Rabbi Jonathan Sacks: Emor Eternity and Mortality

The laws regarding the condition of tamei are complex and challenging to understand. Rabbi Sacks quotes Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai: “It is not that death defies or the waters purity. Rather, God say, I have ordained a statue and issue a decree and you have no permission to transgress it.” Even the sages didn’t understand the rules. The logic is in the concept of the holy. God is beyond time and space, yet God created them and the physical entities that occupy them.

Rabbi Rachel Barenblat: Kedoshim In a Society: Teachings from Kedoshim for Right Now

Rabbi Barenblat quotes the beginning of the parashah, “y’all shall be holy, for I your God am holy”…emphasizing the plural. In other words, to be holy is for the society, not the individual. In a righteous society, we must ensure justice.

Rabbi Talia Kaplan: Kedoshim Who Among Us Is Holy?

Rabbi Kaplan addresses the meaning of being holy: the text elaborates on forbidden sexual relations and sinful thoughts, many of which emphasize the male. Yet, human interactions involve multiple parties. How can we address the ancient laws regarding sexual ethics in light of contemporary values?

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, z/l: Acharei Mot – Kedoshim Love is not Enough

Rabbi Sacks considers the apparent disconnect between the different laws in Leviticus 19 – in fact, they are about limits, order, and boundaries. Reality has a structure whose integrity must be honored. When the order is violated, then chaos results.

Rabbi Rachel Barenblat: Tazria Tazria and What Community Is For

Rabbi Barenblat writes that tum’ah means having a different spiritual frequency, rather than “unclean” vs “clean”. She cites the Talmudic teaching that in public, people should cry out “tamei, tamei”, which seems the be shaming, yet the intention is not to shame to afflicted person. Rather, it should evoke in us compassion for our fellow community members, and lead us to take helpful action.

Alan Cooper: Metzor Tazria The Torah’s Prescription for Healing

Alan Cooper writes about the impurity of a “perceived deviation from a ’normal’ state”, requiring rituals to return the person or article from “deviant” to “normal”. As he writes, the responsibility of the kohen is to determine whether the condition causes impurity, not to identify it. Therefore, the definition of tzaarat as leprosy is not accurate.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, z/l: Tazria / Metzora Holiness and Childbirth

Rabbi Sacks introduces the challenges in these parashiot: impurity that occurs because of our human physicality. He references Rambam, who wrote about the opposing lifestyles of the ascetic and the hedonist. The former denies the goodness of God’s world while the latter denies God. As Jews, we celebrate both the Creator and creation.

Rabbi Rachel Barenblat: Yom HaShoah

Rabbi Barenblat blogs about the beginning of the Holocaust. Please follow the link below to read the full article:

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, z/l: Shemini Food for thought

The parashah begins with the induction of the Kohanim, immediately followed by the dietary laws. Rabbi Sacks considers the logic of this placement. He quotes R. Elie Munk, who reiterated that the Sanctuary was a human counterpart of the cosmos. R. Munk then continues with a passage from the Creation narrative, wherein the first commandment for humans was a dietary law.

Rabbi Rachel Barenblat: This Year What does it mean to celebrate freedom?

What does it mean this year to celebrate freedom?
What does it mean this year to claim we are free?

Are we free to speak – or only if we hold the “right” opinions?
Are we free to be who we are – or only if we fit a certain mold?