Monday, June 13, 2016

Naso - Reconstructionist

Numbers 4:21−7:89

Rabbi Howard Cohen for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Holy Isolation


In this week's Torah portion, Naso, we learn about the Nazir, the person whose chooses a life style even more disciplined than that of the Kohanim (high priests). "God to spoke to Moshe: Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When anyone, man or woman, makes the express resolve to take the vow of Nazir ...[so that] all the days of his nazirship he is holy to God" (Numbers 6:1-2, 8). What is the Nazir and what relevance does this have to us today?

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Monday, June 6, 2016

B'midbar - Reconstructionist

Numbers 1:1−4:20

Rabbi Howard Cohen for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Marriage


This Shabbat immediately precedes Shavuot, the day designated as the anniversary of the revelation of Torah at Mt. Sinai. During Shavuot we read the Book of Ruth. According to a midrash Shavuot is like the wedding anniversary of God and the Jewish people. In Exodus as the revelation unfolds the position of the Israelites is described with a word that figuratively means "at the base of the mountain" but literally means "under the mountain". To explain this the rabbis said that Mount Sinai was held over the Israelites like a wedding huppah. Hence, revelation was like a wedding, a binding, covenantal moment between God and Israel.

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Monday, May 30, 2016

B’chukotai - Reconstructionist

Leviticus 26:3-27:34

Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Walking in God's Ways


This week's parashah, Behukotay, is the final parashah in the book of Vayikra. In this parashah God tells Moses to inform the people if they "walk with my statutes and observe my mitzvot (commandments) all will go well for them. However, if they do not, the heavens will dry up and all sorts of tragedy will befall them. The parashah then describes in great detail what will happen if the people continue to ignore God's will.

Though I don't take this type of "reward and punishment theology" literally I believe that there is an important spiritual lesson to be found in the problematic narrative of the parashah. At the start of the parashah we find another phrase connected to the idea of walking. Moses is told that if the people walk with God, hithalkhti b'toch'chem,"I (God) will walk about in your midst."

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Monday, May 23, 2016

Behar - Reconstructionist

Leviticus 25:1-26:2

Rabbi Howard Cohen for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Poverty


In the middle of Parshat Behar we read about our obligations towards our fellow Jews when they are reduced to poverty. The Torah uses the term "Collapsed" or "Clowered" (mem, vav, chaf). It also describes the person as having lost the means to deal with his obligations (u-matah yado Cimmakh). When this happens we are not supposed to protect the person from experiencing the logical consequences of poverty, nor are we to force him out of the community. In fact, we have an obligation to maintain this person within the community. In later text, Mishnah, Talmud, and Mishnah Torah, for example, it is explained in greater detail what it means specifically to "let him live by your side" (Leviticus 25:35).

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Monday, May 16, 2016

Emor - Reconstructionist

Leviticus 21:1−24:23

From the Velveteen Rabbi

Making our offerings count (Radical Torah repost)


 In this week's Torah portion, Emor, we read a series of instructions pertaining to grain-offerings. When the Israelites enter the land, they are instructed to bring the first sheaf of harvest to the priest, to be elevated before Adonai. Then begins a period of counting:

    And from the day on which you bring the sheaf of elevation offering — the day after the sabbath — you shall count off seven weeks. They must be complete: you must count until the day after the seventh week — fifty days; then you shall bring an offering of new grain to the Lord.

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Monday, May 9, 2016

Kedoshim - Reconstructionist

Leviticus 19:1-20:27

Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Wholiness


Parashat Kedoshim begins with Leviticus 19:1 and is referred to as the "holiness code." It begins with the verse "God spoke to Moses, saying: speak to the entire community of the Children of Israel, and say to them: you are to be holy, for I am holy. I am YHWH your God!"

The portion then continues with commandments to be in awe of your parents, keep Shabbat, and stay away from idolatry. Then the people are told when they offer a "shalom" offering it must be eaten within the next day. If it remains until the third day, it is to be consumed in fire or you will become profaned and be cut off from the community.

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Monday, May 2, 2016

Ahare Mot - Reconstructionist

Leviticus 16:1-18:30

Rabbi Ellen Dannin for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Blood


References to blood appear at least sixty-five times in the Torah, and more, depending on how you do the counting and excluding references to menses. In this parashah, it appears primarily in connection with sacrifices (Lev.16:14-15, 16:18-19, 16:27, 17:3-6).

But the more intriguing reference is in Lev. 17:10-14, where we are told:

"And any man from the house of Israel and from the aliens who will reside among them who will eat any blood: then I shall set my face against the person who eats the blood, and I shall cut him off from among his people. Because the flesh's life is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your lives, because it is the blood that makes atonement for life. On account of this I have said to the children of Israel: every person among you shall not eat blood, and the alien who resides among you shall not eat blood. And any man from the children of Israel and from the aliens who reside among them who will hunt game, animal or bird, that may be eaten: he shall spill out its blood and cover it with dust. Because all flesh's life: its blood is one with its life. So I say to the children of Israel: you shall not eat the blood of all flesh - because all flesh's life: it is its blood. Everyone of those who eat it will be cut off."

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Monday, April 25, 2016

Acharei Mot 1

LEVITICUS 16:1–17:16


D'var Torah By Rabbi Elyse Goldstein for ReformJudaism.org

He shall be dressed in a sacral linen tunic, with linen breeches next to his flesh, and be girt with a linen sash, and he shall wear a linen turban. They are sacral vestments; he shall bathe his body in water and then put them on. (Leviticus 16:4)

A few years ago, I was in Jerusalem in a Chasidic neighborhood, surrounded by stores carrying tallitot, kippot, and all sorts of Judaica. To my utter shock, prominently displayed in one store's window was a bright pink tallis! I went inside and started talking to the owner, a Chasid in full regalia: black coat, knickers, side curls, and fur-trimmed shtreimel hat. "Who would buy a pink tallit?" I asked. "A bat mitzvah girl of course," this Chasid said, with no hesitation. ". . . no, not the girls in my community," he added, "but in yours, sure, why not?"

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Monday, April 18, 2016

Yom Rishon shel Pesach - 1st Day of Passover

Circles and Cycles: The Never-Ending Cycle of the Jewish Year 

 Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities


Last month we celebrated Purim with joy and abandon. This week we rejoice in freedom and redemption with a mixture of celebration and serious contemplation. As we sat at the seder table this past week we hopefully pondered what freedom truly means to us. Tradition also teaches that as we experience our freedom we must also ask ourselves what it means that others, like the Egyptians in the sea, must often suffer or die for our redemption. Next month we will once again stand together filled with awe and trepidation at the foot of Mount Sinai as we receive the word of God that is meant to guide our lives on Shavuot (the festival that traditionally celebrates that seminal event in the Torah). And so the cycle continues each and every year.

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Monday, April 11, 2016

Shabbat HaGadol/The Great Sabbath: Metzora - Reconstructionist

Leviticus 14:1-15:33

Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Finding Healing in Separation


This week's parashah is Metzora. In this parashah we continue the laws concerning the person with tzara'at (skin afflictions) that began last week. We were informed in the last parashah, Tazria, that the person suffering from skin afflictions (commonly translated as leprosy) is to be kept separated from the camp until the priest has determined that s/he is healed. The person is considered ritually impure and in danger of contaminating the camp both physically and spiritually. The Torah does not distinguish physical illness as separate from the religious realm. Tzara'at is viewed as a punishment from God for sin and so the priest, as the person in charge of the religious realm, must oversee the person's isolation and reintegration into society.

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Passover is just about here, check out our Passover Holiday Spotlight Kit

Monday, April 4, 2016

Shabbat HaChodesh: Tazria-Reconstructionist

Leviticus 12:1−13:59

Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Tzara'at and Impurity


This week's parashah, Tazria, is the first of two parshiot dealing with issues of skin afflictions, purity and holiness. Tazria (which in non-leap years is paired with the next parashah, Metzora) describes how Aaron and his sons, the cohanim/priests, are assigned the duty of examining people with tzara'at/skin afflictions to determine the extent of the affliction and when they are healed so that they can return to the camp, as they must remain outside the camp while afflicted.
 
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Passover is coming soon, check out our Passover Holiday Spotlight Kit

Monday, March 28, 2016

Shemini, Parshat Parah - Reconstructionist

Leviticus 9:1-11:47

Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Strange Fire ... a Midrashic Reconstruction on Nadav and Avihu


The parashah this week is Shemini. Instead of a traditional d'var Torah I am sharing with all of you an original midrash I wrote about Nadav and Avihu. These two sons of Aaron, the High Priest, after seeing Divine fire come down from heaven and devour the first sacrifice made in the newly-dedicated Mishkan (Sanctuary), decide to take matters into their own hands. They bring a "strange fire" before God, that God had not commanded them, and their punishment was that they were then devoured by Divine fire. The rabbis have commented on this for years, questioning whether Nadav and Avihu were simply brash, arrogant upstarts, or if perhaps there was another reason.

I like to think of Nadav and Avihu as the first Reconstructionists.

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Monday, March 21, 2016

Tzav - Reconstructionist

Leviticus 6:1−8:36

Rabbi Jeffrey Schein for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities


The Ascending Heart


A colleague of mine once summarized the inner power of Judaism in the following way: Judaism challenges us "to ethicize ritual, and ritualize ethics." Last week in this column we had a chance to explore what might be problematic in 20th/21st century Jewish life when ethics were stripped of ritual richness. This week, in parashat Tzav we see the opposite dynamic at work: the ethicizing of ritual.

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Monday, March 14, 2016

Shabbat Zachor; Vayikra - Reconstructionist

Leviticus 1:1−5:26

Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Structure


This week we begin reading the third book of the Torah, Vayikra/Leviticus. The parashah is also called Vayikra, as the first parashah of each of the five books of the Torah takes the name of the book itself. There is a long-standing tradition within Judaism that when young children begin to study Torah they begin with Vayikra. Now if I were to choose a place to start I might choose the intricate family dynamics of Bereshit or the drama of slavery and redemption found in Shemot. I certainly would not choose the book of Vayikra with its detailed descriptions of animal sacrifices and intricate laws and regulations. And yet there is great wisdom to our Sages' decision to begin Torah study with Vayikra. For in many ways the central (third) book of the five books of the Torah is the centerpiece of what it means to be a Jew, if not a human being. No, we do not sacrifice animals. No we do not observe all of the laws and regulations of Vayikra. But we do need structure. We do need teachings to follow. And that is what Vayikra is about.

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Monday, March 7, 2016

Pekudei - Reconstructionist

Exodus 38:21-40:38

Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Shadows


This week's parashah is Pekudey, the final portion in the book of Shemot (Exodus). In this parashah we read of the actual construction of the Mishkan (tabernacle) and the anointing of Aaron and his son as cohanim (priests) by Moses. Once again in analyzing this parashah Aviva Gottlieb Zornberg brings up the image of fire as central to our understanding of the text.

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Monday, February 29, 2016

Shabbat Shekalim: Vayakhel - Reconstructionist

Exodus 35:1–38:20

Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Shabbat and Holiness


This week's parashah is the first parashah in the Torah, Bereshit. We are all familiar with the story of the creation that we read in these chapters of the Torah. However, the narrative still raised many questions for our rabbis and scholars. One of the many issues debated by the rabbis is the timing of humanity's creation in relationship to Shabbat. Rashi (12th century France) believed that God created Adam right before Shabbat so that he could immediately enter the holy and peaceful realm of Shabbat. And yet we also read in the same source that God created Adam a few hours before Shabbat so that he could first participate in the everyday activities of the world and thereby be better able to appreciate the peace of Shabbat.

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Monday, February 22, 2016

Ki Tissa - Reconstructionist

Exodus 30:11-34:35

Rabbi  Ellen Dannin for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Grounded Engagement Connects Us To Infinite Joy


I used to have interesting conversations with a friend who had studied for the Catholic priesthood in his youth. We talked about questions of ethics and morality from the perspectives of our two traditions. In one conversation, I mentioned that Jews don't really concern themselves with an afterlife, that you can attend services year after year and never hear anything about what happens after death. My friend was shocked and asked, "Well, then, why be good?"

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Monday, February 15, 2016

Tetzaveh - Reconstructionist

Exodus 27:20-30:10

Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Why Moses Did Not Become a Priest


This week's parashah, Tetzaveh, begins with God commanding Moses "And as for you, you shall instruct the Israelites to bring you pure olive oil of beaten olives for lighting, for kindling the Eternal Lamp (Exodus 27:20)." At first glance it does not appear that there is anything unusual or extraordinary about this verse. It is simply God giving Moses another instruction concerning the Mishkan (Tabernacle), just as God instructed him last week on how he was to build it. However, it is precisely because God's instructions to Moses had been at the center of the preceding narrative that commentators have questioned why the verse begins "V'atah tetzaveh" (and as for you, you shall command) as opposed to simply tzav (command!) or tetzaveh (you shall command). After all, "and as for you " would seem to imply that the previous verses had been addressed or referred to someone else.

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Monday, February 8, 2016

Terumah

Exodus 25:1-27:19

Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

The Golden Calf and the Mishkan


This week's parashah, Terumah, begins the section where God gives Moses the instructions on how to build the Mishkan/Dwelling Place - the portable sanctuary that will follow the people through the desert.

It seems strange that following the spiritual high of the Revelation at Sinai the first thing that God tells Moses once he ascends the mountain for his 40-day stay is what material objects are needed for the building of the Mishkan.

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Monday, February 1, 2016

Mishpatim

Exodus 21:1−24:18

Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Approaching Torah


This week's parashah, Mishpatim, is the continuation of the events that occurred at Mount Sinai. As you may remember from last week's d'var Torah, many classic interpretations are based on the principle that there is no real chronological order to the Torah. An interpretation written by Rashi (12th century France) on this week's parashah again uses this device to interpret the narrative. For Rashi claims that Exodus 24:1-12, which appears to occur after the giving of the 10 commandments, is actually a "flashback" to the events that occurred in the days prior to the revelation at Sinai. In these verses Moses recounts to the people all the words of God and the people ratify the covenant by stating "all that God has spoken we will do" (v. 3). Moses then writes down the "words of God" and reads "the account of the covenant ... in the ears of the people [and the people then respond] 'all that God has spoken, we will do and we will hear'." After this section Moses is then told by God to "go up to the mountain and remain there, that I may give you tablets of stone with the instructions and the command."

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Monday, January 25, 2016

Yitro

Exodus 18:1–20:23

Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Words of God


The week's parashah, Yitro, takes its name from the opening line which states "And Yitro (Jethro) father-in-law of Moses heard all that God had done to Moses and to Israel his people, that God had taken Israel out of Egypt." The parashah then continues on with Yitro's advice to Moses not to take on the duty of judging the people's grievances alone, but to appoint judges to help him. Finally, the parashah reaches a climax with the central event of our religious mythology, the giving of the law/Torah at Sinai. It is at Sinai that the ragtag bunch of former slaves finally covenants themselves to God as a people. At Sinai the nation/people of Israel is born.

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Monday, January 18, 2016

B'shalach

Exodus 13:17−17:16

Rabbi James Greene for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Joyful, Soulful, Prayer



I should preface this dvar-Torah by admitting that I love to sing. Although I was an instrumental musician earlier in my life and even attended a Conservatory of Music as a saxophone player for my undergraduate studies, singing has always been in my soul. To sing in joy is perhaps one of the greatest pleasures a person can have in their life and is truly one of the ways we can serve God (ivdu et adonay besimhah).

We need song and music and melody to help us celebrate the good in life, and also to help us mourn our losses and take stock of where we are on our own personal journeys. When I sing I often feel myself opening up my soul to divine blessing and receiving the goodness that is inherent in the world and in the music.

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Monday, January 11, 2016

Bo

Exodus 10:1−13:16

Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Humility vs. Humiliation



This week's Torah portion, Bo, includes the final three plagues brought against Pharaoh and Egypt as well as the first Passover seder meal (observed by the Israelites as the horror of the tenth plague coursed through Egypt). The parashah ends with the Israelites starting their journey out of Egypt after having lived there for 430 years.

The story is familiar. And yet, as with all narratives of the Torah, if one pays attention to the text with one's heart and soul one can find a myriad of truths within it. Just as no two people are exactly alike, neither are two truths.

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Monday, January 4, 2016

Vaera

Exodus 6:2−9:35

Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Speaking vs. Listening


In this week's parashah, Vayera, the conversation between God and Moses continues. God gives Moses further instructions on how to bring about the people's redemption. However, Moses seems a bit reticent. He claims that Pharaoh and the people will not listen to him because he is of "uncircumcised lips." The implication being once again that he is unable to speak clearly and that his speech is not complete or whole. In short, he is not up to the task.

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