TORAH READING FOR 3 SHEVAT 5784 January 12-13, 2024
OUR HEARTS ARE WITH THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL
From “Mishkan T’filah / A Reform Siddur” CCAR, New York 2007, p.60
BARUCH atah, Adonai Elohëinu, Mélech ha’olam,
yotzër ‘or uvorë chóshech, ‘oseh shalom uvorë et-hakol.
PRAISED ARE YOU, Adonai our God, Sovereign of the universe,
Creator of light and darkness, who makes peace and fashions all things.
PARSHA
From Reform Judaism https://reformjudaism.org/torah/portion/va-eira
Va’ëra (וָאֵרָא – “I (God) appeared [to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob]”) – Ex. 6:2-9:35
God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Eternal.” – Exodus 6:2
SUMMARY:
- Despite God’s message that they will be redeemed from slavery, the Israelites’ spirits remain crushed. God instructs Moses and Aaron to deliver the Israelites from the land of Egypt. (6:2-13)
- The genealogy of Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and their descendants is recorded. (6:14-25)
- Moses and Aaron perform a miracle with a snake and relate to Pharaoh God’s message to let the Israelites leave Egypt. (7:8-13)
- The first seven plagues occur. God hardens Pharaoh’s heart, and Pharaoh rescinds each offer to let the Israelites go. (7:14-9:35)
HAFTARAH
Ezekiel 28:25-29:21
From Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Va%27eira#Haftarah
Connection to the Parashah
Both the parashah and the haftarah describe God’s instructions to a prophet to confront the Pharaoh of Egypt and bring on Israel’s redemption. Both the parashah and the haftarah address God’s judgments (shefatim) against Pharaoh and Egypt. A monster (tannin) plays a role in both the parashah and the haftarah: In the parashah, God turns Moses’ rod into a monster; the haftarah describes Pharaoh as a monster. In both the parashah and the haftarah, God attacks the river and kills fish. In both the parashah and the haftarah, God’s actions would cause the Egyptians to know (ve-yade’u) God. And in both the parashah and the haftarah, God proclaims, “I am the [Eternal One].”
RECOMMENDED READING
From Reform Judaism https://reformjudaism.org/torah/portion/va-eira
By: Jonathan K. Crane
STRUGGLING WITH TORAH and REFLECTION
We will continue to meet every other Friday for Torah Study to read and discuss selections from Ketuvim, the third section of Tanach (Hebrew Bible), which follows Torah and Nevi’im. Please see the NEW Torah Study-Shazoom schedule below. THIS week we will begin studying the Book of Daniel, which is found in the Ketuvim (Writings). Read this week’s Torah Portion at https://www.sefaria.org/Exodus.6.2-9.35 and Haftarah at https://www.sefaria.org/Ezekiel.28.25-29.21
From “The Torah / A Women’s Commentary” edited by Dr. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Rabbi Andrea L. Weiss, Ph.D., Women of Reform Judaism/The Federation of Temple Sisterhoods and URJ Press New York 2008
וארא Va-eira – Exodus 6:2-9:35
Contemporary Reflection – by Sharon Koren, pp. 351-2
THE SIGNS AND WONDERS (or “plagues”) described in parashat Va-eira must have been extremely frightening for both the Egyptians who suffered and the Israelites who bore witness to God’s might for the first time. Thirteenth-century Kabbalists believed that when the Children of Israel braved the agonies of slavery and the ten displays of divine might that devastated Egypt, they did not do so alone. Rather, the Israelites knew that the Shechinah, the pre-eminent feminine aspect of God, dwelled alongside them in Egypt. Medieval Kabbalists often portrayed the feminine Shechinah as a loving mother who suffers along with her children Israel in exile. She toils with her children while they are slaves in Egypt and protects them in the wilderness after they are liberated.
This association between the Shechinah, the supernal mother, and human mothers is given a biological dimension in the Zohar, the most popular work of medieval Kabbalah. The Zohar understands God as a power that is utterly transcendent and–at the same time–wholly immanent in our world. The Deity is comprised of the Ein Sof (“Without End”), which lies beyond the realm of human cognition, and ten lower s’firot (aspects) that emanate forth into the realm of being. Kabbalists believed that everything on earth reflects this divine realm.
The Zohar represents the realm of the s’firot in a myriad of different ways. It often compares the s’firot to an inverted tree or to the days of the week.
Perhaps the most popular symbol, however, is gufa (the body). Genesis 1:26 states that God made humans in God’s image and after God’s likeness. Kabbalists understood this verse literally. If human beings are in the form of an anthropos (human body), and if human beings were made in the image and likeness of God, then God must be an anthropos too. Human anatomy and physiology reflect this divine reality. Hence, women and men engage in sexual intercourse because two s’firot–Tiferet (sixth s’firah, symbolically understood as the King and Groom) and Shechinah (the tenth s’firah, symbolically understood as the Queen and Bride)–desire harmony and union. Women conceive and give birth because the Shechinah receives the effluxes or emanative powers of the higher s’firot. And women have a monthly flow because the Shechinah menstruates when she comes under the influence of the demonic “other side” (sitra achra).
Medieval halachah (Jewish law) required women to separate from their husbands for twelve to fourteen days every month: the five- to seven-day period of menstruation plus another seven “clean” days. The Zohar traces the source of this halachah to the myth of the Shechinah. The Zohar considers Egypt to be the ultimate symbol of the sitra achra. When the Shechinah dwells with the Children of Israel in Goshen, she becomes influenced by the “other side” and begins to menstruate. Therefore she must separate from her husband, Tiferet, for the duration of her blood flow; as a consequence, she is exiled or banished (literally niddah) from the forces of the Holy. Although her flow ends as soon as the Children of Israel flee Egypt, the Shechinah is not ritually pure yet. In keeping with the dictates of halachah, she must separate from her husband for another seven clean days. The Zohar conceives of these seven “days” as seven weeks–the seven weeks of the counting of the Omer between Passover and Shavuot.
After forty-nine days of travel, the Shechinah and her children rest at the foot of Mount Sinai, where she at last undergoes the final purification ritual: immersion in a supernal mikveh (pool). Like a newly adorned bride, the ritually pure Shechinah meets her husband, Tiferet, at the crest of Mount Sinai. They engage in divine union on the eve of Shavuot. On Shavuot day, the Shechinah gives birth to the two tables of the Covenant. Ever the devoted mother, the Shechinah gives these tablets to Moses for her children Israel (Zohar 3:96b).
The Shechinah figures prominently throughout the Zohar. Consequently, many Jews understand Kabbalah to be the only haven for gender equality in rabbinic Judaism. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Indeed, it would be extraordinary if it were. The Zohar is the product of a 13th-centruy worldview. Its author, Moses de León, and his circle lived in a world in which women’s physical and intellectual inferiority was believed to have been proven scientifically. It would have been inconceivable for them to develop a mythology of the Shechinah that defied societal norms. Hence, the Shechinah is most often represented as a passive vessel with “nothing of her own.” When she acts righteously, she sometimes changes gender and becomes male, when she comes under the sway of the sitra achar, she always remains female.
There are passages, however, that we can read as more sympathetic to feminist views. When we read the Zohar through the prism of history, we can differentiate between the different shades of prejudice to create a new meaning. The Kabbalistic story of the Shechinah’s exodus from Egypt is a case in point. There are many troubling notions in this passage–the association between menstruation and demonic possession being one of the most egregious. Nonetheless, valuable insights that can enhance our spirituality are embedded in this story. The Shechinah as caring mother, basing the Omer on a female biological function, and the notion of giving Toráh (matan Torah) as a birth are notions that we can reclaim and make our own. The notion that the Shechinah gave birth to the Torah tablets gives an entirely new meaning to the notion of “Torah from Sinai.” Indeed, I believe that the custom of eating dairy on Shavuot can be traced to this very myth. After all, dairy foods symbolize the lactating Shechinah who nourishes her children Israel with the Torah.
PRAYERS
From “Mishkan T’filah / A Reform Siddur”:
FOR OUR COUNTRY p.376
THUS SAYS ADONAI, This is what I desire: to unlock the fetters of wickedness, and untie the cords of lawlessness; to let the oppressed go free, to break off every yoke. Share your bread with the hungry, and take the wretched poor into your home. When you see the naked, give clothing, and do not ignore your own kin.
O GUARDIAN of life and liberty, may our nation always merit Your protection. Teach us to give thanks for what we have by sharing it with those who are in need. Keep our eyes open to the wonders of creation, and alert to the care of the earth. May we never be lazy in the work of peace; may we honor those who have [served, suffered or] died in defense of our ideals. Grant our leaders wisdom and forbearance. May they govern with justice and compassion. Help us all to appreciate one another, and to respect the many ways that we may serve You. May our homes be safe from affliction and strife, and our country be sound in body and spirit. Amen.
PRAYER FOR THE STATE OF ISRAEL p.552
O HEAVENLY ONE, Protector and Redeemer of Israel, bless the State of Israel which marks the dawning of hope for all who seek peace. Shield it beneath the wings of your love; spread over it the canopy of Your peace; send Your light and truth to all who lead and advise, guiding them with Your good counsel. Establish peace in the land and fullness of joy for all who dwell there. Amen.
FOR HEALING
We recite MI SHEBËRACH for the victims of abuse, brutality, conflicts, fear, natural disasters, pandemics, tragedies, violence of all kinds especially directed at individuals and specific communities including us, and war; for all those at home alone or lonely; for all those in need of physical, emotional, and mental healing. “R’fuah sh’lëmah” – a complete recovery!
YAHRZEITS/ANYOS
We say KADDISH YATOM for those of our friends and families who have died and been buried this last week; those in the period of Sh’loshim (30 days since burial); those who have died in the last year; and those whose Yahrzeits/Anyos occur at this time; as well as the victims of brutality, conflict, disease, natural disasters, pandemics, tragedies, violence of all kinds, and war.
This coming week, 3 Shevat through 9 Shevat, we lovingly remember:
Those victims of the Sho’ah (Holocaust) who died at this time of year.
“ZICHRONAM LIV’RACHAH” – MAY THEIR MEMORIES BE FOR BLESSING.
TORAH STUDY AND SHAZOOM
We will meet as usual at the regular times for Torah Study and Shazoom this evening, Friday, January 12, 2024. Please see the NEW Torah Study-Shazoom schedule below. THIS week we will begin studying the Book of Daniel, which is found in the Ketuvim (Writings).
Zoom regularly updates its security and performance features. Making sure you have the latest version of Zoom, please join us online this evening with wine/grape juice for Kiddush and Challah for Motzi.
Topic: Torah Study – Ketuvim: Book of Daniel – Chapters 1-3
Time: Jan 12, 2024 06:00 PM Arizona
and/or
Shazoom – Erev Shabbat Service
Time: Jan 12, 2024 07:30 PM Arizona
To join Torah Study and/or Shazoom click on the following link [you may need to copy it into your browser]: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/72510500854?pwd=Z3VQZWF4U1BBZytNYmh3aHFTWkFDZz09
Meeting ID: 725 1050 0854
Passcode: 4NrMk0
Hint: The last character of the password is the number zero.
Shabbat Shalom – Buen Shabbat/Gut Shabbos
-Ruben
PS – About the Book of Daniel and the NEW schedule through June 2024:
From Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Daniel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_(biblical_figure)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadrach,_Meshach,_and_Abednego
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehoiakim
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebuchadnezzar_II
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belshazzar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darius_the_Mede
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_the_Great
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darius_the_Great
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiochus_IV_Epiphanes
From Jewish Virtual Library
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/daniel-book-of
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/daniel
From My Jewish Learning
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-book-of-daniel/
From Jewish Encyclopedia
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4874-daniel-book-of
From Encyclopedia Britannica
https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Book-of-Daniel-Old-Testament
From Sefaria
https://www.sefaria.org/Daniel?tab=contents
NEW Schedule through June 2024 for Torah Study and Shazoom (Arizona Time Zone):
January 12, 2024 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
January 19, 2024 – Shazoom ONLY at 6:30 pm
[Tu Bishvat 1/24-25]
January 26, 2024 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
[Shabbat Shirah 1/26-27]
February 2, 2024 – Shazoom ONLY at 6:30 pm
February 9, 2024 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
February 16, 2024 – Shazoom ONLY at 6:30 pm
[Purim Katan 2/22-23 Adar I]
February 23, 2024 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
[Shushan Purim Katan 2/23-24 Adar I]
March 1, 2024 – Shazoom ONLY at 6:30 pm
March 8, 2024 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
[Shabbat Shekalim 3/8-9]
March 15, 2024 – Shazoom ONLY at 6:30 pm
March 22, 2024 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
[Shabbat Zachor 3/22-23] [Purim 3/23-24]
March 29, 2024 – Shazoom ONLY at 6:30 pm
[Shabbat Parah 3/29-30] [Shushan Purim 3/24-25]
April 5, 2024 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
[Shabbat HaChodesh 4/5-6]
April 12, 2024 – Shazoom ONLY at 6:30 pm
April 19, 2024 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
[Shabbat HaGadol 4/19-20] [Pesach 4/22-30] [Counting the ‘Ómer 4/23-6/11]
April 26, 2024 – Shazoom ONLY at 6:30 pm
May 3, 2024 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
[Yom HaShoah 5/5-6]
May 10, 2024 – Shazoom ONLY at 6:30 pm
[Yom HaZikaron 5/12-13] [Yom Ha’Atzma’ut 5/13-14]
May 17, 2024 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
[Pesach Sheni 5/21-22]
May 24, 2024 – Shazoom ONLY at 6:30 pm
[Lag Ba’Ómer 5/25-26]
May 31, 2024 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
[Yom Yerushalayim 6/4-5]
June 7, 2024 – Shazoom ONLY at 6:30 pm
[Shavuot 6/11-13]
June 14, 2024 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
June 21, 2024 – Shazoom ONLY at 6:30 pm
June 28, 2024 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
PSS – Tu B’Shevat, “New Year of the Trees”, January 24-25, 2024
A separate email with information about this minor holiday and this year’s Temple Kol Hamidbar observance will be sent out in the coming days.