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This Week’s Torah Reading

Tetzaveh

Tetzaveh means "you shall instruct," and is primarily focused on priests. What does the well-dressed High Priest (i.e., Aaron) wear? He wears a tunic, a sort of undergarment of fine linen. Over his head is a sleeveless, ankle-length blue robe, hemmed with a pomegranate design alternating with real bells—you’ll hear this High Priest walking your way. His ephod is indescribable (no one knows what it really looked like) though its prominent shoulder straps and multicolored design of gold, blue, purple, crimson yarns, and fine linen are very distinctive! Two stones rest on his shoulders, bearing the names of Israel’s twelve sons, equally divided. Aaron wears a square multicolored fabric with four rows of three gemstones, each with one name of the twelve tribes, over his heart. We call this the Breast piece of Decision and it holds the uRIM and TuMIM, the device used for determining the will of God. Finally, his headdress bears an inscription KOdesh LadoNAI or "Holy to the Lord," an embroidered sash wraps around his waist, and what—no shoes? Yes—the priests officiated barefoot. Ordinary priests wear a simpler version of the High Priest’s attire, consisting only of the tunic, sash, linen breeches covering the thighs, and a turban.

Does dress make the priest? Not without a week-long installation ceremony. Aaron and his sons are washed, dressed, and fragrant oil is poured on Aaron’s head. They lay their hands on the head of a bull (a sin offering), and the head of a ram (a burnt offering), and both are completely burnt upon the altar. Aaron and his sons lay their hands on a second ram (the ram of ordination), which is also sacrificed, though this time, they will eat of its roasted flesh. Its blood is placed on the ridges of the priests’ right ears, right thumbs, and right big toes. Some blood mixed with the anointing oil is sprinkled upon the priests and their vestments, rendering both holy. Breads are burnt upon the altar.

The parashah ends with a description of the altar’s daily use. A year old lamb is offered upon it twice a day, at morning and at dusk. This is known as the oLAT hataMID or regular burnt offering. It is offered with specific measures of flour, oil and wine. An altar of acacia wood, overlaid with gold, is used for the burning of aromatic incense. It is also used twice a day, at morning and at dusk.

A SHABBAT THOUGHT

Champions…have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.

~~ Muhammad Ali ~~

WEB OF THE WEEK

About_Jewish_Holidays

A bit on Valentine’s Day—Do Jews or Don’t Jews When It Comes to Valentines?

http://www.terrorismawareness.org/what-really-happened/

An explanation of the war against Israel—proceed with caution since this video is VERY GRAPHIC, and it is lengthy as well.

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MATHEMATICS AND ADDING UP THE GOOD

Dear CyberRav,

I just finished reading the letter to the Cyber Rav. I found it especially touching having just received the Yahrzeit reminder for my older son who was killed in a mugging some 20 years ago. My younger son had a lot of problems understanding how God could allow something like that to happen. A long walk around the block with our rabbi helped but never really fully answered his questions. Although I think I understand it a lot better, I still am not sure it really makes all that much sense to me either. Being a mathematician by nature, doesn't help when you try to make things add up and having been around a lot longer than my younger son, I have a lot more "realistic" outlook on things. He too is mathematical by nature.

As I look around the world in general, there are an infinite number of things that really don't make sense if you really want to ask "Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?" (I don't remember who the rabbi was that wrote the book, but I did read it some 20 years ago.) But unfortunately, these things happen and I don't know how to straighten out the world so I just try and roll with the punches.

It helps to get things off your chest, even if it is in small bits and pieces. And also to realize that the world goes on and you can't straighten everything out yourself so just do the best you can.

Straightening Out the World No More

THE ANSWER

Dear Straightening Out the World No More,

A few of thoughts--

First, it would be silly for any of us to think that we can fully answer any of these questions. Unlike so much of math which has definitive answers (but not all math problems have definitive answers--yes?), theological questions are meant to be pondered, with the answers we arrive at forever evolving and changing as we ourselves grow and evolve.

Secondly, it was Rabbi Harold Kushner who wrote the book you refer to with one critical correction in the title. He did not write "Why Bad things Happen..." but rather "When Bad Things Happen..." Rabbi Kushner knew that he could not answer the question of "why?" but only discuss the possibilities of how to respond to the tragedy "when" it happens.

Finally, a word about good, evil and adding it all up. Whenever someone says to me, only the good die young, I always remind them that cancer, car accidents, and hurricanes are equal opportunity employers, and that in fact, the bad, as the good, sometimes die young as well. However, we focus on the good who die young because frankly, harsh though this may sound, we don't care when tragedy befalls evil people. We don't include those incidents in our calculus of what is unfair, probably because we think the evil dying young is in someway just or fair. My favorite example of this is Jeffrey Dahmer, the murderer/cannibal of Milwaukee, who was murdered in prison. I think the nation responded with 15 minutes of curiosity and then it was all over. No one cared, for the feeling was, he deserved death.

The countless good that we enjoy minute by minute is never thrown into the calculus of what is either fair or unfair about the world. This is because the good that we enjoy is a dog bites man story--in other words, of zero news value. But when evil befalls the good, that is more of a man bites dog story and that makes news, looms larger in our consciousness, and distorts our perception of how the good balances if not outweighs the evil we all must endure.

I offer all this to you knowing how scientific and mathematical you are inclined to be. The ultimate question here is what do we resolve to include in the calculus of life's goodness. Have we created a fair equation or have we excluded all sorts of pertinent factors in order to justify our continuing sorrow and sense of loss. Something to think about...

Shabbat Shalom Everyone!!

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