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Parsha Tazria-Metzora – Leprosy and Being Unclean

April 19, 2015 by Russell McAlmond

From reading this week’s parshas we learn about the disease of leprosy and being unclean.  The ancient disease of leprosy is always somewhat scary – even for today’s Jews.  The idea of getting this disease and the physical disfiguring that it can cause is something that all of us would rather stay away from.  We don’t hear much about leprosy today, but is there a modern lesson from these parshas regarding separation and being considered unclean?

Leprosy (or Hansen’s Disease) is still around today with approximately 200,000 chronic cases and 230,000 new cases each year.  Even the US has about 200 new cases per year.  The good news is that those numbers are significantly less than the 1980’s where there were about 5.2 million annual chronic cases – mostly in India.  Medical science has made great strides in curing and reducing the number of leprosy cases.  Over 16 million cases of leprosy have been cured over the last twenty years due to advances in research.

For modern Jews, we know that the Torah was written when there was very little knowledge of medical science.  Separating those with leprosy outside the community (which is not done today) in Biblical times may have seemed like the right thing to do, but it was not correct.  In modern times we don’t separate Jews from the community for leprosy, but we do for other forms of being “unclean.”  We separate Jews who fall in love with non-Jews as being unclean.  We separate Jews whose birth parent doesn’t come from the correct gender from other Jews.  We separate Jews who have chosen to be Jews from ‘born’ Jews.  We have many different versions of what it is to be “unclean” in our community – all of which have no more validity than any other arbitrary separation.

The modern Jew embraces all of those who identify as Jewish with equal respect.  We welcome all non-Jews to our family through marriage and give them the same respect as well.  We do not inspect your lineage or ancestors to make sure you are really ‘Jewish’ based on some ancient bloodline.  Whether paternal, maternal, by choice or simply marrying a Jew, we will not separate anyone from our community of Jews.  If you love Israel, love the Jewish people, and consider yourself part of our community – we will never separate you from us.

We welcome you into our inclusive tribe.

 

Filed Under: Jewish Text (Torah/Haftarah/Talmud) Tagged With: convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, darshan yeshiva, leprosy, online conversion, Parsha, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, Tazria - Metzora, unclean

Parsha Tetzaveh – Back to the Past?

February 25, 2015 by Russell McAlmond

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This week’s parsha of Tetzaveh is about temples, sacrifices and priests – oh my! Seriously, we who live in the 21st Century have a hard time understanding the reasons for all of this.  Regarding kohanim, it goes against our modernity and and sense of egalitarianism that people should be given power for reasons of heredity. After all, look at what happened in North Korea.  And animal sacrifices? In the day of PETA looking over our shoulders, do we really want to read about how to sacrifice bulls and rams and spread their blood on altars?  Should we look to this ancient past for inspiration and help in our time?

The answer is, “Yes, we should!”

It is important to keep the Torah in modern perspective.  It was written by men many years ago who were primarily concerned about how to maintain the cohesiveness of a tribe and people.  It was also about how our people viewed G-d and their place in the world.  It worked!  Jews still identify as Jewish after thousands of years based on a shared heritage and respect for the wisdom of the Torah.  But is the Torah all wisdom?  No.  There are things written, such as in this week’s parsha (Exodus 27:20 – 30:10), that had significance in that day and age, but simply don’t fit into the 21st Century.

Judaism evolves, as all religions and ideologies should evolve, to keep up with modernity.   As human beings reach higher levels of moral maturity, we will naturally discard ancient ideas that conflict with these new realities.  The wisdom of the Torah is mutable – and this is a good thing.  As Jews, we need flexibility in our lives as well as our religion to adopt to new circumstances.  If there is a lesson here for us in this week’s parsha it may be that we should learn how to discern true wisdom from ancient practices.  Being careful not to throw out the baby with the bath water, as modern-day Jews, we still have a need to read the Torah with discernment.

Back to the past, yes, but firmly in the present as well.

Filed Under: Jewish Text (Torah/Haftarah/Talmud), Judaism & Belief, Rants Tagged With: convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, darshan yeshiva, judaism evolving, modernity, online conversion, Parsha, Parsha Tetzaveh, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, tetza, Torah, torah mutable

PunkTorah Radio: Kosher Vegan Cookbooks and Birthday Trees

February 3, 2015 by Patrick Beaulier


This week is all about Kosher Vegans, Tu B’Shvat and a big OneShul announcement!

PunkTorah Radio: Kosher Vegan Cookbooks and Birthday Trees

Also, subscribe on iTunes!

Filed Under: Community Member Blogs, Jewish Media Reviews, Podcasts & Videos, Random (Feelin' Lucky?), Shabbat & Holidays, Tu B'Shevat, Your Questions Answered Tagged With: bible, cookbook, Counterculture, food, holiday, Holidays, Jewish, Jews, Judaism, kosher, newkosher, Parsha, Punk, rebel, Religion, shevat, Torah, Tu B'Shvat, vegan, vegan cookbook, vegetarian

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

February 28, 2014 by Patrick Beaulier

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 Korach : Revolution Summer (Num.16:1 – 18:32)

June 18, 2012 by Jeremiah

 

Parsha Korach : Revolution Summer (Num.16:1 – 18:32)

For all intents and purposes Korach is the face for any Ancient Hebrew who took issue at some point with Moses’s style of leadership. Moses did not spend his formidable years like most Hebrews nor did he live an average Egyptian life. Moses was not one for public discourse and if you read between the lines may have had a hard time relating to those he was chosen to lead. Representative Democracy is not Hashem’s revolution His revolution is universal justice.

As a modern American I’ve only lived under the yoke of “crazy” liberals and ”a**hole” conservatives who only agree on time limited leadership roles. Competitive leadership is a machine running nonstop and with a presidential election in the United States a few months away that machine is running full force. This got me ah thinkin’ who exactly were Moses and Korach? I know who [Read more…]

Filed Under: Community Member Blogs, Jewish Text (Torah/Haftarah/Talmud) Tagged With: Circle Pit The Bimah, convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, D'var Torah, darshan yeshiva, jeremiah, korach, online conversion, Parsha, parshah, parshat, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier

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