PunkTorah

Independent Jewish Spirituality

Haftorah Vayigash: Feeling Good That Israel Is There

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haftarah

Ezekiel 37:15-28

This week’s Haftorah relays a prophetic dream from Ezekiel in which G-d tells him to take two sticks—one representing Judah and the children of Israel, and the other representing Joseph and Ephraim, and G-d fuses them into one stick before Ezekiel’s eyes.

The merger represents the promise of a unified Kingdom. The Northern Kingdom of Josephs decedents and the Tribe of Ephraim and the Southern Kingdom under David’s lineage were often warring. The prophetic union was supposed to occur during the messianic era under a descendent of King David.

In a promise reminiscent of the Diaspora: “So says the L-rd G-d: ‘Behold I will take the children of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side, and I will bring them to their land. And I will make them into one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel, and one king [Read more…]

Sponsored Article: The Jewish Encounter

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We are incredibly blessed to have the sponsorship of a local Jewish non-profit The Jewish Encounter! Two of PunkTorah’s community members had amazing experiences on their trip to Israel with tour leader Mitch. Read more below…

Fresh Memories

It is about three weeks now since I have returned from my trip to Israel. The memories are still very fresh but some of the details have begun to fade as the routine of daily life reasserts itself. For the first two weeks after my return I would dream, wakefully and in my sleep, that I was back in Israel. The dreams were very vivid; the smells in the markets, the swishing sounds of the Hebrew being spoken, the feel of the stones beneath my feet as I walked the streets, the crispness of the sun and the fullness of the air amidst every possible growing plant that you could imagine. Hassidim no longer seemed [Read more…]

CPTB Split EP Vol. 1 (Parsha Vayakhel/Pekudei)

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This week’s Parsha is unique it is the first double portion in this year’s cycle and it is also the conclusion of the Torah’s second book Exodus. Since this week is not like the rest (oh come on like you would not have went there), and keeping with the very loose hardcore punk theme of Circle Pit The Bimah this week’s double portion is fashioned after a split 7 inch record. In the traditional split format each group is given a side of the record to showcase two songs, for our purposes each portion is allowed two paragraphs to get the message out. Man oh man I hope this does not blow up in my face.

Parsha Vayakhel (Ex. 35:1 – 38:20)

1. I’m sorry lets make up.

After directing their faith towards a less responsive candidate for godhead in Ki Tisa. The ancient Hebrews are repenting and doing what we all do when we know its our fault and not the other persons. Instead of cooking a nice dinner or sending a bouquet of flowers our ancestors gave completely and totally of themselves. The golden calf was only given a little bit of gold in order to become a physical thing, while Hashem was given everything Moses needed to build the Tabernacle and dress Aaron and the rest of the priests. They gave and gave and gave until they were told to stop.

2. All Ages Benefit Show.

The ancient Hebrews gave so much of themselves not out of fear but because they truly wanted to give unto Hashem. They were told to stop because the needs of the religious government were met and taking more or even everything would have left the rest of that society in dire need. This reiterates that Hashem is a living G~d who needs a two way relationship with us and not heartless obedience.

Parsha Pekudei (Ex. 38:21 – 40:38)

1. War Against errr For Society.

Often times when we think of nomadic peoples images of tents and caravans creep into our minds eye, we do not envision portable buildings. The ancient Hebrews while technically nomadic were unique because Egypt shares a border with the State of Israel yesterday and today. Pekudei captures the part of history when the Tabernacle is actually built, gone is Moses’ talk about building and present is the construction carried out by Bezalel and Oholiab.

2. From the Old School to the New School

As Exodus ends a new chapter is penning itself. Absent are the heroic styled accounts and morally ambiguous lessons demonstrated in the lives of our ancestors and what we do have is the first physical State of Israel. Hashem and Moses have literally created a viable self supporting nation state with codified laws, a government structure, religious culture, all while remaining partially nomadic. Yes over the course of the next few decades this state will move from here to there and then to other there but an unruly band of nomads in the desert they are not.

Parsha Vayishlach: “Think for the best or you will go down just like the rest!” (Gen 32:4 – 36:43)

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A couple weeks ago Toldot was approached under the assumption, since Esau and Jacob are twins they are in essence one very deep, complicated, driven individual split between two bodies. This separation of one divine spark creates an unmovable object contrasted by the unstoppable force. Vayishlach is what happens when the inevitable ramming of the horns occurs.

In this week’s portion Jacob returns to his homeland worried, and reasonably so, dividing his estate into two camps in hopes that when he meets his twin brother Esau any revenge meted out will only be felt by one side. Jacob isolates himself during the night to prepare himself for his meeting with Esau. During the night Jacob is confronted by a stranger whom he spends the rest of the evening wrestling with. Some believe this stranger to be Esau others believe him to be an angle, or a manifestation of Hashem, or even Jacob himself. Whoever Jacob wrestled with is not important what is important is how this plays into to the reunification of a Divine spark which happens the next morning.

Esau who was the extroverted half of the two was always physically strong and being that way he never had to look past the present moment to satisfy his needs. Jacob representing the introverted side was intelligent enough to know he needed time to plan and strategize in order to move towards his ultimate goal. The years he spent away working and building a large family with his wives and maidservants afforded him the time to become physically and strategically strong enough to confront Esau.

As the sun slowly rose and the dawn crept up ushering in the ultimate day of reckoning one hurdle remained for Jacob. . .he must conquer the introvert. Jacob physically overcomes the stranger only to be permantly handicapped yet reborn as Israel.

Israel, not Jacob, limps back to his camp waiting to confront the rest of his Divine spark resting within Esau. Israel, not Jacob, bows to his twin brother seven times. Esau is overcome with what he sees and embraces his brother Israel who is no longer his enemy Jacob. What a great end to a heart breaking conflict.

Vayishlach really spoke to me this week, more than I can every remember it doing in the past. Shortly after starting Circle Pit the Bimah I was forced to come to a head with myself. I was at a point were I felt overwhelmed, in other words I felt like the Greek character Atlas on a bad day. One night I had a dream where I’m in a suit walking through a city which always acts as the backdrop for most of my dreams. I’m looking past the  high rise sky line into mountains covered by jungle, and I think to myself I need to walk over there for Shul since today is Friday and the sun is about to set. So I walk and walk and walk never really getting any closer to my goal, finally I get frustrated and give up, rationalizing that there will always be another Shabbat why worry about it. I then walk down a flight of steps into a basement resulting in me waking up.

The entire next day I am not my usual self, more than anything I am mad at my subconscious for giving in so easily the night before. I decided to work from home, didn’t shave or bath, really didn’t do anything except clash with myself. That night I had another dream. A huge floating albino snake slithered up to me. The serpent was approximately 10-12 feet in length and its red eyes just stared at me while its body swayed back and forth behind it. As much as snakes creep me out I just stood there and stared back. Then it happened . . .WHAM!!! the serpent strikes face first into my chest. My body sways like wheat during a breezy summers day but my feat remain rooted to the earth. Defeated the serpent flies off and in my dream reasoning I understand why it lost. During the entire confrontation its mouth was closed so it could not whisper to me and break my resolve. The next morning I reevaluated a lot of the things that where baring down on me. Those I could change I did, those I could influence to a degree I did, and those I couldn’t do anything about I just stopped obsessing over and I have felt great ever since.

The things I was wrestling with while trivial compared to what Jacob had to overcome still forced me to reconcile Jeremiah with Jeremiah. What is your biggest obstacle? How did you find peace within yourself? We want to know. Comment below or message me [email protected] Twitter: @circlepitbimah.

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