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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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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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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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

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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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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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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