TorahParsha

What can death offer us?

(for parshat Ma'asei)

i

The Fall of Man

brings death to the world

and the Couple moves

to the East of Eden.

*

Abraham’s father

dies in Haran.

God calls upon Abraham

to journey to the Land.

*

Egypt

was burying

the firstborn

whom HaShem

had struck

and Israel embarked

out, into the Desert.

*
God says:

When you come to the Land

establish cities

for a man to flee to

if he kills by mistake;

he will take refuge there

from the avenging family.

*

Death sparks a journey.

 

ii

Through death we know

there is not enough time

to wait to begin.

*

Through death we know

that life is so small,

life cannot contain

the journey inside of us.

We must journey out

beyond where we live

to let this journey take place.

*

So death sparks a journey:

it guides us to life.

 

 

____

In memory of Rav Yehuda Amital:

He lived through death

and journeyed  out

and built a world.

October 31 – July 9 2010

3? Heshvan 5685 -  27 Tammuz 5770

 

________

Shabbat Shalom,

Abe

 

Note that the start of the journey precedes Egypt burying its dead (see Num. 33:1-4). Still, I feel my point bears weight.

 

 

Please pray for Ayelet Yakira bat Chaya Hinda Matel Nechama, a one-year-old who needs a bone marrow transplant, and get your cheek swabbed today.

For further reading on Torah and the Parsha, consider: Hirhurim – Jewish Ideas Daily - Rabbi Jonathan Sack’s writings –Pardes  - The Virtual Beit Midrash – Yeshiva University Online

www.TorahParsha.com

 

What is a home?

 

for Parshat Matot

 

i

Jacob’s sons ask Pharaoh

for a place in Egypt,

in the land of Goshen—

saying:

We your servants are cattlemen

as our fathers were;

and  the land of Goshen

is good for cattle.

So Israel

settles in Goshen.

*

At the entry to the Land

the tribes of Reuven and Gad

say to Moses:

this land is for cattle

and your servants have cattle;

let us settle here,

the other tribes will enter the Land.

Moses will hear none of this

(though later they come to agreement).

 

ii

Your servants are cattlemen

as our fathers were

and  that land

is good for cattle

means:

here is a place

for putting your whole very selves into.

*
This land is for cattle

and your servants have cattle

means:

here is a place for our things.

*

Only one of these ways of speaking

leads to settling a place.

Only one of these ways of speaking

creates a home.

 

 

____

Shabbat Shalom,

Abe

 

Please pray for Ayelet Yakira bat Chaya Hinda Matel Nechama, a one-year-old who needs a bone marrow transplant, and get your cheek swabbed today.

For further reading on Torah and the Parsha, consider: Hirhurim – Jewish Ideas Daily - Rabbi Jonathan Sack’s writings –Pardes  - The Virtual Beit Midrash – Yeshiva University Online

www.TorahParsha.com

 

Can we reach immortality in this world?

 

for Parshat Pinchas

 

i

Zelofhad  has no sons.

When Zelofhad  dies,

his daughters say:

Why should the name of our father be lessened?

Let us inherit

from his ancestral land.

*

God says:

Zelofhad’s daughters have spoken well.

If a man has no sons,

let his daughters inherit his ancestral land.

With no daughters,

let his brothers,

his uncles,

his nearest kin inherit his ancestral land.

Let his name survive

through his wide family.

 

ii

God tells Moses he will die.

Moses asks God for a successor.

And though Aaron’s son succeeds Aaron,

God chooses Joshua to finish Moses’ work:

Joshua, who is not of Moses’ family at all,

Joshua, who brings the people into the Land.

 

iii

Our lives have boundaries:

ourselves,

our small circle.

And so we are limited.

Our lives are so limited

that death can end us.

*

This is the only way

to stop death:

to reach to the people beyond us,

for the people beyond us to reach to us,

to end the boundaries.

Through this

we become endless.

 

 

With thanks to Kathi for help in working through this idea

____

Shabbat Shalom,

Abe

 

Please pray for Ayelet Yakira bat Chaya Hinda Matel Nechama, a one-year-old who needs a bone marrow transplant, and get your cheek swabbed today.

For further reading on Torah and the Parsha, consider: Hirhurim – Jewish Ideas Daily - Rabbi Jonathan Sack’s writings – Pardes  - The Virtual Beit Midrash – Yeshiva University Online

www.TorahParsha.com

 

How do we bear suffering?

for Parshat Balak

 

i

Bila’am’s donkey will not listen.

She strays off the path.

She is frightened

because she sees an angel of God,

that Bila’am cannot see.

Bila’am thinks his donkey is simply disobedient,

and he is furious,

so he strikes her again and again.

But then HaShem opened the donkey’s mouth;

and she speaks back.

*

Jacob loves Rachel, his wife.

But he has been tricked into marrying his other wife, Leah.

He never wanted to be with Leah.

And HaShem saw that Leah was hated,

and He opened her womb.

And Leah bears sons.

 

ii

The verses do not say: HaShem made the donkey speak,

HaShem gave Leah children.

The verses say: HaShem opened Leah’s womb,

HaShem opened the donkey’s mouth.

As if to say:

Leah’s children were in her womb, waiting;

only her womb was sealed closed.

As if to say:

The donkey’s words were waiting in her  heart;

only her mouth was closed.

Now God came

and opened what had been sealed.

 

iii

Inside each of us, miracles of possibility are hidden.

It is when we are most downtrodden

that God sets them free.

 

 

____

Shabbat shalom,

Abe

 

___________

I forgot to mention last week that my thought was influenced by Rav Ezra Bick’s writings on incense.

 

 

Please pray for Ayelet Yakira bat Chaya Hinda Matel Nechama, a one-year-old who needs a bone marrow transplant, and get your cheek swabbed today.

   

For further reading on Torah and the Parsha, consider: Hirhurim – Jewish Ideas Daily - Rabbi Jonathan Sack’s writings – Pardes  - The Virtual Beit Midrash – Yeshiva University Online