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
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
This week we have another of our famous double parshas (weekly Torah readings) and it is called Tazria-Metzora. Tazria is the name of the first parsha and means, “She will cause seed to be sewn.” Metzora is the name of the second parsha and refers to a person who has Tzaraat which is a spiritual malady and often mistranslated as leprosy. Seeing as we had our first double parsha a few weeks ago, I think I will go straight into … 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
It is that time again for a word or two on this week’s parsha (Torah portion). The parsha is titled Pinchas (or Phineas for those of you with an English bent) and it is a strange beast. The week before, we left our heroes fighting a plague for getting involved in idol worship and having Pinchas come to the rescue by killing a high ranking Jew and his Midianite lover. In this parsha, Pinchas gets rewarded, and god tells Moshe … Continue reading
Being a Cohen or priest in the family tradition of the sons of Yisrael, or what is commonly referred to as Judaism, blessings are a favorite topic of mine. Back when I lived in Jerusalem, orthodox Jews, when they found out I was a Cohen, would ask my to bless them. Also, every day, during the morning prayers, the Cohanim would bless the congregation. And at the Kotel (the western wall), during the week of Pesach (Passover) and Succot, hundreds … Continue reading
Welcome to the Torah parsha (portion) of the week. I hope you all had a nice Shavuot and Shabbat. This week’s parsha had lots of things in it and I am not sure which I will actually share. So, hang in there and let’s find out! Once again I have been enjoying the names of the tribal leaders, so let me give them to you: for the tribe of Judah (thanksgiving): divination son of my-people-volunteer for the tribe of Yisachar … Continue reading
This week’s parsha (Torah portion) is an interesting one. It starts off talking about all the restrictions to a Cohen (priest), like who they can marry, who they can bury, or that only an unblemished Cohen can actually perform the sacrificial service. It talks about how pure a Cohen must be in order to eat from the sacred food (here are my ideas on “pure and impure” from a parsha we read a few weeks ago ), and to bring … Continue reading