Due to popular request the weekly portion now is bilingual. The Spanish version is found directly below the English version
Por solicitud popular, la sección semanal ahora se publica en forma bilingüe. La versión en castellano se encuentra inmediatamente abajo de la inglesa.
Shabbat Shalom v'Chag Sameach MeHa'Hillel sheKayam lifne sheHayu Batei Hillel.
Happy Shavuot and Shabbat Shalom from the Hillel that was before there was a Hillel Organization.
During the Summer Months Parashah la'Shavuah is published at irregular times.
During the summer you can find regular updates at our website <>
The next edition of parashah will be on June 18
This week's section is one of the Hebrew Bible's most unusual sections. The section, called Parasht Naso, is found in the Book of Numbers 4:21 - 7:89.
This week's parashah revolves around two distinct themes. Its first part deals with the issue of the national census. Upon reading this week's section, the reader may wonder why G'd needed a census. Certainly G'd knew the population statistics without taking a national count. Perhaps the answer to this question is the question itself. One possibility is that G'd did not need the census, but rather G'd ordered us to conducted it so as to teach Israel the importance of being counted, of being part of a whole. The census counted and recorded by name each man in Israel. By being counted, by being included, this national census became a symbol of freedom for a people who all too well knew the pain of slavery. If we view the census from this perspective, then the census was not a mere statistical exercise, but rather a symbol of Israel's national freedom.
The second part of this week's parashah deals with the only place in Jewish law where there is a "trial by ordeal." Centered around the theme of the woman who is suspected of being unfaithful to her husband, the text develops an elaborate method by which her husband can test her honesty. Interestingly enough, the rabbis changed the text's emphasis from that of the unfaithful wife to that of the husband who has lost faith in his wife due to his jealousy. Classical Judaism feared the "power of jealousy" seeing it as an "emotional tornado." The rabbis understood that to be jealous is to claim ownership of another human being. In that sense this "rebellion in the desert" is another symbol of the "wilderness of selfishness," of a desire to control another.
Perhaps the lesson here is that Israel had to get beyond jealousy if it was ever to reach the promised land of human dignity. perhaps that is the reason that the classical rabbis argued that only G'd has the right to be jealous; for none of us owns another human being.
Starting this evening, May 28, we begin to celebrate the festival of Shavuoth. Shavuoth marks the time that the we emerged from being mere "group" and became a nation. To be a
nation, means to live by a set of rules, to cease to live only in the present but to have hopes and aspirations for the future. It is also the day that we read from the Megillat Ruth, The Book of Ruth. Ruth was the first convert to Judaism. The book written with a myriad of plays-on-words teaches us that Judaism is not based on blood but on committment and faith. To stress this principle, one of Ruth's descendents would be King David.
nation, means to live by a set of rules, to cease to live only in the present but to have hopes and aspirations for the future. It is also the day that we read from the Megillat Ruth, The Book of Ruth. Ruth was the first convert to Judaism. The book written with a myriad of plays-on-words teaches us that Judaism is not based on blood but on committment and faith. To stress this principle, one of Ruth's descendents would be King David.
It is the leitmotif of being included that unites these various literary threads. The census failed to count women whom for too long would feel excluded, and the jealous husband symbolizes the person who never feels a part of the group. Shavuot and the Book of Ruth teaches us that we are all a part of humanity and that our task is to seek inclusiveness rather than exclusion. The Biblical text teaches us that that was not easy then and it is still not easy task now.
Wishing everyone a happy and healthy Shavuot!
Wishing everyone a happy and healthy Shavuot!
L'Biddurchem/The Humor Section
Two rabbinical students were caught by the Rabbi gambling in the company of undesirable characters.The Rabbi called them into his study the next day. Both confessed to having given in to weakness, and admitted that they deserved punishment.The Rabbi thought and then went into his kitchen and brought back two bags of dried peas. "Put these in your shoes," he told them, "and walk on them for a week to remind yourself how hard life can be when you turn away from the Law."A few days later the two students met. One was limping terribly, had dark circles under his eyes, and looked very tired. The other seemed much as he had been the week before."Hey," said the first. "How is it that you are walking so freely? Didn't you do as the Rabbi told us and put the peas in your shoes?"
"Of course I did," said the other. "How could I disobey the Rabbi?" He started to walk away, paused and then said, "But I boiled them first."
Shabbat Shalom v'Chag Sameach MeHa'Hillel sheKayam lifne sheHayu Batei Hillel.
Feliz Shavuot y Shabbat Shalom desde la Primera Casa de Hillel de los EE.UU
Durante los meses del verano se publicará Parashat Ha'Shavúa irregularmente.
El próximo ejemplar se publicará el 18 de junio
El próximo ejemplar se publicará el 18 de junio
La sección semanal para esta semana es una de las más raras. Llamada <
Quizás la respuesta de esta pregunta se encuentre en la pregunta. Podría ser que D'os nos pidió que hiciéramos el censo por nosotros mismos? Por medio del censo D'os nos enseñó la importancia de estar contado, de participar en la vida del grupo. Durante este primer censo las autoridades contaron a todos los hombres y registraron su nombre. Por estar contado, por estar incluido el censo nacional se hizo en un símbolo de la libertad por un pueblo tramautizado por la esclavitud. Visto así, el censo no fue un mero ejercicio estadístico sino un símbolo de la libertad nacional de Israel.
La segunda parte de la sección semanal para esta semana trata del único lugar en las leyes judías donde hay "la justicia llevada a cabo por la prueba penosoa." Esta "justicia" tiene que ver con una mujer sospecha de ser desleal a su marido y el texto desarrolla un método elaborado por el cual su marido puede determinar su inocencia (de ella).
Es notable que los comentarios rábinicos cambiaron la énfasis del texto de la de una mujer desleal a la de un marido que ha dejado de confiar en su esposa por causa de celos. El judaísmo ve "el poder de los celos" como un tornado emocional . Los rabinos comprendieron que tener celos del otro es transformar el ser humano en nada más que una cosa. En este sentido esta "rebelión en el desierto" es otro símbolo del yermo de egotismo. de el deseo de controlar que el pueblo debe dejar atrás si iba a llegar a su destino de la dignidad humana. Es por eso que los rabinos plantearon el concepto que solamente D'os tiene el derecho de tener celos, porque ningún ser humano es la propiedad del otro.
A partir de 28 de este mes celebramos la fiesta de Shavuot. Es la fiesta que representa el tiempo cuando emergimos de ser simplemente un "grupo" y nos transformamos en una nación. Ser una nación significa vivir con leyes, y dejar de vivir solamente el la actualidad sino recordar su pasado y tener esperanzas para su futuro. También leemos Megulat Rut/El Libro de Ruth. El libro lleva el nombre de la primera convertida a Judaísmo. Escrito con muchos juegos de palabras, nos enseña que el pueblo judío es más que un pueblo relacionado solamente por sangre sino por ideas y principios. Un descendiente de Ruth sería el Rey David
Lo que relaciona estos tres temas es la faja de estar incluido dentro del grupo. El censo incluyó a todos los hombres de Israel pero omitió a las mujeres, el marido celosos es el marido que nunca se siente unido con su pareja y la fiesta de Shavuot nos enseña que cada ser humano es una parte de la humanidad y que nuestra tarea es establecer una sociedad inclusiva en vez de exclusiva.
Esta tarea no era fácil en la época bíblica y tampoco en la actualidad.
¡Nuestros Mejores Votos para una Feliz Fiesta de Shavuot!
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B'shalom u-vrachah,
¡Nuestros Mejores Votos para una Feliz Fiesta de Shavuot!
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B'shalom u-vrachah,
In peace and blessings,
Rabbi Peter Tarlow
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