In Parshat Behar, there is a beautiful little section which teaches us the laws of interest-free loans. We are told (Vayikra, 35; 35-38) that if your brother is experiencing financial difficulties, you must support him by giving him an interest-free loan. This law is applicable for people who are born Jewish, converts, and even non-Jewish living among us, who renounce idol worship. This is a really powerful idea: when we hear that one of our Fellow-citizens is having financial difficulties, we are told to extend him or her a free loan, in order to help him get back on his feet.

In this week's parsha, Emor, there is a difficult section: the laws forbidding priests with a "blemish" - מום - from serving in the temple. There is a list of these blemishes, and they include various types of disfigurement: blindness, broken bones, and other wounds and diseases. Many of us feel somewhat uncomfortable with this section, living, as we do, in a world which, thankfully, tries to see beyond people's handicaps and make it possible for them to participate fully in daily life.

Kedoshim is a remarkable parsha, containing a large amount of beautiful and important moral and ethical law. It begins with a verse which is quite inspiring, but so general that there is a good deal of dicussion about what it actually means: "And God said to Moshe, saying: Speak to the congregtion of the children of Israel and say to them: 'you shall be holy (קדושים תהיו), for I, the Lord your God, am holy.'" The exact contents of this exalted demand, to be holy as God is, are unclear. Rashi, from the midrash, says it is about being especially careful about sexual prohibitions.

As a Rabbi and educator, there is a question which I get asked, in various forms, all the time. It goes like this: It's one thing to believe in the Torah, which is the word of God. It's perfect, divine, absolute. It makes sense to be loyal to it. But the Rabbis are just people, flesh and blood. They make mistakes, have biases, human weaknesses, needs, and concerns. Why should we have to listen to what they tell us to do? Why do they have to be right all the time?

Parshat Tazria, which begins with the laws of the ritual impurity of a woman after giving birth, and goes on to discuss the ritual impurities connected to the skin disease tsara'at, presents us with some interesting problems. The very notion of a ritual dimension to natural bodily functions, or to disease, is somewhat problematic for us today. We tend to see things scientifically, medically. Modern medicine and technology have made childbirth, and disease, a lot less spooky and mysterious than they once were.

At the end of the Book of Exodus, Moshe and the Israelites have successfully constructed the Mishkan - the Tabernacle used in the desert - from which God will continue to speak to Moshe, as He did on Mount Sinai. This week, we begin the Book of Leviticus, Vayikra, and, as expected, God speaks to Moshe: ויקרא אל משה וידבר ה' אליו מאהל מועד לאמר - "And He called to Moshe, and God spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying..." The strange thing, of course, is the use of two phrases at the opening, God first calls Moshe, and then He speaks to him.

With parshat Pekudei, we complete both the Book of Exodus and the construction of the Mishkan, the portable Tabernacle which seved as the Israelite's temple in the desert. The climax of the parsha, and one of the high points in Moshe's role as the leader of the Isaelites, comes as all of the various elements of the Tabernacle are finally constructed, brought to Moshe, and the Mishkan is finally erected. The report of these final, climactic moments, is interesting, and, I believe, has much to tell us about leadership, service, and our obligation to change the world.

Parshat Ki Tisa continues the topic of the Mishkan, the tabernacle, the portable temple used by the Israelites in the desert, which we've been discussuing for the last few portions. After giving us the law of the half shekel, donated yearly to the temple by every Jew to pay for the communal sacrifices, the parsha goes on to talk about a number of items which are needed in the tabernacle; a sink, oil for annointing all the utensils and the priests, and incense to be burnt.