Independent Jewish Spirituality
“Why don’t you write anymore?”
“What’s next at PunkTorah?”
“Are you going on tour again? When? Where?”
“How come Darshan Yeshiva costs money?”
“Are you still a punk?”
You’ve got questions. I’ve got answers
Join me on Reddit Friday, June 12th at Noon Eastern time for a five hour Ask Me Anything live interview where you get to ask the questions.
Click here on Friday to join the fun: http://www.reddit.com/r/AMA
Parsha Bamidbar is about the census of the people of Israel where the counting of all male Israelites started at the age of twenty. The age of twenty was considered to be the age at which a young male Israelite could go to war. The rabbis tell us that women weren’t counted because they were not warriors. Things have changed in a few thousand years.
In Israel today, young women are warriors and go into the military just as men do. In fact, Israel has had numerous women train as fighter pilots for the IAF (Israeli Air Force). Modern treatment of women as warriors has a good and bad side. It is good that women are treated as equals when it comes to defending their homeland. It is bad that women are subjected to the stress and danger of modern warfare. Warfare is not good for men or women, but as it says in the Tanakh (Ecclesiastes 3:1), “There is a time for everything.”
As a former US Marine, I can tell you that those who serve in the IDF and the US military are fervent believers in peace. When I was in Israel, I volunteered on an IDF military base near Tel Aviv and talked about this with the young men and women soldiers. They would like to get on with their lives and not have to serve their country by being in the military. Nonetheless, they serve because they love Israel, the Jewish people and they are willing to die to defend them. I have nothing but admiration for their dedication and service, as I do members of the US military as well.
As a proud member of the Jewish War Veterans, I want to thank all Jews for their service to their country and people. Shalom to all.
Talmud study is ridiculously intimidating. But not anymore.
Darshan Yeshiva is now offering a seven-part Intro to Mishnah class, a great way to get started in Talmud study. With seven podcasts and thirteen handouts, students will gain a sense of what the Mishnah is all about, thanks to the thoughtful approach by Lex Rofes, who provided the content for this class series.
Best part? The Mishnah class is part of Advanced Jewish Studies which is only $5/month and has a 14-day free trial. So yeah, you can basically take this class for free if you cancel before 14 days.
Sign up here and start learning some Mishnah.
Every Purim we give mishloach manot, little goodie bags filled with cookies, candies, airplane bottles of booze…you know, whatever you are into.
Unfortunately, an online community doesn’t have virtual mishloach manot. And while 3D printers can do amazing things, we haven’t managed to find one that can bake the perfect poppyseed hamentaschen from digital schematics.
So instead, we offer you this grab bag of of favorite Purim treats on PunkTorah. And since giving tzedakah is part of the Purim experience, we hope you’ll give a suggested $18.00 donation to support all our hard work providing Jewish community to over 300,000 people every year.
Recipes
Learning
Kid Friendly Feminist Purim Lesson Plan
For Kids
Paper Plate Hamentaschen and Purim Masks
Other Fun Stuff
This week’s parsha of Tetzaveh is about temples, sacrifices and priests – oh my! Seriously, we who live in the 21st Century have a hard time understanding the reasons for all of this. Regarding kohanim, it goes against our modernity and and sense of egalitarianism that people should be given power for reasons of heredity. After all, look at what happened in North Korea. And animal sacrifices? In the day of PETA looking over our shoulders, do we really want to read about how to sacrifice bulls and rams and spread their blood on altars? Should we look to this ancient past for inspiration and help in our time?
The answer is, “Yes, we should!”
It is important to keep the Torah in modern perspective. It was written by men many years ago who were primarily concerned about how to maintain the cohesiveness of a tribe and people. It was also about how our people viewed G-d and their place in the world. It worked! Jews still identify as Jewish after thousands of years based on a shared heritage and respect for the wisdom of the Torah. But is the Torah all wisdom? No. There are things written, such as in this week’s parsha (Exodus 27:20 – 30:10), that had significance in that day and age, but simply don’t fit into the 21st Century.
Judaism evolves, as all religions and ideologies should evolve, to keep up with modernity. As human beings reach higher levels of moral maturity, we will naturally discard ancient ideas that conflict with these new realities. The wisdom of the Torah is mutable – and this is a good thing. As Jews, we need flexibility in our lives as well as our religion to adopt to new circumstances. If there is a lesson here for us in this week’s parsha it may be that we should learn how to discern true wisdom from ancient practices. Being careful not to throw out the baby with the bath water, as modern-day Jews, we still have a need to read the Torah with discernment.
Back to the past, yes, but firmly in the present as well.
