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reading torah
I'll be chanting torah this Shabbat morning. I asked if I could also do Friday night (I mean, I'm learning the portion anyway...) and the associate rabbi (who's leading that service) said he's happy to have a few hours of his week back. :-)
This week's parsha is Mishpatim, which is -- mostly -- a list of assorted laws. Last week we had the grandeur of the revelation at Sinai, with the "big-ticket" items (the ten utterances). I'm reading about giving over the first-born to God, not eating meat torn in the field, not bearing false reports or corrupting the justice system, and helping neighbors even when you don't like them -- all in the span of about a dozen verses. Somewhere in there I should be able to find a jumping-off point for a (mini-)sermon. (I can, of course, talk about something from the rest of the parsha, but I try to tie it to the actual reading when I can. I figure the rigor is good for me.)
There does not seem to be much midrash about this parsha -- either that or, more likely, I don't know where to look. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about Thursday morning's "parsha bit". I don't want to use the one about how God offered the torah to other nations and they objected to various clauses in it until he got to Israel; everyone in the congregation knows that one already, I'm sure.
This week's parsha is Mishpatim, which is -- mostly -- a list of assorted laws. Last week we had the grandeur of the revelation at Sinai, with the "big-ticket" items (the ten utterances). I'm reading about giving over the first-born to God, not eating meat torn in the field, not bearing false reports or corrupting the justice system, and helping neighbors even when you don't like them -- all in the span of about a dozen verses. Somewhere in there I should be able to find a jumping-off point for a (mini-)sermon. (I can, of course, talk about something from the rest of the parsha, but I try to tie it to the actual reading when I can. I figure the rigor is good for me.)
There does not seem to be much midrash about this parsha -- either that or, more likely, I don't know where to look. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about Thursday morning's "parsha bit". I don't want to use the one about how God offered the torah to other nations and they objected to various clauses in it until he got to Israel; everyone in the congregation knows that one already, I'm sure.
no subject
Instead, it takes figuring out how you can tell when you've got enough evidence.