TorahParsha

Is there space for emotion in religion?

 

for Parshat Tazria / Mezora

i

In the midst of the rapture

of the inaguration of God’s Tent

Aaron’s two sons

bring a strange fire that was not commanded

before God.

God burns them in fire.

*

Then God offers

a series of Laws

and God teaches Aaron

how to approach His holy place

and not die:

how to approach Him

where his sons could not.

 

ii

One of the Laws

of this interim series

is the Law of circumcising sons.

It is couched in the Laws of a woman after childbirth:

the first Law of masculine life

made womanly.

 

iii

Men live with rules

but women know feelings

beyond what is commanded.

God commands Adam away from the Fruit

but Eve sees in it

a pleasure to the eyes.

*

Not unlike the worldview

of Aaron’s sons,

approaching from rapture,

bringing a strange fire that was not commanded.

 

iv

This worldview can be tragic

(we saw this with the Fruit,

with Aaron’s sons)

but enveloping the Law,

made a framework for the Law,

it can change Law from mere rules

to a bridge

that runs straight from the heart to God.

 

____

Shabbat shalom,

Abe

To my friends in Israel: my apologies for writing about the parsha in chutz laaretz this week and last.

www.TorahParsha.com

Could a religious life gain from a secular world?

 

for Parshat Shemini

i

Moses commands Aaron and Aaron’s sons

to inaugurate God’s Tent of Meeting.

They conduct each step

as Moses had commanded

and God’s Presence comes.

*

Then two of Aaron’s sons

offer up a strange fire

which Moses did not command them.

And God burns them in fire.

 

ii

From the start of this entire ceremony

the place of this ceremony

is called the Tent of Meeting.

Only after the sons bring their fire

and only after they are burned

is this place called mikdash,

holy place.

 

iii

Perhaps a holy place

needs even what is not holy

even what is not commanded 

within it.

*

Perhaps holiness is not a pristine thing

but a variety of many kinds of things

commanded

not commanded

all brought together

all brought before God.

 

 

____

Shabbat Shalom,

Abe

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@TorahParsha

Booklet for Passover, 2012

As I have in the past several years, I've gathered my thoughts on Passover and the Exodus that I've shared over the years.

I hope they can help your Passover become more meaningful in some small way, and please feel free to share them at your seders.

>> Download TorahParsha Thoughts for Passover 2012<<

Chag Kosher v'sameach,

Abe

www.TorahParsha.com

What is storytelling?

 

for the Seder night

 

i

There were Ten Plagues and then God smote Egypt at the Sea.

Describing the Plague of Lice, Pharaoh’s servants say: Here is the finger of God.

At the Sea, Israel sees the hand of God.

 

ii

Rabbi Yosi of Galil says: a single Plague is God’s finger.

God’s hand at the Sea, all five fingers,

was five times Ten Plagues:

like fifty Plagues.

*

But this is strange math.

If one plague is the finger of God,

one hand should not be fifty Plagues,

but five.

 

iii

Each moment in a story

is a window to the whole tale.

*

Each strike of God’s finger

is a window to all ten finger-strikes,

all Ten Plagues:

and a hand of five Plagues

is fifty.

*

Just as the moment when God redeemed us

is a window into the immortal story

of God redeeming us

over and over.

*

Just as each seder night

the moment of one evening

is the span of all of our generations

telling the story,

re-entering the story,

being redeemed by God again.

 

 

Based on a theory of Walter Benjamin

 

 

Chag kosher v'sameach,

Abe

www.TorahParsha.com