The Shalom Center - SHEMOT/ EXODUS

The Prophetic Green Menorah

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 08:52:50 -0400

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow *

On Shabbat Hanukkah, we read the passage from the Prophet Zechariah that envisions the future Great Menorah, taking its sacred place in a rebuilt Holy Temple after the Babylonian Captivity. (We read the same Haftarah for Shabbat Behaalotekha.)

Zechariah, in visionary, prophetic style, goes beyond the Torah's description of the original Menorah (literally, a Light-bearer). That Menorah was planned as part of the portable Shrine, the Mishkan, in the Wilderness.

First Zechariah describes the Menorah of the future that he sees: "All of gold, with a bowl on its top, seven lamps, and seven pipes leading to the seven lamps." It sounds like the original bearer of the sacred Light. But then he adds a new detail: "By it are two olive trees, one on the right of the bowl and one on the left." (4: 2-3)

RENAMING GOD, REMAKING THE WORLD

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 14:59:27 -0500

[Posted January 10, 2007: This word of Torah is dedicated to the memory of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, may the memory of this tzaddik ("upright person, justice-worker") continue to bless us. He was born on January 11, 1907. I had originally intended to send out this biblical / contemporary comment tomorrow, but it looks as if we will need that day to campaign against the cockamamie plan to send more American soldiers to Iraq. In this way we can ACT in Heschel's memory -- for he stood alongside Martin Luther King to oppose the Vietnam War.]

This coming Shabbat, we enter "Sefer Sh'mot," the Book of Names. We hear the names of the Israelites who entered Mitzrayyim (the Tight and Narrow Place, Egypt); the names of life-loving midwives; the name of Moses; the very name of God, Whose Name changes before our very eyes.

The Wordless Torah of the Wordless Mountains

Sat, 03 Jun 2006 17:28:39 -0400

Rabbi Arthur Waskow *

Seven weeks of walking from the Narrows into the open space that is the Land of No One – and then we enter the heart of the heart of the wilderness -- Sinai itself, and the Torah.

"Wilderness" is "midbar." It could be understood as "midaber," -- "wording, speaking," -- or "m'devar/ m'dibbur," "away from word, without a word, beyond words."

Or both:

A speaking beyond words.

Several years ago, Phyllis (Rabbi Phyllis Berman, my life-partner) and I spent a few days in "Midbar sinai," and with hundreds of pilgrims from many religions and from all around the world spent all night climbing the mountain that either is or isn't the mountain where we all assembled to get the Teaching that was beyond words.

George Bush, the Burning Bush, Pharaoh, & Seeds of Change

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 13:13:14 -0400

by Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Perhaps the greatest archetypal tale in all of human culture about addiction to top-down, unaccountable power is the story of Pharaoh in the Book of Exodus.

Now, today, we are seeing this tale lived out before our own eyes. The present government of the United States has become so addicted to its own power, so swept away by its own arrogance, that it is playing out the tale of Pharaoh.

And the US government is not alone: the present government of Iran is talking like Pharaoh; Al Qaeda acts like a mini-Pharaoh.

Pharaoh begins by hardening his own heart to the plight of the poor and powerless, and after a series of disasters (the "plagues") brought on by his own arrogance, his addiction takes over.

WHEN GOD BLOWS AWAY AN ARMY

Thu, 28 Apr 2005 01:00:00 -0400

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, 4/28/2005

According to tradition, the Israelite band of runaway slaves crossed the Reed Sea on the seventh day of their flight from slavery. So on the seventh day of Passover, as well as in the regular reading of the Toraah in B

When Death breaks into the Torah-study & the Life-breath leaves the Mishkan

Mon, 07 Nov 2005 15:24:50 -0500

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, 2/14/2005

This past Shabbat (T'rumah), our congregational Torah-study was exploring the two different sorts of sacred space described in the weekly reading.

And in the midst of our talk, a distraught member of our community came running red-eyed, short of breath, into the room to report that a community member had just died, at home.

The Golden Calf & the Golden Mishkan

Mon, 14 Feb 2005 01:00:00 -0500

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, 2/14/2005

For two Shabbats, we have been hearing God explain to Moses how to build the portable holy Shrine, the Mishkan where God's Presence fills the tent of meeting in the Wilderness. Gold and fur, scarlet and silver. Elabora

Free Your Serfs, or Become a Serf

Wed, 02 Feb 2005 01:00:00 -0500

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, 2/2/2005

This week's Torah portion begins (Exod. 21: 1-2) with provisions limiting the nature of Israelite serfdom to a six-year period of indentured servitude. Serfs/servants are to be freed as the seventh year begins. Thus to

Facing Pharaoh -- Then & Now

Thu, 13 Jan 2005 01:00:00 -0500

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, 1/13/2005

This Torah portion shows how Moses comes to face Pharaoh. It invites us to face this question:

How can we face the Pharaohs in our own lives?

Maybe we are most conscious of the Pharaohs that bring plagues of climate

Names, Births, Wellsprings, & Firstborns

Mon, 07 Nov 2005 10:26:42 -0500

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, 12/28/2004

Dear Chevra,

The Torah portion for this Shabbat is named "Shemot/ Names," because it begins with the names of the sons of Jacob who had come down to Egypt centurie before, in time of famine. After this echo of Genesis, it turns to new names - of many sorts.

The first two names are those of "Yisrael - the Godwrestlers" and "Mitzrayyim" - the Hebrew word for "Tight and Narrow Place" and also for Egypt (a long narrow land strung out along the Nile, with kings who become more and more narrow-minded).

Heschel Yohrzeit & Haftarah

Mon, 07 Nov 2005 09:59:07 -0500

Passages from Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, 12/28/2004

HESCHEL HAFTARAH YOHRZEIT 32 FOR RABBI ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL

Rabbenu Heschel died on 18 Tevet. Especially when his yohrzeit falls in the week of Shemot (as it usually does), there are some powerful connections between his work and the Torah portion.

We urge individuals and congregations to take some time to explore these passages and especially on the Shabbat when we read the story of the midwives, to place them in the context of these women who "invented" nonviolent civil disobedience.

Manna: The Taste of Freedom

Sun, 26 Dec 2004 01:00:00 -0500

Rabbi Arthur Waskow, 12/26/2004

The Taste of Freedom

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow *

Even before Sinai brings its verbal command to remember Shabbat, the people learn it — through eating. They learn it in the story of the manna. (Exodus 16: 13-30)

Carrying the Sacred Space of Freedom

Sat, 08 Sep 2001 21:46:40 -0400

Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Carrying the Sacred Space of Freedom: T'rumah

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow*

Almost fifteen years ago, the gay community in America began to make a Quilt.

Leaving Idols, Mothering Moses

Sat, 08 Sep 2001 21:46:40 -0400

Rabbi Michael Graetz
Dear Chevra, Rabbi Michael Graetz teaches at Mercaz Shiluv, an Educational Center in Beer Sheva that operates in cooperation with the Masorti (Conservative) Movement in Israel. This commentary on the Torah's story about Pharaoh's

Shemot - the names and the book

Sat, 08 Sep 2001 21:46:40 -0400

Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Shemot - The names and the book
By Rabbi Arthur Waskow
Though "Shemot" or "Shmos", the Book of Names, does begin with a list of names from which all the women have been excluded, it moves onward