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Haazinu: Music In The Message (Deut 32:1 – 32:52)

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In Parsha Haazinu Moses recites the song he scribed in the previous portion. He knows his life and his life’s work is at an end and as a parting song Moses recites words that act as an indictment of the ancient Hebrew’s sins, words that foretell punishment for future sins, and words that reassure them of Hashem’s love and redemption.

Why a song after writing down the Torah? Simple, literacy was not as prevalent then as it is today and lyrics have a way of burrowing themselves deep into the conscious mind. I often wake up humming a tune I heard the previous night or quietly sing to myself the same verse of a song over and over again throughout the day. Whether one finds having a song stuck on repeat in his/her head as annoying or not the fact he/she is conscious of those words and their meaning is important.

In Haazinu [Read more…]

Parting the “Red Sea” with Heston, Spielberg and a High School Homecoming Game: Parsha Beshalach (Torah Video Mashup)

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Just like it says: three ways to part the Red Sea aka Sea of Reeds. What’s your favorite miracle?

Parsha Va‘eira: Career Suicidal Gestures (Exodus 6:2 – 9:35)

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And I appeared or by its proper Hebrew name Va-eira is probably best known to everyone as the Torah portion where Pharaoh’s heart softens and then hardens while Hashem afflicts the Egyptian populace with plague after plague after plague. Moses and Aaron continue their presence in Pharaoh’s court demanding the end of slavery for the Hebrews, and Hashem in a very indirect way appears and then disappears with the hardening and softening of Pharaoh’s heart. Makes for a great moral lesson tackling ones intent and the motivation for actions emanating from the heart, but Pharaoh is not the only example for this so is Moses.

Va’eira begins with Moses doubting his ability and really not wanting a leadership position, and from what the Torah tells us the Hebrews agreed with Moses. This personality trait of Moses I can relate to in a complete and whole way, because like Moses I have made the same suicidal gestures with my career. On multiple occasions and to different levels of leadership I have made it clear that taking the step into management is not my goal and in so many words something I never plan on pursuing. This is not career suicide but it can be read as a suicidal gesture, in reality the incredibly small increase in pay is just not worth the stress of having to be available around the clock while “parenting” grown adults most of whom are many years older than me, and worse of all terminating the income of someone with children. I like to think this is Moses’s outlook as well besides it is not like there are no other candidates for the position, there is Aaron who becomes the head of the Hebrews 40 years after liberation and we learn later on of other Hebrews who really want the job as well.

Moses is smart enough, educated enough, and a believer enough to know the Hebrews will be set free. . . eventually. He knows it will be a long hard road to lead, move, and settle a new land with a people who have a collective body disfigured with deep scars from generations of slavery. Moses’s life is different than those he is charged to lead he understands more and leads for the greater good not the lesser few. Growing up in the west in a pursuit of wealth driven society it is nice to see that Moses’s lesson on humbleness over power is what makes him the most influential leader to Jews and one of the most influential leaders to all other people.

What does Moses’s reluctance say about Jews today? Are we as human beings scattered across a globe living comfortably under different types of government at odds with the type of character and leadership Hashem would like? Or are we so far removed from the Exodus that model is no longer relevant?

Comment below or send me a message jeremiah@punktorah.org Twitter: circlepitbimah

Parsha Eikev: Cut-Fil-A: The Heart Wants What The Heart Wants (Deut 7:12 – 11:25)

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Editor’s note: this is a repost from last year.

Moses continues his sermon in Parsha Eikev reminding us all on the importance of honoring our covenant with Hashem. To emphasis this he promises blessings, warns of curses, and tells us to circumcise our hearts.

The human heart is an extremely fragile yet efficient organ so how can anyone survive cutting a piece off? This is not a command for a physical invasive procedure but a spiritual and personality act. One of the major pro-circumcision arguments for men is it leaves that area cleaner and thus less susceptible to disease. Real talk, as a dude I don’t want to smell or get sick down there, just saying. Circumcision of the heart follows the same principle in this case cleanliness and health is a just and orderly society made up of people who are not stiff necked and hard to get along with.

Eikev could not have come at a better time this year.

If you live in the United States you know exactly what I’m talking about. Several weeks ago, a portion of the majority felt the need to protest what they claim is a suppression of their freedom of speech and religious belief in regards to sexuality. I’m not going to go too deep into why I think everything played out the way it did but I will say this as someone of a different faith their protest really turned me off to their religion. On one hand like them I fall into the majority of peoples sexual orientation but as a Jew I do not fall into the religious majority. Simple put I’m a Jewish dude who has never made out with another dude.

We as Jews face the same problem. This past year stories of the Ultra-Orthodox protesting modernity and spitting on secular women have sprinkled themselves throughout the media. As hard as it is to deal with those views and actions internally the damage to Judaism externally is much much worse. Circumcising your heart is just that — cutting away the stench of filth that will make others think less of the people you represent.

Moses tells us in Eikev to circumcise our hearts because the uncircumcised individual will forever stand on the shores of the Jordon yearning for the Promised Land just out of reach, but the circumcised heart of a people will receive Hashem’s promises of peace and happiness.

Jeremiah@punktorah.org Twitter: @circlepitbimah

Why Do People Love The Exodus Story: Parsha Shemot (Torah Video Mashup)

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If you want to know more about the Exodus, then movies like The Prince of Egypt are probably not the way to go.

See, Dreamworks took lots of artistic license in capturing the essence of the story, but they weren’t so hot for a literal, visual translation of the Biblical narrative.

Let’s see, where to begin…

  • Moses is not reunited with his mother as an infant (his mother was the one who nursed him)
  • Moses speaks flawlessly (he was actually a stutterer)
  • Moses kills the Egyptian by accident rather than murdering him
  • Aaron is reluctant to support Moses (he actually spoke on his behalf)
  • Basically everything in the Passover ritual is…well…passed over

I could go on.

We all know the Exodus story, or, at least some version of it. The real question is “not what happened”, but why does this story inspire us so much? Of all the stories that the human race has told, why does this story mean [Read more…]

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