Parasha of the Week

  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...