Pledges of value
Behar-Bechukotai - Leviticus: 25:1-27:34
May 16, 2012
The second part of this week’s double parsha, Bechukotai, begins with a section known as the Tochehah, meaning warning, reproach, or rebuke. In it, God states: If you follow My laws, you will be blessed with prosperity, security, and victory over your enemies, but if you do not follow My commandments, you will experience a long list of curses, including disease, crop failure, starvation, war, and exile. Read More
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Measured language
Emor - Leviticus: 21:1-24:3
May 9, 2012
We are well into the period of “counting,” the sfirah, as it is called, short for sfirat ha’omer, “counting the omer.” Omer means “sheaf,” which is a bundle of stalks of grain, in this case, the wheat that is harvested for Shavuot. City dwellers may be forgiven if they do not know the difference between sheaves and stalks. What we count, in any event, is not the sheaves, but the passage of time during which the wheat ripens, from the second night of Passover until Shavuot. The mitzva of counting is derived from this week’s Torah portion. Read More
The knave with permission
Acharei Mot-Kedoshim - Leviticus: 16:1-20:27
May 2, 2012
It was a year when, as it does this year, Shavuot began Saturday night, a calendar quirk that allowed Babu to play a trick on me and my cousin Mati. Babu was my maternal grandmother’s mother. She was then in her 90s; I was six or seven, my cousin a tad younger. “We are expecting a special guest tonight,” she told us. “He comes to our home but rarely, every seven or eight years or so. He visited us last just before the two of you were born. We must treat him carefully because he is very scary.” Read More
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Tazria-Metzora
Leviticus: 12:1-15:33
April 25, 2012
This week’s double parsha deals with the affliction called tzara’at, usually translated as leprosy but clearly not the condition we know today as Hansen’s disease. Read More
Spirituality at its finest
Yom Ha’atzmaut
April 18, 2012
Do you remember when Yom Ha’atzmaut evoked sheer amazement — an Independence Day for a sovereign Jewish state! Who would have believed it? Well, the quality of the day has changed. Read More
The Pesach paradox: aggression and ambivalence
Hol Hamo’ed Pesach
April 11, 2012
On the concluding days of Pesach we again read of the deliverance of the ancient Israelites. But despite the good news of redemption, there remain subtle yet palpable ambivalent emotions surrounding some of the most essential ideas in this story. Read More
The Passover message: Just don’t do it
The Seder teaches empathy — and reminds us not to oppress the stranger
April 4, 2012
The Torah insists — you can be better than that. You know what it feels like to be oppressed, to be enslaved, to fear for your children’s safety, to know you could be beaten or killed on a whim. So learn empathy — learn not to oppress the stranger. Read More
When is enough enough?
Leviticus 6:1-8:36 - Tzav Shabbat Hagadol
March 28, 2012
The origins of Shabbat Hagadol (“The Great Sabbath”) are clouded in mystery. Not knowing how it began, medieval Jews thought the original term had been Shabbat Hahagada, “The Sabbath of the Haggada,” because they spent the day reviewing the seder service for use later in the week. So I am reviewing, and have gotten as far as “Dayenu.” We sing it, I think, because if we just read it, we might concentrate on its words, which are enough to stop us in our tracks. Read More
Courtesy and confidentiality
Vayikra - Leviticus: 1:1-5:26
March 21, 2012
We live in a world of cell phones and e-mails, blogs, Facebook, and Twitter. We have no privacy, for almost anyone can reach us wherever we are, whatever we happen to be doing, at all times of day. And we have no secrets, because anyone who knows anything about us can spread it to the entire world in a matter of seconds. The privacy and courtesy, confidentiality and discretion we once felt entitled to no longer seem possible. Read More
Just do it
Vayakhel-Pekudei - Exodus: 35:1-40:38
March 14, 2012
With this week’s double parsha, we conclude the book of Shemot (Exodus), and so we come to the end of a month of Torah readings dealing with the construction of the Mishkan, the portable sanctuary. We have read about the instructions for making the sanctuary and the objects to be used in it, and this week we read about how these instructions were carried out. We also read about the completion of the project, how the Mishkan was assembled and its contents arranged. Finally, we read about how God’s presence filled the Mishkan to guide the Israelites on their journey. Read More
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4th of Sivan, 5772
May 25 2012 | 8:00 p.m.
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