5783 Musical Torah Journey
The Moment of Anger
Chukat-Balak 5783 - Anan V'arafel My brother Daniel and I have been known to have whole conversations made up solely of movie quotes. He once texted me “bum ba ba bum bum bum bum bum bum…” and I knew immediately that he was singing the Transformers movie theme song. In one of our favorite movies, Star Wars, Yoda says, "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” Moses in this week’s parsha could have learned a lot by listening to Master Yoda. In Parashat Chukat, the people of Israel are complaining again, this time for lack of water. God tells Moses to speak to a rock and water will flow through it, but Moses gets angry and strikes the rock twice instead. As I’ve mentioned a few times in these weekly emails, our rabbinic commentators believe that no word in the Torah is superfluous; every letter has to mean something. So why does the Torah note that Moses strikes the rock not once, but twice? Rav Yisrael of Rozhin (1796-1850 Ukraine) explained that this was...
The Refusal
Korach 5783 - V'ahavta It truly is the greatest joy to get to return to one of my favorite places every summer: Camp Ramah in Wisconsin. We’ve been up here for a little over a week now, and highlights include swimming in the lake, late night singing in the cabins as campers are going to sleep (yishun), energetic and fun musical Tefillot, and Hava Naglidah, our epic weekly all camp song-session followed by an ice cream party every Monday night! Come join us next summer! After the terrible incident with the spies last week, Parashat Korach finds the People of Israel in crisis. Korach, from the same Levite tribe as Moses, threatens to rebel, saying that Moses has too much power - why should he be in charge? He has some important followers including Datan and Aviram, two Israelite leaders from the tribe of Reuben. After the original protest incident, the Torah says, וַיִּשְׁלַח מֹשֶׁה לִקְרֹא לְדָתָן וְלַאֲבִירָם בְּנֵי אֱלִיאָב וַיֹּאמְרוּ לֹא נַעֲלֶה׃ “Moses sent for Datan and...
The Secret of Leadership
Sh'lach Lecha 5783 - Va'ani Tefilati Spies! Guys! Lies! This week’s parsha, Sh’lach Lecha, has tons of action in it. Moses sends twelve spies to scope out the land of Israel, with specific questions and things to search for when they get there. These chosen leaders were the chieftains of the twelve tribes! One would think that they would have been trustworthy and reliable messengers. But that’s the sad thing about leaders - they sometimes turn out to be the opposite. The parsha opens with these words, שְׁלַח־לְךָ אֲנָשִׁים וְיָתֻרוּ אֶת־אֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן אֲשֶׁר־אֲנִי נֹתֵן לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אִישׁ אֶחָד אִישׁ אֶחָד לְמַטֵּה אֲבֹתָיו תִּשְׁלָחוּ כֹּל נָשִׂיא בָהֶם׃ “Send agents to scout the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelite people; send one participant from each of their ancestral tribes, each one a chieftain among them.” (Num. 13:2) The particular selection of the chieftains as messengers is something the rabbis choose to focus on. The Chasidic Master...
The Complaint
B'ha'alot'cha 5783 - Kol B'Ramah Summer is here and I’m heading to camp! I’ll be up at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin for the next month as the mashgiach ruchani, spiritual guide, creating joy and music and prayer in one of my favorite places in the world. I’m also visiting Camp Ramah Darom, Camp Ramah in the Berkshires, and Synagogue Emanu-El in Charleston, SC this summer, so let me know if you’ll be there! We’ll be singing this tune, Kol B’Ramah, a whole bunch, as it’s an anthem for the Ramah camps about what it feels like to come home to the place where you can truly be yourself! קוֹל בְּרָמָה נִשְׁמָע, סוֹף סוֹף הִגַּעְתִּי לְבֵיתִי. רַק פֹּה חָפְשִׁי לִהְיוֹת אַתָּה וַאֲנִי A voice was heard at Ramah, “I’m finally home!” Only here are we truly free to be you and me… Hot weather has arrived for the Israelites in this week’s parsha, b’ha’alot’cha, as well. It’s hot in the desert as they march on their journey and they are getting cranky. They complain to Moses about basically...
The Influencer
Naso 5783 - Sim Shalom Who merits to be able to give a blessing? Naso is one of the longest Torah portions and it comes right after we received the Torah over Shavuot. It is filled with sacrifices, gifts, and blessings, but the most familiar is probably the Priestly Blessing, which Kohanim (priests) use to bless the people of Israel and parents say over children every Shabbat. When this blessing is recited in synagogues on Shabbat or holidays, it is preceded by a blessing recited by the Kohanim: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱלֹקֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בִּקְדֻשָּׁתוֹ שֶׁל אַהֲרֹן וְצִוָּנוּ לְבָרֵךְ אֶת עַמּוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּאַהֲבָה Blessed are you, God, who sanctified us with the holiness of Aaron and commanded us to bless the People of Israel with love The “Love” at the end of that blessing is both unique and incredibly important. The Chasidic commentator Netivot Shalom (Rav Shalom Noach Berezovsky) quotes the Zohar which teaches that any priest who is not loved by the people...
The Letter
Shavuot 5783 - Letter in the Torah Three… Two… One! Countdowns are always exciting. Even just typing those numbers, I felt my heart start to beat faster… what are we counting down to?! What will happen at the end? We learn this anticipation from an early age - even my ten month old daughter gets excited when I count down before lifting her up or starting a song - she knows what’s coming! We have lots of moments of counting in Judaism, and for me it all reflects back to the idea that in Judaism everything is about awareness - noticing and marking moments in time and giving each moment an intention and a blessing! In Judaism we count a lot of things, but we have a tradition not to count people. When we count to see if we have a minyan, many use a ten word phrase like hoshia et amecha u’varech et nachlatecha, ureim v’naseim ad olam rather than numbers to count. But there are a few times when counting people is really important and those customs and discomfort get put...
The Go Square
Bamidbar 5783 - Ahavah Rabbah I used to play monopoly a lot when I was a kid, and I was recently thinking about the Go Square on the Monopoly board. It’s the first square on the board where everyone starts the game. Each time you pass it throughout the rest of the game, you collect $200. It’s like a fresh start, propelling you forward with some new energy and cash flexibility for your next revolution around the board. This week we’re entering the Shabbat that comes right before Shavuot, and I’m thinking about Shabbat and that Monopoly Go Square. On this Shabbat, we read Parashat Bamidbar, the beginning of a new book, and we find ourselves in the desert with possibility and new direction laid out before us. The Sefat Emet (Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter, 1847-1905, Poland) teaches that Shabbat was given to the People of Israel right before receiving the Torah. If you think about it, you might remember this order from the song Dayenu that we sing at the seder on Passover, “Ilu...
The Wave
Behar/Bechukotai 5783 - Nasu After a fantastic weekend on the Jersey Shore at Congregation Torat-El, this week I’m back home in Columbus along with Coleen Dieker, my musical chevruta (study partner), immersing ourselves in music and creating some new melodies. We can’t wait to share them with you! We’ll be premiering a few at our concert this Thursday at Agudas Achim in Bexley, OH. This week has been a much-needed pause and re-engagement with music and prayer after running and traveling all over for many months. In parashat Behar we receive the laws of Shmita, a mandated rest to allow the land to lie fallow for a year. In the midst of the instruction, Moses rhetorically says, וְכִי תֹאמְרוּ מַה־נֹּאכַל בַּשָּׁנָה הַשְּׁבִיעִת הֵן לֹא נִזְרָע וְלֹא נֶאֱסֹף אֶת־תְּבוּאָתֵנוּ׃ And should you ask, “What are we to eat in the seventh year, if we may neither sow nor gather in our crops?” (Vayikra 25:20) A pretty understandable question! There’s a story told about a student of...
The Green Bananas
Emor 5783 - Come to Light My mom always says that you can tell an optimist by the kind of bananas they buy: the green ones! If you’re buying a green banana, it means you believe you’re going to live long enough to see them ripen and eat them. Rabbi Yisrael Friedman of Rozhin (1796-1850 Ukraine) says the same thing about those who count the omer: “Tomorrow is a nickname for faith.” In this week’s parsha, Emor, we read the instructions for counting the omer: וּסְפַרְתֶּם לָכֶם מִמַּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת מִיּוֹם הֲבִיאֲכֶם אֶת־עֹמֶר הַתְּנוּפָה שֶׁבַע שַׁבָּתוֹת תְּמִימֹת תִּהְיֶינָה׃ עַד מִמַּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת הַשְּׁבִיעִת תִּסְפְּרוּ חֲמִשִּׁים יוֹם׃ And You shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day on which you bring the sheaf of elevation offering, you shall count off seven complete weeks. You must count until the day after the seventh week—fifty days… (Lev. 23:15-16) The phrasing of the first three words of this instruction is of particular...
The Counterculture
Acharei Mot/Kedoshim 5783 - Yedid Nefesh “The Sabbath is the most precious present mankind has received from the treasure house of God.” - Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel In this week’s parsha, Acharei Mot, God says to the people of Israel, כְּמַעֲשֵׂ֧ה אֶֽרֶץ־מִצְרַ֛יִם אֲשֶׁ֥ר יְשַׁבְתֶּם־בָּ֖הּ לֹ֣א תַעֲשׂ֑וּ וּכְמַעֲשֵׂ֣ה אֶֽרֶץ־כְּנַ֡עַן אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֲנִי֩ מֵבִ֨יא אֶתְכֶ֥ם שָׁ֙מָּה֙ לֹ֣א תַעֲשׂ֔וּ וּבְחֻקֹּתֵיהֶ֖ם לֹ֥א תֵלֵֽכוּ׃ “Do not copy the practices of the land of Egypt where you dwelt, or of the land of Canaan to which I am taking you; nor shall you follow in their ways.” (Lev. 18:3) As Nehama Leibowitz writes in her Torah commentary, “The children of Israel, who had left and were about to enter a highly civilized environment after their long wanderings in the desert, were particularly susceptible to the cultural attractions… of their past and future neighbors. We know today, only too well, how the technical achievements of civilization do not always reflect similar advancement...
