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Parashat Behar-Bechukotai / פרשת בְּהַר־בְּחֻקֹּתַי Read on 8 May 2021 (26 Iyyar 5781). Parashat Behar-Bechukotai is the 32nd and 33rd weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. Torah Portion: Leviticus 25:1-27:34 The first of this double portion, Behar (בהר), starts talking about a Shabbat for the land. We sow and reap for six years, but leave the land a year of rest in the seventh year. We do not work the land in that year, but we, and anyone else in need, are allowed to gather any produce that the land provides. Hashem assures us that we have plentiful crop in the other years to provide for those years of rest. If our fellow is in dire straits, we provide a no-interest loan. If they can not pay it back by the seventh year, all debts are forgiven. Hashem assures us that what we think we will lose by not having the loan paid back will be made up by prosperity. The highest form of charity is to do business with a fellow Jew to help them make a living. Seven by seven years is the Jubilee year. Any land that has been sold off because our fellows has not been successful is returned. We are paid for the amount of time we used the land. If our fellow has to sell themselves to fellow Israelites because they can not support themselves, they go free in that Jubilee year as well. Meanwhile, a fellow’s relatives should do all they can to redeem them. Foreign slaves, however, do not get freed. The second of the two portions, Bechukotai,(בחקתי),, discusses the blessings and the warnings if the Israelites do, or don’t do the commandments. It starts out discussing the blessings, that if the Children of Israel follow Hashem’s decrees and judgments and perform them, the rain will appear at their proper times and there will be prosperity. They will not fear any enemy and defeat any that attack them. Hashem will walk with us. The sedra then goes on to discuss the consequences of us not following G-d’s laws, the “admonition” or “tochachah”. This seven series of progressively worse consequences that will befall Israel for not following Hashem’s laws and decrees. As the people get more and more apathetic, the consequences get worse and worse. Finally, Israel sees the error of their ways and return to Hashem, who in turn restores their strength and prosperity. Ultimately, however, each stage of punishment is a call to repent. Finally, Bechukotai and Leviticus ends with gifts to the Temple. People can have themselves or their animals assessed for a contrived value, which they then donate.

The two blessings recited prior to the Shema illustrate a fundamental duality in how Jewish spirituality relates to God. BY RABBI ARI HART The daily morning prayer service is like a symphony of discrete movements that evoke different moods, ideas and themes, yet come together to form a cohesive whole. One of those movements is the Shema, which is less a prayer than an idea, that God is one. But before we can even begin to understand that impossibly huge idea, the sages of the Talmud instituted two blessings to help shepherd us into this awareness. The texts of these blessings, Yotzer Or and Ahava Rabba, bring us into the movement by beautifully illustrating a fundamental duality in how Jewish spirituality relates to God: immanence and transcendence, the intimacy of God’s closeness and the awe and fear of God’s distance. Yotzer Or (literally “Creator of light”) is a cosmic blessing. Its focus is on the stars, light and dark, celestial bodies, the work of supernal creation. It is a blessing meant to evoke awe at creation, the awestruck feeling of looking up at the stars on a dark night and feeling the wonder of the universe, our smallness in all of it, and the greatness of its creator. Before we proclaim that one God is the sovereign of all creation, Yotzer Or challenges us to try to begin to understand the infinitude of that statement. I sometimes use this blessing to contemplate my size relative to the room I’m in, followed by the city, the continent, the planet, the solar system, the galaxy, the universe. I end up feeling small and insignificant. I believe that is the point. On the heels of this comes Ahava Rabba. This blessing, whose name means “great love,” reminds us (and perhaps reminds God) that the transcendent creator of the universe — this inconceivable, alien force beyond time and space — loves us. And not just loves us, but loves us greatly. The blessing goes on to ask for the ability to learn and understand Torah. Why? Because a primary way we as Jews experience God’s divine love in this world is through the Torah, a covenantal, living and perpetually unfolding encounter and testimony to our relationship. Ahava Rabba concludes with a prayer for a complete return to the place where this covenantal relationship is expressed in its fullest sense, the land of Israel. After the conclusion of Ahava Rabba, we have laid the foundation upon which to reach the climax of this movement: The Shema, which declares the existence of a transcendent God that both created the entire universe and, in spite of our smallness, loves us and desires to relate with us in this world. The act of reciting the Shema is supposed to be meditative and slow. It is recited sitting down, each word pronounced fully and distinctly, with space between the word that precedes and the word that follows. The focus and slowness of the Shema invite us to unify the opposing ideas of the first two blessings — the distance and nearness of God. Reciting the Shema slowly and with care helps us to hold these opposites in the mind and find the unifying thread of ahavah, love, that binds them together.

Parashat Emor / פרשת אֱמוֹר Read on 1 May 2021 (19 Iyyar 5781). Parashat Emor is the 31st weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. Torah Portion: Leviticus 21:1-24:23 This portion starts out discussing various laws of the Kohenim, the priests. It starts off by admonishing priests that they are holy and should only participate in performing last rites if there is no one else to do it. A priest may “contaminate” himself only if the deceased is a member of his immediate family. A cohen must only marry a woman who has not yet been married. A Cohen may not make any gashes or alterations to his body. Likewise, in order to officiate at the Temple, he must not have any disqualifying blemishes or deformities. Animals being used as offerings must also be free of disqualifying blemishes or deformities. He may, however, eat terumah or food offerings. Verses 31 and 32 of chapter 22 is considered a very important verse, Torah in microcosm. Verse 31 tells us to observe and perform Hashem’s commandments. Verse 32 tells us not to desecrate Hashem’s holy name. Associated with these verses, the sages tell us that the only times we are to give up our lives is when faced with either idolatry, sexual perversion, or unnecessary bloodshed. The sedrah then discusses the three pilgrimage festivals observed throughout the Jewish year. They are described as mo’adim, or appointed times, because that’s when Jews come together to meet. The Children of Israel are commanded to designate these dates as special times. Passover, or Pesach, is celebrated on the 15th day of the first month. This is Nisan observed in the spring. We are to do no laborious work (preparing food is fine). We are to eat only unleavened bread for seven days (eight in the diaspora). Starting on the second day, we count the Omer, the offering of the first grain harvest, barley. This reflects the ancient practice of bringing the first harvest to the Temple as an offering. An omer is a unit of dry measure, equal to the volume of 43.2 eggs. We count the Omer for forty-nine days to arrive at Shavuot. This celebrates Moses bringing Israel the Law, the Ten Commandments. Shavuot also is the festival of reaping. In the seventh month on the first day is Rosh Hashannah, described as a day of remembrance with shofar blasts. Ten days later is Yom Kippur, the day we afflict ourselves and repent our sins. On the fifteenth day, we observe Sukkot, the Festival of Booths and the culmination of our process of repentance and redemption. This commemorates the protection Hashem gave us when we wandered in the wilderness. It is also the time when the summer’s produce is gathered. This ends with Atzeret, the day of assembly. We are then commanded to take the four species, the estrog/citron (resembles the heart); lulav/palm branch (representing the spine); hadasim/myrtle leaves (representing the eyes); and the aravot/willow branch (representing the lips). They are held together and used during the Sukkot services. Finally, we are commanded to perform the lighting of the Menorah, and placing the twelves loaves of the showbread on the table in the Temple.