On the Mark concert

My folk-music group, On the Mark, is performing at The Coffee Den in the South Hills this Saturday from 8 to 10. The place is smoke-free and we're told it has free WiFi (in case you want to parallel-process your entertainment). If you're local and so inclined, please stop by.

This is the first public performance we've done in a while (as opposed to the SCA event and SF con we played at recently). We don't do this all that often, but we have fun when we do.

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.