5783 Musical Torah Journey
The Ashes
Tzav 5783 - Mah Nishtanah Today I was working with some students at my day school (Solomon Schechter of Metropolitan Chicago) to prepare for our annual chidon haTanach (Bible contest) which will take place in a few weeks. We went around the room and every student shared their favorite book of the Bible. For me, this went better than expected because I was thrilled that each student even had a favorite book of the Bible in the first place (with a well thought out explanation as to why!). But one student asked if they could share their least favorite book, and they said Vayikra. I asked why, and they said it was because it felt boring and mundane with lots of rules and rituals that are inapplicable or don’t relate to us today. I agree in theory, I said, but that’s only if you just take these words at face value. That is not how our chasidic commentators understand these texts, and I am continually inspired by how they reread texts to create meaning for us in our lives today. This...
The Greatest Offering
Vayikra 5783 - El Baruch The entire universe is made up of letters. Every creation, every living thing, contains H’s and C’s and O’s (H2O, CO2, etc.) in myriads of formations that make each one of us unique but at the same time connect us to every other living thing that is made up of the same stuff as us. We each have our own way of walking through the world, our own individual perspective on creation and the world around us. When we sing an acrostic prayer like El Baruch, we acknowledge our own smallness in the space of the universe and at the same time our connection to each individual letter. The word אוֹת, “letter,” also means “symbol.” Our prayers are made up of individual letters, each aleph and bet and tet with its own purpose and symbolizing its own idea. Even if we aren’t sure what we want to say when we pray, our mystical praying ancestors imagined the letters we recite floating in the air and forming new words to actualize our thoughts and intentions. So even though...
The Note
Vayakhel/Pekudei 5783 - Ki Tzarich There is a famous teaching of Reb Simcha Bunim that states, “Each person must walk through the world with two pieces of paper in their pockets. In one pocket, a note with the words, “The whole world was created for me,” and in the other pocket, a note with the words, “I am but dust and ashes.” Around the same time as Reb Simcha Bunim was teaching this teaching in Poland, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov was teaching in the Ukraine. His magnum opus was a collection of teachings called Likutei Moharan (the teachings of Moreinu Harav Rabbi Nachman), and in the opening of the fifth chapter, he writes, “Every person must say to themselves, ‘the whole world was created for me.’ Once I realize that the world was created for me, I must, at all times, seek out ways to do tikkun olam, and to fill up the holes in the world, and to pray on the world’s behalf.” There are so many layers to this teaching. What stands out to me the most is the fact that not everyone has...
The Mirror
Ki Tisa 5783 - Anim Zemirot Every day, the words we read and pray in the siddur remain the same, but the person who arrives at that moment of prayer is different, bringing with them new experiences, memories, and emotions. So sometimes, if we continue to come back to them, new insights, inspirations, and meanings can strike when we least expect them to! I love finding a new way to read or think about a prayer I’ve been saying my entire life. Lately I’ve been rethinking the Mi Chamocha prayer. So iconic! The Song of the Sea! We sing it twice a day: “Who is like You, God?!” I’ve recently decided to read these words as a rhetorical question, directed back at the pray-er, as if they were saying it in the mirror, “Who is like You, God? I’m supposed to be like you! I’m made in your image!” And the preceding paragraph gives us the answer of what it actually means to be like God. Right before Mi Chamocha, we describe God in the following way: רָם וְנִשָּׂא גָּדוֹל וְנוֹרָא מַשְׁפִּיל...
The New Fit
Tetzaveh 5783 - Shuvah What do your clothes say about you? Clothing and fashion have been a language and a representation of culture for hundreds of years. The type of dress we choose to wear looks very different in communities all over, and varies depending on your gender identity and expression as well. But can clothes be holy? They can definitely be holey, (thanks to my dad for always inspiring me to make the dad joke!) but we don’t usually think of our clothing as being particularly sacred. In this week’s parsha, Tetzaveh, God tells Moses to make special clothing for his brother Aaron, the priest: וְעָשִׂיתָ בִגְדֵי־קֹדֶשׁ לְאַהֲרֹן אָחִיךָ לְכָבוֹד וּלְתִפְאָרֶת׃ Make holy clothing for your brother Aaron, for honor and splendor. (Ex. 28:2) The priests need special clothes to wear! Why? God says it is for honor and splendor. The Sefat Emet (1847-1905 Poland) notices that this instruction comes right after the instruction for the priests to light the ner tamid, the eternal flame....
The Gift
Terumah 5783 - Ein Kamocha Where do we find holiness? In the Musaf Kedushah we call out, כְּבוֹדוֹ מָלֵא עוֹלָם God’s glory fills the whole world! But then the angels call to each out, מְשָׁרְתָיו שׁוֹאֲלִים זֶה לָזֶה אַיֵּה מְקוֹם כְּבוֹדוֹ Where is God’s holy place? Like the game show Jeopardy, the answer comes in the form of a question. Where do we find holiness? It’s everywhere! It fills the whole world! And yet, our response to this question in the kedushah is, בָּרוּךְ כְּבוֹד ה' מִמְּקוֹמוֹ Blessed is God from God’s place. Where is that place? We learn in this week’s parashah, Terumah, that the dwelling space for Holiness is in the Mishkan. So how was it made? In this week’s parashah, Terumah, we read: וְיִקְחוּ לִי תְּרוּמָה מֵאֵת כָּל אִישׁ אֲשֶׁר יִדְּבֶנּוּ לִבּוֹ תִּקְחוּ אֶת תְּרוּמָתִי (Ex. 25:1) God says to Moses to talk to the people of Israel and receive gifts from them: "From every person whose heart so moves them, receive a gift" to build the Mishkan. What is...
The Shabbos Vibe
Mishpatim 5783 - Riverdale Niggun How do you get ready for Shabbat? When I visit a community for a Shabbat residency, I always try to arrive on Thursday so that we can gather together that evening to sing and prepare for Shabbat. We fill ourselves up with the melodies and the words so that by the time Shabbat arrives they feel like old friends. Shabbat is going to arrive every week, but the way we prepare for Shabbat can change the way in which we enter into it. We have the ability to choose how Shabbat is going to impact us and our community around us. In Parashat Mishpatim, we read about Shabbat: שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים תַּעֲשֶׂה מַעֲשֶׂיךָ וּבַיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי תִּשְׁבֹּת לְמַעַן יָנוּחַ שׁוֹרְךָ וַחֲמֹרֶךָ Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor, in order that your ox and your ass may rest... (Ex. 23:12) Why are these words lema’an yanuach (so that they may rest…) necessary? When we received the commandment of Shabbat before, it was...
The Pious Sieve
Yitro 5783 - Yehi Shalom What type of learner are you? Human beings learn and retain information in a lot of different ways. The main three ways we categorize these styles are auditory, visual, or kinesthetic learning. I am a visual learner. As a musician sometimes this surprises people, but I need to see things, read through them, and take down notes in order to really let them sink in. And only after I retain the information am I able to truly process or act on it. In Pirkei Avot (Teachings of our Ancestors) there are two really poignant back to back passages in chapter five about different types of learners: אַרְבַּע מִדּוֹת בְּהוֹלְכֵי לְבֵית הַמִּדְרָשׁ. הוֹלֵךְ וְאֵינוֹ עוֹשֶׂה, שְׂכַר הֲלִיכָה בְיָדוֹ. עוֹשֶׂה וְאֵינוֹ הוֹלֵךְ, שְׂכַר מַעֲשֶׂה בְיָדוֹ. הוֹלֵךְ וְעוֹשֶׂה, חָסִיד. לֹא הוֹלֵךְ וְלֹא עוֹשֶׂה, רָשָׁע There are four types among those who frequent the study hall: One who attends but does not practice: they receive a reward for attendance. One who practices but...
The Song of the Future
Beshalach 5783 - Va'ani Ashir Uzecha How do we know what events will be remembered? What will go down in history as something extraordinary? Something life-changing? Living in the present, we can never know if an event will stand the test of time. Unless, of course, that event is the splitting of the Red Sea. An event so monumental that even as it was happening, it was as if it was already recorded in the annals of history. Rav Akiva Eiger (Early 19th Century Rabbinic leader in Hungary) noticed that when Moses sings the Song of the Sea after the people of Israel cross to freedom, the verse is written in future tense, “Az Yashir,” “And he will sing,” as opposed to “Az Shar,” “And he sang.” Rav Akiva notes that the only way a historic event is truly remembered and known in the future is if the story is sung out. There is a story of the splitting of the sea and the People of Israel crossing in the book of Joshua as well, but is has been almost forgotten in comparison to this...
The Preparation
Bo 5783 - Ilu Finu I am a classic overpacker. This week I’m in the middle of four Shabbatot on the road in a row so I’ve been thinking about packing a lot. When I start packing, I count out how many days and how many outfits I’m going to need. Invariably, even if I am just gone for 2-3 nights, I somehow manage to pack way too many items of clothing, just to be prepared in case I need something more (I never do and always come home with many outfits untouched). But it’s good to be prepared! In Parashat Bo, Moses again finds himself before Pharaoh asking to let the Israelites go. Pharaoh has agreed to let them leave Egypt to worship their God as long as they leave their sheep and cattle in Egypt. Even the children are allowed to go! But Moses says this is insufficient. They need all of their livestock to go with them as well: וְגַם־מִקְנֵנוּ יֵלֵךְ עִמָּנוּ לֹא תִשָּׁאֵר פַּרְסָה כִּי מִמֶּנּוּ נִקַּח לַעֲבֹד אֶת ה׳ אֱלֹקֵינוּ וַאֲנַחְנוּ לֹא־נֵדַע מַה־נַּעֲבֹד אֶת ה׳ עַד־בֹּאֵנוּ...
