Shavuot
Shalom Aleichem.
In Tales of Hasidim, by Martin Buber there is a teaching I thought I would like to consider this week: The Rabbi of Kotzk was asked: “Why is Shavuot called ‘the time the Torah was given’ rather than the time we received the Torah?” He answered: “The giving took place on one day, but the receiving takes place at all times.”
Shavuot has many symbols – one I particularly love is of Torah as the Ketubah between Am Yisroel and God. AKetubah, as we will learn next week, is an essential element of a Jewish wedding – a covenant of obligation, a brit. I often say to couples I am meeting, “Remember you are getting married, not wedding’ed.” Just as Torah was given on one day (the wedding), receiving Torah is like being married – hopefully as the Rabbi suggested, in an everyday blessing.
Naso
June 14, 2019 by Rabbi Lynn Greenhough • Uncategorized
Shalom Aleichem,
Many years ago, one of my students celebrated his Bar Mitzvah with Parashat Naso. I remember his reading of Torah as if it were this morning. M. was called to Torah, and all of us – the rabbi, his parents and me, his teacher and gabbai sheini, leaned in to help as needed with his blessings and reading of Torah. We leaned in because even with hundreds of hours of practice we were not sure what would happen.
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