Monica

On Shabbat mornings, in addition to the service, we have torah study. Rather than trying to cover the weekly portion (badly) in too little time, this group started with the first letter of the first book (B'reishit) 20 years ago (and a few months), and every week we pick up where we left off. Sometimes we spend weeks (occasionally months) on a passage before continuing. The beauty of this format is that we can stop and explore things when we want to.

Yesterday we finished, and had a big party (called a siyyum). We also started right back in at the end, because you're never really done. :-) I can tell that my rabbi is really pleased by the progress the group has made, and we got congratulatory letters from assorted important people, including Rabbi Eric Yoffie (head of the URJ). (Yeah, yeah, someone must have solicited those letters else how would the like of Rabbi Yoffie even know, but still... nice.)

Our newest rabbi coordinated the festivities, and he asked five congregants (one per book) to speak. I was the first one he asked, so when he said "pick your favorite book" I actually could, though the decision wasn't immediately obvious. (One favorite?) His instruction was: five minutes, talk about something in the book that speaks to me, involve specific text, and leave them with a question to discuss at the individual tables. Here's what I said:

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I had to be at work early today, so no morning minyan, so no daf bit. Instead, have a short d'var torah I gave tonight. (I got a call a few hours in advance, so I basically worked this out during the drive home.)

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This is (approximately) the d'var torah I gave on yesterday's portion:

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I was asked to lead the evening minyan on Thursday, where it's traditional to give a brief d'var torah. I knew that most of the attendees would be members of the executive committee, which I didn't consciously take into account, but it clearly shaped my thinking somewhat. Here's approximately what I said:

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The sixth aliya of yesterday's portion is particularly poignant and the trope helps amplify it, so before reading I gave an overview to help people listen for it. I said approximately:

In this week's parsha Yitzchak, now old and blind, blesses his sons before his death. In the fifth aliyah Yaakov tricks his father into thinking he's Esav; Yitzchak is initially doubtful but then accepts the deception. (Rashi says one of the reasons he doubted is that "Esav" was too polite.) The aliyah I'm about to read begins with Yitzchak's blessing of Yaakov. After this Yaakov will leave and, in the very same verse, Esav will come in for his blessing. When Yitzchak hears Esav he trembles, saying "then who was that?", and when they realize what has happened Esav begs his father -- "barcheini gam ani, avi", "bless me too, father". You can hear the desperation in the trope. Yitzchak responds that Yaakov took his blessing, and not only that, but listen to what I gave him. Esav begs his father again, asking "have you only one blesing?", and repeats his plea, "barcheini gam ani avi".

D'var torah:

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I read torah (and thus gave a short d'var) the Shabbat before last, but I didn't get a chance to post this before leaving town. So, here it is a little late and a little less polished than when I gave it.

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The person who was supposed to read torah this week got sick, so earlier this week the chair of the worship committee asked me if I could do at least some of it. I said sure. The fifth aliya begins with some difficult vocabulary (well, I thought it was difficult); after I concluded that I wouldn't be able to learn the whole thing in a few oherwise-busy days anyway, I chose a part out of the middle that looked easier.

Also for the sake of time, I decided to read rather than chant. But I was having trouble getting it to flow right and getting all the phrase boundaries in the right place. Friday night, on a whim, I looked at the trope. An hour later (!) I had it, and I chanted it this morning. Wish I'd thought of that a couple days ago; I might have learned more of the aliya. Oh well.

The d'var torah was kind of ad-hoc (those cycles had gone to preparing the torah portion). No written-out copy and no notes; I just spoke. (Yes, I did practice.) I knew it would be shorter, so I figured that would be ok. I thought my delivery was decent but could have been a lot better.

Here is roughly what I said (some phrasing improved in the writing): ( Read more... )