Shoftim (Judges) D’varim (Deut) 16-21
Torah Portion: Shoftim (Judges) D’varim (Deut) 16-21
Haftorah Reading: Isaiah 51:12-53:12
This Torah portion holds a special place in my memory. I know I have told you before but bear with me while I share with you what causes me to remember this portion each year.
In September 1996, during the week leading up to this Torah portion, I was sitting at my desk in a school where I worked in downtown Jerusalem. The school occupied the second and third floor of a building. A little past noon I was on my way down the stairs to go to the dorm to check on some needed repairs when the secretary called me back upstairs to answer a phone call. Just as I sat down to take the call there was an enormous explosion that shook the building, blowing out windows. I sat stunned for a second. Then realizing what had occurred I ran down the stairs to a scene from a horror movie. Three terrorists had blown themselves up. I believe 10 people died in the explosion, mainly children who had come downtown to buy school supplies. Each year as I read this portion about the man found dead in the field I remember that day.
Shoftim (Judges) Deut. D’varim 16-21
Torah Portion: Shoftim (Judges) D’varim(Deut.) 16:18-21:9
Haftorah Reading: Isaiah 51:12-52:12
Tonight we read a Torah portion filled with many different commandments and situations. I want us to take a few minutes and see what we might discern from several of these verses. I also want us to remember these scriptures form the foundation to what we read in the New Testament and should give us a deeper, more complete understanding of what we read there. My goal as a teacher is to always better equip each of us to grow deeper in our faith as G-d’s grafted in ones.