Celebrating Vulnerability on Sukkot
From Sukkot Worship on Monday, October 11, 2012 – 15 Tishrei 5772 Our pilgrimage festivals seem to follow a natural pattern: Passover – celebrate freedom Shavuot – celebrate the giving of Torah Sukkot – if we were to complete the pattern, we should be celebrating the arrival in Israel, the completion of our journey. Instead, […]
Yizkor Message – Community Memorial Service – September 23, 2012
The Place Where We are Absolutely Right – Yehuda Amichai From the place where we are absolutely right flowers will never grow in the spring. The place where we are absolutely right is trampled, hardened like a courtyard. However doubts and loves make the world rise like dough like a molehill, like a plow. And […]
Our Names – Rabbi Jonathan’s Yom Kippur Sermon
Yom Kippur Morning 5773 – Wednesday, September 27, 2012 Temple Beth El, Charlotte, North Carolina G’mar Chatimah Tovah – may we all be inscribed for a good New Year. Leah got a rough deal. Her father snuck her under the veil and married her off to Jacob, who was supposed to marry her sister. Leah […]
Aim for holiness in the New Year
Torah-Inspired, Days of Awe Reflection of The Day… Today we look at K’doshim, Leviticus 19:1 – 20:27 – the holiness code, a list of behaviors that Jews identify as fulfilling the verse that appears early in this reading: Lev. 19:2 Speak to the entire community of the Israelites, and say to them: Holy are you […]
Life continues in doubts and loves
[Rabbi Jonathan’s houghts on remembrance for the Community Memorial Service at the Hebrew Cemetery in Charlotte, NC, Sunday, September 23, 2012] A Poem, by Yehuda Amichai The Place Where We are Absolutely Right From the place where we are absolutely right flowers will never grow in the spring. The place where we are absolutely right […]
Leviticus Says Nothing About Homosexuality
Torah-Inspired, Days of Awe Reflection of The Day… Today we look at Acharei Mot, Leviticus 16:1 – 18:30 – the offerings required of Aaron, including the one for all of the sins of the Israelites on the Day of Atonement, prohibitions against hunting, and a host of laws about prohibited relationships. After that long list […]
Bodies are sources of holiness too
Torah-Inspired, Days of Awe Reflection of The Day… Today we look at M’tzorah, Leviticus 14:1 – 15:33 – ritual impurities around mysterious skin conditions (not leprosy, BTW), and ritual impurities around sexual relationships. What’s the deal with the impurities? What kind of superstitious mumbo-jumbo is this? Let us depart from the judgmental attitude towards cleanliness […]
Help each other leave judgment behind
Torah-Inspired, Days of Awe Reflection of The Day… Today we look at Tazree-ah, Leviticus 12:1 – 13:59 – skin eruptions, ritual impurity, and how the ancient priest diagnosed these things. We should remember that the Torah does not serve as a medical manual, even for its ancient time. Rather, we recognize that the Torah offers […]
Keeping the Community Warm
Torah-Inspired, Days of Awe Reflection of The Day… Today we look at Tzav, Leviticus 6:1 – 8:36 – lots more about offerings and the practices of the priesthood. Also, these verses requiring the priests to maintain a fire: Lev. 6:5 Now the fire on the slaughter-site is to be kept-blazing upon it – it must […]
