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Parshat Pekudei (Jodie Foster, Adult ADD and Zen Buddhism for Jews)

February 28, 2014 By punktorah

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnswnXcRnec

Editor’s Note: It’s #FlashbackFriday with this old video from PunkTorah, originally posted March 2009!

The insights I got from watching the really bad Jodie Foster movie Contact, suffering from adult ADD and Zen Buddhism made me better understand Parshat Pekudei.

Filed Under: Jewish Text (Torah/Haftarah/Talmud), Podcasts & Videos Tagged With: add, adhd, bible, carl sagan, contact, Counterculture, Jewish, Jews, jodie foster, Judaism, Parsha, punktorah, Religion, Torah

Parsha Vayakhel

February 17, 2014 By punktorah

ketzirah_wedding_cropped-300x245

Parsha Vayakhel is one of those parshot that is easy to just gloss over. It seems, at first glance like one of the “listing” parshot.  You know the ones, lists of begats or lists of things that just seem endless.  I’m sure a true Torah sage can find great depth in them, but to me they are like certain passages in Jane Austen novels that you can read a few lines and then just skip on. There presence in no way diminishes the overall experience, but seem best glossed over.

But Vayakhel, is actually a parshat that my experience in Kohenet has helped me to find great depth in, but we’ll get to that part in a second.  In studying Vayakhel to prepare to write this drash, I found something new.  It may have been obvious to others but it was a new treasure for me.  The passage starts out with a reminder of the prohibition against working on the Sabbath.  The first time through this time, I glossed over that, but about half way through the passage I thought, ” hold on a minute!”

The majority of this passage is about the tribe’s excitement in the building of the tabernacle.  Who wouldn’t be excited?  Just think about how great it is just to build a community Sukkah.  Now imagine you’ve just escaped slavery and persecution — oh and the G!d(dess) who rescued you has said to help build the sanctuary!  AWESOME!

You would might get so excited that you think, “this isn’t work!”  That reiteration that we aren’t to work on the Sabbath was a reminder to the Israelites that even building the Mishkan counted as work.  For me it was a moment to rethink some choices I’ve been making about things I do and do not do on the Sabbath. I look at halakah as a reference point, not law, so halakah offers me a perspective what I should and should’t do, but then it’s up to me to do soul searching and set my direction.  This passage made me rethink things I had classified as “avodah,” or work of my heart, which I didn’t consider as “work.”  If the Israelites were supposed to cease work on the Mishkan on the Sabbath, then maybe I needed to refocus on the Sabbath being a liminal-space day of just being.  Especially in this day and age when so many of us feel that we don’t have enough hours in day to begin with, the Sabbath and the cessation from work is even more precious.

But how do I do this? I guess the answer is, “just stop.”   But is the kind of thing tzitzit and tefillin were supposed to help us with: And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.” Pretty much every Jew knows the words to the “v’ahavta,” which is really a part of the Shema prayer.  It was the first Hebrew prayer I remember learning to chant in Hebrew School. Fewer may be familiar with the “vayomer” section that includes this phrase: “And they shall be tzitzit for you, and when you look at them you will remember all of the Lord’s commandments and do them and not follow after your heart and after your eyes which lead you astray.” We tie these words around our hands and make signs between our eyes to keep us from just following our hearts or eyes. They help us from making bad choices in moments of spiritual weakness.

I have a brass cuff bracelet I wear every day inspired by this idea.  The choice of material was inspired by another section of Vayakhel, one that we studied in the Kohenet program.  Exodus 38:8 is one of those lines that you’d think there would be a TON of commentary about, but there doesn’t seem to be.  We studied it in Kohenet because part of what we do in the training is dive into the overlooked and buried parts of the women’s stories.  The Tzovah, the priestess path of Shekhinah of Kohenet spiritual framework appears in Exodus 38:8.  Generally, Tzovot, plural for Tzovah, has been translated as “working women” or “serving women.” Much of the traditional commentary that does exists seems to want to explain these women’s appearance away.

38:8. Mirrors of the serving women that did service at the door of the tent of meeting (JPS, 1917)

Modern translations and commentaries seem to acknowledge that these women, who gave their brass or copper mirrors to the cause of the Mishkan, probably had some ritual function.  In an incredibly thought-provoking book by Christian theologian Wilda Gafney, it is proposed that they were a core of women whose job it was to guard the entry to the Mishkan.  She also posits that the mirrors they sacrificed for the Mishkah were their signaling tools.  Wow, did that put this offering in a whole new perspective.   It even made me alter a line of a prayer in the Kohenet prayerbook, which is a regular part of my morning prayers to say, “I call to mind the Tzovah, at the threshold’s door — guarding the holy of holies forevermore.

More important to me though, than this line of a prayer, is my bracelet.  My brass cuff, which I bought for $5 at a festival, is a daily reminder of who I am, a Kohenet. Regardless of the situation I am in, when I see the cuff I think of the Tzovah and remember that one of my jobs in this world is to guard the thresholds of the sacred, and welcome people as the come, and help them as they exit.  Now, because of Vayakhel, I am exploring having special one made for Shabbat. So no matter else is going on in my life, I will have special reminder that the Sabbath is for ceasing.  It is a liminal time, where we are to just “be.”  What an incredible gift and challenge all at once.

Written by Kohenet Ketzirah. Ketzirah is a frequent service leader at OneShul and can be found on PeelAPom

Filed Under: Community Member Blogs, Jewish Text (Torah/Haftarah/Talmud) Tagged With: bible, convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, D'var Torah, darshan yeshiva, exodus, heart, kohenet, online conversion, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, tabernacle, temple, torah portion, vayakhel

The Bible Is Dumb (or How To Deal With Life’s Uncertainty or How To Finger Paint Like A Biblical Prophet)

January 8, 2014 By punktorah

bible questions

One Shabbat, I was sitting around talking about how the Bible often tells conflicting stories about the same event, or just doesn’t give us any clues about anything at all. For example:

Which version of the Creation narrative is correct: version one (Genesis 1) or the story in Genesis 2?
What was the Urim and Thummim, magical dice? A forerunner to Pokemon?
And why are there so many censuses in the Bible, and why do the numbers not always add up?

Side note: can you believe that “censuses” is actually a correct word? You’d think it would be “censi”, but that just sounds like a cool karate master. I digress.

At a certain point a friend of mine had a completely bewildered look on her face. She said, “how can there be things in the Torah that we’re not 100% certain of?” I answered, “we just don’t know. Scholars and sages made educated guesses, but that’s just it.” She did a double take, “but we’re Jews! We’re brainy! How come we don’t know everything?”

Good question.

How come we don’t know everything? Because the Hebrew Bible, just like life, is filled with uncertainty.

I’ll talk more about that in a minute. But first, let’s talk about not wasting time in Maryland.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Community Member Blogs Tagged With: bible, bible uncertainty, convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, darshan yeshiva, dealing with uncertainty bible, jewish finger painting, online conversion, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, uncertainty, who wrote the bible

Rabbi Drew Kaplan: The Prophet Micah and Atheist Jews

September 12, 2011 By punktorah

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwHwVMThrDo

What does it take to be good? The G-d Project is the world’s first social media platform dedicated to Jewish spirituality. We bring God back to the conversation. www.theg-dproject.org.

Filed Under: Podcasts & Videos, The G-d Project Videos Tagged With: bible, Jewish atheists, micah, modern orthodox, the g-d project jewish, the god project jewish

Parshah Tzav

March 18, 2011 By punktorah

By Michael Sabani

In this week’s Torah portion, Tzav, we learn all about the duties and right of the Kohanim, the priests, who offer the sacrifices in the Sanctuary. We hear about how the fire must be kept burning all the time, the clothes that the priests must wear, and details on the portions of the offerings that that are given to the Kohanim to eat.

 

Interesting…

We are told that certain potions of only particular offerings are given to the Kohanim, such as portions of the Sin and Guilt offerings, but in the case of the Peace offering, the bringer also eats a portion, as well as the Kohanim. I am struck by this situation.

 

Think about this. Hashem has those who do some of the highest work, the most difficult and messy jobs, eat of the offerings that others bring. Can you imagine waiting for someone to bring a sacrifice for you to be able to eat?

 

But here’s the flip side to that, even in our mistakes, or more clearly especially in our mistakes, G-d gives us the opportunity to do good. In the Peace offering, we can eat of it ourselves, but when we make mistakes part of the repairing that happens is us providing for others. So even when we miss the mark, Hashem is able to transform that into a blessing, into something that helps the community.

 

Let us take a moment and consider where where we may have missed the mark. What have we done, not in the past year, not in the past month, not even in the past week, but today! Where have we missed the mark today? Were we angry with a loved one? Did we curse at another driver on the road? Did we ignore the needs of those suffering around us? Did we act in frustration or deceit?

 

Think about these things and realize that in our mistakes is the power to repair. Through these mistakes lie the power to not only repair what we have broken, but to help repair others as well.

 

Hashem has given us a gift, not of being able to miss the mark, but of being able to realize where we have missed, step back up to the line, and aim again. And in this time, I pray we all hit the bullseye.

 

 

Filed Under: Jewish Text (Torah/Haftarah/Talmud), Your Questions Answered Tagged With: bible, convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, d'var, darshan yeshiva, kohanim, mistake, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, Priest, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, Religion, sacrifice, sin, Torah, Tzav

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