TEMPLE TORAT YISRAEL
  • Home
    • Become A Member
    • Members' Pages >
      • Gabbai Group
      • Yahrzeit Form
      • How to be part of shivah...
      • High Holiday Participation
    • Support Us!
  • About Us
    • Heroes in our Midst Blog
    • President's Page
    • Rabbi Aaron's Blog
    • Professional Staff
    • Lay Leadership
    • Social Action
    • Newsletter/Hadashot
    • Links
    • Hours & Directions
  • Events
    • Community Events
    • Shabbat and Holiday Services
    • RSVP Forms
    • Calendar
    • Flyers
  • Education
    • Cohen School >
      • School Registration Form
    • Torah Sprouts
    • Adult Learning
    • Audio Tutorials
    • Bar and Bat Mitzvah preparation

Shemini: Striving for Holiness

4/20/2012

1 Comment

 
This week's parashah/Torah portion establishes one of the cornerstones of Jewish tradition:  there are two categories of animals, those that may be consumed and those that shall not be consumed by those who consider themselves to be part of the brit/covenant between God and Israel.
     Not that long ago, "keeping kosher" was normative practice among Jews in the United States.  Jews who today do not maintain kosher kitchens in their homes most probably recall the kosher homes of their parents or grandparents.  Living in a state in which there are no kosher butchers (although Trader Joe's always carries fresh kosher meat and poultry!) and one kosher coffeeshop/bakery (Wildflour Bakery in Pawtucket, yum!), it is clear that a minority of Rhode Island Jews follow kosher guidelines when making decisions about food.
     Last night I had occasion to write in an e-mail to a Torat Yisrael member that it is often the case in the Torah that a mitzvah / commandment is given and no reason is provided.  Thus, Passover, according to the Torah, lasts seven days.  and although we might come up with engaging and inspirational reasons for this number, the bottom line remains that Pesah lasts seven days for the simple reason that God said so.
     Keeping kosher is largely about religious discipline.  It is a statement: all the food God created is healthy, delicious, nourishing . . . but as an expression of the centrality of my Jewishness in my life, I am going to avoid eating pigs and lobsters and veal parmesan.  Here is a place where we might very well expect "God said so" to be the only available reason in the Torah. 
     But Parashat Shemini not only provides criteria for kosher creatures (mammals with cloven hooves that chew their cuds, water creatures with both fins and scales) but we get a reason, too.  Toward the end of the parasha we read:
(vayikra/leviticus 11:44-45) For I am the Lord your God, and you shall sanctify yourselves and be holy, because I am holy, and you shall not defile yourselves through any creeping creature that crawls on the ground.  For i am the Lord Who brought you up from the Land of Egypt to be your God.  Thus you shall be holy because I am holy.
     Here we are given to understand that accepting the discipline of kashrut endows us with holiness.  i find this to be an astounding and energizing concept:  holiness is not exclusively a divine state, it is an attainable goal for human beings as well.
     In traditional parlance, a Jewish congregation is referred to as a kehillah k'doshah, as a holy congregation.  I believe that our Torat Yisrael community, on the verge of leaving our 60 year old building in Cranston and preparing to settle in East Greenwich is very much a kehillah k'doshah, a holy community.  We express this in innumerable ways: we support the hungry in our state through our partnership with the Edgewood Food Pantry in the Church of the Transfiguration on Broad Street and our support of the Chester Kosher Food Closet; we support the homeless in our state through our annual Kosher Christmas Dinner for the Rhode Island Family Shelter; we are committed to the perpetuation of the covenant between God and Israel through our outstanding Torat Tots, Yeladon and Cohen Religious School; we deepen the Jewish spiritual and intellectual journeys of our members through our services and Torah study.  We declare our commitment to striving for that exalted k'dushah / holiness that God offers us through our adherence to the system of Kashrut.
     The insights of this week's parashah are a gift: by the simple, accessible means of choosing eggplant parmesan over veal parmesan we can take a step towards human holiness: a gift of an eternally accessible opportunity to us as individuals and to us as a kehillah k'doshah, a holy congregation.
1 Comment
derby singles link
8/28/2012 06:37:52 am

Great blog post.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Rabbi Amy Levin

    Rabbi Amy Levin

    has been Torat Yisrael's rabbi since the summer of 2004 and serves as President of the Board of Rabbis of Greater Rhode Island.  
    Rabbi Levin lived in Israel for 20 years and was the second woman to be ordained by the Masorti/Conservative Movement in Israel.

    Categories

    All
    Aaron / Kohanim
    Abraham
    Adin Steinsaltz
    Anti-Semitism
    At Times Of Tragedy
    Bar / Bat Mitzvah
    Bin Laden
    Blessings
    Bring Back Our Boys
    Community / Kehillah
    Conservative Movement
    Covenant / Brit
    Deborah
    Democracy/Independence
    Deuteronomy / Dvarim
    Dina
    Diversity
    Environment
    Esau
    Exodus / Shmot
    Exodus / Shmot
    Family
    Festivals
    Genesis / Breishit
    Genetic Diseases
    God
    Gun Control
    Haftarah
    Haiti Earthquake
    Halachah / Jewish Law
    Hanukah
    Harold Kushner
    Holiness / Kedushah
    Holocaust / Shoah
    Humility
    Immigration
    Interfaith Relations
    Interfaith Relations
    Isaiah / Yeshayahu
    Israel
    Israel And Jewish Observance
    Jacob
    Jesus/Christianity
    Jewish Fast Days
    Jewish Holidays
    Jewish Identity
    Joseph
    Kashrut
    Kiddush Hashem / Sanctifying God
    Korban / Sacrifice
    Kvod Habriyot
    Labor Day
    Leadership
    Leviticus / Vayikra
    Light
    Masorti: Israeli Conservative Movement
    Memorial Day / Yom Hazikaron
    Micah
    Miracles
    Miriam
    Mitzvah / Commandment
    Month Of Sivan
    Moses
    Mourning / Aveilut
    Nachamu
    Names
    Natural Disaster
    Nelson Mandela
    Noah
    Numbers / Bamidbar
    Passover / Pesach
    Pete Seeger
    Pidyon Shevuyim / Redemption Of Captives
    Poverty
    Power Of Speech
    President Obama
    Privacy And Security
    Psalm 100
    Psalm 104
    Psalm 121
    Psalm 144
    Purim
    Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
    Rabbi Avraham Soltes
    Rabbi Brad Artson
    Rabbi Laura Geller
    Rabbinical Assembly
    Rabbinic Judaism
    Revelation
    Reverend Martin Luther King
    Sarah
    Seder
    Shabbat
    Shavuot
    Shekalim
    Shifra Alon
    Sinai
    Slavery
    Song Of Songs / Shir Hashirim
    Tabernacle / Temple
    Terrorism
    Thanksgiving
    Tikkun Olam
    Tikkun Olam
    Tisha Bav
    Torah
    Veterans Day
    Western Wall / Old City Of Jerusalem
    Women
    Yael
    Yom Kippur
    Zachor

    Archives

    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
    • Become A Member
    • Members' Pages >
      • Gabbai Group
      • Yahrzeit Form
      • How to be part of shivah...
      • High Holiday Participation
    • Support Us!
  • About Us
    • Heroes in our Midst Blog
    • President's Page
    • Rabbi Aaron's Blog
    • Professional Staff
    • Lay Leadership
    • Social Action
    • Newsletter/Hadashot
    • Links
    • Hours & Directions
  • Events
    • Community Events
    • Shabbat and Holiday Services
    • RSVP Forms
    • Calendar
    • Flyers
  • Education
    • Cohen School >
      • School Registration Form
    • Torah Sprouts
    • Adult Learning
    • Audio Tutorials
    • Bar and Bat Mitzvah preparation