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 lift up 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: Reb Zalman begins by noting a similarity between the counting of the census, (cf Rashi on Exodus 30:15), and the counting of worshippers in a minyan.]

Through the minyan of davenners in which they count those of Klal Yisrael who make a minyan / quorum of worshippers, they do it through lifting the heads

[NOTE: Think of “lifting the heads” in this regard as “raising the consciousness” or awareness.]

of all the children of Israel who came. For in a minyan, it is, as the quote says, (Chronicles II 17:6), “And hir 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: This piece is based upon many double entendres, in this case, being lifted up and being counted. Both derive from the root, נשא nun-sin-aleph, with a primary meaning of lifting up, (cf., Genesis 40:13, “Yisa Pharaoh Et Roshecha” / Pharaoh will lift up your head.) In the context of our text, Tisa Et Rosh is understood as “Taking the sum,” or counting.]

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

“And before I had finished lidaber / speaking to my heart, behold, Rebecca came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder.” (Genesis 24:45).

The “speaking to my heart” refers to the previous line, where Eliezer, the servant of Abraham said, (ibid, 42), “And I came this day unto the well and said, ‘havaye God of my lord Abraham, etc.’”  And the prayer there was described here as a dibbur / speaking to the heart, i.e. that havaye dwells within the inside of the heart. 

As explained by the holy Rabbi, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel of Apt, on the section of Leviticus 26:12,”And I will walk among you,” in the holy book, Ohev Yisrael, on section bechukotai, expounding on the text, “v’hit-halachti / and I will walk,” here’s what he says: 

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

“And He appeared unto him” (Genesis 18:1).

(Shabbos 127a) “Hospitality to wayfarers is more important than an encounter with the Shechinah / in-dwelling of God.”  

[NOTE:  Avraham interrupted his union with Hashem, (Genesis, 18:1, “Vayera“ / and God appeared), so that he could take care of the visitors who showed up in the meantime (ibid 18:3, “Adonay… please pass not from thy servant.”)  The Rabbis took the word Adonay in this context as referring to God.  (It is also sometimes translated as referring to the visitors.)  The Talmud makes the above conclusion, that one should give precedence, as Avraham did, to an opportunity to fulfill the mitzvah of hachnassat orchim / hospitality to the wayfarers, over a union with God.]

For Abraham came to be a host to the wayfarers amidst that sense of cleaving during the encounter with the Shechinah, for there was a sense that he would see the holy Shechinah in the wayfarers.

[NOTE:  As Reb Zalman has spoken in lectures, even greater than the heresy of making God too small is the heresy of making ourselves too small vis-a-vis God.  In addition to the good feeling we will have when we perform the mitzvah of hachnassat orchim, we should also remember that the Shechinah is accessible when we do so; in fact she is there in our guests and in all of us.]

Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
from Yishmiru Daat (2009 revision),
“Parashat Vayera Eilav,” pp. 30-31

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

“Go out … to the land I will show you” (Genesis 12:1). 

And, indeed, there is, at times, some influence that will make some faint impression upon us.

[Note:  An impression, or an inspiration.  We are being asked to relate this text to those experiences we have had as interactions with the divine, or God-connections.  Gabbai Seth]

Just as when someone snaps a picture, and until the film is developed, the picture can’t be seen, and not even if the camera is opened to the light at which time the faint impression is destroyed. 

For this reason, Hashem Yisborach said to him:  “Leave your land,” and this is like the developer, “your birthplace” – stop bath, “your father’s house” – fixer, “to the land that I will show you,” and later (ibid 18:1) “and Havaye appeared to him in Elone Mamre,” i.e., Hashem became visible.

[Note:  For photos, the developer converts the latent image to metallic silver, the stop bath is a solution to set the proper contrast and the fixer makes the image permanent. 

In order to take hold of the inspiration, to get it clear, to internalize it, we must sort through our root metaphors so that our connection to the source of all being will become clear and strong.  Like Abraham, the root metaphors which we have when we enter adulthood come from influences of country (artzecha), an indigenous culture (moladiticha) or religion (beis avicha).]

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

“Asher bara elokim laasot / Which God, in creating, had made,” (Genesis 2:3).

Hashem Yisbarach / God, may S/He be blessed, deals with the level of Beriah / creation (creatio ex nihilo / creation out of nothing), and we deal with the level of Assiyah, making something out of what was already created.

And since the world of Assiyah is for our use,

[Assiyah is the name for the world of action.  The others are the worlds of feeling-Yetzirah, mind-Beriyah and spirit-Atzilut.  Gabbai Seth]

and since it was designated as such, God, Yisborach / may S/He be blessed, is both surprised and  delighted from the new things that we bring about.

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