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Parsha Shemot: Gift from a foreign G~d (Ex. 1:1 – 6:1)

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Shemot is another Torah portion where a lot happens in the span of just a few chapters and verses. It is one of the darkest times for the ancient Hebrews a new Pharaoh is in power, unlike his predecessor he does not have a Joseph to befriend and rely on. He is a Pharaoh who is unabashedly loyal to Egypt and Egyptians. Times were a lot different than now and so was the economy and for the perceived other lower menial jobs channeled through slavery is the preferred form of domination.

The Hebrew numbers are vastly multiplying and since dominance is about resource management fear of the other burns brighter and hotter in the hearts and minds of the Egyptians. Enter baby Moses, nothing special about him and the other newly born Hebrew boys except his mother has that rare perfect balance between fear and cunning. Knowing it is only a matter of time before Moses’s short life is made even shorter she places him in a basket and sets him afloat in the same river Pharaoh’s Daughter likes to bathe and relax in; and the stage is set the Hebrew G~d gives the royal family a beautiful baby boy via the sacred Nile River.

Nursed by his own Hebrew mother and loved and courted throughout his adoptive Grandfather’s kingdom Moses truly is the gift from the Hebrew G~d. In fact Moses is Egyptian for “because I drew him out of the water” and he keeps this name for the rest of his life. Like all of us Moses has a weakness, a character flaw, unlike the Patriarch’s flaws he is easily moved to a violent anger. After killing an Egyptian to protect Hebrew slaves he flees to the wilderness finds a wife and is content to settle down and live a quiet full life. Hashem allows this time to run its course before confronting Moses with a charge to return the Hebrews to the Promised Land. Hashem adjusts the spark within Moses allowing him to approach the Egyptians in a way their magicians will understand and respect if not fear.

Returning to the grand halls of his youth this quiet soft spoken man mutters “Pharaoh, let my people go,” and Pharaoh says “no.” Immediately following this discourse Pharaoh strengthens his people’s dominance over our people, what was hard before is now unbearable. The age of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs is unabashedly over and Hashem ushers in the Age of the Prophets with Moses and Aaron.

What symbolism does Moses in a Basket floating in another faiths holy land mean to you? Why do you think Hashem gives Moses the ability to perform miracles in a way the Egyptian magicians will be in awe of? Should Moses have a Hebrew name? Share your thoughts comment below or send me a message jeremiah@punktorah.org Twitter: @circlepitbimah

Vayakhel and the Tabernacle of the Heart

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At the beginning of this portion this week, Vayakhel, Moses reiterates the commandment to observe Shabbat, and then goes on to explain, in more excruciating detail, the construction of the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, that is to be Hashem’s dwelling place with the Israelites as they travel. The question in this portion is what, in all of these details regarding the kind of blue, purple and red dyed wool, goat hair, animal skins, gold, silver, and copper, what can we learn from this, this craziness?

This is the questions I asked myself:
What does this have to do with me?

At the beginning of the portion, Moses asks the Israelites to donate these rich and precious materials to build G_d’s house, His Tabernacle, and to work to build the Sanctuary.
And what do the Jews do?
They give.
And give.
And give some more.
The Torah says:
“Every man and woman whose heart motivated them to bring for any of the work that Hashem had commanded to make, through Moses – the Children of Israel brought a free-willed offering to Hashem.”
They came and gave freely. Not only did they give, they worked, they sewed and built and labored.
In fact, they gave so much of their possessions and of themselves that Moses had to say, “Man and woman shall not do more work toward the gift for the Sanctuary”!
Moses told them to stop!

The building of the tabernacle raised another question in studying this portion: what is the Mishkan that we should be building today? One answer is the tabernacle of our hearts. And more than this, we are told that all who desired came to build, together, to build the Mishkan. Can you imagine that? This saying that not only are we to build the sanctuaries of our own hearts, our own spaces for Hashem to dwell within us, more importantly we are called to help build up the sanctuaries of others, to empower them to a higher connection with G-d.

What can we take away from this?
We are called to give, not as charity and not just money. Jews are called to give tzedakah, which means “righteousness” or “justice”. We are called to do right with ourselves and our resources. We are called to work not only for our own personal spiritual benefit, but for those in the world with us as well.

So give. Give of your time, your money, your selves. Give until Moses himself says “No more!”.

But more than that, give of your skills, your love, your soul, and help your fellow human beings dedicate the tabernacle of their hearts to the unity and Oneness that is the reality of G-d.

(Thanks to everyone at Torah Together on Monday nights at OneShul.org for the help!)

Freedom and Relationships (Parshat Bo)

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A time that signifies slavery to freedom and nation, this year it also falls into a secular New Year, which can be freeing or, slave encased also.

For all of us, this is a time where we can also think about freeing ourselves; from old and toxic habits, relationships that are negative, and self-destruction. We often as a society, focus so much on what others do to us or how we react to others, we fail to see how we treat ourselves and our responses to self-inflicted wounds.

How can Parashat Bo teach us to free ourselves?

Do we need to be as Moses and point our fingers at the moon and declare a new start, regardless of where the moon sits within the sky? Probably. Even the most free-spirited of us, is an animal of structure; we are creatures of habit. We tend to only embrace change when it is forced or, when it seems easily attainable. However, the goals can be to free ourselves: to understand that though structure guides us, be it tradition or the moon in the sky, we are in fact, free.

We need to understand that sometimes things can be painful.

It wasn’t easy for Jews to go from slaves to a nation; so we shouldn’t assume that change of any kind is going to be easy for us either – though, it will be well worth the dedication to the cause.

We had a new relationship with G_d, and now, when we make changes to our spirit, body and mind; we are essentially giving thanks and honoring that very relationship that others strived for and gained, not only for themselves but for us. When you make positive changes for yourself, you are also helping others- be it heirs, peers or society.

Freedom and relationships… that’s how I see Parashat Bo…

This week’s d’var was written by Michele Paiva, PunkTorah community member and author.

Parshat Sh’mot Slideshow Extravaganza!

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A little something different this week. Enjoy!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3P9Bu-tkyk

A Punk Exodus

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“Now every gimmick hungry yob digging gold from rock-n-roll
grabs the mike to tell us, he’ll die before he’s sold…”
– Death or Glory, The Clash

By Eric Odier-Fink
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. We’re taught that each of us should feel as if we were personally taken out of Egypt, and that we should each examine our own lives to find and be freed of our own, current pharaohs. Our own personal liberation from Mitzrayim, the ‘narrow places’. Growing up in Brooklyn in the 70’s and 80’s, most places felt narrow. This was not a unique experience, not for the time nor the place. Without the suffering confines of youth, little progress would be made. Dissatisfaction is what breeds innovation. But I happened to have my childhood and adolescence run side by side (forgive the reference) with that of punk rock.

The promise of the new era of the 60’s was already waning by its end- the promised land of Cana’an had run dry. The hippies were already giving up and/or giving in (this is over simplification, but stands for a short piece), and true redemption was being forfeited for either the decadence of the disco, the surrender of the mediocrity of soft rock, or conservatism of Southern rock. Some got lost in fantasy, others in despair. Some just got drunk and screwed anything they could. I don’t blame them. Entirely. They had been presented with the hope of the social movements, only to find that sustaining those movements against overwhelming odds and Pyhrric victories was simply too hard for most.

We, the true believers in something better- and better for *all*- were a bit lost. Iggy, the first of our brothers to have visions of what could be was cast out. Just too radical a message, him, the Stooges, and the MC5. Maybe, had they been heeded, the famine might have ended. But down to Egypt we went.

Even as a young boy, living in NY in the 70’s made me believe the world was falling apart. And while I wax nostalgic for it now, at the time things really were bleak. And then the bush caught fire: a couple of Jews from Queens and a couple of their friends, calling themselves the Ramones, started screaming. They were as eloquent as a their mentally handicapped mascot, but they transmitted one important message: this way out. And to complete the narrative, someone or something had to play Moses: a wanderer, educated yet adrift, named John Mellor, heard this message and answered the call.

Joe Strummer put the rage of post-60’s frustration to use. He saw what that fire could mean. Papa Joe, throughout his career, actually imagined a better world. And while he toyed with fashion and cool, it was part of a package- the trappings are the medium to get people to the message. Towards the end of his life, middle age, hopefully, for the rest of us, Joe had a bonfire fetish. Just sit around the fire and talk and sing. Spread the message around the flames: The world can be better.

So this may push the Exodus metaphor a bit far, but the point is made: the world can be better, and it is what Torah teaches us.

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