What an exciting shabbat we are going to have this shabbat! The parsha (weekly Torah portion) we will read includes haShem (god) actually talking to us. Imagine being in a group of 600,000+ looking up from the base of a smoking, shuddering mountain, with the sounds of shofars (ram’s horn horns) trumpeting, and hearing/seeing the voice of god talking to each and every one of us… However, I get ahead of myself, for this is near the end of the … Continue reading
Hello and welcome to the Exodus. This week’s parsha (Torah portion) is the first of the second book that Moshe (Moses) transcribed from the divine creator-of-everything. I wonder what it must be like to put down in print your own story as told by someone else. Did Moshe ever stop haShem (god) and say, “Wait a minute, that’s not how it happened. It was like this.”? Then again, he is the humblest man in the world, so maybe he figured … Continue reading
hello everyone, Last week’s parsha (weekly Torah portion), we listened to Moshe review our journey from Mount Sinai to the edge of the promised land. In this week’s parsha, Moshe (Moses) talks about haShem (god) turning down his request to enter the land, all that haShem has done to get the people to this point, what will happen if the people forget haShem, which cities east of the Jordan are safe havens for unintentional murderers, the 10 statements (commonly referred … Continue reading
[Editor’s note: I originally wrote this in 2004, for an email list regarding the weekly Torah portion. I deliberately put it out after shabbat because, the energy of the parsha does not end with shabbat – it only starts to wane with the ending of shabbat. Think of the shabbat as the full moon for the parsha. It builds starting Wednesday until shabbat where it is at maximum strength. Then, after shabbat, the energy of the parsha wanes as the … Continue reading
What strikes me as I read this week’s parsha (weekly Torah portion) was how I have been seen the first two books of the Torah: Genesis (Breshiet in Hebrew) and Exodus (Shmot in Hebrew). In Breshiet I found myself seeing some little aspect within a parsha, while in Shmot I am finding much larger themes; themes that exist over many parshas. I don’t know why that is. At the moment, I just find it an interesting observation. If anybody out … Continue reading
I almost wasn’t going to write anything for this week’s parsha (weekly Torah portion) because I didn’t have any new ideas coming to me as I was reading. Then, in the morning, haShem (god/dess) blessed me with a clue as to one thing that last week and this week’s parshas, together, might be trying to teach us. This week’s parsha is filled mostly with laws, actions and consequences, so it is a very practical one. And why not? After all … Continue reading
Hi everybody, Hope you all are in good spirits this week. In this week’s parsha (Torah portion), we finally make it to Mount Sinai and have the most amazing high: we all get to hear the Creator of the Universe speak to us. And this is what she said: I am haShem (the 4 letter name of god meaning: what was, is, and will be – the master of everything) your god, who has taken you out of the land … Continue reading