Joyful Compassionate Abundance
This project is a subset of my Bible/Torah-related posts. I started this project as I searched for insights on food, “animal rights,” agriculture and ecology. I called it “Torah Ecology” because that described nicely how I thought my project would unfold.
Ecology is the “study of interactions among organisms and their environment.” It is a study, therefore, of relationships, and one thing I was pretty sure I’d find as I studied the text is that Torah is a study of relationships.
At the time, it seemed to me there are three domains in Torah: Transcendence/G-d, humans, the rest of creation. I wanted to look at relationships between and within those categories, Torah ecology.
Early on, my interest focused more on the human-nonhuman animal relationship described in the Torah. My study stalled for a significant period of time for a variety of reasons, only one related to the study itself.
During the first half of 2022, I find myself beginning to engage again. Beginning is the operative word. I’m not sure where this might go right now.
Ki Tissa, “When you take a sum…,” is filled with things to contemplate! It fascinates me that these stories consistently reveal narrative structures, a scaffolding of sorts, that supports meaning. I’m not always sure what the meaning is — that might be
Tetzaveh (Ex 27:20-28:43) continues the narrative that began in Yitro describing the structure of a local community, Israel, and relationships within it and with other “domains,” transcendence and creation. As in Terumah, which describes construction of the Tabernacle and Tent of Meeting, Terumah
Terumah (Ex 25:1-27:19) relates G-d’s instructions to the Israelites for building the Tabernacle, the portable structure that serves as G-d’s “home” during the desert wandering. I’m going to include the rest of chapter 27 (Ex 27:20-21) in my discussion since it relates
If the first three chapters of Genesis outline the relationships between G-d, creation and human beings, Yitro repeats that equation in the section on the 10 “Words” but with the significant additional element of a particular society (Israel, signified by “neighbor”). Mishpatim (Ex 21:1
Yitro (Ex 18:1-24:18) begins with a story of working out the relationship between Moses and the Israelites and ends with a story of working out the relationship between the Israelites, G-d and the natural world. Choreography mediates these negotiations, which seem to suggest
INTRODUCTION The first three chapters of Genesis tell us the entire story of the Torah. As one of my teachers used to say about Jewish ritual, it’s the “microcosm of the macrocosm.” If I am actually able to work through a year
INTRODUCTION Today I begin a new project of looking at the weekly Torah portions, searching for insights on food, “animal rights,” agriculture and ecology. Immediately a difficulty presented itself. My approach to the text doesn’t always fit neatly with the portions. This week,