Parshat Vayeira

The famous story of Lot, Avraham’s nephew takes place in this week’s Parsha. Threatened by the evil people of Sodom, Lot tries to appease them, but it only serves to stoke their anger. This incident takes place right after Avraham welcomes the three angels to his tent and offers a stark contrast between Avraham’s hospitality and generosity to the Sodomites barbaric cruelty.

Rav Kook has a beautiful vort on the salt of Sodom. He points out the Talmud’s connecting of Sodom and the ritual to wash one’s hands at meals. Washing hands before eating is a is a D’Rabanan mitzvah “similar to partial immersion in a mikveh (ritual bath).”

Mayim Achronim (washing before bentching) however in Talmud Chulin is for the purpose of removing the salt of Sodom that can blind the eyes. Rav Kook explains that the people of Sodom had a single-minded obsession with their physical self-gratification, to the point that there was no energy left over for kindness.

There is a certain danger in any meal we eat, in the sense that the physical pleasure we attain increases the “value we assign to such activities, and decreases the importance of spiritual activities.” Washing before eating is a reminder of the Kohanim eating from the Trumah and elevates the act of eating and it imbues it with holiness. To negate the physicality of eating we ritually cleanse after the meal to wash away the salt of Sodom,

…the residue of selfish preoccupation in sensual pleasures. This dangerous salt, which can blind our eyes to the needs of others, is rendered harmless through the purifying ritual of mayim acharonim.

This week’s recipes are salt-oriented.

First is Delish Fish.

(Bereishit 19:26) And his wife looked from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

This fish is sooooo good. It’s adapted from a recipe from Food.com.

Salt and Vinegar Potato Chip Fish

• 1 lb sole filets
• 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• mayonnaise
• coarsely crushed salt and vinegar potato chips

Directions:

• Arrange fish on pan. (Either line with parchment paper or spray with Pam.)
• Spread thin layer of mayonnaise on top of each filet.
• Cover with crushed chips, pushed into mayo.
• Bake at 400 degrees until fish flakes with a fork.

Recipe #2: Sweet baked potatoes with basil salt.

Sweet Potatoes with Basil Salt

• 3 sweet potatoes, cut into fry shapes
• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped basil leaves (fresh)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

• Toss the sweet potatoes with oil and place on foil-lined baking sheet.
• Bake approximately 45 minutes at 400 degrees.
• After baking potatoes, remove from oven and toss with basil, salt and pepper.

B’tayavon and have a great Shabbos.

 

Parshat Shemini – April 21, 2012

UPDATE: I’m back! I hope anyone reading this had a wonderful and meaningful Pesach.

In VaYikra (Leviticus) 10:1-2 Aaron’s two sons, Nadav and Avihu take their incense vessels to make an unsolicited offering of Ketoret – incense.

[They] each took his pan, put fire in them, and placed incense upon it, and they brought before the Lord foreign fire, which He had not commanded them. And fire went forth from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.

According to Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsh, this incident highlights the balance between freedom and structure in the Torah.

No place is allowed in the whole service of the offerings of the Sanctuary of the Torah for subjectively doing just what you think right. Even the free-will offerings have to be kept meticulously within the limits of the forms and kinds prescribed for them. For the proximity of and getting near to God, which is the purpose of every offering, is only to be found by the way of obedience, by compliance with God’s Will and subordination to it. The Jew, with his offering, wishes to place himself in the service of God; by his offering he wishes to make himself subservient to the wishes of his God. So that all offerings are formulae of the demands of God, which the bringer, by his offering, undertakes to make the normal routine for his future life. So that self- devised offerings would be a killing of just those very truths which our offerings are meant to impress upon the bringers, would be placing a pedestal on which to glorify one’s own ideas, where a throne was meant to be built for obedience, and obedience only.

According to Rav Hirsch, these deaths that occur in the first days of the consecration of the Mishkan serves as a warning for future Kohanim (priests). The Mishkan is not a place of subjective actions and independent deeds. It is a place to fulfill the word of God. Certainly when we looked at Korban Todah, God has given us the physical parameters and tools to express our emotions.

This recalls a wonderful statement by the late (1907-1963) Irish poet Louis MacNeice:

Freedom is getting into things, not out of them.

If you’ve ever played a musical instrument, or studied art, than you know that the endless drills, exercises and practices, are the building blocks for those soaring moments of expression.

When Moshe says to Aaron, This is what the Lord spoke, [when He said], ‘I will be sanctified through those near to Me, and before all the people I will be glorified in the next pasuk, Aaron is silent. Aaron is rewarded by receiving Nevuah (prophecy) directly instead of through Moshe.

Silence is an important factor in comforting the mourning. We don’t speak to the mourner until they address us first. We follow their conversation. I was at a Shiva a few months ago. Our friend Annie who is French Moroccan was mourning the passing of her father. I learned something that I had never known. Many Sephardim do not eat meat during the Shiva – they only eat fish.

Here is a fish recipe – inspired by ‘Spanish Moroccan Fish’ from Allrecipes.

Moroccan Fish

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 – 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 2 tomatoes, chopped,
• 6 mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 cup sliced olives
• bunch of cilantro or parsley, chopped
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 teaspoon hot chili sauce (or to taste)
• salt or soy sauce to taste
• 1 lb sole filets

Directions

1. In a saucepan, saute onions and garlic until golden. Add remaining vegetables and cook until soft. .
2. Add parsley, paprika, cumin, cayenne, and soy sauce to vegetables and stir. Place fish on top of the vegetables and add water to cover vegetables. Reduce heat, cover, and cook for half an hour.
3. Serve with couscous or rice.

B’tayavon and have a great Shabbos!

There is only one word to describe blogging about this week’s Parsha…

PESACH!?!?!?!

I have my recipe for this week’s Parsha. It’s not really related to the special readings for Passover, but it’s definitely Kosher L’Pesach. If I’m efficient I’ll turn my kitchen over tonight and tomorrow I’ll start cooking for Yontiff. But I’ll take a little break to research and write up a Dvar Torah, I’ll cook the recipe, I’ll take photographs, I’ll blog…

Okay, give me a second to slow down my heart rate.

I’m taking a cleansing breath now.

I’m counting to four and breathing out slowly.

Okay. Now I can talk again. Now I’m going to tell you a little story. It probably happened this past Rosh Hashana. I was at the supermarket looking at these gorgeous peppers and thought to myself – why don’t I make stuffed peppers? The problem is that I’d never made stuffed peppers before. A nice looking lady was walking by and I stopped her.

“Excuse me,” I said. “Do you know how to make stuffed peppers?”

“Why yes,” she said with a smile. She had a slight French accent and I’m assuming she was Sephardi, although there was nothing exotic about these ingredients. She told me how simple it was and gave me instructions. I promptly purchased the ingredients, went home, and cooked up three pans of yummy stuffed peppers.

When Rosh Hashana rolled around, I served them to a table-full of our dear friends. The peppers were delicious and since none of us tend to cook that dish, it was a bit of a treat. What’s the recipe they said?

“I don’t know,” I said. Sadly, I’ll never find that recipe again. You see there was never a real recipe. But more than that, I had virtually no memory of how I had made them. In the hustle and bustle of preparing for Rosh Hashana, it was just one of many dishes I cooked up. I’m never going to find that lovely lady again, I don’t even remember what she looks like.

So why do I tell you this story? Because at the supermarket a few days ago, a woman behind me at the checkout had a food item that I had never cooked before.

“What are you doing with that,” I asked. She happily gave me complete instructions on what to use and how to prepare it. Of course I didn’t write it down, but you knew that by now, right? By the time I cook it tomorrow it’ll probably morph into something completely different, because after all I’ve got Pesach-Brain right now, but I’ll experiment and play with it and hopefully it’ll be tasty.

Please do not fear seeing me at the supermarket – I don’t accost everybody.