Monday, January 14, 2013
Parashat Bo
Exodus 10:1 - 13:16
8 Shevat 5773 / Jan. 18 - 19, 2013
Exodus 10:1 - 13:16
8 Shevat 5773 / Jan. 18 - 19, 2013
TOTAFOT Explained!
by Zvi Bellin, MHHQ
You might be familiar with the word TEFILIN – the black
boxes attached to leather straps that are traditionally bound to one’s arm and
forehead during morning prayer, Sunday through Friday. (Here is a photo of
Barbie rocking her tefilin: http://jwa.org/teach/golearn/jan08/)
In the past though, men wore tefilin throughout the day,
taking them off only in the evening. There are still some people that maintain
this practice as a way to keep a constant reminder that God is present.
You will not find the word tefilin in the Torah, rather
we have two words that are used. The first is the word OT (אות), this translates
to sign or symbol. As in, “a sign upon your hand.” The second word, which is
more baffling, is the word TOTAFOT (טוטפות). It has no direct or easy translation
into modern Hebrew. Yet it appears at the very end of this week’s Torah portion
(13:16):
“These words shall be a sign on your hand
and for TOTAFOT between your eyes, for with a strong hand YHVH brought us out
of Egypt.”
We see from this verse that the TOTAFOT refers
specifically to the part of the tefilin that goes on one’s forehead. Rashi, the
most well-known Torah commentator, teaches that the word TOTAFOT is actually a
contraction of two words that come from two different ancient languages.
“Since they consist of four compartments
they are called TOTAFOT. TAT in the Kathphi language is two, PAT in the Afriki
language is two.”
Now indeed, the head tefilin we have today are comprised
of four separate compartments, each containing a single scroll with the words
of one short section of Torah that talks about tefilin and the exodus from
Egypt. (Learn more at: http://www.myjewishlearning.com/practices/Ritual/Prayer/Ritual_Garb/Tefillin_Phylacteries_.shtml)
It is amazing to me and also a good reminder that sometimes we have
to look outside of our own culture in order to understand ourselves.
Languages generally develop in a chain and biblical Hebrew has its roots in
other languages that we often do not think about.
In this week’s portion Moshe refuses to leave Egypt without every
man, woman, child, goat, and sheep that was part of the Israelite family. The
reason being is that every single being has a role to play in the great festival
that the Israelites want to celebrate in the desert. When I read about the
meaning of the word TOTAFOT, I get a sense that our religion should not be seen
as existing in a vacuum either. Every culture has a purpose and is part of LIFE
which is the ultimate Divine celebration.
Rashi goes on to record that the
word TOTAFOT also has Hebrew roots related to an obscure word that is translated
as speaking. He concludes his interpretation by stating that whoever
sees the TOTAFOT on someone else’s forehead will remember the great miracles of
the Exodus and will speak about it.
How often do we notice something
miraculous occur and then overlook it or write it off as nothing special at
all! An airplane flies overhead. A colony of ants invades our cupboard. A baby
laughs. Just because something can be scientifically explained does not make it
less awesome and wonderful! In our world today, where many of us do not see
TOTAFOT, and if we do, we do not generally associate it with anything miraculous,
let’s tune in to the many signs and wonders all around us within our own
culture and in the other cultures that
we encounter daily. There are moment to moment miracles that occur in the four
compartments of human experience – body, mind, heart, soul. Let us learn that
when we come across something that reminds us of the amazement of life that we
should share it with others in order to spread the wonder of being alive.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Parshat Va’Era
Sh’mot 6:2 – 9:35
Sh’mot 6:2 – 9:35
1 Shevat 5773 / Jan 11 - 12,
2013
Living
Liberation from the Inside Out
by Zvi Bellin, MHHQ
by Zvi Bellin, MHHQ
As I read through this week’s Torah
portion, I was reminded of a Harry Potter style wizards’ dual. Moshe and Aaron
show up at Pharoah’s palace and throw down one magic trick after another –
sticks to snakes, water to blood, and frogs from everywhere! After each of
these signs Pharoah’s magicians counter by performing the same trick. Until the lice and so on through the rest of
the 10 plagues, where they see that this magic is beyond human ability.
Amazingly, this epic sorcerers’
battle was sparked by a power that not even God could overturn:
|
ט וַיְדַבֵּר
מֹשֶׁה כֵּן, אֶל-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל; וְלֹא שָׁמְעוּ, אֶל-מֹשֶׁה, מִקֹּצֶר
רוּחַ, וּמֵעֲבֹדָה קָשָׁה.
|
9 And Moshe spoke so to the
children of Israel; but they could not hear Moshe for impatience of
spirit, and for cruel bondage.
|
This verse directly precedes Moshe
and Aaron coming to Pharoah’s house. Moshe
is first told by God to go to the children of Israel and let them know that God
is with them and will deliver them from slavery. As we see in the verse above, they
are unable to take in this message. The children of Israel have been beat down
so much by years of oppression that the seeds of liberation cannot be planted
within them. They are like soil that is too tightly packed in, nothing can
penetrate it! It seems that because of this God directs Moshe and Aaron to
Pharoah’s palace to destroy the externally imposed bonds of slavery instead. If
liberation cannot be actualized from within the people, it must be forced from
the outside.
A few things stand out for me as
potential learning points. True freedom cannot be imposed on someone else. Even
though the Israelites were taken out of Egypt, it took them generations to
embrace freedom on the inside. I think Jews are still in this process today
(even without our collective Holocaust trauma), so many of Jewish rituals
remind us of being taken out of Egypt – begging us to contemplate our status as
a free people.
Taking this message more internally,
the Israelites could not hear Moshe because of impatience of spirit, or
literally, shortness of breath. How often do we refuse to fully accept reality
because our anger or fear gets in our way? We can see this physically in our
breath which is shortened when we are upset or afraid. Even when good news
comes along, we can be so wrapped up in a past story of hurt that we fail to
acknowledge the blessing that is coming our way. We cannot breathe in the
change!
When Moshe approached the children
of Israel, they were unable to breathe in their freedom. Their identity of oppression
was too strong to allow any other possibility to seem viable. I want to believe
that in some way the plagues on the Egyptians, and the plagues of our own lives,
do not have to always happen if we can only see through the cruel bondage with
a patient spirit to the tides of change in our lives. Sometimes,
reality is just too harsh and time is needed for our insides to catch up to an
outside situation. But other times, and perhaps more often than we think, we
can use the wisdom of the breath to teach us that we might be holding ourselves
back from moving forward.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Parshat
Sh’mot
23
Tevet 5773 / Jan. 5 – 6, 2013Sh’mot 1:1-6:1
Who
are Shifra and Puah?
By
Emly Oren, MH Portland Alumni
In
Parshat Shemot, the first book in the beginning of Exodus, Moses’ life is
introduced. The parsha discusses Pharaoh's orders of all male first-born
Israelites to be cast off and killed in the Nile River. Batya, Pharaoh’s
daughter, finds Moses in the river and raises him as her own, having him become
the Prince of Egypt. Later in life, when Moses sees injustice in his own
society, he kills an Egyptian, thus forcing him to flee from his home and
become a shepard. It is here that God begins to challenge Moses’ leadership to
free the Israelites from slavery.
The
story of Moses is one of the more well know Parshiot. However, this week I
wanted to focus on the two heroines that have not always been recognized. When
Pharaoh decides to eliminate the Israelites, he orders the Hebrew midwives,
Shifra and Puah, to kill all first-born males in the Nile River. Shifra
and Puah committed an act of true civil disobedience by protesting against
Pharaoh’s veil decision. Knowing the consequences of their actions, they followed
their moral compass and saved Moses’ life when they decided not to kill him. It
may have been Batya, Pharaoh’s daughter, who took Moses out of the river, but
it was ultimately Shifra and Puah who saved Moses, thus saving the Israelites
from ultimate extinction.
As
we begin the journey of Exodus, I think it is important to ask ourselves: In
what ways can civil disobedience play an active role in our life? How can our
daily actions align more with our moral compass? How can we learn from Shifra
and Puah about risking our lives to do the right thing? This week’s portion is
teaching us about the challenges we may face when making the right choices. May
we live this week and this New Year with the intention of listening to our
hearts and following the path of walking in our strong intuition.
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