Parasha of the Week

Of all the activities that are forbidden on   Shabbos   that are derived by Talmudic exegesis, the Torah singles out one: "You shall not kindle a flame in all your dwellings" ( Exodus 35:3 ). Rabbi Chaim of Czernovitz ( Siduro shel Shabbos ) explains that in addition to being a forbidden type of work, making a fire also refers to the flame of rage. Inasmuch as rage is forbidden at any time, the special precaution means that we must make extra effort to avoid anger on   Shabbos . On Friday night, the   challah   is covered during   kiddush , the prayer testifying to the six days of creation and that Hashem rested on the seventh day. The reason for covering the   challah   is that according to   halachah , the   berachah  (blessing) for bread takes precedence to the   berachah  for wine. Inasmuch as the   kiddush   is recited over wine, the   challah   is covered to prevent its being humiliated when the ...

  The Lord tells Aaron to bless the people in His name (Chapter 6).     What follow is the most famous blessing in the entire Torah.     Do you recognize it?     When is it recited and by whom?   1.It appears in the daily morning service.  The blessing is recited at the public repetition of the Amidah. 2. The blessing is said where the Kohanim still duchan – that is when they are invited onto the bima, place a tallit over their head and then bless the congregation.  In Israel, Kohanim duchan every Shabbat.  In America duchanning is usually reserved for the High Holy Days. 3. That same blessing is pronounced by parents over the heads of their children on Shabbat and festivals.   Rashi declares that this blessing must be given with kavanah, and a full understanding of what it means.  He further instructs that the words must not be said too quickly but with great care and deliberation.   The first p...

  So much of Torah speaks to the heart and so much of it does not resonate with us.  The practices which we no longer follow feel archaic and meaningless.  Here, read what the midrash makes of one of these passages: "He also said, "From the rising of the sun until the setting of the sun, My Name is great among the nations; and in every place offerings are presented in My Name, even pure sacrifices." [The above section is quoted and seems to say that even in the diaspora the Jewish people are faithful with their offerings.  But, we know this is not so: the sacrifices were  only  offered in the holy city of Jerusalem.] "Now are there sacrifices and the giving of handfuls of flour along with sacrifices rising in the smoke of Babylonia?  [Of course not.]  What then is being referred to? "The Mishna.  The Holy One, blessed be He, said, 'When I see My children engaged in the study of Mishna, it is as if you were offering up to Me sacrifices." ...

  “Rashi relates that the donkey who rebuked Bilaam died immediately afterwards, so that people would not point to the donkey and (say), “This is the donkey that rebuked Bilaam and left him speechless.” The humiliation of Bilaam by the donkey remaining alive would not have been in keeping with the dictates of k'vod habriyot , human dignity, and so the donkey died. Had the donkey remained alive, it might have been an opportunity to glorify God’s miraculous powers. People everywhere would have pointed at the donkey as testimony to God’s wonders.  Midrash says that this talking donkey was one of the things created before the creation of the world, ready for just this moment. Yet, so as not to embarrass a man, even a man of such low character as Bilaam, the donkey was not allowed to remain alive.” The rabbis place a priority value on human dignity, on honoring each individual as a spark of the divine.   

Our Torah portion deals with two dramatic instances of individual passion and initiative. One, the initiative of Pinhas, was recounted in last week’s portion. Pinhas’ act is a violent reaction at a moment of crisis. It averts a national disaster. The beginning of this week’s reading gives God’s reaction to Pinhas’ act.  The second act of initiative is that of the daughters of a man called Tzlof’had . Their story is begun this week and continues into next week’s reading.  In both of these cases an individual or a small group of individuals does something unbidden by the rules of their society at that moment. The repercussion of Pinhas’ initiative is that Pinhas is given special recognition and a special mission, to be the bearer of God’s “Covenant of Peace.” But, in truth, since Pinhas was already in direct priestly line from Aaron, his new status had little effect on the community or on the future of the Jewish people.    The case of the daughters of Tzlof’had ...

  We do not know what we do not know. Sometimes we even do not know what we do know. Man was endowed with  sechel .  It is our gift of understanding.  From the time when God took the  golem-form  from the earth and breathed into it the Breath of Life to the moment of overwhelming desire to have open eyes and peer the universe we became people in search of ourselves. We fervently desire to understand what life means.  We want to know why we live.  What is our purpose?   That is why stories such as the one told here in parshat  Shmini are so vexing. Here, Nadav and Avihu, sons of Aaron, die.  Near the holy altar of God they are enveloped by a conflagration that excoriated their inner being while leaving their body/husk intact.  The father has watched horrified to see his sons die.  What does this passage mean? Some scholars tell that Nadav and Abihu were drunk.  Int...

  B’khor Shor comments on the verse, “Make sacral vestments,”  to be used in the holy place; not to come dressed in everyday clothing because this is not ‛way of honor.’ They should wear clothing “of dignity and of adornment.”  “Next you will instruct all who are skillful,” that is to say, just as I commanded those who are skillful to make the Tabernacle, so do I command them to make the clothing. People should not say: Aaron will reward those who make his clothing and so too,  “they will receive the gold,” just as I wanted them to take offerings for the Tabernacle, so too should they take gold and offerings for the clothing.   B’khor Shor remarks that “sacral vestments” mean the priests are not to attend to their duties in “everyday clothing.” Second, he spells out the parallelism between the Tabernacle and the clothes. Third, the clothing will not be fashioned by one talented tailor but rather by the whole community. Truly, clothi...

  “I prefer a sinner who knows he a sinner to a righteous man who knows he’s righteous.”    Hasidic   “Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.”   Numbers 12:3 It is said that Moses is the most humble of all people.  Early on he forfeited his protected status as prince of Egypt when he saw a taskmaster torturing a Jew.  Not long after, God came to Moses and asked him to be his emissary to the Pharaoh.  He steadfastly refused until God ordered him back to the court in Egypt.   In numerous  encounters afterward, Moses' authority is challenged by relatives and  his people.  There is a single episode where Moses' silence in the face  of a verbal assault from his brother in sister that God actually comes to  rise to the deense of the silent leader.  The Lord says to Aaron and  Miriam, ''In my entire house, he (Moses) is the tru...

  The parasha of Yitro ranks as the most powerful section of all the  Torah readings.  Containing the essential narrative of Judaism that tells  t he tale of the Revelation to the masses assembled at Sinai, Yitro spills  out a message that would forever change the course of the universe.      Yet, an anomaly lurches out at the reader: why do we begin with such a  forgettable man, Yitro, father-in-law of Moshe, and end with a cosmic event?  Two more nagging questions gnaw at the mind.  Why is this pivotal section of the Torah called by the name of a pagan?   What lies at the crux  of the conversion of Yitro to Judaism? *And Yitro heard... and Yitro came... Exodus 18:1 * is how the parasha begins.  What did Yitro hear that compelled him to join with the Israelites? What was the catalyst that caused Yitro to abandon his past?   What did he hear?      In the Talmud we find an answer; actually...

  The first of the Great Ten Commandments reads: I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods besides Me. What is remarkable about this event is that it was a revelation to a people.  Until now God had only revealed His essence and Will to a chosen few.  Noah, Abraham, Hagar, Sarah, Jacob, Isaac and more were the pre-Sinai recipients of the Word of God. After the Sinai experience revelation was again restricted to single people.  Moses, Manoah, Hannah and many prophets also heard God.  Never again was a people given the Message, only individuals. One of the cited reasons for the mass revelation was that no one could say that they alone were privy to God.  No person could claim they they were singled out as special by the Holy One.  Every participant at Sinai was equal.  With this simple understanding of the greatest event in history unfolds the highest ideal for humanity. Tazria is a skin ailment.  Some Sages declared that the skin di...

  Ramban the great interpreter of Torah and mystic of the thirteenth century noted, “What happens to the Fathers is a portent for the Offspring.”  Expressing a deep thought Ramban means that sometimes there is a convergence that takes place between generations that may never actually meet.  For example, a grandfather may pass on a story which becomes a key to unravel the mission of a granddaughter many years later.  Perhaps some act has a great or gift only reveals its true worth many years afterward.     There are times, Ramban implies, when one generation places a seed in the ground that lies dormant until germinated by a later generations.    An example of this is intergenerational transfer that occurs in Genesis  And Abram passed through the land, until the site of Shechem, until the plain of Moreh….1      Rashi  comments: “ And Abram passed through the land,”  means Abram entered it;   “ until the site ...

  If you do not acknowledge someone, are they there? Can you remember the feeling of being ignored? Can you recollect the sensation of almost being violated when they looked right through you? Beyond you? When you tentatively raised your opinion in the conversation no one noticed. How did that feel? Walking past a homeless person with an outstretched arm on the street poses the same conundrum. Do they exist? Do they matter? Do they feel violated? Or are they so used to being invisible that they no longer feel the pang of not being there? Isn’t this the underlying basis of the philosophical question, "if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, did it really fall?’ Perhaps the question ought to be re-phrased as, "if a tree falls in the forest and no hears it, does the life of the tree matter?" Is the fact that it has fallen of any consequence? Of course it matters to the creatures of the forest. Some animals will lose their home while others will find one in the sh...

In commenting on the enigmatic passage of Abraham being called to sacrifice his son Isaac, Ramban, Nachmanides, makes a powerful observation. He says that while the episode is a test it is not the kind of test we are accustomed to seeing.   God knew the outcome of the test. God knows it all. So what then was the point of directing His servant, Abraham, to offer up his son? Ramban reveals to us that what we think is unrealized potential. In other words, everyone would say they would do the right thing, if called upon. But, until the time comes when we are actually called to act, it is only a thought, an idea. When we ultimately find ourselves in that situation and respond to the calling do we release the quality of goodness from a mere thought into the physical realm. At the moment when Abraham responded to the demand of God he released his inner well of goodness. "He brought forth the potential into actuality." Thinking good thoughts are only the first step in meeting God. Th...

  “Justice, justice shall you pursue”  (Deut. 16:20)               The Hebrew word  Tzedek  (meaning “justice”) is repeated twice in the above verse.  Judaism teaches nothing in the Torah is superfluous.  Every dot, dash, and word repetition has a purpose and reason.  Why, then, is the word “justice” repeated?               The contemporary Torah scholar Pinhas Peli writes, “the word “justice” is repeated twice to teach us that when pursuing justice we cannot remain one-sided. . . .It is, indeed much more difficult to find a way between two claims, both of whom have justice on their side, than to decide  a priori  which of the two sides is absolutely just and must be aided.”               Talmudic law understood this to mean that when two litigants come before a...

  Today’s Torah begins: “See, this day I set before you blessing and curse: blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin upon you this day; and curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God.”   The ability of each Jew to choose good or evil, involvement or indifference, piety or skepticism, is the cornerstone of the Torah and of rabbinic Judaism. Judaism presupposes that we have the power to say “no” to God.   Our choice implicates God.   Torah records the instruction to “keep (shamor tishm‘run) all this commandment that I command you.”   The rabbis note the Hebrew verb shamor, to keep or guard, is the same verb used to designate someone who safeguards the property of another.  They know that the Torah uses language with great precision, and if God gives this command using shamor it must be to signify that the Torah, which is God’s property, has been handed over to us for safe keeping.  We are the guardian...

Tayva is translated as box, something rudderless.   Rabbi Chaim Navon critiques Noah. He notes that the Hebrew word   tayvah   appears twice in the Torah. The first in relation to Noah who was told to build a   tayvah , the word that is translated as ark.   Tayvah   is also used to describe the “basket” in which baby Moses was placed so that he might float down the river. Thus both Noah and Moses were shielded from harm  by being placed in a   tayvah. Navon also underscores that God’s decision to destroy the world reflected His deep   regret   that he made man on earth. Hence the Divine edict, “ and I will blot out from the earth the men who I created .” (Gen 6: 6.7) The great sin of the Golden Calf incensed God. In his rage he informed Moses that He would destroy the entire community He had liberated from Egypt and make of him (Moses) a great nation heretofore  known as the Children of Israel, would henceforth bear the name Childr...