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Torah: The
Mirror on the Wall
B'haalotecha
by Rabbi Shohama Wiener
"Mirror,
mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?" That
famous line from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" spins
through my mind. The wicked queen had a daily practice, a meditative
practice you might say. Each day she peered into her magic mirror to see
how she was doing in life.
It has been half
a century, maybe more, since I first heard those words, but they made a
big impression on me. I wished I could have such a mirror that
would help me see beyond myself. Not a mirror to use for evil, l’havdil
(totally the opposite), but for good things.
When I
re-encountered Torah as a mature woman, it became for me that amazing
mirror on the wall. It became the text I peer into to see how my mind,
heart and soul are doing, to see what subtle struggles are simmering
beneath the surface of my consciousness.
I
have a ritual when I read Torah as a mirror. First I say the brachah,
the "blessing" for the reading of Torah. "Baruch Atah
Adonai, Eloheynu Melech HaOlam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav
v’tzivanu la’asok b’divrei Torah. Blessed are You, Divine
Guide of the Universe, who makes us holy through Your mitzvot and
commands us to involve ourselves with the words of Torah."
It is my way of asking the Divine for a message, a teaching just for me.
Then I meditate
for a few minutes. When I open the pages of Torah for the weekly
reading, I am confident that a personal message will appear.
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Numbers
8: 23-26
YHWH spoke to Moses, saying: This
is what (is to be done) regarding the Levites: from the age of five and
twenty years and upward, they are to enter the working-force, to
join-the-force in the serving-tasks of the Tent of Appointment; and from
the age of fifty years, they are to retire from being-on-the-force for
the serving-tasks, and shall not serve anymore. They may attend upon
their brothers in the Tent of Appointment, to keep the maintenance-duty,
but serving-tasks they are not to serve.
Translation by Everett Fox
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