Monday, December 28, 2015

Sh'mot

Exodus 1:1−6:1

Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

To Know


This Shabbat we begin the book of Shemot with Parashat Shemot. In the beginning of the parasha we read: "A new king arose over mitzrayim (Egypt) who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, 'Look, the Israelite people are much too numerous for us. Let us deal shrewdly with them, so that they may not increase; otherwise in the event of war they may join our enemies in fighting against us and rise from the ground.' (Exodus 1:8-10) " And so the stage is set for the beginning of the Israelite enslavement in mitzrayim.

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Monday, December 21, 2015

Vayhi

Genesis 47:28–50:26

Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Birthright and Brotherhood


This week's parashah, Vayhi, brings to a close the book of Bereshit/Genesis. In this chapter all that has been wrong is made right. Or has it?

Yes, Joseph and his brothers all reunite. Yes, Joseph and his beloved father Jacob are also reunited. But the reunion is all too short, for soon thereafter Jacob is on his deathbed. He has seen his beloved Joseph and now he can die in peace - or as much in peace as is possible for a man who has lived as he has. For Jacob has spent his whole life either running from a brother whom he had wronged, working in order to finally marry the woman he loved or mourning the loss of his favorite son. The days of peace and tranquility in Jacob's life have been few and fleeting. And yet, the name of this parashah - Vayhi - means "and he lived." True, the name is simply taken from the first word of the parashah, but perhaps it is meant to teach us something.

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Monday, December 14, 2015

Vayigash

Genesis 44:18−47:27

Rabbi Lewis Eron for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Reconciliation


One of the abiding themes of the book of Genesis is that of family conflict and reconciliation. Each biblical generation tells its own version of the story of sibling rivalry, from the disastrous conflict between Cain and Abel at the beginning of Genesis, to the happy reunion of the sons of Jacob at the end of the book. In a broader context, this story is the story of all humanity and symbolizes the biblical dream for the now feuding human family to be reconciled with each other as loving brothers and sisters. In the specific context, each version of the story is a case study in family dynamics and ethics. Each time that Genesis replays the story, it holds up a mirror within which we can study our lives.

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Monday, December 7, 2015

Mikeitz

Genesis 41:1−44:17

Rabbi Elizabeth Bolton for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Joseph, the Favorite Son


Joseph, the dreamer and interpreter of dreams, is the son of a dreamer. It is no surprise that he is Jacob's favorite son. Young Jacob dreamed of a stairway reaching to heaven, traveled by angels. In a dream-like state, Jacob wrestled.

Yet Joseph's dreams of a heavenly connection are far more earth-bound in their implications. His dreams place him at the center of a universe in which every one in his sphere paid him homage, a scenario that was actualized, apparently, through his dream-interpretation skills for the Egyptian Pharaoh. As poet Ruth Brin, in her collection A Rag of Love, speaks the connections: "Joseph stood before the King of Egypt / as his father, Jacob had stood before the Wrestler."

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Monday, November 30, 2015

Vayeshev

Genesis 37:1−40:23

By Rabbi Ellen Dannin for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Tamar and Judah


There is so much wonderful meat for discussion in the Joseph story that it is easy to skip or skim the story of Judah and Tamar - or of Tamar and Judah - to get back to the next installment of Joseph in Egypt. Even when read with care, it is not an easy story. Briefly, Judah, fresh from telling Jacob that Joseph has been killed, marries a Canaanite woman and has three sons, the eldest of whom, Er, marries Tamar. Er is killed by God for some unstated fault. Tamar is then married as a levirate widow to Onan, the next eldest, who, is killed by God because he, well, commits onanism to keep Tamar from having a child who will be Er's heir and who will then get the first born's inheritance. Judah refuses to marry Tamar to Shelah, the youngest, for fear she is bad luck. Tamar is sent to her father's house on the excuse that Shelah is not yet old enough to marry.

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Monday, November 23, 2015

Vayishlach

Genesis 32:4−36:43

Rabbi Howard Cohen for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Reconciliation and Change


As always, it is helpful to read the weekly Torah portion to understand what the rabbis wished to comment on through the haftorah selection. Not surprising, rich and complex Torah portions evoke many responses. Evidence of this is reflected in the fact that, like this week, more than one tradition has emerged for which reading to use.

In Parshat Vayishlah four significant events occur. Esau encounters Yaacov for the first time since they bitterly parted ways years earlier. The text indicates that for, at least Yaacov, there was much concern about this meeting. Yaacov wrestles with an angel in the middle of the night. As a result of this divine encounter his name was changed to Israel and he was wounded in the thigh. Seemingly unrelated to the flow of events, Israel's daughter from Leah daughter, Dinah, has an experience with Shechem, the son of Hamor, the chief of that country. Her interaction with Hamor, usually described as a rape, agitates her brothers into committing a deviously violent revengeful response. Finally, the deaths of Rachel and Isaac are mentioned.

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Monday, November 16, 2015

Vayeytzei

Genesis 28:10−32:3

Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Connecting with the Divine


This week's parashat is Va'yetze includes the well-known story of Jacob's dream. After fleeing from his brother Esau, Jacob finds a place to rest and while sleeping he has a dream. In this dream he sees a ladder reaching from earth to heaven. On this ladder angels are ascending and descending; God is "standing" on the ladder. God promises Jacob that he will indeed become a great nation and that his descendants will be blessed. Upon awakening Jacob proclaims that had he realized the awesomeness of the place he would not have gone to sleep for "God was in this place and I did not know it." He then names the place Bet El, the house of God.

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Monday, November 9, 2015

Toldot

Genesis 25:19−28:9

Rabbi Ellen Dannin for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Isaac - Digger of Wells


In Toldot, we come at last to Isaac's story. And this year we read it
as we enter the secular -- or at least non-Jewish -- equivalent to the
period that begins with Rosh HaShanah -- New Year's Day -- and
continues on through late summer/early autumn to Simchat Torah. Food
is, of course, associated with both observances, most notably, the
absence of food on Yom Kippur. The Jewish New Year observances begin
as summer, warmth, and growth give way to decline. For those of us in
the United States, this secular period begins as autumn is about to
give way to winter. It is a time of more dark than light with
Thanksgiving -- the ultimate day of gluttony -- and ends with New Year's
Day and the challenge of making and keeping resolutions to change.

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Monday, November 2, 2015

Hayey Sarah / The Life of Sarah

Genesis 23:1−25:18

Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities 

This past March I had the wonderful opportunity to co-lead an interfaith Jewish / Roman Catholic tour of Israel sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Southern New Jersey and the Catholic Diocese of Camden. It was a special time in the land of Israel. The Pope was just about to make his pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The hope for a true and lasting peace - a hope now dimmed by the present conflict - seemed real. There was a sense of optimism that filled the air.

As our small group of Jews and Christians traveled through Israel, we were immediately confronted by the vast number of sites in that small country that are invested with holiness by one or more of the three faith traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. While some sites, like the graves of saints, martyrs and sages, only attract the spiritual attention of one of the three traditions, there are many sites that claim the affection of all three religions. As Americans on a very special journey of spiritual discovery, it was easy for us to admire and respect our fellow pilgrims' religious concerns. But, we also became aware of the bitter feelings many of these sites can evoke as people in our group recalled the centuries of strife between the various faith traditions - the struggles between the Christian churches, the conflicts between Christianity and Islam and the oppression and exclusion of the Jews by both of those more powerful religious communities.

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Monday, October 26, 2015

Vayera

Genesis 18:1–22:24

by Steve Masters for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Akeidat Yitzchak/Akeidat Uri


Parashat Vayera includes what for me is one of the most disturbing stories in the Torah - Akeidat Yitzhak - the binding of Isaac.

The parasha closes with God presenting Avraham with a test. God calls out Avraham's name one time and Avraham answers immediately "hineni" - Here I am. God's directive is laid out in chilling detail in the text:

    Take, now, your child, your only child, your beloved Yitzhak, and go forth to the land of Moriah, and offer him up there as a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains I shall indicate to you.

We do not find any mention of hesitation or questioning on the part of Avraham. Instead we read that Avraham wasted no time, that he "arose early the next morning" and set off with Yitzhak and some servants to the land of Moriah.

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Monday, October 19, 2015

Lech L'cha

Genesis 12:1−17:27

Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

"Be a Blessing"


The parashah begins with God's call to Avram (his name won't be changed to Avraham until later) to "Go forth from your land, from your kindred, from your father's house, to the land that I will let you see. I will make a great nation of you and will give you blessing and will make your name great. Be a blessing!"

What does it mean to be a blessing? Even for us, those who are accustomed to the concept of berakha/blessing have difficulty wrapping our minds around this. How much more difficult must it have been for Avraham, who was raised in a polytheistic, idolatrous and superstitious culture, and who is having his first encounter with the Divine, to understand what he was being commanded to do.

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Monday, October 12, 2015

Noach

Genesis 6:9−11:32

Rabbi Howard Cohen for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Symbolism of Rainbows


In this week's parasha our attention is focused on Noah and his family's experience in the ark. The flood has subsided and the doors of the ark have opened. God has commanded Noah to exit the ark and to release the animals back into the world. (Genesis 8.15-19) God next declares that such a wholesale disaster will never be caused by God again. A covenant is established and God seals it by placing a rainbow in the sky: "This is the sign that I set for the covenant between Me and you, and every living creature with you, for all ages to come. I have set My bow in the clouds, and it shall serve as a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth" (9.12 -13).

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Monday, October 5, 2015

Bereyshit

Genesis 1:1−6:8

By  Mel Scult for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Kaplan on Creation: An Explanation of Jewish Mission


The account in Genesis is perplexing to the modern person. We inevitably get bogged down with the first chapter of the Bible because it seems to conflict with our knowledge that comes from the scientific study of the natural world. Mordecai Kaplan being the modern man par-excellence accepted the scientific view of the universe but realized, of course, that the Torah has a different perspective in telling us about the origin of things. In this selection he focuses on the connection between the creation of the world and God's attention to Israel. Though Kaplan did not believe in the concept of the chosen people, he did see a special task and destiny for the Jewish people.

While only a few may be chosen, every person and every group may have a special destiny depending on their ability and their character and their history. Kaplan explains here that insofar as the rabbis are concerned, God created the world that it might be perfect and turned to the Jewish people as the special agents in that perfecting process.

In Kaplan's Own Words [ From his notes]

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Monday, September 28, 2015

Chol HaMo-eid Sukkot

Holidays Exodus 33:12–34:26

Reconstructionist Sukkot


For Sukkot of 5767 (2006), a group of Midwest congregations decided to collaboratively create a Sukkot supplement for their synagogues. They wanted to bring together ritually oriented folks from multiple synagogues to create something of value that their communities and others could use. Dina April, who was then the JRF regional director, served as organizer and editor for the project.


The High Holidays are upon us, check out Jvillage Network's High Holidays Spotlight Kit


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Monday, September 21, 2015

Haazinu

Deuteronomy 32:1–52

By Rabbi Ellen Dannin for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Between a Rock and a Hard Place


The Torah constantly puts us between a rock and a hard place . . . literally.

Take Ha'azinu, for example. A few years ago I first noticed something interesting about rocks while reading Ha'azinu, Moses' farewell poem. It is a poignant piece of literature, because it is impossible to read it without knowing that it is given in the shadow of his death. Even worse than his death, Moses is to be left behind as the children of Israel - the same people who have plagued his life through forty years in the desert - get to enter the Promised Land. Ha'azinu's gracious song of praise to God is a remarkable act under the circumstances.

Those circumstances become even more ironic, for hidden within that song, Moses seems to be twitting God. Moses refers to God as the "Rock." The parsha begins with Moses extolling God, saying, "The Rock! - His deeds are perfect, Yea, all His ways are just." (Deuteronomy 32:4) Again, this seems bittersweet, but when in context it seems mostly bitter.


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Monday, September 14, 2015

Shabbat Shuva Vayeilech

Deuteronomy 31:1–30

By Rabbi Lewis Eron for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

You Should Live to Be 120


Every Shabbat morning during services at the Jewish Geriatric Home, our residents, our volunteers, our guests and I pause to offer thanksgiving for the joyous events in our lives. There is always a simcha or two for us to celebrate a birthday or an anniversary, a grandchild's engagement, a great grandchild's Bris always a happy occurrence.

One Shabbat morning about a year ago, I announced that a well-loved resident was celebrating a milestone birthday in the coming week and I wished that she live to the proverbial age of 120 years. At that moment, a friend of hers raised her voice and corrected me. The friend said firmly, "No, Rabbi, you should wish her 120 years and three months."

"Why the extra three months?" I replied, quite perplexed.

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Thursday, September 10, 2015

Nitzavim

Deuteronomy 29:9–30:20


Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities 

Choose Life


This week's parasha is the double portion Nitzavim/Vayeleh. At the beginning of the parasha Moses tells the Jewish People, "You stand this day, all of you, before the Eternal your God . . . to enter into the covenant of the Eternal your God, which the Eternal your God is concluding with you this day . . . that God may establish you this day as God's people and be your God."

Three times, Moses stresses the phrase, "this day," emphasizing the contemporaneity of God's outreach to the Jewish People. Rashi notices this repetition, and comments that the chorus of "this day" indicates that, "just as this day enlightens, so will God enlighten [the Jewish People] in the future." The text reminds us that each one of us stands before God "this day" because God is always present to us. This relationship that continues from generation to generation reminds us not only of our connection to God, but to our ancestors and our future descendants as well. We have stood, stand, and will stand in God's presence, surrounded and filled with the power of Divinity, if we only recognize this. God's presence will then continue to enlighten us for all time. The text applies this to the Jewish people, but we certainly understand this as applying to all who choose to connect with the Divine within their lives.

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Monday, September 7, 2015

Ki Tavo

Deuteronomy 26:1–29:8

Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

First Fruits


This week's parasha, Ki Tavo, includes within it a description of the intricate ritual the people were to engage in once settled in the Land of Israel. Moses commands them to place in a basket the first fruits of their harvest and to present them to the priests at the Temple. While doing so they are to recite a formula recalling they were slaves in Egypt, liberated by God, and given the land whose first fruits they now enjoy. They are also to set aside a tenth part of their yield for the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and they are to keep all the commandments given to them.

This ritual gets described in even great detail in the Mishnah (completed around 200 CE) and includes a description of the people being led up the mountain to the Temple by a dancing flutist and an ox adorned with gold and being welcomed to the Temple by a chorus of Levites. Clearly this was a major event in the lives of our ancestors!

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Monday, August 24, 2015

Ki Teitzei

Deuteronomy 21:10–25:19

Ownership of Property, Returning Lost Property


Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

This week's parashah, Ki Tetzey, contains the greatest number of mitzvot/ commandments of any Torah portion. The 72 mitzvot found in the parashah focus on everything from the treatment of captives, defiant children, lost animals and the poor through laws of inheritance, weights and fair weights and measures. This amalgam of mitzvot may seem random at times, and yet there is a guiding principle that reminds us not to be indifferent to other people and the world around us.

One of the mitzvot found in the parashah concerns the obligation that we have to return lost property, no matter what it may be or how long ago we may have discovered it. In reading the commentaries on Ki Tetzey I came across many stories from throughout Jewish history dealing with this specific mitzvah.

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Monday, August 17, 2015

Shoftim

Deuteronomy 16:18–21:9

Rabbi Lewis Eron for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities


Melech Ha-Olam, Sovereign of All


Each time we pronounce a blessing, we are making a political statement. Within the introduction to every blessing are the words which declare that our Eternal God is melech ha-olam, Sovereign of the Universe. Every time we express our gratitude for the opportunities and experiences life offers us, we also affirm our loyalty to God as our sovereign and acknowledge our citizenship in the Divine One's dominion. In Hebrew this is called kabbalat ol malchut shamayim, accepting the yoke of the kingdom of heaven.

This basic Jewish concept appears as one of the central themes of our worship. Our tradition sees the recitation of the Shema as a way to witness our acceptance of God's rule over our lives. When we bring our worship to a conclusion with the Aleinu prayer, we thank God for our unique destiny and bow before God's sovereign power. We finish the prayer with the hope that all nations will join together acknowledging God as the Ruler of All. Earthly dominion will pass away and we all will recognize that we are God's subjects.

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Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Re'eh - Rosh Chodesh 1

Deuteronomy 11:26–16:17

Rabbi Eric Mendelsohn for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

"Be Happy!"


"Remember the month of Aviv and keep the Passover ...". In Parshat Re'eh we are given a description of the three major pilgrim festivals, Pesah, Shavuot, and Sukkot. These are the Chagim. Chag is a correlative of the word Haj. Just as Haj to Mecca is a requirement for the Moslem (if one can afford it) so is the Chag to Jerusalem if one is a Jew.

The grandchildren of the great medieval Jewish commentator Rashi, building on his commentary, note that the word "Simcha" which like "V'ahavta" is an imperative - "Be happy !" occurs three times in the description of Sukkot (and with the extra command "Ach Sameach" - "Also be happy", it is almost like a parents' reminder -- "Have a good time and by the way, have a good time.") On the other hand - "Simcha" is mentioned only once for Shavuot, and not at all with regard to Pesah.

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Monday, August 3, 2015

Eikev

Deuteronomy 7:12–11:25

Rabbi Lewis Eron for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

"If I were a rich man..."


How often have we expressed this wish? As successful as we may be, there always seems to be something more that we want. For most of us, those who need to work hard to pay the rent or mortgage, save for retirement, and need to pay college tuition, even the promise of a few more dollars is welcome. We fight for a raise, watch the stock market go up or down, and buy a lottery ticket or two. We dream about what a little extra money could do. It really would be nice to be rich, or as my great-grandmother said, "Rich or poor, it's good to have money."

But on the whole, we are doing ok. Although there are still far too many Jewish people caught in poverty, in general Jews today in the United States, Israel and throughout the world are far more financially secure than Jews have been for centuries. If we are not living the life styles of the rich and famous, most Jews are in the broad middle class and live comfortable lives. For most of us, the grueling poverty of the ghettos of the Old World and the tenements of the New World are part of our family memories and not our everyday reality.

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Monday, July 27, 2015

Shabbat Nachamu

Va-et'chanan Deuteronomy 3:23–7:11

By Rabbi Lewis Eron for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Our Sustaining Hope


The great miracle of Jewish survival is not that we survived great tragedies. It is that we survived as a community ever faithful to its vision of a better world for us and for all people and not as an angry and embittered tribe.

When we look at Jewish responses to the tragedies of our past, what emerges is that despite the great disasters, the unbelievable suffering, the unbearable pain, and the overwhelming sense of loss, we never believed that our God abandoned us. We never gave up hope.

When we asked where our God was, our response was that God is with us in our suffering. We did not feel alone but sensed that even after the fall of Jerusalem and through all the centuries of wandering, the Holy One went into exile with us to comfort us, inspire us, and give us hope.

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Monday, July 20, 2015

Shabbat Chazon

Devarim, Deuteronomy 1:1–3:22

Rabbi Richard Hirsh for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Shabbat Hazon

This week's Torah portion is Devarim, the opening section of the last book of the Torah known in English as Deuteronomy. This Shabbat, however, is known as Shabbat Hazon, after the opening words of the special Haftara reading: "Hazon Y'Shayahu", "[This is] the vision of [the prophet] Isaiah".

The origins of the tradition of the Haftara, the supplementary biblical reading associated with the weekly Torah portion, are obscure. Normally, the selection is tied to the content of the Torah portion, or to a key word or personality found in the Torah reading.

However, the rhythm of the Jewish calendar also helps to determine the Haftara reading, as is the case this week. This Shabbat comes just before the mid-summer fast day of Tisha B'Av on which we commemorate the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem (586 BCE and 70 CE). It is the last of three special Haftaras of "rebuke", in which the prophets of ancient Israel warn the people to repent lest their sins bring national ruin.

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Monday, July 13, 2015

Matot-Mas-ei

Numbers 30:2-36:13

Rabbi Richard Hirsh for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

The Importance of Re-Reading Torah


The Book of Numbers is in many ways the least cohesive of the five books of the Torah. Its narrative excursions and legal legacies are occasionally related, but more often discrete.

In Matot and Masey, which conclude the fourth book of the Torah, the narrators/editors of the Torah attempt to pull things together by accounts which summarize the forty years in the desert and anticipate the imminent entrance into the Land of Israel.

However, even before the Torah moves to prescriptions for social and religious regulation within the Land, it presents a narrative of proscription which is chilling. Beginning in Numbers 31, the text tells the story of the Israelite war against the Midianites. So brutal is the account that even Dr. J. H. Hertz, the preeminent apologist for the traditional rendering of the text, states in his well-known commentary that "The war against the Midianites presents peculiar difficulties...we cannot satisfactorily meet the various objections that have been raised...".

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Monday, July 6, 2015

Pinchas

Numbers 25:10−30:1

Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Egalitarianism


This week's parasha is Pinhas. Towards the beginning of the parasha we read the story of the daughters of Zelophehad. After Moses instructs the people on the division of the Promised Land once they enter it he also informs them that the land will pass from father to son so that it will remain within the tribes. Upon hearing this the five daughters of Zelophehad confront Moses with the fact that their father died in the desert leaving behind only daughters. Given the new laws their land would be lost from their family. They believe that they deserve to inherit the land by stating "Let not our father's name be lost to his clan just because he had no son! Give us a holding among our father's kin!" (Numbers 27:3-4). Moses brings their case before God who declares that their claim is just and that they should be allowed to inherit their father's share of the land. The law from that time on is that if a man dies without sons the land shall pass to his daughters.

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Monday, June 29, 2015

Balak

Numbers 22:2−25:9

By Rabbi Ellen Dannin for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

A Curse Turned Blessing


I - maybe we - tend to think of Our Story as encapsulated in the exodus from Mitzrayim and the entry
into the Promised Land. But our story is more than leaving and arriving. Most of it is the story of living in the desert, of journeying, and of being on the way. And that certainly captures most of my life - and maybe our lives. Just as we want to skip over all those endless details of sacrifices, priestly vestments, sanctuaries, red heifers, and bizarre diseases, so too do we want to skip over or regard as of less interest the minutiae of each day. Between the high points, there is a lot of desert. Yet, can it be that what makes up the bulk of our lives is not worth paying attention to?


This week's parsha has one of the best stories of being on the way - the story of King Balak and Baalam. In fact, we remember this story in each service when we sing "Ma Tovu." This is a story of curses turned into blessings. And, surely, there is nothing more important for us than blessing in living through our personal "desert days."

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Monday, June 22, 2015

Chukat

Numbers 19:1−22:1

By Rabbi Ellen Dannin for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

The Red Heifer


Nehama Leibowitz says this is one of the most mystifying parts of the Torah, "one of the matters which even the wisdom of the wisest of men failed to fathom." Certainly, you can spend a lot of time just trying to sort out how it works and then even more on what its purpose is. Uncleanliness accompanies the making of the red heifer, its administration and the purpose for its administration, but this uncleanliness is obviously more in the nature of uncanniness -- a sense of confrontation with divine and fundamental mysteries. They system seems almost like a game of tag but with touchbacks allowed. Left unchecked everyone would become unclean -- and today with no red heifer we are all unclean with no chance of ever achieving ritual cleanliness.

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Monday, June 15, 2015

Korach

Numbers 16:1−18:32

Leadership

Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

This week's parasha is Korah. It takes it's name from that of Moses' fellow from the tribe of Levi,

Korah, who attempted to lead a rebellion against Moses. Korah led the rebellion because he believed that Moses and Aaron were claiming to be holier than the rest of the community. Korah believed that all of the people were holy and that they should share in the special relationship with God. In short, he wanted to be a priest as well. At first it might seem like this is the first socialist revolt, the first time when the proletariat tried to wrestle power from the elite leadership of the community. Yet if one looks at the true nature of the revolt one will find that this is not the case.

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Monday, June 8, 2015

Shelach

Numbers 13:1−15:41

Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

The Reminder of Tzitzit


The parasha this week is Shelah-Lekha. In this parasha Moses, at God's command, chooses one leader from each of the twelve tribes to serve as spies. Their mission is to enter the land of Canaan, the Promised Land, and to bring back a report to the people. "See what kind of country it is..... [investigate its cities, people, soil, and forests and] bring back some of the fruit of the land." They do bring back grapes and other fruits, but ten of the twelve spies also bring back a report that, though the land is flowing "with milk and honey," it is filled with "giants," large fortified cities and other dangerous inhabitants. Only two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, bring back a positive report reminding the people that God is with them and so they can overcome any obstacle or enemy. Unfortunately, the people are carried away by the report of the majority and wonder why Moses brought them this far out of Egypt in order to die in the desert. As punishment for following the negative report of the ten spies God declares that the Israelites will wander in the desert for forty years until this generation dies. Joshua and Caleb will be the only ones of that generation allowed to enter the land.

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Monday, June 1, 2015

B’ha’alotkha

 Numbers 8:1-12:16

Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Miriam


This week's parasha is Beha'aloteha One of the most fascinating, but often forgotten, parts of this narrative involves Moses and his siblings Aaron and Miriam.

We read in Chapter 12, verse 1 that "Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married; for he had married a Cushite woman." Before we find out who this Cushite woman was (Cush refers
today to Ethiopia, but his wife Tzipporah was a Midianite. Does this refer to Tzipporah or did Moses have a second wife?) the text then tells us that Aaron and Miriam complain "Has Adonai spoken only through Moses? Has God not spoken through us as well?" And so it would seem that the siblings have two complaints against Moses, the first having to do with his wife (whoever she might be) and the second with their roles as prophets in Israel.

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Monday, May 25, 2015

Naso

Numbers 4:21−7:89

Rabbi Richard Hirsh for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

The Nazirite


Jewish tradition teaches that the Torah yields 613 commandments, which are incumbent on the Jewish people. One would think that this daunting total would be sufficient for most Jews, yet this week's Torah portion, Naso, teaches of additional regulations which one could assume under the status of being a "Nazirite", one consecrated to the service of God. The haftara (additional) reading for this Shabbat narrates the story of Sampson, who according to the Bible was himself a Nazirite.

The biblical information about Nazirites is inconsistent, and the Torah and haftara portions for this week indicate the instability. In the sixth chapter of Numbers, the Torah teaches that one who wishes to become a Nazirite does so through the following rituals: the taking of a vow, the avoidance of grape products (especially wine), abstaining from cutting of the hair, and keeping adequate distance from a corpse (a prohibition normally only incumbent on Kohanim, descendents of the line of Aaron.)

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Monday, May 18, 2015

Bemidbar

Numbers 1:1−4:20

By Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Nachshon ben Aminadav


At first glance this week's parashah, Bemidbar, seems rather tedious. After all, it consists mainly of the names of the heads of all the tribes and how the counting of the first census in the desert took place about a year after the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. However, one name in the census jumped out at me when I was reading through the parashah. That name was Nachshon ben Aminadav, the head of the tribe of Judah. Nachshon is a very famous character in the Midrash even though he is barely mentioned in the Torah.

According to midrash when the Israelites were trapped between the Sea of Reeds and Pharaoh's army, and while Moses was praying to God for help, Nachshon decided to take matters into his own hands and leaped into the sea. Then God said to Moses (my translation) "Stop praying already! Turn around and look at what your friend Nachshon has done. While you stand here praying he is taking some action!" Only then does God part the sea so that the Israelites can cross.

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