#dvar

[y-0-sha]

sketchy fan-art-"poster"/album's cover for Dvar band yuipeee yuipeee 🖤

[tomwaitslinks]

Dvar!

Dvar covered The Fly ["Zvuuv"] by Caprice.

Caprice recorded We Are All Faeries by Tori Amos.

Tori Amos recorded Time by Tom Waits.

[spacereptilesareyourfriend]

[karjalantroll]

[clownycorpse]

they are the silliest

[sophieakatz]

Thursday Thoughts: Structure, Flexibility, and Torah

(I wrote this d’var for tomorrow’s Shabbat evening services. Turns out I won’t be leading services tomorrow after all - so I’m sharing it here instead!)

I love being a Jew. I see it as an active thing – BEING a Jew. Living a Jewish life, making Jewish choices, taking part in our rich, meaningful traditions and fulfilling the mitzvot of the Torah.

However, if I said that I was living a Jewish life in every possible way – making all Jewish choices, taking part in all our traditions, and fulfilling all mitzvot – that would be a lie.

Those of you who come to Shabbat services regularly on Friday nights know that you will nearly always find me here, now. However, if you also come on Saturday morning, then you know that you will almost never find me there, then. I bake challah, but I do not light Shabbat candles. I take time off from my day job on Jewish holidays when I can, but I’m not always able to. I eat kosher foods, but I do not have kosher dishes, since I share my kitchen with three people who do not keep kosher.

I do what I can. Sometimes, I feel like I’m not doing enough.

It’s easy to imagine that G-d might also think that I’m not doing enough. After all, there are 613 mitzvot in the Torah. If your boss gave you an employee handbook with 613 rules for employee conduct, then you would assume that this is a strict boss with a very structured work environment, someone who wants you to obey their instructions without fail or flexibility.

But this week’s parsha makes it clear that “obey without fail or flexibility” is not an entirely accurate description of G-d’s expectations for Jewish people.

This week we read Parshat Vayikra – the beginning of the book of Leviticus. Incidentally, Leviticus has 243 of the 613 mitzvot – more than any other book in the Torah.

(If you’re curious, second place goes to Deuteronomy at 203 mitzvot, Exodus comes in third at 109, Numbers is fourth at 56, and Genesis has only two.)

So, Leviticus is the Big Book of Rules, right? In Vayikra, the start of this book, there are a lot of rules about making offerings at the temple. These are sin offerings. A person would admit wrongdoing and atone for their sin by making the offering. In Leviticus chapter 5 verse 6, the Torah explains, “he shall bring his guilt offering to the Lord for his sin which he had committed, a female from the flock, either a sheep or a goat, for a sin offering.”

But it doesn’t end there. The next verse, verse 7, reads “But if he cannot afford a sheep, he shall bring as his guilt offering for that [sin] that he had committed, two turtle doves or two young doves before the Lord.”

And then if we jump ahead a couple verses, to verse 11, the Torah reads, “But if he cannot afford two turtle doves or two young doves, then he shall bring as his sacrifice for his sin one tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering.”

(An ephah is a unit of measurement here, and according to Google, it’s about the size of a bushel. So you would bring a tenth of a bushel of flour. I’m not sure exactly how big that is, but it doesn’t sound like much. Certainly it sounds less than a whole sheep.)

So – the commandment here, the mitzvah, is to make a sin offering. And through the Torah, G-d gives specific instructions about what to bring and what to do with it – you bring a sheep, and this is how you kill it. It’s a structure for atonement. But the Torah also provides exceptions or alternate options for this sin offering. If you can’t bring a sheep, bring two doves, and if you can’t bring two doves, bring some flour. The Torah provides structure, and it also provides different structures depending on your individual means.

In doing so, the Torah takes a behavior that could be very limited – something that only rich people could do, the people who could afford to give up an animal because they had plenty more to eat or breed – and turns it into something that anyone could do, within their means, in the way that works best for them. It’s flexible. It’s also encouraging in a way – having these different options for how to participate in the mitzvah makes the whole idea of making sin offerings feel more accessible for anyone.

And this ties in well with how I see and experience Judaism. It’s accessible for all of us. Yes, there’s structure. Judaism includes instructions for every part of our lives. And like I said before, it’s an active thing. I don’t think that you can really BE a Jew if you aren’t doing ANYTHING that’s Jewish.

But you don’t need to do EVERYTHING.

You don’t need to obey EVERY commandment in exactly the same way as everyone else in order to live a Jewish life, make Jewish choices, and participate in the Jewish community. G-d empowers all of us to show up when we can, and how we can, in the way that works best for us, to create a meaningful life as Jews. For me, tonight, that means standing up here in front of you, delivering this d’var. Last week, it meant sitting in the back row with my friends, and next week, it will mean traveling home to spend Passover with my family. And every week, every day, we get to make those Jewish choices, to create our Jewish life. Shabbat shalom.

[oskar-rimanetz]

My video On Yule Day and before Christmas... Video O.R Track unknown author Art from AI

[evilautist]

actually criminal that so few people listen to dvar and mr kindhoover

[magnetothemagnificent]

A cool Dvar Torah I read:

Parshat HaChodesh, the New Moon, and Eclipses!

This Shabbat we read a special section from the Torah called Parshat Hachodesh. It is the story of the Mitzvah of Rosh Chodesh, that we track, observe and celebrate the new moon each and every month. Since the day that G-d commanded Moshe regarding this Mitzvah, two weeks before the grand Exodus from Egyptian slavery, we have kept a close eye on the moon, looking out for that celestial monthly moment of rebirth that G-d showed Moshe that early evening in Egypt. In the Torah, our holidays - Passover, Sukkot, Yom Kippur etc. - are prescribed to happen on a certain day following the new moon: "the fifteenth day after the new moon", "the tenth day after the new moon" and so on. Meaning, that if we wish to celebrate these festivals, we need to keep track of the lunar cycle, even if no one else on Earth gives it a second thought. Along the way, the Jewish people have come to identify with the moon. We can empathize with the moon's ups and downs, so similar to our own history. One moment we're shining bright, the next moment we're so oppressed and persecuted that casual observers have often written us off, predicting our extinction, G-d forbid. And yet the next moment, to their disbelief, we're back, reborn out of the darkness, and growing stronger every day. It's notable that G-d interrupted the flow of events leading up to the Exodus to tell Moshe about Rosh Chodesh. Not only because it seems to be unrelated to what was happening then, but also because by giving that Mitzvah right then, it meant that it would given in Egypt, the darkest spiritual locale in the world. G-d could have waited a couple of weeks until we were out of that spiritual wasteland and told us about Rosh Chodesh in the desert. Why the rush? * Everyone's talking about the eclipse happening Monday afternoon - The Great North American Eclipse. It's a major event that will have millions of people looking up to the Heavens, an event that will not happen again in the USA until 2044. Now, solar eclipses only happen around the new moon. Monday night and Tuesday, Jews will observe Rosh Chodesh. And not just any Rosh Chodesh, but the annual Rosh Chodesh of all Rosh Chodeshes - the first Rosh Chodesh of the year. This means that Monday is the day before rebirth, the day when the moon is at its very lowest, darkest point, the moment that symbolizes the most difficult, challenging times of the Jewish People. And so it turns out that precisely in its smallest, weakest moment, the moon looms largest: it can even eclipse the mighty light of the sun. Is this not our story exactly? Is this not precisely why G-d told this to Moshe in Egypt, in our place of misery and suffering? During the last new moon of our centuries-long sojourn in Egypt, G-d shows Moshe the truth about the miracle of Jewish rebirth and eternity. In the place of our pain, before the redemption, in the midst of the uncertainty, G-d stops everything and tells us to look up at the moon, see our story in the moon's story, and discover in the moon a solid friend, an eternal gentle reminder that it will be okay, that no matter what, Am Yisrael Chai forever. And better yet, as Monday's eclipse shows, our darkest moments are when we shine brightest and loom largest, as we begin the great turnaround, the journey from darkness to light. This Monday will be the 3,336th anniversary of the day G-d showed Moshe the moon. How perfect. During these painful days of antisemitism, the sun, 400 times bigger than the moon, is eclipsed by it. Far from tottering or faltering, the Jewish People are stronger than ever. Precisely when casual observers report us missing, that's when we shine. L'Chaim, brothers and sisters. Our best days lay just ahead. So in the words of the Lecha Dodi which we'll all be singing in just a few hours: "Wake up, wake up! Your light is coming, rise and shine! Time to wake up and say your song, because G-d's glory is revealed upon you."

by Rabbi Eli Friedman, Chabad Calabasas CA

[thornescratch]

don't worry though—much as wes may be a tom wilson fan, she's still a daddy's girl 💕

(from the same roadtrip ama)

Awwww. I love this. He's such a Girl Dad.

(I'm still regularly tickled by the fact he made her a book to explain where he was whenever he needs to travel for games.)

[hauntedppgpaints]

could i interest you in claude + coyote? (it's about the mischief. to me)

animals moodboards // not accepting

[puckpocketed]

i have no idea what's happening (i know nothing about ty or ceci or anyoneelse involved), but it's very clear to me that you and the girlies (gn) are the only ones Enjoying Hockey Correctly 💕

ough thabnk u!! though i think there's no right or wrong way to be a fan as long as everyones having a good time <3

as for what's going on. um.

1) marc-édouard vlasic (pickles) is sorta like our resident cody ceci in that he's seen as a bit of a disaster and catches a lot of friendly fire for it (he used to be really good... ouhh... the passage of time.... and honestly he wasn't even the worst dman we put on the ice this past season LOL) anyway we cherish him dearly for his bitchy auras and divorcee swag!!

2) and uh last season on account of all our guys getting disease of bonebroken we stapled William Eklund to Luke Kunin, i think just so we had two lines that wouldn't get completely smoked (they still got smoked). kunin is analytically Fucking Terrible and watching him play is Also Terrible BUT management love him bc he brings the ""intangibles"" and fights a lot and fun trivia for people who didnt watch sharks games: somehow he was always where one of our d-men should've been when we inevitably gave up a rush chance........hes defending women (goalies) in stem (net) . WE love him because sometimes hockey aint about silly things such as scoring goals... backchecking effectively... not losing your man in dzone coverage... sometimes its about being a personality hire and glue-guy <3 (also hes married to Sophia Shaver, hence: goonwag) because wekky was forced to play w him on a line we think of him like the training wheels for every prospect now....macklin celebrini are u ready for ur leg weights....

and its like HOW can we make this trade as funny as possible? we r puttign these guys in situations.. proposed outcomes so far: ceci-pickles shambling corpse senior dog pairing or make ceci our d-man equivalent of luke kunin and pair him with one of our youth.

[toxic-sugar-piie]

I made a reference for a friend who was going to make a Frisbee PlushToy. She didn't play the game, but she really liked the character (for the most part, my environment seems to me, even my mother liked his design very much. everyone loves him very much). Returning to the topic, she would like to sew a Frisbee and I will also have to make some efforts to support her idea.

In addition, I drew a small picture inspired by "Dvar" music. I remembered that this particular band also has some association with bees and biblical themes (if I'm not mistaken), and their music can be described as something strange and unusual to listen to. Everything that I could relate to the idea of Frisbee. There were also rumors about this band that if you listen to a certain track troubles in life will begin, this myth was in the noughties and people were incredibly afraid to listen to this music in principle.

Only 2020-2021 years, people found this lost media and Dvar started playing with new colors again

I really like Dvar, despite the fact that many people may consider me strange, but I see this as a wonderful combination of sound instruments. The vocals are still the strangest part of this band, as they speak their own made-up language, but still.

[wanderingmadscientist]

In honor of today being the day the End of Evangelion was released, I am sharing a source sheet I made for a dvar torah about evangelion.