Julian Ungar-Sargon

Rabbi's Trip to Warsaw: The Netziv

A quick introduction to the life and work of the Netziv on the occasion of a community trip to Warsaw.

The Impossible Love of The Divine

The central liturgical text in Judaism the “Shema” Deut 6….contains the command to “love Hashem with all your heart(s)” We explore the dual chambered heart and the Mishnaic exegesis of the good and evil desire brought into service of love. The Rambam seems to contradict himself as to the means to achieve this love and the Sifre (midrashic) doubts about loving something intangible. We try to resolve the difference between intellectual versus passionate love, with the hassidic masters....

Moshe's Desire For An Appropriate Successor

Parshas Pinchas: Moses' dialogue with the Divine regarding his successor...From biblical text through midrashic protest to Hassidic notions of leadership.

Moses vs Balaam: Seeing the Truth, Speaking The Truth

Examining the story of the speaking she-ass in Num 22 we struggle with making sense of the narrative from a literary and folklore perspective and exploring the comparison between Moses and Balaam (Sifre Deut. 357).

Moshe, The Rock(s), and The Staff

The literary problems with the two rock episodes in Exodus and Numbers open us to the midrashic reflections on the Moshe Rabeinu’s anxiety prior to striking the rock. For Rashi and others they were 2 separate historical episodes, for Bechor Shor however, two stories with similar content refer to a single event. The placing of the staff on the rock precipitates his rage and midrashic shame (woe is to me, maybe water will not issue and i will face my shame) which allows us to explore the psychic m...

Tzalafchad The Zaddik

We travel thru the mystery of the literal reading of this short tragic story of the gatherer of wood on Shabbat to the association with the anonymous “ish” with none other than the father of the Bnos Zleofchad later in Numbers. Rabbi Akiva makes the connection then gets chastised for “outing” this person! We dive into the Zoharic connection between gathering wood (trees literally) and the mortal offense of splitting or investigating which divine potency is at work in causing the exit (following ...

Where Desire and Hunger Meet: Moshe Rabbeinu as Wet-Nurse

In the Interpretation of Dreams (1900a), commenting on the "dream of the Fates (Knödel), Freud wrote that "at the woman's breast love and hunger meet.” Our exploration of the midrashim surrounding the “mitonenim” (Num 11) reveals the connection between their disgust of the manna (tasting like breast milk) and Moshe Rabbeinu’s complaint of being a suckling father to his early traumatic childhood of abandonment and precociously refusing the Egyptian midwives’ milk...

The Sotah, Confession, Skin, and Bones

We explore the notion of confession, religious , political and in recovery ...and Rebbe Nachman's image of inscription of sin in the bones....and Judah's rattling bones in his coffin.

Shlomit bas Divri

Shlomit bat Divri of the tribe of Dan (Lev 24) the rape victim, loses her son to blasphemy but the back story is darker. We explore the connection between Ex 2 and Moses's extrajudicial killing of the Egyptian with the cursing of the blasphemer…

Shatnez, Kilyaim, and the First Homicide

Shaatnez has a dubious etymology which we review and delve into the midrashic connection between this mitzvah and the first fratricide of Genesis. Pirke DeReb Eliezer and the first targumim open us to the moral ambiguity behind the theological arguments between Cain and Abel prior to the murder. Our commentators suggest the Chok (non rational command) for Shatnez and its exceptions (Kohanim and Tzitzis) point to moral reasons. My reading suggests that the midrash open us to the double sided impl...

Parshas Metzorah: Hansen's Disease and Tzara'as

For a millennium commentators have struggled to identify the mysterious skin disease mentioned in our sidra. We explore the deeper meaning behind the eruption and the reentry sacrifices and mysterious connection to the simanim Rachel gave Leah.

The Yoledes and Her Reverse Order Sacrifices

We examine the sacrifices of the Yoledes in Leviticus 12 and the reverse sequence of the 2 korbanot she must bring to enter the Tabernacle. How to make sense of the notion of Tum'ah following her delivery.

God's Withdrawal vs. Hester Panim

Following up from last week's Little Aleph, we move to the Large Taf of the last chapter of the Book of Esther, which points to the last revelation of prophecy according to the rabbis. We then move on to discuss the source for Esther in the Torah being divine hiddenness and compare the positions of David Weiss Halivni and Aviva Zornberg in their approach to the absent Divine in times of crisis.

The Little Aleph That Could

We review the midrashic interpretations of the little aleph of the first work of Leviticus “Vayikra” and how orthography mirrors Moshe’s humility then how the mystical texts remake this image as Hashem making Himself small and the hassidic master’s appropriation of this idea in reflecting the “smallness” of Torah itself.

The Mishkan, Sacred Space, and Access Codes

We explore the last verse of the book of Exodus where the pillar of cloud returns finally to the Mishkan after having been absent ever since the Golden Calf episode. Why was Moshe Rabeinu denied access when the cloud was present and how do we resolve the conflicting verses? The midrash reveals the anxiety of the nation when the pillar of fire surrounded the tabernacle at night forcing us to reflect on the dual nature of day/night, cloud/fire conscious light and unconscious darkness and how we ne...

Blaming the Riff Raff ἐπίμικτος

We explore the meaning of the hapax “Erev Rav” as well as the term Asafsuf..in Num 11:4 through the eyes of Midrash and Zohar and how the term has been used through the ages for those Jews wo do not conform to the normative values. Including the conversos arriving in Palestine in the 1600’s, the Frankist/contra talmudists against their orthodox neighbors in Wojsławice, Poland and as recent as Haredi gedolim in Israel calling chilonim …." Erev rav”. We end with the deep insight of the Tshuos Chen...

Moshe's Grandchildren: Apostasy and PTSD

In this podcast, we explore the midrashic narratives that attempt to grapple with the absence of any mention of Moshe’s descendants as opposed to his brother Aharon. (Num 3). We then recount the horrific midrashim regarding the use of newborn babies as quotas of bricks in building materials in Egypt. God tells Moshe (Yalkut 243) "its just as well since they are all wicked" and if he likes he can remove one and see what happens. This little one turns out to be Micah who ends up hiring a “Levite” ...

The Trauma of Theophany: Moshe vs. Yisro's Theology

Our podcast struggles with the absence of Moshe Rabbeinu at Yisro’s feast upon becoming a GER. Was this a piety as our commentators suggest (waiting on their table like Abraham) or does his absence reflect a deep difference in approach to Jewish Law and Revelation. (He fails to mention Yisro once in Devorim when discussing the very same laws). I submit that Yisro’s turn to Judaism was based on his “hearing” the story of all the wondrous deeds by Hashem, and comparing it to all the other religion...

The Bones of Joseph: Skeletal Traces

The tomb of Joseph, David Roberts 1839 In this podcast below I review the midrashic problems regarding the three citations of Yosef’s bones in Gen 50, Ex 13, and Joshua 24, almost framing the history of Israel from Exodus to conquest. Then we explore the archetypal psychology (C G Jung) to expose the inner dimensions of the paradox of Joseph’s bones being laid in an aron alongside the aron of the brit during the entire wilderness journey. In what way can we approach the image of the skeletal rem...

Moshe's Speech Impediment as Protest

From Preface to Night by Elie Wiesel 2006 The argument Moshe uses is a Kal Vachomer as well as a matter of speech impediment. We explore the difference and possible similarities in the eye of the Rophschitser Rebbe (Zera Kosdesh) and the Shem MiShmuel.

Jacob's Secret Message on his Deathbed

JACOB BLESSING HIS SONS. Jacob's twelve sons gathered to hear their father's prophecies regarding each of them and to receive his blessing (Genesis 49). Woodcut from the Cologne Bible, 1478-1480. Gen 49:1 In the last scene on Jacob's deathbed, surrounded by his children, he has a prophetic moment when he desires to tell them the (acharit yamim) end days. In the next verse (Gen 49:2) however, he launches into the blessings for each tribe. What happened between these two verses? Why did he not rev...

Benjamin's Tears

We complete the series on the tears of the Patriarchs with Jospeh’s final meeting with Benjamin. We investigate the “vale of tears” ( in hac lacrimarum to borrow from our neighbor religion) that extends from the biblical narrative through the rabbinic imaginative midrash to Song of Songs (the temple as the neck of Israel) and subsequent Hurban, down to the Piacetzna’s lcarimosal final parting words before deportation from the Warsaw Ghetto. for further reading on Benjamin see: https://static1.sq...

Joseph's Chiastic Tears: The Framing of Reconciliation

In our third in a series of "Tears of the Patriarchs" we examine the seven scenes where Joseph weeps in the last few chapters of Genesis. We use the literary chiastic analysis to reveal the moment of deep awareness of his wound and its catharsis. We compare the analysis of Harav Aharon Lichtenstein (z’l) with scholar Aviva Zornberg in exposing a spiritual roadmap we too can participate in in our healing. Supplementary Text...

Esau's Lovebite

Codex Leningrad 1008 We explore the orthography of Gen 33:4 (those pesty dots over the word "and he kissed him") and the history of interpretation of the strange puncta extraordinaria either as an ancient "nota bene" begging for a reverse meaning or an actual cancellation of the word due to scribale error. Both the Rabbis and Origen! struggle to decide betwween the two choices, whereas more mystically inclined readers demand we hold the paradox of both (Shelah and Shem Mishmuel). Culturally it a...

Jacob's Tears

Dante's Vision of Rachel and Leah 1855 Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828-1882 Bequeathed by Beresford Rimington Heaton 1940 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/N05228 The stories of Genesis reveal the underlying hand of Providence that insists (tragically) on the bloodlines over human emotions and relationships. In the tears of Jacob we sense the intimations he already senses for the temporality of his love for Rachel as we also see in Dante’s love of Beatrice (and his eventual realization that this leads...

Esau's Tears

The Image of Esau crying when he discovers the blessing was stolen has repercussions for the descendants of Jacob. The Midrash and Zohar track the grief he suffered through the three tears he shed and their effect on Jewish suffering.

Mamre the Man, the Place, the Legend

The Constantinian church at Mamre appears on the Madaba Map (right margin, adjacent to the modern pillar) Mamre is the site where Abraham pitched the tents for his camp, built an altar ( Genesis 13:18 ), and was brought divine tidings, in the guise of three angels, of Sarah 's pregnancy ( Genesis 18:1-15 ). The Oak of Mamre is possibly a Terebinth ( Pistacia terebinthus) and its location near to Hebron (off limits to Israelis since the Oslo Accords). Genesis 13:18 has Abraham settling by 'the gr...

Abraham's Journey: Transformation of Guilt into Unconditional Love

In this mediation on the space between Now ch and Lech Lecha we are provided midrashically with the first of the ten trials of Abraham. This unacknowledged trial in the listing in Mishnah Avot is however mention in Pirke DeReb Eliezer. We struggle with the evolution of the trials from the first in Nimrod’s fire to the tenth, the fire on the altar with isaac bound. Is it possible to plot a trajectory of the backstory (emerging from the fire, brother burned in the same fire) and its resultant feel...

Meir Yechiel's Bris

Genesis: The Generations of Mankind

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