TorahParsha

What makes us strong

for Chanukah

 

i

The nation of Amalek comes to attack.

Moses goes up to the hilltop, carrying his staff.

Aaron and Hur go up with him.

Moses lifts his hands up.

And as Moses would lift up his hand,

the people would succeed in battle.

But Moses’ hands grew heavy.

*

So Aaron and Hur helped Moses’ hands—

one holding from here

and one from here,

and Moses’ hands, holding the staff,

stayed steadfast until the sun set.

 

ii

Aaron’s two hands from here,

and Hur’s two hands from here,

and Moses’ two hands between them,

and Moses’ staff,

all steadfast:

it is like the Menorah,

the  seven-branched Candelabra in the Temple:

three branches of the Menorah from one side

and three from its second side,

and the seventh pole at the center,

all seven lit continually, 

for all generations.

 

iii

It is the source of our light,

our strength:

Many uniting together,

sharing together for the long work. 

 

 

___

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Urim Sameach,

Abe

____

Exodus 16:8-12; ; 25:32; 27:20-21
____

Note: Aaron and Hur holding with two hands is my presumption; the text only says they “helped Moses’ hands.” Also, the text does not say that Moses held his staff on the hill; only that he went up the hill holding his staff.

www.TorahParsha.com 

What do Dreams Mean?

for Parshat VaYeishev

 

i

Joseph is his father’s favorite son

and his father gives him a special coat.

Joseph lives a charmed life.

*

At night Joseph dreams  

and his dreams imply that his brothers will bow to him.

But Joseph is taken into slavery

and from slavery to prison.

 

ii

In prison Joseph meets a cupbearer and a baker.

The cupbearer dreams

and Joseph says: your dream means that you will be a cupbearer again.

The baker dreams

and Joseph says: your dream means that you will be hanged.

*

And Joseph says: dream-interpretations are from God.

*
These predictions come true.

 

Pharaoh hears of Joseph’s dream-interpretation

and makes Joseph ruler over Egypt

and Joseph’s brothers do bow to him.

 

iii

In security Joseph thinks that dreams are promises,

But the promise never takes hold. 

 

Then Joseph sees  

that dreams are the signs of changing fortune:

—for good (a return to cupbearing), or for suffering (a hanging);

only God will say which.

 

Then dreams speak Truth through Joseph

and his dreams come true.

 

Because he has learned the heart of dreams, the core of Truth:

that life is changeable,

that God is the only Master of this tenuousness.

  

 

Inspired largely by Rabbi Alex Israel’s reading of Joseph, and other sources.

Originally shared in 2010

____

Shabbat Shalom, Abe

www.TorahParsha.com

 

What is our national identity?

for Parshat VaYishlach

 

i

The prince of Shechem

rapes Dinah,

Jacob’s daughter:

an abomination

done upon Israel.

*

The prince of Shechem

wants to marry Dinah.

In trickery,

Dinah’s brothers tell the prince:

let usbecome one nation,

let us marry each other—

but first your people must be circumcised.

*

When the people of Shechem

circumcise themselves

and sit wracked with pain,

Dinah’s brothers

annihilate them

in war.

 

ii

Jacob fears retaliation

from the other nations.

God says:

Return to Bet El,

the place I first appeared to you

years ago.

And Jacob’s family hands over their foreign idols.

And the terror of God is upon the other nations.

No one harms Jacob’s family.

And Jacob’s family arrives at Bet El,

safe.

 

iii

This story is the first time

Israel

is used as our nation’s name.

Perhaps this is the story

of our nation’s birth.

It is a story of treaties,

war, violence:

any nation’s story.

*

But God says:

Be more than any nation.

Be a nation of God.

And Israel journeys to God’s place

and gives up the other nations’ gods,

ways.

And Israel does not need to fight any more.

*

Israel is born.

 

 

___

Shabbat Shalom,

Abe

___

The phrase “foreign idols” literally reads “foreign gods.” But in context this clearly refers to idols.

___

www.TorahParsha.com

Who can lead?

for Parshat VaYeitzeh 

 

 

i

Lavan promises his daughter,

Rachel,

to Jacob

for a wife.

On their wedding night

Lavan switches Rachel

with Lavan’s older daughter,

Leah.

Jacob does not know

until morning.

*

(But Jacob does marry Rachel, too, in the end.)

 

ii

So Leah becomes

the accidental wife.

And Leah names her first three sons

saying these things:

- With this first son, now my husband will love me.

- God has heard that I am hated, so He has given me a second son.

- My husband will join me now  for I have birthed him three sons.

*

This is naming

of Lavan’s world—

where another decides

who you are;

where another decides

who is a bride,

the chosen daughter,

a wife,

beloved,

unloved.

 

iii

With her fourth son

Leah says:

this time

I will Praise HaShem.

She names him Judah,

Yehudah,

Praise God.

*

In Judah

Leah ends

Lavan’s worldview:

she becomes simply one woman,

praising God.

 

iv

And Judah will sire

the line of David,

father of kings.

*

—perhaps to show

that the leader we seek

will not rule us:

but he will bring us to know ourselves

enough to come to God.

 

 

 

_____

Originally shared in 2011, and based partly on Rav Amnon Bazak’s writing on the Books of Samuel 

 
_____
Shabbat shalom,
Abe