Friday, January 31, 2014

Terumah, Napoleon & Stein

This can be such a challenging parshah with all the details, details which often repeat, about the Tabernacle.  But what if we thought of it like this quote from Gertrude Stein's famous poem about Picasso, If I Told Him:

"If I told him would he like it. Would he like it if I told him. 
Would he like it would Napoleon would Napoleon would would he like it. 
If Napoleon if I told him if I told him if Napoleon. Would he like it if I told him if I told him if Napoleon. Would he like it..." 


I've heard a recording of Stein reading it and it "works" even better as the word, the sounds, do something to you beyond just their usual ability to convey meaning.

Maybe there is something to reading these "repetitive" sections of the Torah not like instructions for a model kit but as - poetry.

Come to shul tomorrow morning and hear more about where that might lead us.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Benson


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