This past Tuesday was the 17th of the Jewish month called Tammuz and was a fast day. It was the day the walls of Jerusalem were breached. It begins a mourning period that culminates three weeks later on the 9th of the month of Av, the day that Jerusalem actually fell. A lot more happened on these two days, and perhaps those events will be fuel for another email. I hope all of you that fasted had an easy and … Continue reading
The time has come for another dose of Torah. This week’s parsha (weekly Torah portion) finds our intrepid heroes nearing the end of their journey to that land flowing with milk and honey. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, however. The parsha is called Chukat which means, “Law of,” as in: This is the law of the Torah (teachings) that haShem (god) commanded Moshe (Moses) and Aharon to say to the children of Yisrael. The law is everything relating to … Continue reading
Hello everybody and welcome back to the wilderness, Today we feature chills and thrills from this week’s parsha (Torah portion) named after our featured “villain,” Korach. Let’s check in with our reporters and get a summary of what took place. The parsha begins with Korach, from the tribe of Levi, and Datan and Aviram, from the tribe of Reuvan getting together 250 leaders of the community for a chat with Moshe (Moses) and Aharon where they challenge them by saying, … Continue reading
I hope everybody had a good Shavuot; that you are well rested and energized from hearing Divinity speaking to us. And this is a bit of what he had to say… This week’s parsha (weekly Torah portion) is called Naso which comes from the verb to lift up or to carry. The parsha begins with haShem (god) telling Moshe (Moses) to lift up the head of the children of Garshon who are one of the Levite families. It is really … Continue reading
Tonight is a peaceful night after a beautiful day here in Eugene. This shabbat (Saturday) we read a parsha (weekly Torah portion) called Emor which means, “Tell.” Why? Because the parsha begins with haShem (god) telling Moshe (Moses) to TELL to the priests, the sons of Aharon a whole lot of things such as not to become tamae (mixed) by the soul of a member of the nation. The implication here is that the soul means when a person dies … Continue reading
The parsha (weekly Torah portion) for this week is called Shmini and means, “8th,” as in the eighth day after Aharon and his sons began their initiation ritual. I find it very interesting that this is the first time we have moved beyond a concept of seven days. Seven is the directions: north, east, south, west, up, down, and center. It is also the number of days god took to create the world. So it represents the physical world or … Continue reading
The parsha (weekly Torah portion) is called Tzav which is the verb, “To command,” and one of the roots of the word mitzvah (or commandment). The parsha starts with god telling Moshe (Moses) to command Aharon and his sons on the laws of the olah offering – the olah offering on the flame of the altar all night until morning. The priests, who are Aharon and his sons, are then told how to deal with the ashes from the altar, … Continue reading
This week’s parsha (weekly Torah portion) is called, “Key tisa,” which literally means, “That you will raise.” The verse continues with, “The heads of the children of Yisrael to redeem them and give a man atonement of his soul to haShem (god) in redeeming them and there will not be in them a plague in their redemption.” Basically we are talking here of the first census of the people, but I do find it interesting that the raising of the … Continue reading
We are almost at the end of the Jewish month of Tevat, getting ready to go into the month of Shvat, and we find ourselves in the throws of the 10 plagues that god has sent against Egypt. How did we find ourselves in such a predicament? We are here because god won’t allow Pharaoh to let a bunch of slaves go out on a 3 day journey to make a sacrifice to their god. What in the world is … Continue reading
Hello folks and welcome to the latest installment of ideas I have had or heard regarding the weekly torah portion… This week’s parsha (portion) jumps 38 years as we go into the last year of being in the wilderness. However, before we get there, we read about how the ashes of a red cow can make a not pure person pure while making a pure person not pure. Right after the details on how this process works, we read about … Continue reading