A brief departure

So after this week's Torah study, I had a bunch of potential posts forming. Then I heard about Tucson; then I heard about Debbie Friedman (z'l). So the rest will wait.

May the memories of Christina Greene, Dorothy Murray, John Roll, Phyllis Schneck, Dorwin Stoddard and Gabriel Zimmerman be a blessing, and R'fuah Shlema to their families and loved ones, as well as to Congresswoman Giffords.

Every one of these deaths is a tragedy, but much coverage is going to the child*, the judge and the young Jewish man. CBS has an article touching on all six of the lives lost.

And R'fuah Shlema as well to the family and loved ones of Jared Lee Loughner, who must be just as horrified, baffled and devastated as the rest of us.

*Yes, I teared up typing that. There's a phone interview with her mother that I cannot even try to watch.

Parashat Bo 5771

(backdated, actually written 2/22/11)

The Plaut commentary on Parashat Bo suggests that the slaying of the first-born of the Egyptians and the sparing of the first-born of the Israelites sets up the tradition of primogeniture, and that that tradition is at odds with the frequency with which, in the Torah, God prefers a younger sibling to carry out His plan.

I'm not so sure the two are in direct opposition; Egypt mourned deeply but survives to this day. It seems to me that the Torah shows that primogeniture is often not the best determinant of merit.

(Spoken as an only child, mind you.)

Happy Goyische New Year!

This post from myjewishlearning.com discusses ways in which to make your secular New Year observance more Jewish. I've been thinking lately about how often we discuss the Jewish idea of separation; in fact, Rabbi H, our new(ish) rabbi, gave a Qabbalat Shabbat sermon this New Year's Eve about this exact topic. I'm trying to figure out the balance between separation and inclusion. As Reform Jews, we are encouraged to live in the world, while at the same time being sure to separate the holy from the mundane, Shabbat from the rest of the week, wheat from chaff...no, wait, wrong Bible.

I don't really make New Year's resolutions per se, but I do try to take an inventory and decide what to improve four times each year: January 1, mid-April (my birthday), early July (when C and I met) and, of course, the Days of Awe. That way, I don't feel like I have to wait a whole year and give up in the meantime.

A song in the night

I woke up in the middle of the night convinced that Psalm 93 held all the answers. Mind you, I don't really know my Psalms, certainly not by number (except 23, because that's pretty much common knowledge). So when I got up this morning, I read it. If it's relevant to anything currently going on with me, I don't know what it would be, but I thought I might as well post the text anyway.

(JPS translation)

PSALM 93

The LORD is king,

He is robed in grandeur;

the LORD is robed,

He is girded with strength.

The world stands firm;

it cannot be shaken.

Your throne stands firm from of old;

from eternity You have existed.

The ocean sounds, O LORD,

the ocean sounds its thunder,

the ocean sounds its pounding.

Above the thunder of the mighty waters,

more majestic than the breakers of the sea

is the LORD, majestic on high.

Your decrees are indeed enduring;

holiness befits Your house,

O LORD, for all times.

*****

Maybe I'm supposed to visit the ocean? I grew up in the middle of the country, far from any ocean, and now I'm on a coast, so the ocean's right here, and I do love it and don't visit it often enough.

Or, more likely, my brain just seized on a random number for no particular reason.

The Jewish race

This article followed on the heels of a talk I attended given by Dr. Eliza Slavet, author of Racial Fever: Freud and the Jewish Question, in which she discussed racial Judaism.

As a convert, my first reaction to Dr. Slavet's talk was to find the concept of "who is a Jew" as defined by racial Judaism offensive, since, to the best of my knowledge, I have no Jewish blood.* Then I took a step back and remembered that racial Judaism and religious Judaism are, while inextricably intertwined, not the same. One of the rabbis who led our Introduction to Judaism class made it very clear, via Venn diagram, that the only way to enter Judaism without being part of the Jewish race is through religion. He also made it very clear that those of us who were converting would be no less Jewish than any other Jew.

I'm also intrigued by the idea of racial memory. I don't know that I buy into it, but perhaps it explains my propensity for pennywhistles, whiskey and lingonberries.

Or, y'know, not. Anyway, now I have yet another book I want to read, to add to my ridiculously long list.

*Odds are, since parts of my family come from Germany and the Netherlands, there is some Jewishness in there somewhere, but not so's I could trace it.

More linkage

Anonymous peace message sent to Muslim community.

Amein.

Parasha B'reishit 5771

According to Plaut:

"Japheth: ...His name is identical with Iapetos, a Titan, father of Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Atlas, all of Greek mythic fame."

So I didn't exactly quite finish Deuteronomy on time, so now I'm trying to keep up with the beginning and the end of the Torah. One thing I've really enjoyed about the Plaut commentary is the explanations of the parallels between the Torah and other ancient Near Eastern literature and other written texts. I realize that the people who most need to hear that Scripture didn't spring fully formed from the head of Moses are those most likely to refuse to accept this, but I appreciate having context.