Jewish Ways of Marking Time
This week’s Torah portion, Parashat Emor, contains a section that is read in the synagogue not only as we make our way through Leviticus, but on each of the three pilgrimage festivals:
When a Song Transmits a Priority
I Will Shelter You
Way back in July 1990, when my daughter Katie was two years old, Ellen turned to our little girl and said, "Tell Daddy something he doesn't know." Katie whispered, smiling shyly, "Today is Mommy's birthday." Can you say doghouse?
How Do We Make God Holy?
The point of being Jewish is to have a relationship with God. Yet, a relationship implies a certain give and take, and there is precious little in the Torah that talks about what we have that God could possibly need. What can we give to God?
Tearing a Hole in Being
At the end of Parashat Emor, a disturbing incident is related. In the heat of a fight, a man curses God and is stoned to death for blasphemy (Leviticus 24:10-23). It is understandable that readers may be repulsed by this narrative, and shocked and angry to find it in the Torah.
Emor for Tots
The Eternal One spoke to Moses, saying: "Speak to the Israelite people and say to them: These are My fixed times, the fixed times of the Eternal, which you shall proclaim as sacred occasions."
-Leviticus 23:1-2
Keeping Watch Through the Generations
That was for the Eternal a night of vigil [leil shimurim] to bring them out of the land of Egypt; that same night is the Eternal's, one of vigil for all the children of Israel throughout the ages. Exodus 12:42
Observing and Remembering: Joseph's Bones and Ours
Years ago, I was privileged to serve on the beit din for a conversion I will never forget. The forthright geir (the individual choosing Judaism) announced to the intergenerational and interdenominational beit din , "I am becoming an observant Jew.
And Nun Shall Be Afraid!
Shout for joy . . . for on that day many nations will attach themselves to God . . . (Zechariah 2:14-15)