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Learning Liberty
Take a breather: rest isn't just for the weary. That's the enduring message of this week's double portion ending the Book of Leviticus (Behar-Bechutotai, Lev. 25:1-27:34). In our ancestors' society, spiritual truth translated from agricultural means. Our ancestors worked the land, planting and reaping harvests, so often they expressed spiritual truths in terms of the…
May 11, 2015
A Defect in Torah
The legacy of the Jewish people includes a striving for perfection in ourselves, in our children and in the world. The quest for perfection inherently acknowledges that each of us is imperfect in some ways. In Parashat Emor, such defects are presented as a barrier. If taken on its face, this barrier could be confused for a…
May 2, 2015
One Love, lots of neighbors
This week's double portion, Acharei Mot-Kedoshim (Lev. 16:1-20:27), contains the famous phrase that Talmud's Rabbi Akiva recited while standing on one leg to summarize all of Torah (B.T. Shabbat 31a): "love your neighbor as yourself" (Lev. 19:18). This phrase, emerging from the middle part of Torah's middle portion dedicated to kedoshim (holiness), is the beating heart of Torah and living…
April 26, 2015
A Spiritual Time Out
This week we have a double portion, Tazria and Metzora. They both deal with the reasons for creating boundaries of time and space, and fixes due to being tamae, ritually unsure, or tahor, ritually, pure. For many who look at these two portions, they seem confusing, unsophisticated, and sexist. These are two of my favorite…
April 20, 2015
Eat Your Way to Holiness
Tragedies often leave us bewildered and disaffected. But Torah offers profound lessons in the wake of seemingly inexplicable tragedy. In parashat Shemini, the text details eight days of dedication ceremonies for the beautiful new mishkan, God’s tangible abode, including lots of animal sacrifices. At its end, the oldest sons of the High Priest, Aaron, make…
April 11, 2015
All in: body, heart and soul
Among the reasons that Jewish yoga and chant cultivate loyal followings is their focus on the body as a spiritual portal. After centuries of Jewish focus on matters of the mind (study) and spirit (prayer), we are rediscovering the spirituality of embodied corporeal life. Passover – especially the last day, when tradition celebrates the trek…
April 7, 2015
Great Seders, Less Stress
Ideas to Make Your Passover Seder Great By Johanna Potts Reduce the Passover Seder stress with these ideas on how to make your Seder great. In fact the Seder within its own structure gives you some direction. For example, the point of reading about four children and their approaches to the Seder is to say…
April 1, 2015
The Freedom of Now
by Rabbi David Evan Markus as posted in My Jewish Learning on March 19. When does time begin? What does time measure? What came before the beginning? Such mind-bending questions evoke timeless truths especially relevant at this moment in the Jewish year. Humans mark space and time from origins. Moderns traveling east or west across the…
March 22, 2015
Leadership Change: Front and Center
by Rabbi Evan Krame Moses hands off spiritual leadership to his brother Aaron and Aaron’s sons in Parashat Tzav (Leviticus Chapter 8 : 2 - 5) in a very public ceremony, He becomes a facilitator for Aaron and his sons to assume the priestly roles, thus signaling a profound change in leadership structures. At first I wondered…
March 22, 2015
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