Category
weekly parsha
Grace in the wilderness: Parashat Bamidbar (Numbers 1:1-4:20)
Jewish Journal
May 8, 2013
The book of Bamidbar, literally “in the desert” or “in the wilderness,” is a hard book to read. Over and over, plagues break out and thousands are killed. The reason, we are told, is a pronounced lack of faith in God. I found the repeated spilling of Israelite blood difficult, to say the least, until Bible scholar Adriane Leveen put it into mythic perspective for me.
The cure for anger: Parashat Emor (Leviticus 21:1-24:23)
Jewish Journal
April 24, 2013
Life is not easy. In fact, at times it’s downright infuriating. Our natural tendency is to want to blame someone, and the easiest target is God. We may carry anger at HaShem for our entire lives. As a result, we miss out on decades of spiritual connectedness and comfort.
Willing to sacrifice: Parashat Tzav (Leviticus 6:1-8:36)
Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky
March 21, 2013
The mind of the midrashist drifts effortlessly over the face of the Tanakh as verses from the Torah conjure up similar verses and phrases from other sacred books. Thus, our parasha’s descriptions of the thanksgiving offerings and the free-will offerings call to mind a phrase found in Psalm 50: “The one who sacrifices a thanksgiving offering honors me.”
Revisionist History: Parashat Devarim (Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22)
Jewish Journal
August 2, 2011
My grandmother loved to tell family stories in which key details were changed. Sometimes she swapped out one time period or location for another. Sometimes key characters were replaced or motivations recast. More than slips of memory, these alterations were her way of putting the past into perspective, of teaching lessons and of casting a favorable light on the generations gone by. I lovingly called this trait “Nana’s revisionist history.”
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