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The Essence of Jewish learning
Healing is generated from knowing who you are.
There is a hassidic story told about Reb Zusya of Hanipol. When asked by his students why his teachings were different than those of his master's, he replied, "when I reach the Gates of Heaven I will not be asked why I  haven't lived my life as Abraham or as Moses, but why I didn't live it as Reb Zusya".
Each and everyone of us has unique needs for spiritual learning. Rather that quoting what others have said in the past. This learning experience can help you, like Reb Zusya, to fulfill your own potentials for learning that's meaningful to you, and you alone.

Check out the new  Meditation On A Verse
Before clicking on to each weekly parasha, we recommend that you read through the portion in your own Chumash (The Five Books of Moses). It shouldn't take more than twenty minutes. In This Month in Torah, you will find a synopsis of the sedras and a series of related study questions. 

Other religions practice their own spiritual exercises--Sufi's whirl, Buddhists meditate and Hindus chant--but Jews study. Intense study, whether alone, with a partner or in a group, brings about a deep intellectual connection to God.

The Zohar, the unquestioned guide to Jewish mysticism, is organized as a running commentary to the Torah. One might go as far as to say that it's an interpretive Midrash on the Torah. Actually, the Zohar itself  suggests that man also is a Torah; and by using man as an analogy of the Torah, through analysis of the text, we can excavate our deep unconscious and uncover our psychic negativities. This process of bringing unconscious material to consciousness is essential for healing.
Zohar,V, p211

Torah is outside of ordinary space and time. Studying it, takes you to a place where you seem to lose track of time and seem to be somewhere else. In that "somewhere else" space, our minds are off of our problems and illnesses, the pain and the symptoms. Torah takes us to a far-off land of no time and no space where the rules of illness no longer apply; it's where we need to go to heal.


 
 
 
 
 

 

This Week in Torah
Study along with us each week.
This Week in Torah keeps you up-to-date with the current Torah portion. It focuses on key verses of each portion (sedra) and guides you through ideas that would be most personally meaningful to you. Like Reb Zusya, you can learn to fulfill your own potentials.

May  4,   2013  - Parashat Behar-Bechukotai
May  11, 2013  - Parashat Bamidbar
May  18,  2013 - Parashat Nasso
May 25,  2013 -  Parashat Beha'alotcha




JewishLink now offers an entire month's worth of Torah portions, in response to the many requests we received to provide more continuity to the weekly portions.

The Jewish prayer book lists the most important achievements a person can accomplish. The list includes acts of kindness, hospitality to guests, visiting the sick and concludes with "and the study of Torah is equivalent to them all".

Our Rabbis taught that deeper insight into both the Torah and our lives is possible from reading between the lines and connecting the spaces between the stories.

The pace and pressures of the work week often do not afford us the freedom to discuss personal or essential questions. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel calls Shabbat an "island of time", a detachment from things and practical affairs, as well as an attachment to spirit. Small talk and sluggish fatigue surround the Shabbat table, instead of engaging dialogue and revitalizing conversation. The questions in each weeks sedra is intended to serve as a springboard for personal inquiry and and meaningful Shabbat conversations.

We also suggest reading the article entitled "The Mystery of Torah"You can use this link as a basis for synagogue, havurah or home Torah discussion. Keeping notes of your responses to the questions would be helpful to monitor your progress.


 
        





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