The following text by Reb Zalman is from this week’s Torah portion, Shabbos Vayak’hel. (Click here for Hebrew/English version).

(Exodus 35:30) “See, Hashem has called” (Bezalel). 

In Targum Onkelos, this phrase was translated into Aramaic as chazo d’rabei Hashem / “See, Hashem has raised up” (Bezalel), i.e., the calling of this man by Hashem was on the level of personal growth, similar to the way one helps a child grow, i.e. to learn to develop one’s strengths and feel confident about a particular task.

And whoever has sensed that Hashem yisborach appointed hir to a particular assignment has certainly been given the strength, the ability, the sense and the tools to complete it.  And thus, all hir thoughts are on the level of Machshavah Tovah / a good thought because Hashem yisborach refines it into a good deed, to do all milechet machashevet / intentional work.

Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
from Yishmiru Daat (2009 revision),
“Parashat Vayak’hel,” pp. 33

The following text by Reb Zalman is from this week’s Torah portion, Shabbos Ki Tisa. (Click here for Hebrew/English version). [Notes by Gabbai Seth Fishman, BLOG Editor]:

“When you raise the heads (i.e. take the sum) of the children of Israel according to their count, let each one give to Hashem an atonement for hir soul when they are counted, etc.” (Exodus 30:12)

[NOTE:  Hir = his + her.  S/he = she + he.  This is a convention on this site for gender inclusivity, avoiding the conventions of English, which makes a universal slant feel male-heavy.]

Through the minyan of davenners thus named shemonim / because they count those of children of Israel who join to make a minyan / quorum of worshippers, they do it through raising the heads (i.e. counting) of all the children of Israel who came. For in a minyan, it is, as the quote says, (Chronicles II 17:6), “And his heart was lifted up” through knowing Hir, for in the ways of Havaye, worshippers see themselves together with every Jew and one enters, because of this, into a sense of (Psalms: 47:5) “the pride of Yaakov.”

[NOTE:  Tisa Et Rosh  is translated as “Taking the sum.”  The word Tisa also has a secondary meaning of raising up, (cf., Genesis 40:13, “Yisa Pharaoh Et Roshecha” / Pharaoh will lift up your head.)  This piece is based upon many double entendres.  In a minyan we also count and raise:  Counting to get the quorum, and raising as a side effect of prayer and coming together in community.] 

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The following text by Reb Zalman is from this week’s Torah portion, Shabbos Terumah. (Click here for Hebrew/English version). [Notes by Gabbai Seth Fishman, BLOG Editor]:

“And have them take for me an offering” (Exodus 25:2)

[NOTE:  The word “offering” is a translation of Terumah, the name of this week’s portion.  The word comes from the root רום   (reish-vav-mem) which means height.  In ancient time, the sacrifice was raised by the priest in an up-down direction.  Tenufah, another ritual, had the sacrifice moved side to side.] 

They should take the “Me,”

[NOTE:  The word  לי  can be read as “for me” as in the text, or it can be read as the direct object, as in “Have them take Me.] 

which is continually with them,

[NOTE:   In the innermost I-am-that-I-am-ness, the nominative of the nominative has havaye manifesting in each one of us.]

which will effect a raising to Hashem -

“You shall take Terumati / My heave offering / the raising of Me” (ibid.)

[NOTE:  Being in God’s presence creates a kind of inner-elevator which in turn sends blessings toward heaven which are accepted by God as Terumah / heave offerings.]

Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
from Yishmiru Daat (2009 revision),
“Parashat Terumah,” p. 32

The following text by Reb Zalman is from this week’s Torah portion, Shabbos Mishpatim. (Click here for Hebrew/English version). [Notes by Gabbai Seth Fishman, BLOG Editor]:

Positive commandments are time-bound, for with all positive commandments that are dependent on time, the responsibility isn’t fulfilled unless one does it at the particular time specified.  However, with the negative commandments, the observance has greater frequency for they are fulfilled constantly all 365 days of the year on the level of “return to God” and “Don’t do them.”

[NOTE:  When we  “just say no” to something that is disallowed in our Torah, we show the Creator our willingness to be good Jews, an opportunity for all, regardless of on-going traditional discussion on time-bound Mitzvot which they say are required only of males.]

If his master gives him a wife, etc., (Exodus 21:4)… the woman and her children - and he left alone.

[NOTE: (cf. Rashi).  The text is understood as referring to a Hebrew slave and a non-Hebrew, (i.e., Canaanite), wife also a slave.  When the period of servitude is over, the Hebrew slave goes out by himself, without his wife and children.]

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From Haaretz, here’s a review of A Heart Afire, a wonderful book published last year by Reb Zalman and Netanel M. Miles-Yepez.  Gabbai Seth Fishman, BLOG Editor

(From the February 8th issue of Haaretz.com)

A journey for those who wish to take it

  By Yael Unterman  

A Heart Afire: Stories and Teachings of the Early Hasidic Masters, by Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Netanel Miles-Yepez
Jewish Publication Society of America, 406 pages, $45

A friend interested in Hasidism, who saw me reading “A Heart Afire,” commented lukewarmly: “Do we really need another book about the Hasidic masters?”

It’s a question worth taking seriously. Indeed, a previous collaboration by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, the grand old man of the Jewish Renewal movement, and his student, Netanel Miles-Yepez, a comparative religion scholar and spiritual counselor, already covered the topic, seemingly. In this case the overlap is not major, for the earlier work, “Wrapped in a Holy Flame: Teachings and Tales of the Hasidic Masters” (2003 ), is wide-ranging, whereas this one is limited to examining three specific 18th-century masters and their circles: the Baal Shem Tov (Israel Ben Eliezer, the “Besht,” founder of the Hasidic movement ); Dov Ber (the Maggid ) of Mezritch; and Elimelech of Lizhensk.

There is, however, no lack of illustrious predecessors writing in the same genre as “A Heart Afire,” namely not from an academic-critical perspective but from an insider one. They too charted the tales, and in some cases the teachings, of the major players in the early Hasidic movement. To name just a few: Elie Wiesel (”Souls on Fire” ); Martin Buber (”Tales of the Hasidim” ); and more recently, Abraham J. Twerski, scion of the Hasidic Chernobyl dynasty (”Four Chassidic Masters” ), and Rami Shapiro, whose “Hasidic Tales: Annotated and Explained,” was dedicated to Schachter-Shalomi, his rebbe. So my friend’s question, even if meant rhetorically, appears to be a legitimate one.

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The following text by Reb Zalman is from this week’s Torah portion, Shabbos Beshalach. (Click here for Hebrew/English version). [Notes by Gabbai Seth Fishman, BLOG Editor]:

“And Miriam answered them.” (Exodus 15:21).

[NOTE:  The traditional interpretation of this text is that Miriam and the women respond with another song.  Here, Reb Zalman reads the Hebrew literally as a mamash answer to a question.]

What question did she answer?  It was the question: “How are they reaching for that inspired song and giving of thanks, for thanking Hashem regarding the miracle of the splitting of the waters?”

Ah!  The answer is spoken through the feet, in dance.   (And working it through the dances, they can sort out much (Jeremiah 15:19) to bring forth “worthy, not worthless” words, for regarding the laws of Shabbos, ham’raked / one sifts through them.)

[NOTE:  A secondary meaning of reish-kuf-daled, רקד, to dance, is “to sift”.  So we can sometimes dance out our prayers.  And we can also dance with the laws of Shabbos as we sort things out. 

This emphasizes praying on all the levels, not just the intellectual one.  The prayer will be raised to a higher place if the body is engaged.  (Oy, there was some great praying at the last Aleph Kallah with Rabbis and dancers Diane Elliot, Shefa Gold,  Julie Leavitt and Nadya Gross!)]

Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
from Yishmiru Daat (2009 revision),
“Parashat Beshalach,” p. 32

The following text by Reb Zalman is for this week’s Torah portion, Shabbos Shemot. (Click here for Hebrew/English version). [Notes by Gabbai Seth Fishman, BLOG Editor]:

“And he saw an Egyptian man striking a Hebrew man of his brethren” (Exodus 2:11).

Moses, our teacher, (may he rest in peace), while growing up in Egypt, followed the conventional wisdom put forth by the Egyptians that everyone is rewarded or punished according to hir actions, (and his thought processes were somewhat shaped by having had his education in Pharaoh’s elite schools).  But this day, he saw an Egyptian punish a Jew who had not done anything forbidden to slaves;  rather, it was a case of one Jew doing a thing for which s/he should have been punished and a second - one of hir Jewish brethren - being punished for the former’s guilty action. 

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Hanukkah video talk for Santa Barbara, November 2009
by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

Contents

Sacred Time Consciousness
Hanukkah: Not Just for Kids
Lost Sanctity: A Crisis
Sanctuary: Alive and Conscious
Waning Daylight
Elu V’Elu
Miracles and Habits
One’s Own Perspective
The Aesthetic Dimension
Gaian Awareness
Enlightenment
Dreydl
Latkes

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Reb Zalman talks about his journey of faith and exploration of other religious traditions in this interview with Patheos CEO and Founder, Leo Brunnick.

• http://www.patheos.com/Resources/Additional-Resources/In-Exile-Together-A-Dialogue-of-Faith.html

Don’t miss this sweet and wonderful talk.

Dear Friends:

Reb Zalman and Rebbitzin Eve recently returned from the trip to the UK. 

Before the trip, Reb Zalman wrote in the Rosh Hashanah Yesod Foundation Newsletter: 

“God willing, this November, Eve and I will be participating in a meeting convened by Prince Philip at Windsor Castle in the United Kingdom. It is to be a summit of religious leaders proposing ways in which the power and wisdom of our traditions can blend with the needs of the hour. Please keep this in mind during your High Holy Day prayers this year, and also pray for the grace to be able to shift our shared consciousness in the direction of our most harmonious integration, for the good of the life we share. All this can sweeten the good that is in store for us this coming year.” 

And here’s Eve’s report on the trip:

Report from Windsor
by Eve Ilsen

“For the first three days of November, Reb Zalman and I were privileged to participate in an event in the UK, hosted by ARC, the Alliance of Religions and Conservation, aptly called “Many Heavens, One Earth”.

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