Parashot

(and the Miracle No One Seems to Notice) Dog #1.    Dogs get a bad rap in the scriptures.  They are exclusively portrayed negatively in the scriptures.  That’s odd since ancient Israel was a shepherding economy and shepherding depends on sheep dogs.  We know that because Job, in the oldest book of the Bible, refers to his herding dogs.  Job 30.1.   Perhaps the negative references are referring to wild dogs, which are a problem in Israel to this day.   So why was one of the most uniquely gifted men in all of scripture,  named “Dog” (קלב “Kelev” or "Caleb" in English ).   All of biblical history flows through him, his vision, his faith.   If it weren’t for his visionary view of Israel, there would be no “Israel”.    ועבדי כלב עקב היתה רוח אחרת עמו וימלא אחרי והביאתיו אל־הארץ אשר־בא שמה וזרעו יורשנה But My servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land...

Jacob Wrestles with An Angel Genesis 32:24-28. English text below "Jacob is a liar and a thief". " Judaism is a religion of deceit, not to be trusted." Martin Luther himself, who veered into virulent antisemitism wrote that "Jews are a rabble to be burned" in his work " On the Jews and Their Lies" in 1543 mis-translated Jacob as "deceiver" as a foundation for his antisemitic views and suggested violence against Jews. ("Jacob" actually means "he followed", since he was the second of two twins delivered) Jacob as deceiver was a central trope for millennia of antisemites: I believe this Torah portion proves exactly the opposite and makes any thoughtful reader re-examine that idea. The life of being Abraham’s grandson was a lonely one.   He always seems to be a man alone: Fleeing his home alone, "with only his staff". Alone in the wilderness sleeping with a rock and seeing a ladder to heaven, ange...

from our Torah Scroll: "and he cried for her" Today’s Parasha portion, is “Chayei Sarah”, “The Life of Sarah”. It is three things A heartbreak A Mystery and a Romance A Torah scroll takes a year to pen by hand.  It has exactly 304,805 letters.  And when the scribe gets to this story about Sarah’s death, he has to intentionally embed a mystery in the typography.   There is no explanation for it but there are differing opinions as to why. It says here that Sarah lived for 127 years.   Abraham and she had a brilliant marriage, with failings of course, we know all about them.   The couple completely changed the direction of their lives, set a course for the unknown and in the end, had no greater desire than to see what God entrusted them with come to pass.   Many of you have had moments like that, where you hear from God and you changed everything.  It says:  אברהם לספד לשרה ולב כ תה “Abraham mourned for Sarah  AND HE WE P T FOR HER”. And therei...

  Scriptures for the Day of Atonement.   I looked up all these scriptures for my own use, to buttress my own thoughts and prayers on this day of atonement.   Others may find it useful too, so here it is…  Leviticus 16 - instructions for Yom Kippur. (the whole chapter) Leviticus 16:29-32   An Annual Atonement -  29 “This shall be a permanent statute**.  (הוקה עולם, a law forever) for you: in the **seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, *you shall humble your souls and not do any work, whether the native, or the alien who sojourns among you; 30 for it is on this day that atonement shall be made ***for you to cleanse you; you will be clean from all your sins before the LORD. 31 It is to be a sabbath of solemn rest for you, that you may humble your souls; it is a permanent statute. 32 So ***the priest who is anointed and ordained to serve as priest in his father’s place shall make atonement: he shall thus put on the linen garments, the h...