Jewish Musings Tuesday, February 20

[hollygail]

What’s on your mind — how to make kugel? This week’s Torah reading? Life goals? Prayer? We are all engaged in weight loss/weight maintenance journeys and we are all Jewish or at least interested in Judaism. We like to eat, we like to discuss. It is our goal here to provide each other support on our journeys, to share experiences, to call on our rich cultural heritage and texts, and to help each other grow spiritually.

Some of us take weekly turns starting the thread:

Frieda (hopefully)?
Holly
Lee
Louise
Lynne
Peachy

And for those of you who stop by to read this thread without posting — you are welcome to, but you are also welcome to chime in. Don’t be shy!

[hollygail]

More from this week's Torah portion, Tetzaveh.

Jewish ritual grows and changes, but it always keeps pieces of the past. The priestly garments have never disappeared. They appear in slightly different form as the “clothing” that is found on Torah scrolls. Even the Torah crowns and the bells that adorn them remind us of the garments of the priests.

From the past, what reminders do you see around you / your life? How have things changed and how have they remained the same (or at least similar)?

One thing I've noticed has to do with names. Jews have had "last names" for about 200 years; prior to that, your name was your first (and maybe your middle) name, "son/daughter" of, and then your father's first (and maybe middle) name. Maimonides (the RaMBaM) was (Rav) Moshe ben Maimon, for example. These days, the only times I'm called by my Hebrew (okay, in my case, Yiddish) first and middle names, daughter of both of my parents using their Hebrew and Yiddish names, are when I'm called up to Torah for an aliyah. Both a change and a similarity (that is, the addition of my mother's name as well as the fact that women are now offered Torah honors).

[lee058]

Good morning everybody. Hope you are all well and SAFE! Please pray for Israel.

Re today's topic: My parents changed their last name to a non-Jewish one because of being tired of dealing with anti-Semitism. My DH's family converted to Judaism, so we have a non-Jewish surname. I have a Hebrew first name as well as my English one, but no one ever calls me by it.

Have a peaceful day, Lee

[gazelle18]

Often I will read that in Jewish observance “we no longer do that because the Temple was destroyed.” I not too knowledgeable about this stuff, but I seem to remember that we no longer have “priests” hanging around receiving sacrifices etc. because we no longer have the Temple. But many shuls still hand out aliyot according to whether a person is a Kohen, or a Levi, etc. Is this a remnant of ancient times?

[louise]

I never thou ght about the torah taking on the dress & ornaments of the priests! Love that idea. When we restored our building we made the inside of our ark. Definietely a throwback that was mentioned last week (that the ark should be overlayed in gold inside and outside). I recently "bought" myself a necklace - or maybe I should say traded it - from the sale of my mother's jewelry that was no longer wanted. Somehow this feels on point - a way of bringing things of hers along with me.