Random Reflections Reflections on Random Torah Verses Kashrut From a Place Other Than Fear and Disgust – Leviticus 11:1-47 October 23, 2015 Sherry Oz No Comments I grew up respecting the laws of kashrut, and have accepted an explanation that says that distinguishing between the animals Jews can eat and those that are forbidden differentiates the…
Random Reflections Reflections on Random Torah Verses What if Esau Had Received His Rightful Blessing? (Genesis 27:1-30) October 16, 2015 Sherry Oz No Comments What happens when people try to influence the place they will have in history or the place they think is rightfully theirs? What happens when mothers try to influence the…
Random Reflections Reflections on Random Torah Verses Descendants of Esau and Jacob: Naming Names and Telling Tales (Genesis 36:1-43) October 9, 2015 Sherry Oz No Comments In psychotherapy, it is generally proposed that the beginning of coping consists of naming the problem or issue with which one is having difficulties. But giving a name is insufficient.…
Random Reflections Reflections on Random Torah Verses Esau versus Jacob: Naming Names and Telling Tales (Genesis 36:1-43) October 2, 2015 Sherry Oz No Comments Why are the generations of descendants of Esau merely listed in these 43 verses with no stories told about any of them? In contrast, in the next parasha, we are…
Random Reflections Reflections on Random Torah Verses “Chosen” People? Tolerated, Perhaps. (Ha’azinu: Deuteronomy 32: 19-28) September 23, 2015 Sherry Oz No Comments Ha’azinu has put the term, “Chosen People” into a new perspective for me. And I can’t say that I like it. In my previous post, I wrote about the power…
Random Reflections Reflections on Random Torah Verses Power of choice (Ha’azinu: Deuteronomy 32: 19-28) September 22, 2015 Sherry Oz No Comments After having escaped from Egypt, we Jews faced a number of critical points at which our collective decisionmaking skills were challenged. Perhaps the most dramatic example was at Mount Sinai…
Random Reflections Reflections on Random Torah Verses Joseph’s Brothers Prostrated Themselves – Are We? (Bereshit 42:1-7) September 12, 2015 Sherry Oz No Comments I grew up believing that Jews bow down only to the One God, our Creator, and never to another human being. The Purim story tells us that Mordechai refused to…
Random Reflections Reflections on Random Torah Verses Ritual Washing, Mindfulness, and New Beginnings (Exodus 30:17-21) August 31, 2015 Sherry Oz No Comments In this verse, part of the parasha called Ki Tisa, Moses is commanded to make a brass pedestal and washing tub in which to place the water with which Aharon,…
Random Reflections Reflections on Random Torah Verses What Has Deuteronomy Got to Do with Bullies on Facebook? (Deuteronomy 19:15-21) August 27, 2015 Sherry Oz No Comments The Torah verse in Deuteronomy, discussing false witness, may be particularly relevant to us now in the modern virtual era when bullies can tell lies that spread farther and faster…
Random Reflections Reflections on Random Torah Verses Is Our Only Hope Via a Strong Arm Policy? (Exodus 13:17-14:31) August 13, 2015 Sherry Oz No Comments The Pharoah finally let the Israelites leave, and there was a short way to Israel and a long way. The short way was through the land of the Philistines (Pelesht),…