here we were cold, here you had a headache.” [Bamidbar Rabbah].

Chazak Chazak, v’nitchazek. As we close the book of Numbers until next year, may we be strengthened together, drawn close by dancing with the words of Torah.

magnific

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What Five Brave Sisters Teach.

In our Torah reading we are nearing the end of our wilderness journey. Sources Here. As I write this post, it is the 17th of Tammuz, a day to remember the sadness in our history and honor the the fear we face in a challenging world. As I write this post it is also 103 Degrees Fahrenheit- deadly hot, as are tempers round the world. The powers that be in this world, both human leaders, and technological challenges seem overwhelming. We in the older generations are living a lifestyle that is destroying our nest – we take natural gifts, and really most of our gifts for granted in the quest for “getting and spending, we lay waste our power” ~William Wordsworth. In our wilderness journey, a census is taken, “lifting up the heads of those who are counted” It is about half of what it was at the outset of the freedom project that began 40 years ago. An entire generation has died. Miriam and Aaron have died, and Moshe (Moses) knows he will not enter the land. It is a time of transition. As if to dramatize that the “times they are a’changing” the Five Daughters rise up, and draw near. I’ve written about them before (2021 post) Have you heard of these women, the daughters of Tzeloph’chad? In an all male genealogy, where women had no rights of inheritance, they bravely and brilliantly “wrote themselves into the narrative” to paraphrase Hamilton. Song below. There is brilliant timing and Torah spoken by the Sisters, and even a bit of gender bending (Chizkuni).

Immediately after this wonderful scene, as if to emphasize this crossing over, Moshe is called by G8d to travel to Mount Eivarim – which is elsewhere called Mount Nebo. Eivarim, with the Hebrew root Ayin, Vet, Reish means to cross over, as Ramban reminds us. Ramban opines that it’s because the folks are about to cross the Jordan. But an entire generation has crossed over, and Moshe himself is about to cross over. Nostalgia can be sweet or toxic. We are in a world where nostalgia of returning people to a former powerful era is being used as an excuse to harass and deport refugees and immigrants. As I write this, ICE is intensifying its efforts. And in Israel and Iran to continue warring. When will they ever learn? Let’s be in it for the long haul, with a vision that extends from generation to the next: l’dor va’dor.

The Daughters and the Promise. Miryam Wolfson, 2016, final form 2021, Sound track

“Who are we that have the courage to be freely

Standing tall before the powers that be?

We are Machla, Noa, Hogla Milka and Tirtza,

daughters of Tzelophechad

Five strong sisters, each her sister’s keeper

On the journey to our land“

Now our father’s gone,

what will come of our name?

Who will tell our family’s story?

We believe in the Kingdom

a land milk and honey

Where justice and wisdom

will sing of G8d’s glory.

Chorus

­­­

Hand in hand we stand,

talking justice to the Man

“Moses, Our father was a good man,

even though he had no sons

his name should not be banned.

Please take our case to the Holy One

 for the sake of the orphan,

 the powerless, and all women”

Chorus

Moses says

“Listen up oh Children of Israel,

The law of these five sisters is true, G8d tells”

And in their love for each other and their strength,

They bring down the justice of the Holy One

Machlah, Noa, Hogla, Mika and Tirtza

They put themselves back in the narrative
(Machlah, Noa, Hogla, Milka and Tirtza)        

In their story I see hope for,

the disenfranchised of today.

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Truth, justice, kindness, and peace: Korach

Which is the most fundamentally important of these values, in your life, in our world: Truth, justice, loving kindness and peace or faith? Choose one, for the sake of this exercise. To help you – answer this question -What would the world look like if this were lacking in your life?

If you say peace, can you remember a times many of us give up our dignity for the sake of peace, especially women, I know I did – conflict avoidance. There are times to approach a conflict with courage. There are times to make good trouble, to challenge authority. These may be such times?.

Perhaps you chose justice, for without justice there can be no peace. How I wish for justices on our courts as of old – Bader Ginsburg for example. And without the truth, can there be justice? so maybe truth is the greatest? But what is the absolute truth, and are there times when the whole truth is hurtful? When Sarah says how can I become pregnant with my husband so old, even G8d tempers the truth. Every bride is beautiful at the wedding. says Talmud ketubot, in the opinion of Hillel. Shamai disagreed, you should be 100% truthful. But what is the truth about beauty?

Truth must the always be tempered with loving kindness. Loving kindness alone however is not great by itself, it can lead to spoiled kids and abusive spouses, who take the gift of the love they are given for granted.

What about emunah? Think of a time when you knew G8d was with you, immanent, not transcendent – palpable and in the room.

The Torah of Korach teaches us that the greatest of these is emunah – faith. Not that You believe in G8d, but that you know G8d believes in you. The challenge was not about leadership – but about whether we will follow G8d up – to the spiritual heights of Siinai, or go back to what’s familiar.

An insight that I received as a gift, is that the pit that opens to swallow Korach is the grave/kever that receives us all. The people are terrified by the fate they have gleaned by not knowing that G8d was with them in the debacle of the spies. You have brought us here for G8d to kill us in the wilderness.

We are all mortal, but we can choose to die in the wilderness or to know that G8d is with us in life, and even facing death. It is possible to fully experience the precious quality of each minute of life in our very mortality. But it can be terrifying; The ground opens to receive us all, What’s the difference in the case of Korach ? The ground receives his family, l’dor vador disappears. For the rest of the wilderness generation, We may not get there, but our children may – and that has to be enough. Our tradition is not happy with the fate of Korach’s children – Midrash tanchuma says that when Jonah was in the belly of the fish the fish traveled way down to the foundation stone upon which the world was founded. And what are they doing – Singing!

There is a story of a Kingdom where the ruling Queen loved her subjects so that she invited all her subjects to the palace who desired, an audience with her. On that special day the Palace was opened, and the subjects flocked in! They first experienced the amazing palace gardens, with scents and color patterns to delight and dazzle the senses. Many subjects were so intoxicated, they lingered here and did not move on. Next were art galleries that filled the eyes with such insights and delights to enlighten the mind. Many people stayed in this part of the palace. Then a concert hall replete that bathed the ears and soul with moving and beautiful sounds. Heavenly choruses, and instruments of all types in perfect harmony. Many more souls lingered here. The Queen remained alone at the center of the palace. Visit the Queen, she is so lonely for our love.

Psalm 85, a psalm of the sons of Korach:

Chesed v’Emet yifgashu – loving kindness and truth have met – balancing one another

Tzedek v’Shalom nakashu – Righteousness and peace have kissed – balancing one another

And truth shall spring up from the earth

And righteousness shall rain down from the sky

And G8d will provide the good

And the earth will nourish body and soul, the earth will nourish us whole!

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Sh’lach, 5786 The Danger is not how big the enemy is…

…it’s how small we tell ourselves we are in comparison. We live in challenging times, the truth is for sale – Lies are peddled today for profit or power. And fear is the emotion that sells. And fear becomes hate.

This week’s portion is Sh’lach, meaning “send” and begins with the choosing and sending of scouts to tour the Promised land. This venture will end in catastrophe. The scouts famously bring back giant fruit, they have to carry it between poles it’s so big, and explain that there be giants there and even mythical creatures, Nephilim who fell from the sky. 10 of the 12 scouts send out words -slanders Yotziu dibat ha-aretz some are true, some false, to intentionally create terror. They lie to try to convince the people they have only one option”, they explain – to go back to Egypt, the real land of milk and honey., the land will eat us!

וַיֹּצִ֜יאוּ דִּבַּ֤ת הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ … אֶ֣רֶץ אֹכֶ֤לֶת יוֹשְׁבֶ֙יהָ֙ הִ֔וא

וַנְּהִ֤י בְעֵינֵ֙ינוּ֙ כַּֽחֲגָבִ֔ים וְכֵ֥ן הָיִ֖ינוּ בְּעֵינֵיהֶֽם׃

we were in our eyes like grasshoppers,
and thus were we in their eyes!

What’s so wrong with feeling overwhelmed, feeling inadequate, or like a grasshopper in your own eyes? And what’s the a subtle lie in the verse –we cannot know how we appear in someone else’s eyes! Perhaps these are the most damaging lies -the ones we tell to ourselves -about ourselves! “I’m not good enough, I am worthless” . According to Sforno, the Israelites thought G8d hated them for their sins, and so were bringing them to die. Perhaps these former slaves have internalized the hateful words of their brutal slave masters.

So how can we counter these feelings? How remember we are children of the Divine, and how hold on to the moments of clarity and inspiration?

A song from proverbs 3 Ira Levin

When you need more than your own understanding, lean on the power of love

The wisdom you’ll hold is worth ten times the gold that some sell their souls for in vain

and a Peace that surpasses every thrill on this plane

is heard when your soul calls your name.

When you experience a calling, when you’re true to that – your soul calls your name – To abandon that calling is another thing the spies were guilty of. The Israelites should have known that G8d was with them: they lived the miracles: redemption at the sea and revelation at Sinai. What a gift!. What do you do with that inspiration? You want to hold it, to let it guide your life. In Sh’lach instead, words inspire fear, and fear leads to violence. Soon the whole community threatened to pelt Joshua and Caleb with stones (Numbers 14:10)

a. acting from fear

b. by mixing lies with truth

c. by forgetting that God had been with them, redeeming them against all the odds

d. by belittling themselves

violence and chaos errupt. A few verses later, the scouts have worked the people up to a mob that plans to stone Joshua and Caleb.

June is Pride month, where the LGBTQ+ community declare, we are in the Divine image, God is with us, we have heard our soul call our names. Before covid, while I was still teaching full time at Brookdale, the campus one night went on full security alert – a suicide had occurred and the person trans.n I had another trans student who was homeless when their parents kicked them out on the street. The suicide ideation rate is upwards of 50%-80%, it is a matter of life and death.

U’vacharta b’chayim, choose Life, Deuteronomy pleads.

How can we remember in this crazy world that G8d is with us?

Perhaps. That’s what our tradition is for (show talit)

A story: Tainted wheat

There once was a Queen, beloved by her people. One day her chief advisor, Menachem approached her with a very worried expression.

What’s wrong, the Queen asked? Your majesty, it’s the wheat. It has been infected with a mold – it has spread to every field in the kingdom.

The subjects will have no choice to eat bread made from this wheat or they will starve, but when they eat it, they will lose their minds, they will see visions, they will not what is real and what is imagined.

Don’t we have an emergency reserve stored up” asked the Queen. Yes, replied Menachem, enough to feed one person.

What should the Queen do? Feed herself, and watch all her subjects go insane?

Menachem, You shall eat the wheat. But your majesty, you will not know what is right or wrong. Ah yes, but I will look to you Menachem, and you shall give me a sign, and I will know when I am veering from the right path.

What is that symbol, you ask.

When the whole world’s gone insane, our tradition brings us back to center.

The tzitzit reminds us like a string around our fingers. The last verses of this weeks reading is about these reminders.  When we see them we are reminded we live in a crazy world, and there is a deeper truth.

And don’t mess with grasshoppers, when they face drought the transform into….locusts – together they are a force to contend with!

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Lighting the Candle of Inspiration. & God and Moses as nursing Mothers.

Have you had mentors who energized and inspired you? I have been fortunate to have teachers, Rabbis and Hazzanim who inspired me. My dearest hope is to touch others in this way – if you touch the two flames together, they shine more brightly.

Moses was the greatest teacher the Israelites have had. Very soon, by the end of this week’s Torah reading, B’haalot’cha, we will see the foundation for insurrection. A rejection of Sinai, a desire to return to slavery and the old ways. A rejection of Manna which was heaven sent for cucumbers, leeks, and most of all meat. But at the beginning of the Torah portion, there is also much joy!

B’Ha’alotcha means raising up (the menora) to light the light. Moshe is like that light. Chapter 9 of Numbers begins so hopefully and positively. In some of the most dramatic trope I’ve read, the wandering Israelites “make the Pesach” festival. I imagine, since they took their flocks with them, they had meat offerings, and a feast. Followed by a “complaint” or question, by a few that who were tamei (ritually impure) because someone near them had died, or they were traveling and could not partake in the festival, and could not draw near to G8d with an offering as the other Israelites could. Unlike the complainers or the insurrectionists to come, these folks only wish to draw close to Sinai. Moshe treats them with absolute respect, taking their question right to the Holy One of Blessing, and getting the very first amendment to the Torah – they could participate in a Pesach sheni – a second chance to offer the sacrifices. !

Sources here Rashi interprets this questioning like a star student asking a great question, and says this is akin to prophecy!

Happy, indeed, is a human being (lit., one born of woman) who may so confidently rely that at any time when he wishes to do so he may speak with the Shechinah! — This section, in fact, ought to have been said by Moses, just as all the other sections of the Torah, only that these men were privileged that it should be promulgated through their intervention, because “meritorious deeds are brought about by worthy men”

By the time we get to Chapter 11 of Numbers, the situation of the complainers is so difficult for Moshe, he asks G8d for help, or, if not, for death! In Moses’ frustration with leadership challenges, G8d answers him by using Moses as a candle to light the flames of others. 70 elders, Eldad and Medad become prophets, to taste what it’s like to be so inspired. -“speaking with the Shechinah” as the midrash and Talmud allude to above. When Joshua sees Eldad and Medad ecstatic and running around prophecy-making, he tries to protect his boss (Moses) but Moshe (Moses) say – “would that all the people were prophets” The prophecy that Eldad and Medad were telling was that Moshe would not lead them across the Jordan, rather Joshua would! Just as my fondest wish – to pave the way for my replacement(s) by inspiring others!

Also, for fun, some gender bending commentaries about Moses and G8d being nursing mothers, for Pride month. This first Rashi is about the Manna. Perhaps God is the nursing mother, and the rebellion of the people is like the toddlers (Israel is a fledgling nation) being weaned. About the taste and texture of Manna:

Our Rabbis (Sifrei Bamidbar 89) explained it as meaning “breasts’ (i. e. just as the suckling imbibes, so to speak, every possible flavor with the mother-milk. so the Israelites found all flavors in the manna;

And about Moses: He imagines himself as a nursing mother, and then rejects that image for himself – but first he, and all of us, get to imagine it. Sources here

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What does it Mean to Aspire to Holiness?

This week’s Torah reading is a double one, Acharei Mot/ Kedoshim: After the Death/Holiness. After the death refers to the deaths of Aaron’s two eldest sons, Nadav and Avihu. As discussed previously I disagree with the interpretation that they were punished for some minor deviation from the rules. Rather they were holy men who died before their time. Their alien fire, aish zarah, was not choosing life, but choosing a pathway of union with G8d that led to their death. Sometimes these two Torah portions are read separately, sometimes together, depending upon the year (if there’s a leap month they are separated) This year they are read together. When I worked my clinical Pastoral work in hospice and when my mother recently passed, I wondered if there is any connection between “after the death” of someone and Holiness. There is an intense and mind-raising awareness about accompanying someone on the brink of life. We are more aware, of time and mortality and what lies beyond. The work for Holy in Hebrew is Kadosh, what what does “Holy” mean? and what does it mean to aspire to become holy? Leviticus 19 urges us to do exactly this: Kedoshim t’hyu ki kadosh ani YHVH You shall be holy because I, G8d am holy. There are many uses of this word in the Bible, including in the deaths of Aaron’s two sons (Sources here) Leviticus 10:3 Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what G8D meant by saying: Through those near to Me I show Myself holy, And gain glory before all the people. What can that mean – is it possible that the deaths of these two makes G8d holy! Spoiler alert: this is a pathway that is not endorsed, so their passion is termed an aish zara an “alien fire”.

The word Kadosh is used for the dedication of spouses during a wedding – Kiddushin, a blessing to do a mitzvah asher kiddishanu b’mitzvotav, and even for Temple cult prostitutes k’deshah (which is forbidden in Deuteronomy) We are in the period between Passover and Shavuot when we count the days of the omer, Each day can be used for self reflection, for self improvement. But in the mystical tradition it’s far more intense than this. I discovered a text by Hayyim Vital, a student of R’ Isaac Luria in the 17th century called “Sha’arei Kedushah” meaning Gates of Holiness. Each of these days he spent in isolation, just him and G8d, each was a gateway to connection or union with the One if he were repentant enough, denied his ego enough. In mystical tradition only Moses was able to enter all 50 gates. (there are 7 weeks of 7 days, and then the Holiday of Shavuot). When you are on the verge of fainting, wrote Vital, you then offer this prayer:

“Master of all worlds, to you it is revealed and known that I am not engaged in this for my own glory, but rather for the glory of Your name, for the glory of the oneness of your being, so that I will know You, how to serve You and bless Your name. Enlighten my eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death. Create a pure heart within me”

…Sanctify your limbs and adorn them with Mitzvot (good deeds) making yourself into a throne for the Divine Presence, your body an ark for the Shechinah! (from p 122-3 Essential Kabbalah by Daniel Matt)

After this section of Aspiring to be Holy the text details many of these deeds to adorn yourself “into a throne for the Divine Presence” including the great Golden Rule of the Torah, “Love your near one as you love yourself” This is the core around which all Torah hinges. These things are what it means to be holy.

This is the fourth level – the sod or mystery – the ultimate aim of aspiring for holiness is those flashes of inspiration and knowledge that all is one, it’s all G8d. This is why kedoshim t’hyu is the same as v’ahavta l’re-acha kamocha in being central pillars around which the rest of Torah and our lives can be arranged and given direction! I suggest that the “ani Adonai which follows some of these commands are to, on this level dissolve the barriers between Ani and Adonai

From William Wordsworth (great name!) Tinturn Abby, quoted in Rabbi Aviva Gottleib Zornberg’s Hidden Order of Intimacy commentary on Leviticus

-with an eye made quiet by the power

of harmony, and the deep power of joy

we see into the life of things

note the synesthesia of the “eye” quieted by “harmony” reminiscent of seeing Sinai’s thunder!

April 22nd is Earth Day this year. This Archive Post for more on Earth Day and Kedoshim from 2021

Photo by Marcello Socket on Pexels.com

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Empathy: Not just “Nice”, Crucial!

This week’s Torah saga is about empathy for the outcast, when you delve past the surface. On the surface it seems to be a medical handbook, perhaps about microbial control. Tamei is a word that has been translated as “impure” but actually means prohibited from offering sacrifices at the Temple. Giving birth, contact with a dead body, skin ailments that spread, and bodily discharges make a person tamei. Houses and garments can be infected too. It is not the doctor, but the kohen (priest) who inspects and decides whether or not the person’s skin ailment has progressed or regressed enough to perform the ritual to re-enter society. I have written about the contagion before, check it out here; returning following childbirth; and about how this is no ordinary illness, but one of the spirit which becomes visible on the skin. Psoriasis, for example as well as alopecia, lupus are all autoimmune diseases very much affected by anxiety, and stress. The Hebrew word for this skin disease, falsely translated as leprosy is metzorah. Midrash interprets this as evil talk, or gossip. “Therefore, Moses cautions Israel and says: “This shall be the law of the metzorah” the law of the defamer [hamotzi shem ra].” There is a famous Hassidic tale of a town gossip whose tales ruin the reputation and therefore the business of a new arrival in town. When he learns that his words have so wounded, he feels remorse, and goes to the town Rabbi. “How can I set things right?”, he asks. The Rabbi instructs the man to bring him his feather pillow. When he does, the Rabbi opens the window, opens and shakes the feathers loose. “Now go and gather every last feather back”, he instructs. “It’s impossible!” replies the gossip! “Just as your words, true or not, are out of your control once you let them loose.” is the lesson. (sources here)

There is a disturbing verse which snagged my attention. Leviticus 13:45

As for the person with tzaarat (scaly skin infection): their clothes shall be rent, their head shall be left bare, and their upper lip shall be covered over; and they shall call out, “tamei, tamei!”

It sounds pretty awful, I can’t imagine it being me – how humiliating! I would much rather be silent, to hide. If I had a scaly skin infection, that was thought to be contagious, would my crying out keep them away more than my wanting to hide under a rock? I don’t think so! The call of “tamei, tamei” however, can arouse empathy, and prayers for my healing, according to Talmud

On the other hand, what if I am outcast for the sin of gossip? Perhaps now, the public outcry is for the purpose of apology! I learned from Talmud (sources here) overcoming the silence and hiding just might be the reason for this calling out. Calling out in the night can arouse tears of empathy. We are commanded in Leviticus to love your near one as yourself. Silent suffering or silent apologies can both get in the way of that connection between people that is needed in community.

When I walk through the streets of Manhattan, I see forgotten folks. The unhoused are treated as invisible. Their hair is unkempt, their clothes are torn, they are banished from normal activities of life, and unlike in the biblical verses, there is no prescribed way back in to society. Their skin may be broken, or unsightly and people are repelled, perhaps afraid of contagion, or of irrational behavior. And if they cry out in their pain, the police are called. I make it a point to see, to give, to honor them as human beings, each with a spark of the Divine. It’s required in Torah – it’s the foundation of empathy and community. Empathy simply is our hope for a better world.

Recently “Empathy” has been in the news in a way that shocked me. Some were calling it a sin, a weakness Emanuel Levinas wrote in 1934 about ‘Hittlerism” and was inspired to write his argument: that seeing the face of another must arouse within us a sense of responsibility to care for them, no matter what. (source 1) He predicted what would become the Holocaust from an inability to respond with caring and apologies when we err. It is interesting that the crying of the defamer serves both as an apology and a plea to not be left alone forever. When we silence our own or others suffering, we are denied the mitzvah of praying for another, of crying with them, of the possibility of healing.

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Shabbat HaGadol, Passover is coming!

Bonnie asked her “burning question” and it was brilliant! Why do we read about the crossing of the Sea of Reeds in the Torah reading cycle in February, rather than April when Passover actually occurs?

We read a lot of Torah on Passover (Pesach in Hebrew), there are special readings EVERY SINGLE DAY of the seven (or eight) day festival and a special Haftarah on the Shabbat before Pesach, called Shabbat HaGadol (the Great!) Many of the Passover daily readings do indeed tell the story of the Exodus (Ex. chapter 12) The crossing of the sea, including the song of the sea, led by Miryam and the women, are read on the last two days. If Shabbat falls on the in between days, Exodus 33-34 . Exodus 33 is the aftermath of the egel hazahav– the golden calf. We read about G8d’s forgiveness. When we had freedom, the first thing we did was to be “stiff necked” to go back to worshiping idols of gold, and Aaron was involved: the frightened people asked him to build one, and he did. To be free, means free to make mistakes. Perhaps you have been a teenager, newly freed from parental oversight, or know one, or have parented one? My daughters have shared with me some sad stories of overprotected youngsters suddenly free to do anything they wish at college for the first time, who made terrible decisions. We are not just freed from Egypt, we are free to serve the Holy One of Blessing!

So what is the Torah reading this week in the yearly cycle and what does it have to do with Pesach? It is Tzav, meaning command. Moshe (Moses) is told to command his brother and nephews about how to become the kohanim the “priests” officiating at the sacrificial offerings of the Mishkan. But first they had to be “purified” to be open enough to become channels of holiness, and to be forgiven for Aaron’s making of the Golden calf/egel hazahav. See source 4 (Sifra, Midrash from school of Rabbi Akiva). Aharon (Aaron) needs to know his heart has been accepted, just as the wandering generation of Israelites needs to know. To accomplish this transformation to become kohanim, Aaron and his sons are washed (by Moshe!) and are locked in the Tent of meeting for seven full days, to emerge on the eighth day, and then anointed with oil. They would then emerge, be installed and wait to see if G8d would accept their offerings, as fire or pillar of cloud. Those seven days of waiting must be rough – would G8d accept the work of their hands – the art and architecture of the mishkan? (tabernacle) And would G8d then be with them, and travel with them through the wilderness? And what did the soon-to-be priests do locked up in the tent of meeting for seven days? During my ordination, 16 of the 17 candidates were secluded in a room for an hour or two. We also had worked together for the past four months to craft our transition ceremony and prepare for our new roles in life. Would the world and the Holy One of blessing accept the offerings of our hearts? The responses would not be visible as a pillar of cloud, but in the fire in the hearts of the people we served.We sang, laughed. There was bonding, there was palpable tension. We sang in our ceremony from psalm 91, asking G8d to accept the work of our hands and hearts (source 1). In a similar way, Moshe “fills their palms”. Your hands and hearts must be open to be filled and receive gifts. Pregnancy seems like such a waiting as well, much longer than a week! Then your hands are filled with a tiny miracle. And transformation follows – oh the mystery!

Like the kohanim waiting in the Tent of Meeting the Exodus itself has a period of watching and keeping in Exodus 12: In the waiting period between the tenth plague, death of the first born and the leaving. לֵ֣יל שִׁמֻּרִ֥ים הוּא֙ לַֽיהֹוָ֔ה לְהוֹצִיאָ֖ם מֵאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרָ֑יִם leil shimurim – a night of watching/guarding to G8d, toward leaving the “tight place” – Egypt. I’m guessing there was not much sleep during that midnight watch. Rashi (source 2) says it was much longer than a night, that they were waiting to see if G8d would fulfill a promise of redemption many hundreds of years old!

Seven days, and then the eight day will tell. That should ring a bell! We are about to enter a festival for seven days, and then an eighth day in the diaspora. In addition the fall and winter festivals, Sukkot and Hanukkah are eight day festivals. Seven days of creation – Sheva in Hebrew, represents completion. The eighth, one day beyond. There is both getting together on Pesach, and isolation if you observe the dietary laws, from the non-Jewish community. Rabbeinu Bahya (source 3) references the seven layers of clothing of the kohen, and cites from the zohar This is also the reason that these days of inauguration were described (in the Zohar) as “days of שלמות, “days of perfection, or perfecting.or wholeness. The Haftarah for Shabbat HaGadol is the very last book of the last prophet Micah, envisions a messianic time, a time transformed, where Elijah the prophet will turn the hearts of parents and children to one another.

May your family or friendship circle find wholeness this Pesach, as Moshe anointed his brother and nephews. And when Elijah comes to your seder, may the generations turn their hearts to one another. Pesach and springtime can be magical!

Related: Passover 5785

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The (maybe) Happy Ending of Exodus

This past fall I saw the show “Maybe Happy Ending” (mini concert of show) Like the Robots, the Israelites began as slaves and their happy ending is love.

The Book of Exodus ends with the completion of the Mishkan (tabernacle) being in flame at night and covered with a cloud to shade it during the day, meaning that the Divine presence will be with us in these forms. Fire is the terror of Sinai, the inspiration at the burning bush, the manufacture method of the Golden calf, and the instructions to B’tzalel on how to build the Mishkan (sources on Sefaria Here) My Grandfather’s Hebrew name was B’tzalel and one of my children are named for him. The name means “in G8d’s shadow.” There is only an outline in a shadow, and shelter from the blazing sun. I suggest that the fire is the intuition and passion of the artist – The ability to be inspired is certainly a gift. G8d chooses B’tzalel because of this gift. The Holy One then provides a general outline, a material list – just as a shadow casts a general outline of the One who casts it. It is a combination of fire and cloud – of inspiration and of protection from constant demand of creating this beautiful artwork. That protection from demands is introduced at the beginning of this week’s reading Vayakhel meaning “and you shall gather them in community” It specifies, commands you shall not kindle a fire. In contrast to slave labor, we are to have the opportunity to unwind, to refresh.
I tend to do too much. I know this because one of my kids gave me a book as a gift called “The Art of Doing Nothing” But make no mistake, I believe in Shabbos – that palace in time described by Rabbi Heschel. First to just be, then to glimpse beyond myself, and to be “Vayakhel” gathered in a community. To inhale deeply , in medical talk inhale is inspire. It means to be able to lift our heads from the grindstone to see the sparks, the fire cast in the heavens and create things from those patterns using our intuition. In Shaarei simchah, I am yearning to find kindred spirits with whom to sing, and play and imagine.

Intuition and imagination what we can gain from a combination of inspiration and time to do “nothing” B’tzalel creates tapestries of weaving that should be impossible. Talmud Yoma describes the tapestry, with its weave going through to the other side making two images. B’tzalel somehow made a weave so that on the other side appears the image of a different animal: a lion on one side, and a condor on the other. Interestingly, those are 2 of the 3 chimeric animals in Ezekiel’s vision of G8d’s chariot. The ox, oh so similar to the calf is the third. That ability – to hold different ideas together and come up with something new is genius, and not robotic.

So the enslaved Israelites, like robots, first live only to work, that is their only purpose. In the show, when the Robot’s work is done, they are left to die. Instead they connect and find love. This is the purpose of the Mishkan – for People and the Divine to live in a loving relationship, the Mishkan is symbolic of a G8d coming “home’ to us. What is my evidence that the Mishkan is built like us- by and for love? Believe it or not, it’s the copper mirrors donated by the women to build the washbasins for the Levites to wash. In Exodus 38:8 Rashi cites a Midrash (see the Rashi on source page) where Moses doesn’t want to accept the mirrors, as instruments of vanity and sexuality. The Holy One replies that the mirrors are the most precious gifts of all. G8d explains that when Pharaoh command brutal workloads, the women would go to their husbands in the fields, bringing refreshments and their mirrors. Each would tease their husband about who was better looking, until the husband’s passion was aroused. This is how a generation was conceived: in play, in leisure carved impossibly by love. The song of songs is then cited by Rashi here (Song 8:5) “I awakened thy love under the apple-tree”, (referring to the fields where the men worked) This is why we make apple charoset on Passover. And that’s why the book of Exodus has a “Happy Ending”, maybe..

Below: the image of the creatures (they will be chimerized together) of Ezekiel’s vision. The golden calf was a tiny piece of reality that was owned to manipulate. Betzalel’s tapestry had woven a lion on one side and a “nesher” r tcondor on the other from the same weave! complex and unlimited.

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Hidden in Plain Sight

This coming week is the festival of Purim, in which the scroll of Esther is read. In a crucial scene, the book’s male protagonist, Mordechai refuses to bow to the arrogant Vizier of Persia. Due to this arrogance, the Vizier plots revenge against all Mordechai’s people, the Jews. We wear costumes, and are commanded to get fragrant levasumei in Hebrew (with wine?) until we can’t tell the difference between ‘cursed be the bad guy’, Haman in this case, and blessed be Mordechai! Interestingly the entire book of Esther is political satire against the powers that were: It begins with the King’s 180 day drinking party, the only rule is “no rules” and when it ends the King declares … another party!

Earlier this week, during Vizier’s state of the Union Address to congress, a woman of color refused to sit down when told, to silently protest the use of racism in the policies and speech. She was arrested and manhandled, re-injuring a shoulder which was injured in a January by federal agents. Story here. We are badly in need of political satire, to laugh at the impossible and cruel way of the rich and powerful, and along comes Purim. (I call Purim the “Jewish mardi gras”)

This week’s Torah reading begins with G8d saying: command the Israelites to bring clear beaten oil from olives to keep a light burning at night in the Mishkan the portable sanctuary, and to light it each and every night upon the golden menorah that looks like an almond tree. The original night light is where no one can see it: within the Tent of Meeting in the mishkan’s innermost chamber. It then goes on to speak of the inspired tailors who should be chosen to make the “uniforms” of those who will serve G8d in this traveling sanctuary, and to spell out the materials and specifics of the wardrobe.

Hidden beauty and Passion connects all of these things: The menorah, the Holiday of Purim, the robes of the Kohen Gadol

  1. Hiddenness in the Menorah: The olive contains within it the pure oil hidden within it. The olives are like the Israelites who are bidden to bring the olives, and who have within them pure fuel, passion in faith and to love one another and to love G8d. From the combination of wick and olive oil will emerge flame – also a hidden potential within the fuel, the flame lets out the beauty that was always there. Hidden in the design of the menorah itself is the pattern of an almond tree. There was worship of a tree Goddess in Biblical times, Asherah was her name, until the time Josiah uncovered the book of Deuteronomy and it was outlawed. Hidden in placement, the menorah is within the innermost center of the mishkan, where only the kohanim and G8d can see it! I suggest: don’t hide your flame, but don’t let it consume you either
  2. Hiddenness in the holiday of Purim: So many things are hidden in the Book of Esther: starting with Esther’s name, which means “hidden”. She hides her Hebrew name and her Jewishness, she is hidden within the palace, G8d’s name is hidden in the book, it does not appear. Esther hides her intentions after she approaches the king, taking a subtle tack. We wear masks which both hide who we are, and reveal hidden identities waiting to come out. We hide our serious, judgemental side for the day. We are bidden to be silly, to play, to let it “all hang out”
  3. Hiddenness in the clothing of the Kohanim (priests) This one seems a bit more obvious: Clothing hides the “human animal” giving dignity, artistic flair, both concealing who we are and revealing it. The clothing of the Kohanim is supposed to somehow transform them into creatures worthy of representing the community to G8d, and being able to withstand the presence of G8d. The voice of G8d will then come from that potential space between the K’ruvim Golden cherubs who spread their wings over the arc of the pact. But as we know from history and today’s headlines, some seek the power that the uniform, the fancy clothing conveys, and are nothing but a human animal within their clothes. Others have imposter syndrome and don’t feel worthy although they are.

Back to the headlines: Many leaders in the world wear the trappings of Dignity and Leadership, yet inside is the only same craving of power we know from Biblical times. A story by Reb Nachman of Bretzlov tells of the son of King who is convinced he is a Turkish bird, strips all his clothing, retreats under the table and refuses to do or say anything except for pecking grain under the table. Feel free to read here. In one version of the story, the prince still crows every once in awhile. How much do the trappings of dignity, honor and rule make a person that way? How much do they hide the hypocrisy inside? Which of us is exempt from this self examination? It seems that history is reflecting the text of Torah and Esther this week. May G8d’s rules of justice and kindness be revealed through our actions, in this time of hidden things.

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