Recent Weekly Torah
We Need To Talk
"We need to talk." I apologize if these words create residual trauma and I've probably already scared you off. But at least we're in this together. Each of us has likely been on the other side of this ominous phrase at one point or another, and probably guilty of saying it, too. It just stings.
Let's harness the pain, briefly, and take a moment to reflect on the elusive art form of difficult-conversation starters. The book of Leviticus, Va-Yikr'a, begins:
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What's in a Name?
"On the fourteenth day of the first month you shall have the Passover sacrifice; and during a festival of seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten. On that day, the prince shall provide a bull of purification offering on behalf of himself and of the entire population..." (Ezekiel 45:21-2)
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Will you write me a letter of recommendation?
From time to time I am asked to write letters of recommendation for a former employee or student. It's an honor because it means a person thinks I know them well enough to trust me to help them with the next step in their life. It's also a heavy responsibility because I'm signing my name as a kind of guarantor for their abilities and character. I also have the opportunity to read these same recommendations to determine whether a person is appropriate for a job or a school. Frequently, I have to decode the letter to figure out what the writer is trying to communicate.
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We are Witnesses
The Nazis took my uncle Henry at the very beginning of the war. He survived more than five years as a slave. Young and strong, he was a carpenter, and they needed carpenters. At first, they moved him from camp to camp, including a stay at Pleshow, where Schindler's list was born, and finally, Auschwitz. A slave laborer, he helped build the camp. When the Allies advanced, he was taken on the infamous Death March from Poland into Germany. He was liberated by the American army in 1945.
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Who Defines Who You Are?
The plague of the firstborn disappeared while reading through the Torah portion earlier today. It was a weird thing - I know it's there; it has to be... it was in the Torah last year... You can't have 'The Ten Plagues' if there are only nine, can you? But why did my eyes keep glossing over it while running my fingers through the verses, failing to see what I was reading. What was I being asked to look at in the midst of my temporary blindness?
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