Tag: Rabbi Efrat Zarren-Zohar

In this week’s Torah portion, Vaetchanan, Moses continues to deliver his final words to the Israelites, recalling the joys and the oys of their wilderness journey. Throughout the text the command to listen, Shema, is repeated on four different occasions...

"These are the words, the words that brought us here, the words that shaped this hard place we have come to know and yet, in this place words escape us." - Rebecca Minkus-Lieberman | Tisha B’Av/ The 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av marks the day of destruction of both the 1st and 2nd Temples and many other disasters that have befallen the Jewish people. This weeks Dvar is a kavannah for Parshat Devarim, and Tisha B'av (observed this coming Sunday).

Now that we are “vaxxed” and boosted, many of us have just taken trips or are scheduling time to travel after a few years of laying low due to Covid-19. And this, coincidentally mirrors some of our Torah portion for this week…

Moses was in sight of the Angel of Death. Miriam had died. So had Aaron. And God had told Moses “you too will be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was.” (Num. 27:12–13), so he knew he was not fated to live long enough to cross the Jordan and enter the land. Who would be his successor? Did he have any thoughts on the matter?

This week’s Torah portion is mostly the story of Balak, the king of the nation Moab, who hires the prophet Balaam to curse the Israelites, whom he perceives as a threat. Balaam then discovers that the power of blessing and cursing is God’s alone.

This week’s Torah portion, Chukat (Numbers 19 - 21), begins with a detailed description of the ritual of the red heifer... the Torah calls this ritual a chok - a decree, meaning a law, which defies human logic... the procedure is shrouded in mystery and is enigmatic. The intention is to purify those that are ritually impure. In the process, however, the individuals who facilitate the ritual of purification become impure themselves!

This week's parashah, Korach, begins with the words "Korach took / vayikach Korach." Since the verb is not followed by a direct object, the commentators wonder what it is he took. Furthermore, Korach did not take alone -- Datan and Abiram are subjects in that sentence, as well; yet the verb וַיִּקַּח is in the singular…

Twelve scouts are asked to go stealthily into the Land of Israel and look around. They return with samples of its rich produce: clusters of grapes, pomegranates, and figs and set them down in front of Moses and Aaron and the assembly. And then, instead of describing all that they had seen, an alternative reality is delivered as described in B’Midbar / Numbers 13:26-33

This week's parsha, Beha'alotcha, recounts a curious incident, recounts a curious incident... the Holy One tells Moshe to gather 70 elders, Joshua and himself and enter the Tent of Meeting so that G!D can deliver a message. Then "[t]he Lord came down in a cloud and spoke to Moshe and took of the spirit that was on him and put it on the 70 elders. And when the spirit of G!D rested upon them, they began to prophesy." (Bamidbar/Numbers 11:24-25) So what does it mean they began to prophesy?

One of the most exciting parts of Parashat Naso, this week’s Torah portion, is the inclusion of the three-part blessing recited by the Cohanim… These blessings have become central to many parts of our liturgy and are included in the repetition of the Musaf Amidah either by the Cantor, or in some traditional synagogues, by Cohanim (descendants of priests) themselves, to bless the people using this ancient biblical ritual…

On all of the Festivals, the custom arose among Jews that various biblical scrolls (megillot) are read in keeping with a particular overlapping theme echoed in the holiday and the chosen piece of writing. On Shavuot this coming weekend, Megillat Rut / the Scroll of Ruth is read, ostensibly because the barley harvest is a key plot line...

Why do bad things happen to good people? Parashat Behukotai posits it's a quid pro quo from G!D: "If you follow My laws and faithfully observe my commandments...[Good things happen to you (as a people)]. But if you do not obey Me...I will wreak misery upon you..."

The small holiday of Lag BaOmer (the 33rd day of the counting of the Omer) occurred this week. It’s a break in the semi-“Lenten” time period between Passover and Shavuot when tradition forbids weddings and celebrations and asks Jews to adopt the custom of not shaving or cutting one’s hair as an act of mourning.

Over the centuries, most of humanity responded to the disabled in others ways, by turning their backs to them, preferring to blame them in some ways for their disabilities rather than make the effort to strengthen the human connection that binds each to all.

The name of the parsha is taken from the first important word at the outset of the portion (which is how all parshiot get their name)—Kedoshim Tehiyu/ Be holy! No one is entirely sure what the word Kedusha / Holiness means, but at bare minimum, it implies the elevation of human beings and our actions from animal-like to G!D-like.

The term "scapegoat" was apparently coined by William Tyndale, the first great English Bible translator, and has come to mean "someone whom people blame for their own misfortunes and even for their faults and sins--though the original notion of a scapegoat included the public acknowledgement by the community of its own transgressions."

This week, at the conclusion of Havdalah, we will bid farewell to Shabbat and the festival of Pesach, and begin a new journey, a spiritual ascent to Mt. Sinai. On the second night of Pesach, we began counting the omer, a spiritual exercise, as we prepare to receive the gift of Torah.

One of the more challenging questions about the seder - How do we make it relevant today? Here is one suggestion. Let’s start by discussing a well-known statement found in the Haggadah: “In every generation a person is required to see oneself as if he personally went out of Egypt.” How is it possible to do this? And why is this necessary?