d’var

Eat, Pray, Eat (Parshah Ki Tavo)

August 31, 2015 By punktorah

I’m psyched about Rosh Hashanah. I’m supposed to say that for spiritual reasons. But really, I like apples and honey.

This week’s Torah portion is about fruit. The first fruit, in fact. We’re supposed to give that up as a sacrifice to G-d. And, surprise, G-d will bless us. Kinda anti-climactic, but not every part of the Torah makes for good TV.

We’re always giving sacrifices to G-d. Animals, plants…heck, one time there was child sacrifice (luckily that worked out OK). It made sense back then to sacrifice animals and plants because we lived in a farm-based economy. Our whole lives were what we had to eat (and for most Jews, it still is!)

I don’t own a farm. I’m not sure I know what “threshing” means and half the Shabbat prohibitions don’t apply to me because I’m not into skinning animals and preparing hide. But I still have to give sacrifices.

The solution: prayer. Our economy now is time and people centered. Time, because time is money. And people centered, because our talent, our energy, our ideas, our creativity are the fuel for the economy…not vineyards and pastures. Prayer is a sacrifice because it takes away our time and it also takes away our ability to think about ourselves and all the things that we want at that moment. We’re giving it up for the Lord. And what are the “first fruits” of prayer? Well you guessed it: the Shacharit service! The morning prayer is the first fruit of the day; the first chance that we get to think about ourselves. Instead, we get to think about G-d.

The best part of Shacharit is breakfast (let’s be totally honest here). I just chugged the best cappuccino on the planet and had a nectarine so delicious that it would make Gordon Ramsey cry like a little girl. Now THAT’S the first fruit!

Rabbi Patrick is the executive director of PunkTorah and OneShul. His passion for food may be inappropriate at times. When he’s not waxing poetic on PunkTorah, Patrick enjoys collecting vinyl records, modern art and goofing off on Facebook.

Parshah Metzorah: Lashon Hara

April 1, 2014 By punktorah

This week’s Torah portion, Metzorah, arrives amidst a number of Torah portions that are quite often difficult to reconcile with modern thinking.

In last week’s portion we learned about the signs of the metzora, a condition that is the result, the Torah tells us, of a spiritual malady which puts the person in a state of ritual impurity.

This week we hear how the person who is recovered from the tzaraath is cleansed by the Kohen, the priest, with an elaborate ritual involving two birds, some spring water in an earthen vessel, cedar, a red thread, and some hyssop.

When a person is declared a metzora, they are forced out of the community. They are shunned and tear their clothes like those who are in mourning. They have to call out “Impure! Impure!” to warn others to keep their distance.

We also learn this week that the affliction that can cause a person to manifest signs of metzora can also afflict a person’s clothes and even their home! This is very interesting.

And this is the message I was able to take from the portion this week:

We are told by the Sages in the Talmud that there may be many reasons for a person developing the signs of the metzora and the tzaraath is a punishment for having an evil tongue, for lashon hara, for speaking behind another’s back.

Now, whether this disease or whatever it was is a literal punishment for someone speaking behind someone else’s back is not for me to say. The Torah says what the Torah says.

However, the truth of the matter as it appears to me is that there is a strong and obvious correlation between what happens when a person engages in lashon hara and when a person is declared a metzora.

Using wrong speech, spreading gossip and being dishonest has consequences. Think about how this can be true. When (and I say when because I do it too, NO one is perfect!) I engage in lashon hara, I am doing something socially damaging. I disrupt relationships and build walls between people. It can affect my relationships, even those in my own home.

By engaging in lashon hara I can endanger my livelihood, losing my friends, and maybe even my job. What I am getting at is that a person who compulsively engages in lashon hara, well, their worldview seems to look a lot like someone who has been declared a metzora: all alone, no job, no friends, destitute.

Our actions, and even our speech have effects that we can’t comprehend. It is well within the realm of possibility to lose one’s livelihood over misspoken remarks. I ask you to be aware of those times we speak out of turn, and to remember the power that our words have, both over the lives of others, and the power that they have over our own lives, and the role of the Kohen, the role of our ability to bring healing and forgiveness and inclusion.

Written by Michael S.

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.

Tablets (Parshat Ki Tisa)

February 16, 2011 By punktorah

Ki Tisa:

Let’s put this in a more here and now frame of reference, complete with today’s slang. This week, we learn that Moses has a meltdown. He looks around, and the people are worshiping a Golden Calf? What the heck. Hello? Did anyone hear what Moses is saying?

He is trying to be a spokesperson for G_d, and people are just being blind. They have a contract with G_d. So, Moses is like “Oh no you din’t” and is trying to figure out how to get their attention. It does not matter what era it is, we will always find “our time” to be noisy with distractions, temptations and information that may or may not be wrong. Anyway, Moses is furious and needs to keep his job as spokesperson, and he breaks the tablets. OK finally, that gets the crowds attention. But what does this really mean? What symbols can we see here?

I see a few. First, the tablets are like a contract. The contract literally is broken, but the contract spirit is not. We are like the tablets. We may have hard times, and break, and like Moses, even with the best intentions we may fly off the handle, but our spirit is intact, and as long as we look inward, we can heal.

Also, we learn here about having dedication and passion. One really doesn’t get mad unless they have a vested interest or passion. Think about it. If you really don’t care about a job and don’t need the money, do you care if you get fired? No. You probably are not putting your full self into the job either. But if you love a job and feel wrongfully fired or laid off, you probably have emotion brewing, because you felt you put your all into it and you felt it was a part of you. So, when you see Moses with this action, it teaches that a little passion can go a long way. If you love what you do, if you love who you are, if you even try to stand by your beliefs, you’ll probably fare well in life, because your emotion is a result of your inner work, your passion.

Having a passion for Torah and the lessons within is the same. It may or may not always bring emotions upon first read, but if you start to look for the lessons, and how they represent your life you start to feel emotion; the Torah lives within you, it is a part of you. Like the tablets, there may be areas that are broken, but the spirit, the passion, lives.

A question to ask yourself: When is the tablet of your life, beyond the commandments but how you live your entire life, sometimes broken but still very much alive and intact? What keeps it intact?

By Michele Paiva

Parshah Terumah: Tents and Tents-Ability

February 3, 2011 By punktorah

(Subscribe to R. Michael’s weekly D’var Torah at OneShul’s IndieYeshiva by clicking here)

In this week’s Torah portion, Hashem tells us all about the construction of the Sanctuary, how big each piece of acacia wood needs to be, what kind of cloth to make the tents and curtains out of, even how many boards to use when making the Sanctuary walls! (It’s 48, by the way.)

What we are seeing this week is G-d specifically communicating how to make a space in which to dwell, how to create a holy place to house G-d’s presence among us.

There are a few other things that stand out this week as well.

The people of Israel are called to bring offerings to help build the Sanctuary. Notice though, that they aren’t commanded to bring offerings, but Hashem says “from every person whose heart inspires him to generosity”. We are shown that the only way we can build a space for G-d to dwell among us is if we give freely and generously to make this space complete. It has to happen through our free will. G-d doesn’t just magically appear in our lives, we have to give to make it happen. And not only give, but work! Throughout the portion G-d tells us over and over, very specifically and repeating instructions many times, exactly how to build what is needed for Hashem’s presence to be amidst us. This tells us that not only to we have to give, but we have to work, and work hard. Anything that is worth doing is worth doing right. And G-d tells us so. Does Hashem really need a tent made of goat skins or gold covered acacia wood poles? Probably not. But we are called to give generously of our time, our sweat, and our prized possessions, in order to create a space of holiness in the world.

Another point is the constant demonstration that happens through the textile arts. Hashem says to make numerous multicolored curtains, and to connect them with each other with loops and clasps, so that, as the Torah says, “the Mishkan will be one”. Only through the presence of Hashem can the many become one, echad. This miracle of unity is only available through the power of Hashem’s presence.

Most strikingly, however, is the fact that this sanctuary that is being built is portable. The Israelites were to keep G-d’s presence with them wherever they went. G-d travels with us. G-d has brought us out of Mitzrayim, the narrow places, and reminds us that as long as we create that space, G-d will be with us.

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