painting by Alimobin Memon
miriam sat curled
knees up head down
eyes shut tight against
the jeers hey snow white if you
were my daughter i’d spit right in your
face
miriam slept
she dreamed the cushite
woman was finally set free she
dreamed that moses prayed
desperately for her healing she
dreamed god’s face had been gazing
at her all along when she
awoke she was told to return to the
camp before they set out she named it
hazerot which means
yes i am a prophet
too
(Numbers 12)
If you’re inclined in the non-theist direction, you might be surprised to learn that there are at least as many varieties of atheism as there are forms of religious belief. Check out this really fascinating piece, “Seven Types of Non-Believers” by psychologist and religious journalist Valerie Tarico.
My favorite passage:
Some atheists think of agnostic as a weenie term, because it gets used by people who lack a god-concept but don’t want to offend family members or colleagues … But in reality, the term agnostic represents a range of intellectual positions that have important substance in their own right and can be independent of atheism.
look at me gaze
through the
cracks know you are
safe see you are
loved now reach
through and touch
the fullness
of my
peace
(Numbers 6:24-26)
photo by Chris Briscoe
before i
gave birth to
you i sacrificed
every first born in
the land of egypt I said
to pharaoh let my
first born go and
worship me in the wilderness then i
hardened him down to the
marrow so here we are in the
wilderness now i have you to
myself yes you
are my first born and
you are mine
all mine
(Numbers 3:13, Exodus 4:22-23)
you must not oppress the
stranger for the
land belongs to me and you are
all but strangers resident
upon it when you
oppress the stranger
you oppress
yourselves
(Leviticus 25:23)
and aaron replied to god
no i won’t turn
away the blind or the
scarred the fractured the
shattered the severed the
beaten or vanquished all
will be welcome to eat of
the sacred meal for there is
nothing so whole as a broken
heart none more open than the
freshly wounded
i wonder if
you
could
even
pass
that
test
(Leviticus 21:16-23)
The Deopokhari festival in Nepal is held to appease what locals believe is a demon that resides in a pond. Every year, goats and other animals are sacrificed to the pond demon so that no human lives will be lost to drowning. (Photo: Niranjan Shrestha / AP)
azazel danced down the edge of
the rocky slope when the
animal finally appeared in
the distance looking up he saw empty confessions
dissolving like beads of water on a
hot desert floor marveling at the desperate
neverending thirst for expiation how wonderful to
let a poor beast die for your sins how delectably
deliciously marvelous he reached the
bottom of the dry riverbed skipping gleefully in
anticipation he ran to greet the offering so
ravenous he didn’t bother to glance
behind at the dessicated goat
carcasses lying in heaps on the
floor of the
valley
(Leviticus 16:6-10)
if your affliction has gone deeper than
the surface of your skin if it has entered into
your bloodstream if it has broken through the
floodgates guarding the shadows of
your innermost self infecting your
being with the rawest truth of your life
and death you must venture beyond the limits
of your encampment to the outskirts of the
wilderness
examine yourself thoroughly note every mark
every blemish every dead patch of skin every
microscopic pathogen that feeds
off your dissolution
when this checkup is complete you
will be ready to return to the
land of the
living
(Leviticus 13:1-23)
In honor of Yom Hashoah, I offer this wonderful short documentary on the life of Raphael Lemkin, one of the greatest moral heroes of the 20th century.
I can think of no greater tribute to the memory of the six million – and all victims of genocide – than the legacy of this remarkable man.
Kirk McKoy/Los Angeles Times
As someone who cherishes Jewish mystical tradition, I confess that I’ve long been dismayed by the shallow pop culture hucksterism of the the Berg family’s Kabbalah Centre (made famous in recent years for attracting Hollywood celebrities such as Madonna, Brittany Spears, and Ashton Kutcher among their devotees.) Whenever asked by those interested in learning more about Kabbalah, I’ve made a point of steering them away from the likes of the Kabbalah Centre in favor of contemporary scholars such as my own teacher Rabbi Art Green, author of “Ehyeh: A Kabbalah for Tomorrow” and “Seek My Face, Speak My Name: A Jewish Mystical Theology.”
For years I’ve been interested in what someone like Art would say about a phenomenon such as the Kabbalah Centre. Now I’ve just discovered that he did precisely that in a HuffPo piece last October:
What (Kabbalah Centre founder Rabbi Philip) Berg figured out is that superstition and the insecurities that attract people to it did not disappear with modernity. They exist in Hollywood just as much as in poor neighborhoods of Jerusalem. You just need to know how to market them. At this he became a genius. He took his outrageous promises and bundled them together with the sort of self-help advice one can readily find in many books sold in airport bookstores. To these he joined some light bits of true Kabbalistic learning. He wrapped them all up in bundles of red string, making an old Eastern European talisman, used mostly for keeping witches away from babies’ cribs, a new identifying symbol for his “Kabbalists,” most of whom had no real idea of what the Jewish mystical tradition was all about…
The sad part of this story is that it represents a thorough mixing of goodness and cynicism. Many people testify that their lives were set straight by loyalty to the Kabbalah Centre, that they were freed from addictions, brought back from depression, or even just redeemed from the triviality of Hollywood and its values. Who could not thank the Bergs for the positive effect they have had on the lives of so many? But in the end, hucksterism seems to have won out. The “evil urge” is a pretty slippery character, especially when big money becomes involved. The Kabbalah Centre’s founders and leaders, especially in creating a dynasty, have taken the reputation of an ancient and noble tradition and have sullied it for their own gain. Kabbalah deserves better.
Art’s piece followed upon a thorough investigative article in the LA Times on allegations of corruption and financial shenanigans at the KC. Click here to read more.
Yedid Nefesh 