Each Torah portion, no matter how random the material may appear at first blush, has a spiritual wholeness that links and unites each chapter and word. Emor, the Torah portion this week, wanders from theme to theme seemingly without connection. We start with the purity of the Cohanim and end with the holy day cycle. And yet, there is a thread, a wholeness. This whole portion is suggesting ways in which we can uncover what the Hasidim call God consciousness, meaning an awareness of the holy and of our sacred connection to others, through our engagement with the physical world.
Drawing Close
Posted by Rabbi David Booth on May 10, 2012
http://www.rabbibooth.org/cybertorah/2012/05/drawing-close/
Iran
Certain moments in history demand activism.
We believe that Iran’s impending nuclear capability is such a moment. The threat a nuclear Iran poses to Israel, the United States, and world stability is frightening and real. Our response will be a defining moment in Jewish history.
Posted by Rabbi David Booth on May 3, 2012
http://www.rabbibooth.org/cybertorah/2012/05/iran/
A Blessing for the State of Israel
Today is Yom HaAtzmaut, Israeli Independence Day. On this day of joy and celebration of both what is and what can be, I offer the following blessing:
Posted by Rabbi David Booth on April 26, 2012
http://www.rabbibooth.org/cybertorah/2012/04/a-blessing-for-the-state-of-israel/
Yom HaShoah
There are many things to which we bear witness today on Yom HaShoah, Holocaust memorial day. We bear witness that love is stronger than death. We choose to remember in love those who were slaughtered and perished, to remember them and hold their memories in our hearts. We bear witness that one generation can listen to another and hold their truths. The Holocaust happened over 75 years ago. Each year there are fewer and fewer survivors left. As we listen to their stories, as we carry their stories within us, we prove that our generation can carry these accounts forward to our children and grandchildren. And finally, we bear witness that even murder does not have to engender hatred. Our remembrance today is an act of love, an act of recollection and of warning to the future. Our memory of the slaughter transforms us into pursuers of peace.
Posted by Rabbi David Booth on April 19, 2012
http://www.rabbibooth.org/cybertorah/2012/04/yom-hashoah/
The CJM Women’s Torah
Torah stands at the center. It is from Torah that we learn our values, history, and practice. The art of how a Torah is made is the practice of bringing God’s voice into the world in a visible form. That is why we have never accepted printed or copied books as a Torah. God can come into the world only through the medium of a human. It is the intention of a person to write the Torah even more than the actual writing that matters.
Posted by Rabbi David Booth on April 5, 2012
http://www.rabbibooth.org/cybertorah/2012/04/the-cjm-womens-torah/
Cleaning Hametz
External ritual, when engaged in an intentional way, has the possibility of effecting an internal change. Lasting change in our habits and behaviors, even when we really want it, is a difficult task. Torah offers us values towards which we aspire but also practices that help us better embody those values and act upon them.
Posted by Rabbi David Booth on March 29, 2012
http://www.rabbibooth.org/cybertorah/2012/03/cleaning-hametz/
Special CyberTorah: Toulouse Attack
As many of you may know, 4 Jews were gunned down and slaughtered in the town of Toulouse, France, yesterday. Apparently the third in a string of attacks aimed at French paratroopers and now Jews, this devastating incident leaves families and community reeling at a time when they should be preparing to celebrate. Weeks away from Pesach, families find themselves preparing for a funeral and for lives without their loved ones and teachers and friends. The matzah of liberation, with its promise of hope and freedom and peace seems especially remote.
Posted by Rabbi David Booth on March 20, 2012
http://www.rabbibooth.org/cybertorah/2012/03/special-cybertorah-toulouse-attack/
A Guide for the Passover Perplexed
As Passover draws near, it is time to get our homes and kitchens ready for this special Holiday. One of the most preparation intensive Holy Days on the Jewish calendar, Passover is meaningful because it is hard work. We are specifically commanded in the Torah to neither eat leavened products, called hametz, nor to possess them. That process of cleaning takes on a spiritual dimension as we symbolically cleanse our souls and prepare ourselves for God’s service.
Posted by Rabbi David Booth on March 15, 2012
http://www.rabbibooth.org/cybertorah/2012/03/a-guide-for-the-passover-perplexed-6/
Be Happy- It’s Purim!!
Okay – a joke leading up to Purim.
So here’s a favorite: A Russian is tired and thirsty. He says I must have Vodka. A Mexican is tired and thirsty- he says I must have Tequilla. A French person is tired and thirsty – he says I must have wine. A Jew is tired and thirsty – he says I must have diabetes.
Posted by Rabbi David Booth on March 7, 2012
http://www.rabbibooth.org/cybertorah/2012/03/be-happy-its-purim/
Prayer and Study
Prayer and study are almost entirely unlike one another in the way in which they impact their practitioner and that person’s sense of the world. They share similar goals but uncover them in different ways. Both prayer and study intend no less than a transformation of the soul and a refining of the self. They are means by which we reach beyond ourselves and discover our connections to others. For some, they are also a key means by which we reach out to and potentially encounter the Holy One.
Read the full post »
Posted by Rabbi David Booth on May 17, 2012
http://www.rabbibooth.org/cybertorah/2012/05/prayer-and-study/