Voices of WRJ
By Liz McOsker, 5/18/2018
“On the first day of the second month, in the second year following the exodus from the land of Egypt, Adonai spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, saying, “Take a census of the whole Israelite company [of fighters] by the clans of its ancestral houses, listing the names of every male, head by head.” (Numbers 1:1 – 2) God commanded that Moses count those at least twenty years old and up and who are able to bear arms. Who is not counted? Women, children, the aged, the infirm, and the Levites. As God commanded, Moses did and in our text, the numbers are recorded in... Read More
By Linn Ullenbrauck, 5/11/2018
The combined readings of B’har and B’chukotai mark the end of the Book of Leviticus. They provide the rules for responsibilities and observances in specific time frames with reminders about blessings and curses. B’har talks about the Sabbatical year and the Jubilee year. This Torah portion explains that there are certain laws that regulate use of time. For example, the Torah says that some years are for working or growing in the fields, and some years are for resting. The Jewish people are told that for six years that they are to farm their land but during the seventh year the land should be... Read More
By Lindie Henderson, 5/04/2018
As we consider the Jewish calendar, observance of Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh, and the festivals, laws governing roles and obligations have value and offer guidance. In Parashat Emor the specifics are defined regarding bread, how it is made and by whom, the sacred oil, treatment of sacrificial animals and animal young, prohibitions against blasphemy, the barriers that separate priests from daily life, and the management of death and burial, particularly by priests. Situations that affect or involve women seem to protect yet limit their participation. We can learn from this parashah that... Read More
By Robin Plotnik, 4/27/2018
This week we read from the double portion Acharei Mot/K’doshim. I chose to write about this portion because Acharei Mot was the portion of the week of my adult Bat Mitzvah in 1995. Acharei Mot (Leviticus 16:1-18:30) continues to focus in detail on laws and ritual and especially the practices for the Day of Atonement. As summarized in The Torah: A Women’s Commentary, (p. 680), it begins with a discussion of expiation of sins and purification of the Shrine. It continues in discussing laws about eating meat and finishes with laws about sexual limits. The next portion for this week, K’... Read More
By Abigail Fisher, 4/20/2018
This week’s Parshah, Tazria-Metzora, deals with all kinds of ritual impurity, including the skin disease, tzara’at, usually translated as leprosy. An afflicted individual is to be placed outside the Israelites’ camp until the disease is gone. This disease is almost certainly not the disease that is properly known as Hansen’s disease (leprosy). Hansen’s disease is a bacterial infection for which, prior to the discovery of antibiotics, there was no cure. A leper could not have been healed. Whether the disease described here is leprosy or not, based on this text, those suffering from Hansen’s... Read More
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