Services ✡️
2018-Jul-07, Saturday 16:15![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dorchadas
I went to services at Emanuel last night. I haven't been there in years.
Only a couple years, really. I know we went once after Rabbi Zedek retired, and then things kept coming up. We held Shabbat dinners at our apartment at least once a month, we were occasionally out of town on the weekend, and then we found OneTable and started going to other people's Shabbat dinners, and, well, it's Friday night. There's always something if I don't specifically make time for it. But that's the whole point of Shabbat, right? To separate out time from the rest of the week and mark it as hallowed. To, for one day, do things differently. So I did.
The rabbi was on vacation, so the cantor led the services, and there were only about twenty-five people in attendance so rather than the sanctuary we met in the smaller chapel in the back, facing Lake Michigan. It was really lovely to welcome in Shabbat as the light of the sun slowly faded and the waves lapped on the shore.
This week's parsha is Parashat Pinchas, and for the dvar Torah, the cantor focused on this part:
Of course, preceding that is the account of Pinchas, who murdered one of the Children of Israel who had sex with a Midianite woman and then gets praised for it and rewarded by being elevated as a priest. Then G-d tells the Children of Israel to wipe out the Midianites based on the actions of a single woman, and Moses, whose wife Zipporah is a Midianite, apparently makes no protest. This part is, well. It's obviously much harder to find a positive message there.
After services was the oneg, and while I sat down at the furthest table from the chapel, I had half-a-dozen people join me. most of them recognized me--I am pretty distinctive, I admit--and knew they hadn't seen me for a while, so I told them about the Shabbat dinners we had hosted at our apartment and about OneTable and all the OneTable dinners I had gone to. One man, whose name I unfortunately do not remember, asked me a lot about myself, so I told him about living in Japan, and we talked a bit about Japanese literature. When I mentioned that I could read Japanese, he recommended Kawabata Yasunari's Snow Country (雪国). I might see if I can track down a copy.
The cantor stopped by briefly to chat, and by then nearly everyone else had left, so I snagged another couple cookies before they were all taken away and then I left. I haven't been in years, but I'll be back quicker than that, I think.
Only a couple years, really. I know we went once after Rabbi Zedek retired, and then things kept coming up. We held Shabbat dinners at our apartment at least once a month, we were occasionally out of town on the weekend, and then we found OneTable and started going to other people's Shabbat dinners, and, well, it's Friday night. There's always something if I don't specifically make time for it. But that's the whole point of Shabbat, right? To separate out time from the rest of the week and mark it as hallowed. To, for one day, do things differently. So I did.
The rabbi was on vacation, so the cantor led the services, and there were only about twenty-five people in attendance so rather than the sanctuary we met in the smaller chapel in the back, facing Lake Michigan. It was really lovely to welcome in Shabbat as the light of the sun slowly faded and the waves lapped on the shore.
This week's parsha is Parashat Pinchas, and for the dvar Torah, the cantor focused on this part:
Then drew near the daughters of Zelophehad the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of Manasseh the son of Joseph. The names of his daughters were: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. And they stood before Moses and before Eleazar the priest and before the chiefs and all the congregation, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, saying, "Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among the company of those who gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah, but died for his own sin. And he had no sons. Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? Give to us a possession among our father's brothers."One, this is one of the few instances in Tanakh that has women who are named and who aren't a prophet, a judge, or some other authority figure. And second, they're right. There's no argument or debate, just Moses consulting G-d about their case and G-d saying, "Yep, do everything they ask." It's obviously still patriarchal, but putting a man's daughters before his brother or other male relatives in the inheritence chain means that he can still provide for his children if he has no sons.
Moses brought their case before the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses, "The daughters of Zelophehad are right. You shall give them possession of an inheritance among their father's brothers and transfer the inheritance of their father to them. And you shall speak to the people of Israel, saying,'‘If a man dies and has no son, then you shall transfer his inheritance to his daughter.' "
-Numbers 27:1-9
Of course, preceding that is the account of Pinchas, who murdered one of the Children of Israel who had sex with a Midianite woman and then gets praised for it and rewarded by being elevated as a priest. Then G-d tells the Children of Israel to wipe out the Midianites based on the actions of a single woman, and Moses, whose wife Zipporah is a Midianite, apparently makes no protest. This part is, well. It's obviously much harder to find a positive message there.
After services was the oneg, and while I sat down at the furthest table from the chapel, I had half-a-dozen people join me. most of them recognized me--I am pretty distinctive, I admit--and knew they hadn't seen me for a while, so I told them about the Shabbat dinners we had hosted at our apartment and about OneTable and all the OneTable dinners I had gone to. One man, whose name I unfortunately do not remember, asked me a lot about myself, so I told him about living in Japan, and we talked a bit about Japanese literature. When I mentioned that I could read Japanese, he recommended Kawabata Yasunari's Snow Country (雪国). I might see if I can track down a copy.
The cantor stopped by briefly to chat, and by then nearly everyone else had left, so I snagged another couple cookies before they were all taken away and then I left. I haven't been in years, but I'll be back quicker than that, I think.
