Va’Ethanan

Deuteronomy 3:23 - 7:11

Reading Torah is a unique experience.  We begin on the earth, grounded as it were with the simple understanding of the words.  Then we flow mentally and mystically through the roots of the words. If we are very fortunate, we find ourselves playing in the branches of our sacred tree (“It is a tree of life to all who hold fast to it”עץ חיים"  "למחזיקים בו).   

Many have struggled with the question of why Moshe Rabbeinu, the Holiest of humans was not allowed to cross over into the promised land.  Here is yet another interpretation.

כג  וָאֶתְחַנַּן, אֶל-יְהוָה, בָּעֵת הַהִוא, לֵאמֹר.

23 And I besought the LORD at that time, saying:

My Translation/Interpretation: At that time, I needed G to cover, comfort, wrap me in G’s grace. I gave expression to my need:

כד  אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה, אַתָּה הַחִלּוֹתָ לְהַרְאוֹת אֶת-עַבְדְּךָ, אֶת-גָּדְלְךָ, וְאֶת-יָדְךָ הַחֲזָקָה--אֲשֶׁר מִי-אֵל בַּשָּׁמַיִם וּבָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר-יַעֲשֶׂה כְמַעֲשֶׂיךָ וְכִגְבוּרֹתֶךָ.

24 'O Lord GOD, Thou hast begun to show Thy servant Thy greatness, and Thy strong hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth, that can do according to Thy works, and according to Thy mighty acts?

My Translation/Interpretation: “Oh Wholly One of Being, My Council, You have begun the process of showing me, teaching your follower, how You thread everything together and Your strong direction. Who else can do as You have done so splendidly with heaven and earth?

כה  אֶעְבְּרָה-נָּא, וְאֶרְאֶה אֶת-הָאָרֶץ הַטּוֹבָה, אֲשֶׁר, בְּעֵבֶר הַיַּרְדֵּן:  הָהָר הַטּוֹב הַזֶּה, וְהַלְּבָנֹן.

25 Let me go over, I pray Thee, and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that goodly hill-country, and Lebanon.'

My Translation/Interpretation: Let me cross over, or let me at least see that good land that is across the Jordan: This good mountain and Lebanon.”

כו  וַיִּתְעַבֵּר יְהוָה בִּי לְמַעַנְכֶם, וְלֹא שָׁמַע אֵלָי; וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֵלַי, רַב-לָךְ--אַל-תּוֹסֶף דַּבֵּר אֵלַי עוֹד, בַּדָּבָר הַזֶּה.

26 But the LORD was wroth with me for your sakes, and hearkened not unto me; and the LORD said unto me: 'Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto Me of this matter.

My Translation/Interpretation: And G crossed over with me (in my soul), but for your sake did not focus on me.  And G emanated to me: “It is already a great thing (that you have done); do not try to add to this matter with more word/things.”

כז  עֲלֵה רֹאשׁ הַפִּסְגָּה, וְשָׂא עֵינֶיךָ יָמָּה וְצָפֹנָה וְתֵימָנָה וּמִזְרָחָה--וּרְאֵה בְעֵינֶיךָ:  כִּי-לֹא תַעֲבֹר, אֶת-הַיַּרְדֵּן הַזֶּה.

27 Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold with thine eyes; for thou shalt not go over this Jordan.

My Translation/Interpretation: “Go up to the top of Pisgah and turn your eyes to the sea, to the south and the east. Let your eyes see, because you will not cross this Jordan.”

There is so much to unpack in this Parasha.  In it we find the first paragraph of the Shema.  This paragraph councils us, with compassion and humor, to focus and to love and even offers deep teachings on the ‘how’. It begins with the challenge to believe in the Oneness that is the source of all creation.  And immediately guides us to a path of love.  We are commanded to love. We ask in our hearts: “How?” The answer comes; “heartfully, soulfully, fully!” Again we ask how. And the answer wafts from the black fire on white fire: “Keep these teachings close to your heart.” And like a young child, we ask again: “How?” And HaShem with patience and compassion answers us. The key to remembering is to share these teachings with our children.  And because HaShem is such a good teacher of us, G’s children, there is humor added to the mix. We are to speak of this powerful teaching only two times in a day, when we are standing up and when we are not standing up.  And for those of us who still don’t get the joke it is repeated. We only have to focus on the power of love when we are at home and when we are not at home. And to help us remember the sacred power of love, the power of holy focusing on the source of love, we are to wrap these words on our arm and wear them as jewels on our heads.  They are our strength and our crown.  And more, we are to write them as reminders on our doors and gates. And even when we are doing well, we must remember the power and purpose of love and the source from whence it and all things flow.

Parashat Va'Etchanan is always read on the Shabbat after Tasha B’Av, the day of great sadness, and is known as Shabbat Nahamu, taking its name from the opening words of comfort in its special haftarah.

The concept of binding love on our arms and wearing the love as a crown on our heads has come down to us as a memory device called Tfillin.  So powerful is Tfillin that the Sages of the Talmud teach that the Wholly one of blessing, dons Tfillin every day (BT Brachot 6a); they suggest that in the boxes of G’s Tfillin are verses paralleling the boxes worn by Jews.  In G’s Tfillin are the teachings of love for all humanity, for our planet and for out process.

There is ‘Nahamu’/comfort in the spiritual image of laying Tfillin with the Wholly One of Being, the Source of all being, our Holy Council.

Berasheet and the Mateh

I am sharing my story for the first time. And it is about time. I have been here since the beginning, even before the beginning. What does that mean, you ask? It means that I am not some descendant of ancient race; I am the antecedent of an ancient race. I am the Mateh מטה, I was taken from the original tree in the original garden. I was there before any of the 4 leggeds and before the 2 leggeds and all the other leggeds. I am from the family of one leggeds, the trees. We are far superior to the other leggeds that scurry around all over the place chasing or being chased. We stand and grow tall digging our roots into the very earth that the 2 legged and 4 legged scamper over without thought. We are the watchers, we trees, we Aitzim עצים and I come from the original watcher the Tree of Life. Before the time of the 2 leggeds, before the time of the 4 leggeds, before the time of mother earth herself, even before the time of time, I was there. Well it wasn’t exactly me for there was but G and beginnings had not yet begun., Before there was an I or a Thou, before time and space, before the before there was but G. And G created all and it was all done with a beginning. G began beginnings and the path that was to be, began.

G began the beginnings and then created concepts and turned them into matter and energy from which came space and time. And it all started with the idea of creating, the very blueprints for creation.
Oh when you read in the Sacred Guide called Torah תורה you may not get the depths of meaning, after all you are merely a two legged. But I am the Matehמטה I understand. The very first words, “Beraesheet Bara Elohim בראשית ברא אלוהים” are the first clue. It means “By means of a beginning did G create.” And I was there and when G created that perfect Garden, I as part of the Tree of Life was put into it and the Tree of Knowledge as well. We are sisters related by root. The Tree of Knowledge was put in to help the two leggeds grow. I from the Tree of Life was given to them to find the deeper reality, the mystical meaning of life.
Now if you read that portion called Beraesheet בראשית you know of the troubles of the first 2 leggeds. They were naked and knew nothing. But what you don’t know is that I from the Tree of Life helped them to take the first steps on the spirit path. I held myself in such a way that the wind blew through me coaxing the female one toward the Tree of Knowledge. It was so subtle as G’s Ruah רוח, ‘Wind Spirit’ blew the words; “Don’t eat from that tree in the middle of the Garden!” Oh you silly two leggeds. How easily manipulated you are. If you are told you are not to do something, you just can’t resist. But G added a little encouragement in the form of Sammy. Sammy is a Nahash נחש a snake. We call him Sammy the Snake. It is a colorful nickname. Now Sammy was supposed to be a crawly reptile without legs. But before G completed the job, G had Sammy sit on the tree and speak to the female. He was wily that Sammy was. He said: “Why don’t you eats from this tree?” The female said; “No, G has said that we can’t eat or even!” You have to hand it to Sammy. With that little exaggeration, he knew that he had her. “I am touching it, try nothing will happen.” G just said that because if you eat from this tree you will become wise and G wants to keep you down.” I had to chuckle when I heard that. She reached out and touched it and then, when nothing happened she tasted it. G had made the fruit to taste really good so that she would want the fruit of the tree of knowledge. So with her mind beginning to open she offered it to the male two legged. He ate it too and enjoyed. But of course knowledge is not all happiness and fun. For example they received the knowledge called guilt. G blew the Ruah רוח, ‘Wind Spirit’ through my branches again and the couple heard it as anger and punishment. So they left the perfect garden where I, the perfect tree resided.

Now I need to stop here and share something with you. After all you are only a two-legged and might not understand. G had tricked the couple into receiving a great gift. Learning, gaining knowledge is one of the greatest gifts that G ever made. But how do you get people to accept a gift that will require some effort on their part. Why not stay in the garden or eat of me, the tree of life. Oy the four choices were there. What, don’t you see them? Let me help you, after all I am the Mateh מטה, the guide. The first choice would have been to eat nothing, to obey G blindly. They would have lived their lives in ignorance and passed on with no heir and there would be an end to the two leggeds. The Second choice would have been to eat from me and not the tree of knowledge. Oh the tragedy. They would have lived forever, never had children (for that is the price you pay for eating from the tree of life) and never grown or learned. Everlasting cattle, (no offense is meant to those four leggeds) with no chance for spiritual growth. The Third choice would have been a punishment beyond any horror that you could imagine. What if they had (G forbid) eaten from both trees. They would have lived forever, learned and learned and grown and grown but never have been able to pass it on to their children. The awareness that eternity awaited, that learning would go on but with no one to share the joy, no one to receive the wisdom. Oh the pointless existence that would have been.

But they did as G intended. They ate from the Tree of Knowledge and this is really where my story begins. For G’s Ruah רוח, ‘Wind Spirit’ broke off a limb from the tree and it fell at their feet. They picked it up, well they picked me up, I am that limb I am the Matehמטה and I have been with the two leggeds ever since. I am the spirit guide; upon me can they lean as they travel across the planet. By the way, do you know the names that G gave these two first two leggeds. It is very telling. He was called Adam אדם the Earthling for he came from the dust of the earth as, indeed, we will all return. But her name is something else. She who started the process off was called Hava חווה the Life Giver. Is that not a beautiful name? And that is how the story of the two leggeds began on the Earth that G created for all life.

Mateh of Light: The meeting of Avimelech, the heat and Yitzhak, the light

The Mateh leaned against the wall of the tent to witness this momentous meeting. For though it was indeed, a branch from the Tree of Life/Knowledge, it was not to be the center of this council. If wood could chuckle, laughter would have burst from the Mateh at the thought. For in the center of the tent, the center of the meeting, there was wood, bursting in flame, as it was being transferred from mass to the energy of heat and light. And that was the metaphor for this meeting.

Here sat the tribal chief of Gerar, a man named Avimelech, and his warriors. They were men of heat, the heat of battle the heat of anger and possessiveness. Across from them sat Yitzhak and his herdsmen, Yitzhak the leader of light, the seeker of peace. Avimelech had called the meeting after the challenge of the wells. The Mateh thought back over the events of the past few weeks. Yitzhak and his men had dug a well and struck water. When seeing their good fortune, Avimelech’s men claimed the well for themselves. Yitzhak called the well ‘Esek’ ‘to be deprived.’ But Yitzhak would not fight for the well. He and his men moved and dug another well. Again there was a quarrel and Yitzhak named the well ‘Sitnah’ ‘Enmity’ and moved on without a struggle. Finally Yitzhak dug another well but this time there is no fight. Indeed, now, amazed at Yitzhak’s maze of good fortune, the warrior chieftain Avimelech came to sit in council with Yitzhak. Avimelech, this man of heat and war was sitting in the tent of Yitzhak the man of light and peace. Between the two men was a fire of heat and of light. The Mateh knew that its own role was not that of the burning wood, for it was to bring only light as it lightened and enlightened the burdens of the two-leggeds.

Avimelech the enemy was invited into the tent of Yitzhak and they sat to negotiate, with no preconditions, a path to peace, a way to live together on the earth from which these earthlings were formed. Outside there is thunder and lightning (barak) as these men sat in a tent on a raised platform (bama) and elevated the confrontation of conflict to a gentle journey of justice and hope. These two men, the man of heat and the man of light swore an oath to strive not against each other but to live with one another in harmony.

And so the place of this meeting was given a name of hope for all future history; ‘Be’er Sheva’ the ‘well of the oath’ the well-spring of light and hope and peace.

Toldot: A powerful point along the line.

What a word of wonder is the name of our potion this week; ‘Toldot!’ One might simply translate it as ‘The annals’ but that meaning is pale and thin compared to the wondrous, thick, multi-colored, multi-dimensional meaning of Toldot. For Toldot speaks of past and future. Inside that word we find child bearing and childhood. Inside that word we find the opportunity to peruse the pages of the diary of our people. But most of all Toldot calls us to stand at this point and become aware.

I turn back to my dim memories of geometry to energize my understanding of the word and the potion, Toldot. In geometry, there are terms with very specific meanings; ‘line’, ‘line segment’ and ‘ray,’ among others that have long since left my memory.

A line has no end or beginning and the only true line is G who always was, who is in the moment and who always will be. We, the creation of G, exist as line segments, for we have beginnings and endings. We are part of the greater line, we are part of G. We are a segment of the greater line that is G. And yet, when we are young, we see ourselves as a ray, that which has a beginning but no end in sight.

All three concepts share a sameness in that each one is made up of an infinite number of points. Though we are a finite line segment, our lives are filled with an infinite number of moments offering an infinite intimation of meaning. Each point in our lives is a turning point, if only we will see that point and seize that moment.

In our story, in our potion this week, a magic moment is made manifest. It is one point among many to which Torah points. “Look at me,” it cries out, “let this moment move you!” We can stand on this point and we can look back and look forward. We can mount this moment and learn lessons that will ferry us into our future. This moment can be for us a point of powerful proliferation. If we will seize this moment, this point on our line segment, our life segment, it can point the way, a compass along our pathway, with meaningful messages from the line of which we are but a segment.

Listen, Speak and Act: The quiet power of the hidden Torah

There is so much of import, so much power in our potion. Great tales and deeds leap out at us from the parchment. And yet there are 3 quiet lines in this potion unrelated and unpretentious. They do not but leap from the parchment at us demanding our attention. They float gently on the surface with roots of meaning deep below the surface. And if we sit by the pond and gaze deeply into it seeking these gentle words and their meaning, they refresh and refill. These lines imply import and reach for realms of majesty.

The first is found in the story of Eliezer’s quest for a bride for Yitzhak. He finds Yitzhak’s Bshert (his perfect partner) at a well. He goes to her family to share his story and his desire and his knowledge that Rivkah is the one for Yitzhak. The family sees his wealth and encourage him to eat, drink and be merry and, after resting, to share his story. But he refuses. Dusty and tired and hungry from his journey, Eliezer will not dine nor rest. Lavan the greedy brother of Rivkah requests that Eliezer the servant eat as a guest in his home. Eliezer does feed his camel for, as my wife always says, quoting Midrash HaGadol: “It is forbidden for a person to taste anything until he feeds his animals” But after feeding his camel he replies to the offer of his own comfort: "I will not eat, until I have told my errand." Something comes across the avaricious Lavan. As if mesmerized, as if taken aback, as if rooted beyond reason and avarice, Lavan replies with but one word: "Speak!" (24:33) “Daber!” “Daber,” he says “make something real. Make something or worth with your words!”

Onkelos, in his Aramaic translation/commentary on the Torah, translates the words from Braeshit; "And the human became a living soul," as "And the human became a speaking spirit." In the philosophical and Kabbalistic works of our sages, humanity is called the speaker. The Rabbis taught that the entirety of creation is divided into four realms: ‘domem,’ the silent or inanimate creations; ‘tzomeach,’ growing things; ‘hai,’ the animal world; and ‘medaber,’ the speaker—humanity

Words have power and even Lavan was open to the magic message of the word/things. And this then is a theme of this potion. For here, as we begin the creation, the procreation of our tribe, we reinforce the powerful, potent portent of human potential. We strive for communication, we strive to ‘com’ ‘be with’ ‘union’, the oneness. With the word/things we strive for unity. And so, Eliezer refuses respite until he can put forth the idea formed at the conjunction of Abraham’s desire, his own wise awareness and G’s stream of consciousness. And Torah summarizes the path and the power of our words with the challenge: “Speak.”


The next wondrous words offered, underplayed, downplayed, tossed forth in simplicity, open our souls and our hearts. Again they are put into the mouth of Lavan, the treacherous and avaricious. He simply says: “We will call the girl, and inquire at her mouth (24:57).” This is in response to Eliezer asking that Rivkah accompany him to a strange land and marry a man she has never met. And Torah says; ‘we will inquire of her mouth.” We shall seek the wisdom of women. For in Torah where men are heard so loudly, we have to listen more carefully for the words of women. It requires effort, it requires a willingness to sit in silence and listen in quietude. If humanity is the speaker, the ‘medaber’, then we should also be good listeners, we should ‘Shema!” If, in Torah, as I have written before, the influence of the feminine is ethereal, light, flowing, muted, gentle, understated and sometimes hidden, then the other half of being human, the speaker is to be able to listen. The teaching of women (in part) is that we human beings, we living souls, who are called the ‘speaking souls’ must also be “listening souls.” We must listen to the voices of women.



My last choice, the last little line that wafts up from Torah and over our soul is taken from the burial scene at Mahpelah. “And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the Cave of Machpelah (25:9).” Two estranged brothers stand together in grieving silence and bury their father. Two brothers put away differences and pick up shovels. They sweat and strain as they dig a separate peace. We almost hold our breath in the belief that this might last. 4000 years later we still wait breath bated, for the children of Abraham to make that separate peace. But if we take the gentle lessons, the quiet lessons the floating lessons of Torah to heart, if we will speak and we will listen and we will act, then maybe, just maybe we will reach a level of fulfillment of our dream as earthlings; not just to rest in peace, but to live in peace.


To be fully human we must learn our power. We must speak our power. We must listen to the power of the word/things of others. And we must act on the power of the truths that we speak and that we hear.

We are the ones who speak, we create a body of word/things to teach and grow our future.

We are the ones who listen, we hear the quiet voice of the wind in the willow, we hear the still of the night, we hear in each other the promise for tomorrow.

We are the ones to act. We will live the spoken promises of yesterday, we listen to the hopes for tomorrow and we must act upon them both today.

Torah Portion - The Week of July 20-26 / Tammuz 17-23

First Thoughts
This week's potion begins with the word "Matot," the plural of "Mateh." But it does not speak of a walking stick, it speaks of the tribes. Again we see the wonder of words, specifically the spirit words of Hebrew.

The word Mateh is rife with realizations. Within the root, we root out the words for 'bed,' 'downwards,' 'headquarters' and 'tribe,' as well as, 'walking staff.'
What do all these blossoms of the root have in common? They all have to do with being grounded.

When we need to be comforted, when we need to find our balance, when we need to be grounded in a world that seems to be spinning out of control, the Mateh comes to balance us.
In this case, it is the tribe that we seek for balance. We all need connections. We connect with family and community and country.

But the origin of these connections is the tribe. Our tribe gives us borders and boundaries. Our tribe offers us comfort and encouragement. And within our tribe, we seek council and consolation.

In other words, we can lean on our tribe like a staff upon the trail.


Dvar Torah(a word of Torah)
There are Torah potions that lend themselves easily to modern Midrash. They leap from ancient times into the modern mold with ease. And yet, there are other potions, like this one, filled with blood and fire and force.

There are potions that point to the disparity of inequality between male and female in a male dominated society. These potions point to our similarity to the other peoples of that ancient time. They highlight the other potions, potions in which we find firmly fixed formulas for elevation. They point to potions filled with spiritual enlightenment far beyond the history in which they are ensconced. And we might just leave it at that, ignoring the hard questions brought up by this potion.

But I believe we cannot and should not gloss over the bitter potions, nor try to sugar coat them so that they go down with ease. There is a song that contains the verse, "a little bit of honey makes the medicine go down." That does not apply to honest understanding. In this potion, we have two examples. (The second speaks to the horrors of Jihad and we will leave it for another day.)

The first is in regard to vows. A man's vow is sacrosanct. What he says, he should do' period. That in itself is frightening.

I remember as a child walking the hallway to my father's (z'tl) office. Along the wall was a virtual gallery of visual renderings of biblical stories. There was one painting in particular that has remained vivid in my mind. In the background of the painting is a young girl running to meet her father. There is joy and relief in her face. If that were all there was to the depiction, it would have been a sweet, and poignant painting. And yet, in the foreground is a close up of the father's weathered, pained and tearful face. His name was Yeftah.

In Judges 11:30-31 he makes a vow. "And Yeftah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said: 'If Thou wilt indeed deliver the children of Ammon into my hand, 11:31 then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, it shall be the LORD'S, and I will offer it up for a burnt-offering."
And that is the root of his ruin. As the picture displayed so powerfully, the first thing to come from his doors of his house was his beloved daughter. That painting is the only one from the gallery that I can still see with painful clarity. The horror imbedded in the paint on canvas cries out to the harshness of this very potion. A man may never retract a vow. If our people had not grown, if our faith was not flowing, we would be left with the same harshness as those who preach and teach terror to the world.

But Torah is a flowing work, filled with interpretations that elevate our lives. The Rabbis of Talmud interpret the rules of the Neder and the Shvuah (the two types of vows mentioned in our potion). They simply state that neither Neder nor Shvuah may break with Halacha (the path of the Jew). We may not make a vow that pulls us from the path of holiness and wholeness, the way of our people. We may not vow to slaughter a human being as a sacrifice to G (or for any reason for that matter). Talmud moves to mitigate what could become tragedy.
Talmud softens severity.

But what of the inequality to women? What of a woman's vow? According to our text, a woman is dependent upon the approval of her father or brother or husband. In other words, if a man is in the picture, the vow can be nullified or softened. Yes, this is unfair, unjust, inequitable and iniquitous. A woman's vow should have the same weight as a man's.

And yet, maybe it should have been the other way around. If a man makes a vow, his mother or wife or sister has the right to say: "Are you out of your mind!?!?!!?!?!?"

Maybe instead of pulling the woman to the man's side of the Mehitzah (separation of the sexes), men should be pulled to the woman's side. Maybe there should be some checks and balances between the male and female. When making a vow we should look within. We should explore the "In-Yo," the "Yin and Yang" of the self. When emotions run strong, we should take a moment to sit in council with the feminine and the masculine within our soul.

Torah teaches. Even in what appears on the surface to be a reflection of ancient ignorance, there are lessons to be learned, spirit growth to be gleaned.

The First Century Rabbi Ben Bag Bag taught us, "Turn the Torah, turn it again and again, for everything you want to know is found within it." (Pirkei Avot 2:25)


B'Ohr,
Reb Bahir Rocky Mountain Hai

Soul Progression

This week’s Torah Portion is called Aharei Mot. The words mean “After death!” One does not have to read the portion to be struck by the question. It is a question asked out loud or in the deepest recesses of our hearts. Is there anything after death? What is the trail of the soul when the garment that we call body has been returned to replenish the earth? The Jewish path speaks of 5 levels of soul. Each is a pointer towards a different way of looking at life and our soul connection to G, to each other, to the earth and to ourselves. Together they offer us a way to explore our own feelings regarding the infinite that is hidden just below the surface of our finite lives.

NeFeSh is the physical soul that returns to the earth with the body. It becomes one with the spirit of the earth as our body becomes one with the matter of the earth. Some might refer to this as becoming one with the ‘Gaia spirit’.

The next level is RUaH, the wind spirit aspect of our soul. My father (zt’l) would speak of anonymous immortality. Imagine that you share some important life lesson with a friend. That friend is moved by your teaching. S/he shares it with others in your name. They share it with others and so on. But during the passing of the teaching, your name disappears from the story. The story lives on and in this way you live on in the realm of RUaH but your name does not; anonymous immortality. The stories and lessons that we share regarding our parents, our teachers, our ancestors keep their RUaH, their wind spirit alive in our realm. This is why tribal folk keep an oral history. The tribe lives on in the oral history and in the actions based on that history. When I tell stories of my parents and grandparents, or when we tell the stories of Sarah and Avraham, Moshe and Miriam, Ester and Mordecai, their RUaH feeds us, feeds the tribal RUaH.

The third level is NeShaMaH, which is the breath of our soul. I envision a tiny, invisible silver thread connection to the Wholly One of Being. Since all humans have this connection, the picture is of a spider web of inter-connection between us all and with G. Our joys and sorrows strengthen the web connection of NeShaMaH. Each of us from the greatest Tzadik (righteous one) to the most mean spirited Rasha (evil one) is part of the web. On our computers we see WWW/World Wide Web but that is a pale shadow of the greater WWW that connects us to the Wholly One of Being. Ignore it if we will, it is always there. I remember a story of a Bar/t Mitzvah who said: “I don’t believe in G!” The Rabbi’s response was: “Don’t worry about it. G believes in you!” The World Wide Wholly One of Being Web (WWWOBW) is always connected and no virus can create a disconnect.

The fourth level is HaYah, which can be translated as life and sometimes as a hungry wild beast. But here it refers to longing. We may long for more money, more stature but this is a deeper form of longing. This is a longing to elevate ourselves into a oneness with the Wholly One of Being. “Oh G, how I long to be with you, to feel you in my life!” HaYah is the holy longing. “Oh G, I am hungry for your presence!” In prayer we are in Hayah. We are, as Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Heschel might say, in longing to be part of that which is greater than the self. We are in preparation and in longing for the final level of soul, of soulfulness.

That level is YeHIDaH. YeHIDaH refers to being in total oneness. In Hebrew there are 3 words having to do with ‘One’. There is YaHaD in which I am one with… My belovedest and I are one. We are one made of parts. Indeed everything that is of matter is one, made of parts. All matter can be broken down into smaller parts. The next level is EHaD as we find in the Shema. EHaD is one without parts, impossible to dissect into aspects. Maimonides speaks of G in this way. G has no parts, G cannot be separated, broken down into components. G is the Wholly one; G is the Wholly One of Being. And the third level of ‘one’ is YeHIDaH. Not only is it one without parts, it is one alone. There is nothing else. There is not even a ‘nothing else’. The image is of G before creation. YeHIDaH is the oneness without parts and without ‘the other’. My mind has trouble wrapping itself around the concept. And yet that part of our soul is us yet not us it is a part of the One Who has no parts. On this level of soul, we do not exist as other than G.

So what happens Aharei Mot, after the passing of our physical? According to this paradigm, our NeFeSh returns to Gaia spirit. Our RUaH lives on in the souls touched by us in our journeys in this realm. Our NeShaMaH is wound back to G; our HaYaH disappears completely. For there is no longer longing as we become YeHIDaH, enfolded into the total oneness of the Wholly One of Being.

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I sometimes capitalize the transliteration of the Hebrew letters and keep the vowels (which were added later to the language) in small letters. This accentuates the root of the word.

"Journaling the Journey": The Soul Reason for Keeping Kosher

The Torah portion Shemini spends a great deal of time, an entire chapter, describing the ‘whats’ and the ‘hows’ of Kashrut. Glaringly lacking is the ‘why’. In its silence, the Torah screams for us to insert ourselves into the process of ‘whying’ Kashrut. Why did these rules come into being, for what purpose, to what end. Many have offered up rationales and reasons as sacrifices to modernity. I too shall throw myself on the pyre of reason, but first let us look at some previous offerings.

It has been proposed that the rules were some form of esoteric health code. I think not! The cure for eating road kill is to wash our clothing. Our soul is damaged by eating grubs and frog legs. It does not state that we will become ill from eating such delicacies (though some might argue that it goes without saying).

It could be that these laws reflect our ancient, non-hunting nomadic, cum-agrarian society. We cannot eat carnivores of any kind and the only herbivores that we can eat have to have a cloven hoof and have more than one stomach. Chewing a cud has to do with the cycle of eating regurgitating. Animals that do this have more than one stomach for digestion. It is not, as my mother used to admonish me, the loud chewing and popping of gum or not chewing with ones mouth open. But that reflection does not reflect much light on the subject. We are, after all, not allowed to eat the locusts that are otherwise a blight on the farmer (though there are some we are permitted consume). The pig, a farm animal if ever there was one, is forbidden to us (though it is no more or less forbidden than the rabbit or the camel).

Some will say that the choices have to do with the environment of the people in ancient times. Animals that were designated as not Kosher had other purposes such as the camel and the donkey. This falls short of the mark as well. What purpose, other than food would we propose for rabbit or the lobster. It is true that the Shochet (the ritual slaughterer) uses a method that is more humane than most if not all others, that too is not the reason for Kashrut. After all, if it were a matter only of the Jewish view of kindness to animals, why is there not a humane way of ‘slaughtering’ fish? And one might ask why we are not all vegetarians.

The simple answer to this, and to any other question in Judaism for that matter, is tradition. In this case someone asks: “Why do you keep Kosher?” One might answer: “Because G, in the Torah, commands us to keep Kosher.” That is the Pshat, period, end of discussion (but it never really is). Pshat is the simple contextual answer. Pshat covers the surface meanings. But there can be more than one Pshat meaning to a Pshat question.

By keeping Kosher or more accurately, by keeping to the laws of Kashrut the ancient ancestors were making a separation. Jews were to be different. Our hairstyle was to be different, our clothes were to be different and our eating was to be different and therefore we were to be different. We were distinctive and we were tribal. There was a comfort level within the tribe that was not felt without the tribe. All tribes have certain distinctive sociological features that bring the tribe together. Eating, dressing, hairstyle, similar dwellings, ritual practices, all give members comfort and succor within the tribe. We still have remnants of that tribal feeling today. When a Jew travels and sees a Mezuzah on the door of a house, it elicit in a feeling, an illogical, visceral sense of comfort. There is something reassuring about being in a strange place and finding that little symbol of our people. That a Jew notices, is an expression of tribal togetherness. In that remnant of ancient feelings we might find another part of the origin of Kashrut in our consciousness. Put another way, Kashrut was placed in our Torah to create a level of comfort within our tribal consciousness.

So, we have 2 reasons for Kashrut in Pshat: 1) It originates in the Originator of all. 2) It is a tribal comfort conductor. We have the Pshat both traditional and from the corner called the “Modern Critical Approach” to understanding. But our look at Kashrut can be enlightened by delving deeper into levels of personal understanding. In order to shine some light on those shelves entitled personal meaning or Drash, we need the lamp of Remez, the key/clues.

Our Remez lamp shines on an undisputable fact (is there really such a thing) that keeping the path of Kashrut is a bother. In order to keep Kashrut, what must we do? We own two sets of dishes and have to think about which set we are going to use, the ones for dairy or meat. When we shop, we have to look at ingredients or travel to a store that only sells Kosher food. We examine Hekshers, those funny symbols that inform us that the food is Kasher. We need to sit and decide how Kosher we want to be. Are we going to use separate sides of the dishwasher, refrigerator and different cabinets? Do we keep Kashrut in the home only? Do we decide that our level of Kashrut will be that we eat only intrinsically Kosher animals (but not necessarily slaughtered according to Halacha) avoiding pig and other animals that either don’t have a cloven hoof or don’t chew a cud? Do we forego any fish that doesn’t have fins and scales? Do we make sure that the ingredients in our favorite desserts do no use animal fats (no more hostess cupcakes). Are we careful not to mix meat and milk in our cooking. In each case, no matter what ‘level’ of Kashrut we observe, there is a commitment to observance and choice that requires us to slow down, to observe and to choose. And that is the Remez and the soul reason for modern Kashrut.

When animals feed it is an instinctual process. We have remnants of that instinct. If you secretly watch ‘a guy’ come home and grab a bite to eat, you may understand. I do not speak for all guys but I have been known to grab whatever plastic container is in the refrigerator and gobble down its contents at the kitchen counter. I blame it on the animal instinct and I only do it when I am alone. I am chastened by the horrified looks of the female of the species when I am caught ‘en flagrante delecto (or is that fragrant delicious). But, because I keep to the path of Kashrut, I am required to slow down and become aware. Even if I were a gourmet chef instead of a gourmand, the process of preparing and eating on the ‘Kosher path’ would always be an added step of awareness, a spice added to the meal.

That is my drash (personal understanding and explanation). That is my offering on the altar of understanding Kashrut. That is what is enlightened by the light of my Remez lamp. Kashrut demands that we be aware. The food that we eat has an origin. The grocery store is only one step along the path from earth matter to body energy. By coming into contact with that consideration, I am in contact with the holiness and the wholeness of the process. The progression of earth matter to body energy to earth matter is the cycle. And my awareness of that cycle leads me to a greater awareness, the awareness of the Source of the cycle. Add to this practice the path of blessing (that will be a discussion for another blog) that moves in parallel with all action and we have a potent combination for illuminating our journey in this world.

And so here, my dear friends, is my Drash on Kashrut. It has become for me a Sod, part of the mystery path of who I am. It has become a measure of how I relate to the Source of all mystery.

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Orthodox Jews would say there are no levels. Either it is Kosher or not! And yet, some Orthodox Jews will only eat meat that is certified Glatt Kosher. Some insist on 2 dishwashers. Choice is part of our process. Observance and choice go hand in hand, and there too, we find a Remez for the personal meaning of Kashrut.