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Excessive Pride

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 10:15:00 EST

When I was in the fourth grade, my Brooklyn yeshiva held a Torah fair. My partner — a girl whom I fancied a close friend but who was to move to California two years later, never to be heard from again — and I quickly decided on a parsha that had fascinated us since we’d learned about it earlier that year. We went to Manhattan Beach to gather sand, crafted petite people out of pipe cleaners and fashioned an angry God from cotton balls (stained red with a waxy Crayola crayon) purchased at a local drugstore. We then took a cardboard box, cut a large groove into the bottom, poured in the sand and glued our pipe cleaner people to the sides of the indentation so that they looked like they were falling into the cavernous space.

Reluctant Prophets, Humble Leaders

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 14:19:00 EST

‘My lord Moses, restrain them!” So shouts Joshua as he and Moses observe that two men, Eldad and Medad, are behaving as prophets within the Israelite encampment (Numbers 11:28). Prophecy, after all, is Moses’ claim to authority. Should it be discovered that Moses has no monopoly on prophetic powers, perhaps his authority would be eroded, his leadership subject to challenge. Joshua, as his loyal acolyte, is acutely sensitive to that danger.

Making It Our Own

Fri, 25 May 2007 13:56:00 EST

Late in Naso, this week’s portion from the Book of Numbers, we find Judaism’s most famous blessing. Beginning at verse 6:22, we read the following, in the version of King James.

In the Wilderness of Ink

Fri, 18 May 2007 16:44:00 EST

Certain scholars believe that the Redactor added a single sentence to this week’s Torah portion.

Making It Our Own

Fri, 11 May 2007 09:19:00 EST

A fine day in Hollywood. Two white-robed and bearded gentlemen enjoy luncheon on the terrace of a movie studio commissary, when a third similarly dressed fellow in a fright wig stands on a nearby table and begins to rant about what evils will befall our errant kind.

Your Duty as a Jew

Fri, 04 May 2007 11:35:00 EST

‘It’s your duty as a Jew to stay here in Kiev.”

Distinction and Obligation

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 11:59:00 EST

This week’s double portion, Aharei Mot and Kedoshim, begins with a litany of seemingly unrelated laws. The proscriptions include sexual conduct (“Let no woman lend herself to a beast to mate with it”), agricultural practices (“You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed”) and scapegoating (“He who set the Azazel-goat free shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; after that he may re-enter the camp”).

The Attraction of Irrelevance

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 10:10:00 EST

Is our religious consciousness enhanced when we attempt to make our sacred scriptures relevant to a contemporary mind, or when we accept and enter into their foreignness, and allow them to be “irrelevant,” ancient, and utterly new?

Ordaining Gay Men and Women

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 11:17:00 EST

The portion of Shemini details laws of animal sacrifice and of kashrut. Without a Temple, we no longer bring God animal offerings. As a result of rabbinic interpretation, we now observe many more rules of kashrut than those written in the Torah. Over time, Jewish practice sometimes expands and sometimes contracts. For what reason? One good answer is ethics.

Nobody Ever Hearkens!

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 11:57:00 EST

Three gentlemen have gathered on the terrace of an outdoor café. Two enjoy thimble-size cups of thick, sweet coffee. The third, a wild-eyed, raggedy-bearded fellow, stalks around among the tables, barely limiting his exhortations to his companions, which may explain why the café across the boulevard is having a particularly busy afternoon.

The Grand Scheme of Leviticus

Fri, 23 Mar 2007 09:45:00 EST

A brilliant insight by one of the major biblical commentators of the Middle Ages is the discovery by Ramban (that is, Nahmanides, 1194-1270) that the tripartite division of the Tabernacle reflects the similar tripartite division of Mount Sinai. According to Exodus 19 and 24, during the revelation of the Decalogue, (a) the people as a whole occupied the lower slopes; (b) Aaron, his two sons and the elders were permitted halfway up the mountain, and (c) only Moses was allowed on the summit. Ramban noted that, in like fashion, the priestly instructions in Exodus 25-40 and the book of Leviticus permit (a) the people as a whole to visit the outer court of the Tabernacle, in which the main altar was situated; (b) the priests to enter the inner sanctuary, which contained the table, the lamp stand and the incense altar, and (c) only the high priest to enter the holy of holies, or innermost sanctum, which housed the ark of the covenant.

A Sense of Direction

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 10:17:00 EST

The book of Exodus comes to a close this week with laws relating to gift-giving for the Tabernacle and the details of its construction. In what appears to be a fund-raiser’s fantasy, Moses relates God’s command that the Israelites “give their heart’s desire” (Exodus 35:5), and they give so much he has to ask them to stop! This Sabbath we also announce the coming month of Nisan in our synagogues, and with that proclamation Passover preparation begins in earnest.

Le Veau d’Or

Fri, 09 Mar 2007 13:43:00 EST

When I was a boy, I was on Moses’ team, which stands to reason. Clearly, our teacher and the rabbi were on his side, too, and my classmates and I were not only distressed but also puzzled that the Jews should set up a golden calf and worship it, just at the time when Moses was up on the mountain getting the commandments from God. What irony! Or at the very least, what impatience!

Glory From Garments

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 14:58:00 EST

Back when “multimedia” implied the use of a bank of slide projectors and a stereo sound system, coordinated by an electronic device designed especially for that purpose, one site on the tourist circuit of Boston was a “multimedia” show about the city, “Where’s Boston?” One detail in a series of visual images from a celebration by an African American fraternal organization caught my eye. It was the red fez worn by each of the members, each fez adorned with the words “Holy to the Lord.” I wondered, as I noticed it, whether anyone else recognized the inscription as the one that appears on the headpiece of Aaron, the original high priest of the Israelite cult, in this week’s Torah portion (in Exodus 28:36-38).

Let the Boredom Begin

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 11:48:00 EST

This week’s reading begins: “The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Tell the Israelite people to bring Me gifts…” (Exodus 25:1-2) The rest of the book of Exodus deals with the construction of the Tabernacle, a portable temple, from these gifts, with a short reprise for the production of the golden calf, and a few pronouncements about the importance of the Sabbath. We have detail upon detail concerning the structure of the Tabernacle and its accoutrements, down to pails, scrapers, basins, flesh hooks and fire pans. And in case that isn’t enough, most information is narrated at least twice: once as God commands Moses, and again as the command is executed. These 16 chapters try the patience of even the most ardent student of the Bible.

Weaned on a Pickle?

Fri, 16 Feb 2007 11:09:00 EST

And these are the rules that you shall set before them. (Exodus 21:1). The ghosts of two gentlemen walk together through an olive grove near the Temple. One, Hillel, takes a deep breath of the fresh air and smiles for that reason, or for no reason at all. The other, Shammai, walks with hunched shoulders, his mouth pursed tight as if he were weaned on a pickle.

The Characteristics of a Mensch

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 11:04:00 EST

This week’s portion contains the revelation on Sinai and the Ten Commandments, but it starts with Jethro, the Midianite priest who was the father-in-law of Moses, and as a consequence is named after Jethro. Why has the rabbinic tradition organized the reading in this way? To my mind, we are being told to pay close attention to Jethro’s character, and to take as much notice of him as Moses did when Jethro was giving him advice on how to govern: “So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he had said.” (Exodus 18:24) A few verses further on, in Exodus 19:5, God is telling the Israelites through Moses to hearken (same verb in the Hebrew) to His voice and in effect do all He says and be “a kingdom of priests.” It’s hard to escape the implication that the priest Jethro is a model, a human embodiment of the intent of the commandments given on Sinai.

Claustrophobic Kindness

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 11:31:00 EST

This week’s portion, Be-Shallah, contains some of the most powerful and familiar images from the Exodus story: the pillar of fire that illuminates the night as the people walk through the desert; the pillar of smoke that shields them during the day; the dazzling wall of water in the Sea of Reeds; Pharaoh’s army submerged as the sea closes on itself again; manna that rains down from the sky like dew; Moses presiding over the victory against Amalek with upraised arms.

Translating the Audience

Fri, 26 Jan 2007 15:51:00 EST

Five times in this week’s portion, Bo, the reader, is told to tell the story of the Exodus to a family audience. But who exactly is to be told?

In the Time of the Plagues

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 16:34:00 EST

A couple of years ago, my family and I vacationed in Egypt. In Cairo, we stayed at the Marriott Hotel in Zamalek, a former palace situated on an island in the Nile. At night, kept awake by the constant din of automobile traffic, we could gaze at the reflection of the lights on that mighty river. In the morning, there it was, just outside the window — the River Nile! We stepped out on the balcony to get a better look at the famous river, took a deep breath at the awesome sight, and then coughed and coughed while our eyes stung from the pollution.