TorahParsha

A Thought for Shabbat

I rarely use this list to write about my personal life, but this week I thought I would.  

The parsha says that if the high priest does not wear his robe with bells, or the other priests do not wear their uniform pants, they might die in the sanctuary before God. Amongst other things, these Laws say that, in the intimate holy space, we risk real loss.

I think this is true of our intimate space with friends, too.

Over the last few months, I've finished these pieces with a request that we pray for Yechiel ben Michal. Some of you have asked who he is and how he is doing.

Yechiel is my friend Alan, who passed away from cancer this past week. He was a wonderful person and a great friend and I miss him. 

This Shabbat, in honor of Alan, a request: invite people to your meal, embrace people who are different from you, take your friends on an adventure, look up to the people around you and the people you love, strive to be your best, and learn Torah.

In other words, be a little like Alan.

 

 

 

 

Shabbat shalom,

Abe

What are years?

 

for Parshat Terumah

 

i

God tells Noah

to build a great ship

out of gofer wood

three hundred cubits long

fifty cubits wide

thirty cubits high

to carry the creatures through the storm.

*

God tells Moses

to build a Holy Ark

from shittim wood

one and a half cubits long

one and a half cubits wide

one and a half cubits high

to carry God’s Testimony

across the Desert

to the Land.

*

Pharoah asks Jacob

How many are the days of the years of your life?

Jacob

who has had a difficult life

who is old

answers Pharoah:

I have lived one hundred thirty years,

few and bad were the days of the years of my life. 

 

ii

A number is a measure

of material for carrying things:

cubits of wood for voyagers

cubits of wood for holy cargo

years of life for bearing good

or bad.

 

iii

A number is a question:

With only so much material

so much wood

so many cubits

so many years

—nothing more—

what can we carry

and how much

how will we carry good

and not bad

what is in our power

to justify the measure we have?

 

 

 ____

Title taken from the title of a poem by Marianne Moore

 ____

(Originally sent in 2012)

Shabbat Shalom,

Abe

___

Please pray for Yechiel ben Michal

TorahParsha.com

 

What is freedom?

for Parshat Mishpatim

 

i

After six years of service

the slave goes free.

 

But still the slave may say:

I love my master

I love the woman he has given me as a wife

I love the children born to me as a slave.

 

And he may choose

to stay a slave forever

with his beloved master

his beloved wife

these beloved children.

 

ii

Perhaps freedom is not only the freedom to go

but also the freedom to make the sometimes hard choice

 

to stay with family,

to stay with those you love.

 

___

Shabbat shalom,

Abe

Please pray for Yechiel ben Michal

www.TorahParsha.com

How does my small life matter?

 

for Parshat Yitro

 

i

God says:

Remember the Sabbath day. Work for six days and on the seventh you shall rest

because God worked for six days and on the seventh He rested.

*

But it is unclear what we must remember:

if we must remember God’s rest,

or we must simply recall that we must rest each week

with God’s long-ago rest only as background

for what we do now.

 

ii

This lack of clarity

this permeable line between your week and God’s

points to how your week is part of God’s week:

how within the long coursing endless history

of all of God’s work, since the beginning of Time,

your week is there.

 

iii

And to delve deeply into your week

to become deeply aware of your week

to remember your week

is to know this,

is to remember this:

that all along your weeks have been holy,

that all along your life has been holy,

that all that you’ve lived,

day in and day out

week in and week out

has been tied to God.

 

 

_____

Shabbat shalom,

Abe

Originally shared in 2012

Please pray for Yechiel ben Michal

www.TorahParsha.com