Rabbi Cat’s musings on Parsha Shemini

Rabbi Cat’s musings on Parsha Shemini

This week’s parsha, Shemini, tells the story of Aaron’s sons offering a stranger fire to the Divine and the Divine consuming them in the fire.  What? Aaron’s sons are ordained as priests and then God consumes them in fire right in front of Aaron and Moses? How...
TEN COMMITMENTS

TEN COMMITMENTS

1. YHVH, the Power of Transformation and Healing, is the Ultimate Reality of the Universe and the Source of Transcendent Unity Aware of the suffering caused by not acknowledging the ultimate Unity of All Being, I vow to recognize every human being as a manifestation...
Practice of Shabbat

Practice of Shabbat

Shabbat is the celebration of two monumental aspects of human life: The creation of the universe. Our liberation as a people from Egypt–and the resulting message that the world can be liberated from all forms of oppression. Yet the celebration is more than just...
Shabbat

Shabbat

Shabbat (the Sabbath) is not simply about going to synagogue. It is a 25-hour spiritual, meditative, psychological, and intellectual process which involves a withdrawal from the normal consciousness of domination and control over time and space. On Shabbat, we enter...
God

God

If you have read any of the “New Atheist” authors, you probably know that they effectively poke fun at concepts of God that have flourished in many religious communities for thousands of years, and are sometimes reflected even in some of the Jewish prayers for...