ב"ה
Is it a bad, harmful deed? Is it the very face of death? Is it mere
stupidity, a folly to be shrugged of by an inherently wise and pristine soul? Is
it a potent opportunity for conquest and growth? Turns out, it's all four. But
it can only be the fourth if it's also the first three.
Exodus 30:11-34:35; Numbers 19 Torah Reading for Week of March 11-17, 2001 
It's all there in this week's Torah reading: the 120-version of the human story,
the breaking of the Tablets, Moses' heaven-shaking disputations with G-d, a calf
called death and its mother, the disparity and parity of sin and
sanctity--presented herewith in three dimensions:The Parshah in a Nutshell Full Parshah summary with selections from the Midrash, Talmud and the Commentaries More on the Parshah from the Chassidic masters
I picture it somehow like a beautiful glowing gem covered with dirt, yet still possessing the power to shine. I picture it pulsating somehow, like a lighthouse, like a heartbeat, like the rhythmic in and out, on and off, here and there, now and then, dark and light of life. Though I see it as a hard, solid thing, I feel it soft and timid. Though in my imaginings it is indestructible and eternal, I sense it fragile, vulnerable, needing protection. Though it seems perfect in every way, I feel the obligation, responsibility, the need to nourish it.
To explain our world without examining its inner depth is as shallow as
explaining the workings of a computer by describing the images viewed on its
monitor. If we see a ball moving up and down on the screen, would we say that it
is rebounding against the bottom of the screen? Does the menu bar really
have drop-down menus hidden behind it?To understand who and what we are, we need to read creation's code, examine the hardware, and study its creator's original concept paper. We need to see it the way its author sees it, as it evolves step by step from a concept in his mind through the code that he writes, to the glowing phosphor pixels on the screen.
I began hearing things about the pirate and his forbidden software. Crazy, beautiful things. So I searched and I faxed and I sent e-mails and I waited. Then suddenly he was there in my cubicle, in the flesh, with a dime-sized CD-ROM in his outstretched hand. “How much?” I asked.
some random thoughts Folklore would have it that the proponents of the "science argument" are scientists: physicists, chemists, biologists and engineers with lab coats and complicated equipment. Arranged against them--again according to folk wisdom--are the bearded, black-hatted rabbis whom the Jerusalem Post labels "ultra-Orthodox" and whom most of us consider to be Torah scholars if only because of their dress. It may have been like this at some time in the past. Today, the debate continues--but the debaters have changed. |
 The Parshah in a Nutshell
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