Parashat Korah

Once again Torah confront us with troubling narrative. Much earlier, in Exodus (19:6), The Holy One tells the people through Moses “You will be for me a nation of priests and a holy people”. Now, Korah, with 3 other leaders and another 250 people of good reputation, complain that Moses and Aaron have taken too much for themselves. “You have too much! For the entire community, they are all holy and YHVH is in their midst. Why do you raise yourselves above Hashem’s congregation?" (Numbers 16: 3).

The punishment for the participants in this “rebellion” was severe – being swallowed by earth or consumed by fire, and those who then complained about the severity of the penalty were afflicted by a plague. Centuries of commentary have sought to find answers and justifications to the deep questions raised, but I continue to be haunted by the simplicity of the question: are we not all equally holy? Certainly Korah’s band may have been resentful of Moses’ power and Aaron’s priestly rights, but does not their question have merit?

Perhaps, the imagery of Aaron’s flowering staff (17:23) contains an answer. Aaron’s produces almond flowers because his path is that of the priesthood and that is the path discussed in this Torah story. We each have a metaphoric staff to use for support as we walk our path, a staff that will flower when we are on our unique life-mission. We each are equally holy. We each have a perfect and divine soul. We each have an essential role to play in the evolution of humanity. But, too, we each are different. Korah could no more be Aaron than Aaron could be Moses. I pray that we each embrace our personal blessings and challenges as our unique path to holiness. In community, may we sustain and complete each other.

With blessing for wisdom of heart,

Rabbi SaraLeya Read the rest

Sh'lakh L'kha

Parashat Sh'lakh L'kha begins with the story of the 12 tribal leaders who were sent by Moses to scout out the land across the Jordan in preparation for the Israelites to enter this place that had been promised to their forefathers. The land was indeed flowing with milk and honey, but 10 of the 12 scouts were terrified by the daunting task of conquering the peoples who lived there. "All the people we saw in it are men of great size….we looked like grasshoppers to ourselves and so we must have looked to them" (Numbers 13:32-33). Despite the arguments of Joshua and Caleb, the 10 convinced the rest of the Israelites of the impossibility of the task and the people were condemned to wondering in the desert for 40 years until the generation who left Egypt – and had known slavery - died off.

This is my birth parasha, the portion that was being read during the week of my birth. As such, each year I look for a special meaning in my life. The practice of looking into one’s birth parasha can be an annual source of deep spiritual discovery.

This year, I wondered about the response quoted above – first the scouts felt like grasshoppers and then attributed this judgment to the Canaanites. How often we project our own insecurities and assume that others' opinion of us mirrors our own poor self-esteem! How do we find the perfect balance between undeserved self-aggrandizement and self-effacement that does not serve our higher purpose? Marching off on a mission of which I am not capable is as foolish as failing to step up to something that I must do, and that I can do. True humility acknowledges our gifts and missions while accepting the truth of our strengths and weaknesses. Just as blind egoism does not serve the soul, neither does false humility.

What lessons are in this parasha for this special GeLieBTe Shabbat? Three small gems present themselves. This is the week we have been celebrating the extension of the right of civil marriage to the GLBT community and we read in verse 15:15 that when offering up sacrifice, there shall be a single rule for the kahal as a whole, including both the congregation and for the resident stranger. Too long the GLBT community has been treated as resident outsider. This Shabbat we celebrate the biblical injunction that there be one law for all of us– hakahal hukat ahat. The text is even more inclusive when it acknowledges that an entire community can make a collective mistake and be then forgiven (15:24-26): we bear shared responsibility for all the times we have allowed someone else to be treated as “other”, and as a community we ask for pardon. Finally, our parasha ends with the commandment of wearing tzitzit, fringes, on our garments – a visible reminder to awaken to holiness (15:37-41) and the last paragraph of the Sh’ma. When we say the Sh’ma and affirm the Oneness of all, we gather in the fringes of our selves to our heart. And, so, may all the disparate elements of our community be gathered together into our one unified heart.

Together, let’s begin the deep inner work of seeing ourselves in the light of truth and meditating deeply on our lives’ soul tasks. May we acknowledge that we can only be a community when it becomes a home for every individual.

With blessing for wisdom of heart,
Rabbi SaraLeya Read the rest

Rosh Chodesh Sivan and Tikkun Leyl Shavuot

By Rabbi SaraLeya Schley

Dear Chochmat HaLev Community,

Hodesh Tov! This week we celebrate the new moon of Sivan – the month of transition between spring and summer. New moons are always a time of potential for transformation. We are also in the final week of counting-down to the Shavuot festival when we stand together again at Sinai. This is the week of Malkhut, the week of the week of Shekhina, the week of receptivity and becoming the vessel that will allow us to experience Revelation anew.

And, the parasha for this week, Naso, is the longest weekly portion of the entire year – a complex tapestry describing portage duties of the Levites, a ritual for suspected adultery, a way for dedication of the self to a path of rigor, and a very repetitive list of gifts by each of the tribes at the dedication of the Tabernacle. The gem at the center of this parasha is the text of the Priestly Blessings – a topic we will be studying together at the community-wide Shavuot learning fest Tikkun next Sunday evening at the East Bay JCC.

Tucked away into these accounts is a pearl of spiritual advice (Numbers 5: 5-7). Here we learn that whenever we commit any of the misdeeds possible for us to do as humans, we are breaking faith with the Holy One, too. Whenever we deceive or harm each other, there are cosmic repercussions – our actions actually affect the very fabric of existence, the Mystery itself. Once again, we are held to the highest ethical standards as we realize our interconnectedness and honor the Unity. Each of us, as an incarnate Divine spark, is integral to Divinity, and, as such our responsibility to the All is serious.

I bless us to be worthy of each other and of our holy community. Let us open ourselves to receiving the renewed Torah that is waiting to come through each of us.

With blessing,

Rabbi SaraLeya

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