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Rabbi Blum and I have been sitting together talking about the power of the Torah and about Jesus's Jewish context . In this video, the two of us talk about other aspects of our shared scriptures and how Christians

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may in some ways be misreading the law. Listen . Now, as we learn from Rabbi Blum, how we can better understand these rich ancient texts. So I mentioned uh Amy Gil Levine's work and she's

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been influential in my own learning processes. And uh one of the things that she's contributed uh in the Jewish annotated New Testament, um which is a great resource again for, for preachers and churches uh that

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talks about different elements within The New Testament, written by Jewish scholars to try to give some context. But she has an essay in the back um called , you know, bearing false witness, you know

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. So what are the things that Christians need to avoid when preaching uh from the New Testament? Uh And one of the things that she lifts up is the ways that Christians misread the law. So in

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the New Testament, there's a lot that talks about the law kind of being the, the bad guy to the spirit being the good guy and Jesus coming to uh relieve the burden of the law on,

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on, on believers. Um But Amy Gil Levine talks about how Jesus actually makes it harder in some ways. She, you know, and uh you have heard that it's not OK to murder. Uh

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But Jesus says, don't be angry, you know , don't, don't commit adultery. Jesus says, don't even have lust in your heart. Uh So in some ways, Jesus is strengthening and making more

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strenuous, uh some of these elements of the law . Um but uh to help us get a better idea of what even the law is. I'd love to hear from your perspective. Um What, what

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kind of joy is there. Uh Because I, I feel that this is uh a message that I get when I'm here in the sanctuary and, and when I'm with you, that the law is not

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something that's onerous, but is something that actually uh that we can delight in. So, uh I love for you to just share a little bit more about what the law means to you for sure.

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And I thank you for the opportunity to respond. Uh The law is not some sort of, you know, super power that we have to sort of , you know, deal with or think about,

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but it is a, an abiding relationship that we have with how we look at the world and the law as it were, is just a smaller context of larger things. Uh The word in Hebrew is

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Halacha, which literally is, is translated as the law, but it literally means walking together to walk . So there's an evolution, there is a way of when you walk with someone, you might notice

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certain things, you might uh recognize other things. But there's other aspects of Judaism that are embedded in our understanding of things as well. The stories that we tell each other, the community aspects that we

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show up for each other and those things are very , very important. So the law is just part of a larger context of what and how we regard each other. Uh There are ways to do things

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and then there are traditions that are held between two people or be in communities, you and I might have a particular way that we relate to each other and then you may relate to someone else in a

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different way just based on your relationship with them. Uh There's a saying and it's maybe funny, maybe not, but it's sort of true that if you have two Jewish people in a room, you have

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three opinions. So it's not that there's this mono thematic understanding of this is what it says and this is what the book says. And if you don't do it this way, it's gonna be uh there's

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, you know, to say we're both uh people of faith, there's gonna be hell to pay. It's no it's nothing like that. Right. But the idea is that here is how you live a

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noble, upright, moral, connected life filled with blessing. And there's a lot of room to ask questions. There's a lot of room to say, well, wait a minute, my community has to

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contend with these particular issues or uh there's an emergency or how do I work with certain things? So to put guard rails or to put suggestions, if you will to put prompts in how to live allows

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us to not to submit in a way that we don't have a mind of our own. But rather to allow that to help inform the very important conversations and the very important relationships we have with each other

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. Um And to allow us to live lives of well being that responds to actually what we're doing. So we're not dusting off an old tome of, of literature and saying, well, they did it

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that way 2000 years ago, we're gonna do it that way. But rather what are the wisdoms that we can receive from our SAGES and our ancients? And how can we apply that in the world that

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we live in in order to help us live the most, the life that is most flourishing and thriving ? Hm It's beautiful. Another question uh comes from the references in the New Testament to someone being unclean

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. Uh and Amy Gil Levine lifts up uh how um Christians make a big deal about uncleanliness and people being ostracized for it or marginalized for being unclean. And instead she says that no, actually everybody was

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unclean at one point or another. Jesus was unclean from time to time. Uh that this is something uh that was come in and uh people weren't marginalized because of it. And there were proper ways of

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, of, of becoming ritually clean again. Uh And that Jesus was uh ritually clean. He would do these things in order to go to the temple uh where he he often uh went. Uh And

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so I would love to hear um kind of your take on, on, on purity laws or you know, your understanding of what those were uh or are uh and, and why they're why they were

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important, what, what function they serve. One of the most curious comments I get uh from my community is in our weekly study of Torah. They're like, why do we have to study Leviticus?

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Like, oh my God, Leviticus, right? And we have been immersed in Leviticus uh verse by verse, thinking about it for a number of months . And the Leviticus also has another name, it's

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called either the holiness code or the priestly book. So if you are learning a specialization, if you were a priest whose job was to be, let's say uh a conduit or a vessel for the people

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to have their own direct communication with God, I think you, you know, that is a very important responsibility, just like in Leviticus. It's not about being clean or unclean or exiled from the camp

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. This was a form of medicine, this was a form of taking care of the community. This is a form as we have seen. Unfortunately, what happens when epidemics and pandemics spread, we have

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to find ways and there's no claim that this was that faith is gonna conquer all. The idea is that faith coupled with common sense are ways that we can actually help each other survive and live. So

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, on one hand, it's an instruction to the priests to say, how do you protect your community . And on the other hand, it was saying when you go serve the community, just like you'd

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wanna go to a restaurant and have a server with clean hands or a food handler with maybe gloves on that somebody who's helping you have an experience that is memorable and important. They should take pains to protect

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themselves in order to help you as well. So this is not about anything other than I take my relationship in encountering God seriously. And if I have somebody who's helping me with that, they take me

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seriously and allowing that moment to be a moment of that, that is safe and allows us to uh to live and to have the most important and special relationship that we can have in order to have a

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thriving community that reminds me of uh situations in the New Testament where people cared for the bodies of the dead and you know, caring for a dead body was something that would make you unclean and you would

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have to do things that were appropriate to preserve your health and the health of your community when you return to them. Um But it doesn't mean you don't take care of the dead. You still need to

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take care of, of, of these loved ones that you've lost. Uh And I think that that speaks beautifully talking about like going to a restaurant and expecting your servers to have clean hands. Um There

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being things that are just common sense practices that also relate to how we are serving out in the community and how we care for one another. Uh I think that, and there's a spiritual dimension, let's

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say of, of uh caring for one's dead, but there's a very physical one as well. There's a respect to give to that body of honoring it and, and helping it return to dust and,

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and, and to God and that's another conversation. But there's a, there's a very physical act that if you leave um a dead body out in the public or in a place, it can, it

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can um it can cause health hazards as well. So all of that is operable at the same time , respect to the to the dead body, the spiritual aspect of saying thank you and also protecting your

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community from anything that might result. It's beautiful. Thank you. Another question that I had um had to do with Sabbath. And I know that's a phrase that's used to describe Saturday also your Sabbath service

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. Um But it's also part of the, the text that you read from the uh from, from the, the creation story. Um I love to hear what Sabbath means to you and uh what kind

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of vision that can be shared about Sabbath with, with Christians. I think Sabbath is integral in an integral part of what the world is and how the world is built. Uh for those of folks who

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are musicians or even sports fans, I guess, depending on who's watching or is, you can't have a match or you can't have a piece of music without rests, you can't, you, you're not

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gonna play a whole four quarters of football without a half time or without time outs. So to me to be able to make a time out, to take a break is not only spiritually healthy and physically

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healthy for us, it actually taps us into how the world actually works. I think if it's, if a Sabbath is embedded in the world and whether it's, you know, hibernation pattern of, of

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a bear or the cycles of the seasons, the opportunity that we have to be more gentle to ourselves and to the world gives us uh more capacity for dreaming and for wonder and for uh the ability to

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meet people without feeling that we're falling perpetually behind. It's a really important aspect, Sabbath is to give us uh a sense to rejuvenate and to give our land a sense of rejuvenation as well. So it's

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something that affects ourselves, our communities, but also the world we live in, in very profound ways . Can I ask you personally? What do you do? What, what do you do on Sabbath

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besides leading worship services? One of my busiest weeks , our busiest days of the week. Um It's uh I, I do lead services in the Jewish calendar. We start in at sundown. So our

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Sabbath ethic actually begins on Friday night and we have a ser service for that. And then through Saturday , generally, we start early in the morning about 830 I usually finish around 130 or two. So

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it's a long day. Uh And but then I try to recoup and I'm not ashamed to say I take a nap. Um I'll try to read, I'll try to be quiet. I'll try to be

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outdoors when I can. And I think it's an important aspect of, of uh just taking a deep breath collectively and how one can do that. There's a phrase in Hebrew that's called, we are to

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have on Shabbat and on is delight or to find a way of delighting. And even if there's something pressing that needs to happen to have the discipline to not address it until the Sabbath is over can be

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incredibly freeing. So no social media, no phone and trying to keep transactions uh and, and, and co commerce to a, to a bare bare minimum. So being with friends, being in conversation

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, sitting around a table without screens, um catching up on what one needs to take care of oneself . All of that to me are essential Sabbath practices . And I hear you're a musician. What,

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what instrument do you play? And uh how does music fit into your Sabbath? Uh I, I guess I most commonly at this point sing, uh I was trained on classical piano and jazz, saxophone

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. Um, music is very, very important because to me, music uh can be enjoyed and you don't have to sort of, well, what do they mean? What, what, what are they

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saying when they're speaking words or I don't understand the word or I don't, I don't understand the language . Music can just be received. And there's a tremendous beauty of not only singing in a congregation but

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singing in a circle, a small circle of people who are uh boldly harmonizing and trying and, and it just opens up as uh various aspects of who we are, which don't necessarily get opened based on

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the clutter of what we need to do every day just to keep our head afloat. So, uh music to me is a, is a uh empathic practice. It's a healing practice and it's something that

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try to do both when I'm wor in worship and the prayer service, but also around tables when, when I'm not. Thank you so much for your time. I wish you could sing us out.

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Um And uh uh I'll, I'll picture you uh chanting from the Torah as we, as we conclude because that was so beautiful. I really appreciate you . Um sharing your gifts with us. Thank you

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for your curiosity and for your ability to make this project come to life. So, thank you.