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Musical NotesJuly 2003From the Desk of Marjorie HochbergIn Tucson, summertime is quiet time. As the summer temperatures top 100 degrees, winter visitors and University students migrate back to the temperate zone in Seattle, Toronto or Maine. In the heat of the afternoon, the calls of cicadas rise and fall in a continuous arc of sound so loud it can drown out a lawnmower. Local citizens and animals find protective cover indoors in air conditioning, our outdoors in protective shade. Traffic diminishes, it is possible to find parking right by the University of Arizona campus, and ice cream merchants enjoy the most ice cream-friendly time of year. For us, summer is a slow, almost dreamy time, but in the cycle of Torah reading, it is anything but. In the Hebrew month of Sivan, we begin the Book of Numbers/Bemidbar, and by Tammuz (July this year) we are well into the narrative, where the only thing rising faster than the mercury is the tempers of the children of Israel in the desert. Murmuring and muttering, gossip, and rage lead to one disaster after another for the Israelites. From Korach's rebellion against the authority of Moses and Aaron to the mysterious story of Balaam, the non-Jewish seer who prophet who is hired to curse the Israelites but blesses them instead, to Pinchas' handling of an inappropriate "adult relationship," the book of Bemidbar is filled with conflict, jealousy and violence. If it were faithfully recreated in film, it would get the same rating as "The Matrix Reloaded." If the last time you thought about studying Torah was your 6th grade Sunday School class, and if the pressures of work, school, the kids' sports schedule, etc, have prevented you from taking advantage of Temple Emanu-El's stellar adult education program, summertime is a great time to turn that around. Take time to put the greatest classic of Jewish literature on your summer reading list! Every Shabbat morning at 8:30 am, the Temple offers an outstanding Torah Study class that is open to the whole community and is FREE. Shabbat Services, including the weekly Torah reading and a brief Torah discussion follow at 10 am. For those interested in a more intensive and directed study of the history, language and themes of Torah, Rabbi Freelund is teaching a five-week class beginning July 1st on the Five Books of Moses. This class examines each of the five books-- Genesis/Beresheet thru Deuteronomy/Devarim-- in turn, and where applicable, compares the Biblical narrative to other Near Eastern Literature. |
