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

In various places, it is written, DaBeR / Speak to the Children of Israel.  This week’s portion, begins,  (Leviticus 21:1), EMoR / Say to the priests.

 [NOTE:  The two verbs being used in these lines have similar meanings, but are different in the ways they were interpreted by the Rabbis:  DaBer / speak and Emor / say.  God tells Moses to speak to the people and this is traditionally interpreted as rough and censorious.  God tells Moses to say to the priests and this is interpreted as gentle communication.]

(AMiRah / A pledge to God is the equivalent of paying - - cf Nedarim 29)

[NOTE:  If the substance of a declaration is internalized and acted upon, the declaration’s tone is effectively superfluous.  Conversely, one can declare something with great emphasis and then act in a manner inconsistent with what one declared.]

To a priest who is a person of grace, it suffices b’AMiRah / to say it in gentle terms. (cf Rashi, Exodus 19:3).

And the important thing of ha-AMiRah / the saying is the content. On the other hand, with DiBuR / speech, it is like (Psalms 47:4) “yaDBeR Ammim / He directs the nations to be compliant,” more akin to a command and direction for someone with a “stiff neck,” (i.e. giving resistance.)

[NOTE:  Each person works on becoming more capable to receive, i.e. choosing to be hir best and spending time cultivating gifts that are hir particular inheritance.] 

(more…)

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

“You shall surely rebuke your fellow, but you shall not bear a sin on his account.” (Leviticus 19:17).

Show hir how they showed you too of your wrong and they rebuked you when you sinned, for you and s/he are together in this regard.

[NOTE:  The starting point for rebuke is compassion and empathy.  My friend’s transgression is, perhaps, something I have done, or like something I have done.]

“… et amitecha,” i.e., im amitecha / together with  your folk.

[NOTE:  Seeing yourself as not greater than is the ground in which the learning may be planted.] 

(more…)

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

In the case of one afflicted with tzara’ath / leprosy or with the affliction of the houses, there is a sending away of a living creature, (cf, Leviticus: 14:7). 

And so it is also with the goat sent to Azazel, (ibid 16:8). 

[NOTE:  They are both purification rituals, the one for the leper, the other for the holy temple on Yom Kippur, and with each, there are two animals, one sent away alive, the other a sin offering for atonement.]

And in this case, it seems that the point of it is a Shamanic device, i.e. that it functions like the chukim

[NOTE:  Chukim are those mitzvot / commandments beyond understanding.  Shamanic devices reach into spiritual worlds.]

which, in general, seem to have no rational reason according to conventional wisdom or as seen through the eyes of multitudes.

(more…)