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Exciting News: G-d Talks To Non-Jews, Too! (Parshat Mikeitz)

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In this week’s Torah portion, Pharaoh dreams of seven healthy cows and seven sick cows…and so on…and so forth. Come to find out, our boy Joseph can interpret his dreams. This gives Joey a rise to power and even more family drama than he had before.

But the real lesson in this week’s Torah portion is that G-d can (and does) talk to non-Jews. But Pharaoh didn’t know what his dreams meant. It took Joseph’s interpretative skills to put two and two (or in this case, seven, seven, seven and seven) together to mean anything.

G-d, it seems, is Universal: talking to everyone, actively involved in humanity’s shared life on Earth. But the Jewish people have a special place, taking the visions that G-d puts into humanity, and interpreting them, guiding them, and bringing them to life.

So on this cold (for us) Hanukkah night, let the warmth of the menorah and G-d’s splendor shine on you and the world.

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…]

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 VA’EIRA

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By M.

This week’s portion is Va’eira, which continues where it left off last week, with Moses and G_d talking. Hashem commands Moses to go to Pharaoh and tell him to, you know, let His people go.
Then come the plagues.
The portion ends by telling us that G_d “strengthens” Pharaoh’s heart.
This really stuck with me and I’ve been thinking about it for a few days. What does this mean? Why would G_d “harden” or “make stubborn” Pharaoh’s heart? How could a G_d who created Free Will intentionally make Pharaoh not listen, essentially forcing him to sin without the chance of repentance?

Ramban tells us that Pharaoh and Egypt were punished because they originally sinned of their own accord, through their own free will. They chose to enslave the Israelites and treat them the way they did. They made their own choices to do wrong, and they continued in them. Thus they passed too far beyond the limits of G_d’s redemption.
“He will not be able to repent, but will die because of the sin he had committed previously of his own free will…” (Hil. Teshuvah 6:3)

They cultivated their own bad habits.
What this says to me is that we need to be careful with how we act. It is too easy to get into the habit of taking the easy way out, to be sly and clever and underhanded, to do wrong and not think bad about it. Maybe it starts out by getting too much change back and you keep it. Then you take credit for work that’s not yours. Maybe next you see something of someone else’s and you take. Then you start to talk bad about someone, or are putting people down. Eventually, you become so ingrained, so indoctrinated by your own bad habits that you don’t even notice that you are cheating anymore.
Then  it’s Game Over.
You’ve gone so far you don’t even think about it anymore, and your heart has become strengthened and you may not be able to change. You can’t get back to where you were. You’re lost. That is being beyond G_d’s redemption.
Don’t let it go that far.

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