This is a wonderful post on a famous and much misunderstood Torah portion.
Torah from Around the World
Published by The World Union for Progressive Judaism
July 2, 2015 / 15 Tammuz 5775
By: Rabbi Stephen Lewis Fuchs, Former World Union president, author of What’s in It for Me? Finding Ourselves in Biblical Narratives, and Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Beth Israel, West Hartford, CT, USA. He can be reached at sl.fuchs@comcast.net, and his website.
So many times, I have heard rabbis or Cantors announce, “We begin our service with Mah Tovu!” And then the rabbi, Cantor, choir and congregation or some combination of those resources begin to sing: “How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel!“ (Numbers 24:5)
As thinking Jews, and especially as Progressive Jews, we should not be content to simply intone our prayers mindlessly.
We will enrich ourselves and our worship if we make the effort to understand what they mean, what their literary-historical context is…
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What a wonderful commentary by Rabbi Fuchs! I even sent it on to several family members for them to enjoy as well. Mah Tovu has always been the way I have enjoyed opening my mind and heart to prayers, and now after reading this it has given me more to be joyful about when I am in prayer.
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Browse Rabbi Fuch’s blog for more such pieces, or buy his book. There are many such excellent pieces.
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