from Rabbi David
Jewish attitudes toward interfaith dating
and marriage have evolved in the past century, to say the least. The classic attitude was captured by the Jewish parents sitting shivah for a son or daughter who decides to wed someone from a different faith tradition. (My great-aunt and -uncle cut ties with my dad's cousin when she married a Catholic man.)
This week's
Torah portion, Pinchas, begins with God rewarding Pinchas for killing an Israelite man and a Midianite woman who were making a romantic connection during a worship service for the god Baal-Peor. Today, a majority of Jews in America marry partners from other backgrounds.
QUESTIONS: Why was in-marriage such a
central value in Biblical and Rabbinic Judaism? What does it mean for us today that most Jews outside Israel no longer give in-marriage the same importance?
We'll talk about this, as well as looking at our Haftarah (Jeremiah 1:1-2:3), which is one of three "Haftarot of rebuke" that come in the weeks before the
mourning-fast day of Tisha B'Av that marks the destruction of the Jerusalem Temples.
PLEASE JOIN YOUR NAFSHENU FRIENDS TONIGHT, 7-8PM, FOR OUR WEEKLY BIBLE STUDY. Here's the Zoom link:
bit.ly/NafTorah
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NAFSHENU AHEAD
Calendar for the summer and High Holidays
Every Thursday* - Bible study on Zoom, 7-8pm. (*See July 31 in-person at
6:30pm)
July 25 - Kabbalat Shabbat - Beginning at 6:30pm at Prince of Peace
July 31 - In-Person Bible study - Beginning at 6:30pm at Stacy's Home
August 3
- Tisha B'Av observance - Beginning at 2:00pm at Prince of Peace
August 15 - Kabbalat Shabbat - Beginning at 6:30pm at Prince of Peace
September 6 - Shabbat Services - Beginning at 9:30am at Prince of Peace
September 12 - Kabbalat Shabbat - Beginning at 6:30pm at Prince of Peace
September 22 - Erev Rosh Hashanah Under the Stars - Beginning at 6:00pm at Prince of Peace
September 23 - Rosh
Hashanah - Set Up Begins at 8:30am and services begin at 10:00am at Prince of Peace
October 1 - Kol Nidre - Beginning at 6:00pm at Prince of Peac
October 2 - Yom Kippur - Set Up Begins at 8:30am and Services begin at 10:00am t Prince of
Peace
October 2 - Break Fast -Time and Location TBD
October 12 - Sukkot - Beginning at 2:30pm Location TBD
October 14 - Simchat
Torah - Beginning at 6:30pm at Prince of Peace
ood “intelligence” has proven crucial in the fighting between Israel and its enemies today. So,
too, in the Bible, where we read stories this week about the spies that Moses sent into Canaan and that
Joshua sent into
Jericho.
Please Zoom into the weekly Nafshenu Bible study tomorrow (Thursday) night (7-8pm) for a discussion
of what makes spy craft work or fail. The main texts come from this week's Torah and
Haftarah
readings, Numbers 23:2-15:41 and Joshua 2:1-24.
Here's a Zoom link: bit.ly/NafTorah.
