As we read through this week’s Torah reading, we cannot help but be struck by God’s wanting us to live with beauty – and precision. Everything in order, everything measured, everything in its place. B’Seder – even as we may use this phrase to mean all is okay, we are actually saying all is in order. Marie Kondo has nothing on Torah.
There is civil disobedience and there is just plain disobedience. This week, as we read Ki Tissa, we face into some of the precipitating factors that led the Israelite people to melt down gold and build the Golden Calf – and hedonistically dance around said calf in the absence of Moses. Moses was gone forty days and was just about to return to the people from Sinai, when God – from a vantage point we can only imagine – told Moses what “his” people were up to in his absence.
Last Shabbat we learned about the phrase, ”Humanly holy”; a phrase taught by the Kotzker Rabbi. The Kotzker taught that each of us holds a portion of the Mishkan, the Sanctuary built for God’s Presence on earth, in our hearts – and we create that mini-Mishkan by bringing holiness into our own choice about our behaviour, our daily humanity. Tetzaveh teaches one very specific way that idea of humanly holy is brought to bear here in Victoria.
Details, details, details – such is the stuff of life and certainly of Torah. We seemingly spend acres of ink – and time – to parse out what all these details signify, both in meaning and practice. I spoke on Shabbat about Torah being the social media of its day – where we learned together about our responsibilities as a people who said yes to the mitzvot and to God. We had much to learn, then and now, and the conversations continue.
The learning we engage in about how to best have a good life are a constant. How many conversations do we even have at home about housework? Who is responsible for what, when, and how? How do we handle our finances – separate accounts, joint accounts, pre-nups, savings, budgets? Who is cooking and who is shopping – and who is cleaning? Torah, the mitzvot ask another level of engagement and learning, for us as Jews: How do we navigate Jewish observance – or not – in our respective households?
Although I am not a lawyer, Mishpatim will always be a favourite and memorable Torah reading for me. This was the parashah of my conversion, my birth-day, if you will, and I hold each specific memory of that time in 1992 as a jewel in my mind.
Judaism is not anarchist by nature; our halachah recognizes our human tendency to chaos and reinforces at every turn order and stability, reliability and recognition, even as it is circumstantially pliable. I am certainly honoured to serve as rabbi of Kolot Mayim, but I am utterly honoured to be counted as a Jew. Thank you to all for your continued welcome.
Some of you asked me to post the recording of the Moroccan Cantor singing the Shir HaYam: שירת הים – מילים, ביצועים, פירושים ותווים | אתר הפיוט והתפילה
And, speaking of links, here is my link to the Spiritually Speaking column in The Times Colonist that was printed this past Shabbat: https://www.timescolonist.com/blogs/spiritually-speaking/finding-your-own-faith-can-be-an-inspiration-to-the-faithful-4959224
Kolot Mayim is busy these weeks with B’nei Mitzvah classes, Introduction to Judaism, Conversion, and Torah Trop classes. Some of our members are also taking advantage of classes that are offered online from afar.
This week we cross over the sea from Mitzrayim, to begin our trek towards freedom, Sinai, towards becoming a people in Covenant with God. We will soon shift in our story from individual covenant to God holding covenant with the entire people Israel. B’Shallach includes the Shir haYam, the Song of the Sea, for which we will have a very special singer! Note the unique brick-like layout of the text.More
Over these past few days I have had a chance to catch up on some reading – I actually read a few books. I uploaded several to Kindle: Jews Don’t Count by David Baddiel, a British stand-up comedian who addresses anti-Semitism within the progressive left, and People Love Dead Jews by Dara Horn. I highly recommend both books. Horn is an excellent writer and there is much to recommend this book.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose… as we might say in Canada. In Egypt, Pharaoh struggles to maintain and hold his power, even as his sorcerers are no match for Moses, aided by the Divine One. And just as the ancient Israelites may have lost sight of the covenant promised to their ancestors, they will rediscover and renew that covenant once they leave Egypt and stand at Sinai.
Pekude
February 27, 2022 by Rabbi Lynn Greenhough • From the Rabbi's Desk Tags: pekude, ritual, shemot, spiritual •
I read this recently: The word spiritual contains the word ritual. How had I not seen this before?
As we read through the final words of the journey of Exodus/Shemot, I am struck by this juxtaposition of word within word. The last two books – Vaykhel/Pekude provide extraordinary detail about the construction of the Mishkan, the sanctuary where God will reside with the people Israel. This collection of souls are barely a people at this point, even having stood at Sinai in their joined numbers; they are still learning how to do this “people” thing. The half-shekel requirement is part of building that bond. Giving on a footing of equality helps to build a bond of community. The many rituals of Judaism are not outside spirituality – they are within its very essence – our very essence. As we prepare to leave Shemot and enter the pages of Vayikra/Leviticus – many, many rituals – we begin to glimpse this essence.
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