The Edible Torah

As mentioned last week, in honor of Passover we are taking a break from the Leviticus cycle to jump forward in Torah. This week, our first stop is Numbers 28, where we read about more sacrifices (oh, THAT’S different from what we’ve been reading in Leviticus. Sigh. Haven’t we suffered enough already?).

…and onward to Deuteronomy 15, where, like looking into a mirror, we read about the holiday of Passover (along with the other 2 of the “Shalosh Regalim”, or in-gethering festivals).

So, limited only by your creativity and the category of food which you have been assigned, please bring food that is “dayenu” (enough).

From a food perspective, Passover is of course all about avoiding chametz – or wheat products that have risen, either due to agents like yeast or just from time and interaction with natural bacteria.

The idea of bread rising relates directly to that of being puffed up or prideful.

SO… limited only by your creativity and the category of food which you will be assigned when you let us know you can join us, please bring a food which is not proud. The rest, like Torah itself, is yours to interperet.

Courtesy of Julie Seltzer and MyJewishLearning.com

This weeks’ portion begins saying “This is the Ritual (Tzav) of burnt offering.”. However, various interpretations give the meaning of tzav as “commandment”, “law” or even “Torah”.

One commentator explains that the word “Torah” does not always apply to the 5 books of Moses. It can mean the 5 books plus Talmud. Or all the official holy books together (Torah, Prophets, Writings, etc). Then there’s “the Torah of Solomon” (all the teachings of Solomon). Some people go so far as to say that any wise thing said by any Jew anywhere is part of the Spoken Torah – that we are constantly contributing to an ever growing body of knowledge and learning.

SO, limited only by your creativity and the category of food assigned, please bring a food which appears prominently in your Torah – your personal collection body of knowledge and teaching.

Courtesy of Julie Seltzer and MyJewishLearning.com

Fasten your seatbelts, keep your hands completely inside the ride, hold onto your hats and small children. We are about to begin the gripping, chilling, heart pumping action of Leviticus.

Or not.

Yeah, I definitely may be off on that one.

The fact is that splattering blood is chilling in a Hitchcock movie, but somehow it loses it’s gruesome appeal when it’s done by a priest wearing a bath towel around his head and jingle-bells on his pastel-colored robes, and the victim is a defenseless pigeon. Actually, I think that’s a “Far Side” I saw once.

Depending on your guilt (it’s always about guilt, isn’t it?) you can bring goats, sheep, birds (anybody have a copy of Tom Leherer’s “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park”?) or flour (“meal”). The interesting thing is that the flour has to be pure – without leaven. Chametz, the word for leven with which we’ll become constipatingly familiar in a few weeks can also mean “sour”. And the idea was that the leaven soured the offering.

Therefore, limited only by your creativity and the category of food assigned, please bring something which is either pure (unsoured) *OR* something which requires an ingredient which has soured.

Courtesy of Julie Seltzer and MyJewishLearning.com

I had a hard time gathering my wits this week, and couldn’t bring myself to construct an artistic summary of the portion. No matter how hard I hammered the block of wood I call a brain, I couldn’t weave together anything that would mirror my thoughts. I’d sit at my desk for hours, fingers tented and looking for some kind of hook. My ideas seemed to hover just out of reach, cloudy and insubstantial. In the end, I had to pray for everyone to redeem my lack of worth.

Oh wait, I think I *did* just summarize the parsha. Although you may have to read the portion to see how.

But never the less: Limited only by your creativity and the category of food assigned, please bring a food which is assembled.

Not sure what this Torah portion is about? You can find a brief summary in The Edible Torah’s “Condensed Guide to the Weekly Torah Readings”. For more information on what The Edible Torah is all about, along with insight on how to set up a pot-luck Shabbat experience, check out “The Edible Torah”.