Life of Spud

  What the story of Avraham and Sarah in Egypt teaches us about the ideal relationship between husband and wife This week’s Torah portion begins with Gd’s call to Avraham to  Lech Lecha  (go forward your sake) from Charan (in northern Syria) to an unknown land due south.  Since the  start of time, humans had confounded Gd with their ability to make the wrong choices. Gd had tried to reset the world, expelling Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, wiping out the entire earth in a Flood during Noah’s life and mixing up languages of the generation of the Tower of Babel before dispersing them throughout the entire earth to keep them at bay.  But the problems persisted, so Gd looked around and found the best human alive, selecting Avraham to be Humanity 3.0. As Gd’s Chosen, Avraham was tasked with performing a literal  Tikkun Olam , by living in the world according to the plan that Gd intended for it. Avraham heeded Gd’s call and left Charan, taking with hi...

One of the steps in the process of understanding the concept of “transgender” is to recognize that society assigns one of two gender roles to people, based on their sex at birth. When someone is born with a penis, society labels them as male and projects certain expectations onto that person (i.e., blue clothing, sports-lover, stoic, etc.); when someone is born with a vagina, society labels them as female and projects other expectations onto that person (i.e., pink clothing, princess-aspiring, emotional, etc.).  Transgender people do not fit the typical binary expectations of society, with some even identifying as non-binary and/or gender fluid. This week’s Torah portion - Parshat Toldot - begins with the story of the birth of Yakov (Jacob) and Eisav (Esau). Almost immediately, each of the children were assigned specific identities, which the Torah presents as binary (and which, perhaps, can be mapped onto gender roles): Eisav emerged first from his mother’s womb, covered in hair f...

  A quick Dvar Torah regarding men's health... After eating from the Eitz HaDaat (Tree of Knowledge) AdAm/Man becomes aware of his nakedness and goes into hiding when God seeks him. He is ashamed of his nakedness - his "manhood" - and does not want to be seen in public with it uncovered. A little while later, Noah, too, has his nakedness uncovered. After exiting the Ark, he plants a vineyard and - yada, yada, yada - he gets drunk on the wine that he produces from it. While in a drunken stupor, his youngest son sees him unclothed. When he sobers up, Noah is so ashamed that his "manhood" has been seen by his child that he curses his grandson. Abraham, on the other hand, transformed his "manhood". Instead of being ashamed of it, he used it to conclude a covenant with God through circumcision. He performed this act on his whole household, ensuring that his descendants would receive the blessings that he received from God. And when it was time to find a ...

In the Genesis story  there are two moments that recall the creation of human beings. Many Biblical commentators and scholars analyze and compare the two stories. And although I don’t even “reach to their ankles”, I’d like to offer a reading that I heard.  At the end of the first chapter, on the 6th day of a 6-Day Creation Story, Human is created. The Torah reads: "וַיִּבְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים ׀ אֶת־הָֽאָדָם֙ בְּצַלְמ֔וֹ בְּצֶ֥לֶם אֱלֹהִ֖ים בָּרָ֣א אֹת֑וֹ זָכָ֥ר וּנְקֵבָ֖ה בָּרָ֥א אֹתָֽם." (בראשית א: כז) “And GD(s) created the AdAm in his/its image; in the image of GD(s) he/it created him/it; Male and Female created them.” (Genesis 1:27) Here the terms “Male” and “Female” are introduced in the context of B’Tselem Elohim - in the image of GD - which means that GD is both male and female in nature. That is, GD possesses both characteristics/traits that are generally classified as masculine or feminine. And since Human is created in GD’s image, all humans can possess both characterist...

1. RE: Asian Carp as an Invasive Species The article linked below is the announcement of a winner in the competition called "Carp Tank".  Apparently, there is a species of fish known as Asian Carp that... " are now only about 50 miles away from the Great Lake. Scientists are concerned that the voracious fish would out-compete native and desired Great Lakes fish species, causing an ecological and economic calamity."   https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2018/03/27/invasive-asian-carp-innovators-carp-tank-prize/463650002/ I just found this "funny" because if you remove the word "carp" from the article, it sounds a lot like the conversations from a couple of decades ago around my old neighborhood. Are scientists racists? 2. Makkat Bechorot It's somewhat of an exception that the male form of a Hebrew word takes on the female suffix when converted to plural (OT instead of IM). And it always bothered me when it came to the 10th P...

Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan, which is also referred to as “MarCheshvan,” was on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. In conversation with a friend, I found out that there are actually a couple of different reasons for this nickname. In my Jewish education, I had learned that the prefix “Mar” was from the Hebrew word for “bitter” (like the “Maror” that we eat on Pesach to recall the bitterness of slavery in Egypt). It is applied to Cheshvan because, unlike the month of Tishrei before it and the month of Kislev that follows it, Cheshvan contains no Jewish holidays. As a result, either we – the Jewish people – or the month itself, are a bit more bitter than (in) those other months. But my friend shared with me the explanation that he had learned in his Jewish education. He had been taught that the word “Mar” is from the Hebrew word for “Mister” (like, “Hashchunah shel Mar Rogers” the Hebrew version of Mr. Roger’s Nieghborhood). It is applied to Cheshvan as a title of respect because, unlike ...