pohaikawahine
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well we are starting the parshas of Leviticus which should be fun because both Bandit and I have our copies of Mary Douglas's book "Leviticus as Literature" which helps us look at the actual structure of the book itself. In my copy of the Five Books of Moses with commentary by Robert Alter, he introduces Leviticus with comments that refernce Mary Douglas and I'll also be using the JPS Hebrew-English TANAKH....bandit sent me a note that he'll be pretty busy with spring and summer activities and will not be able to visit the thread as often as he would like, so I'll try to keep up with the Parshas even if they are not as complete as I would like and won't always have that great perspective of bandit .... and of course anyone else that wants to start a parsha or just add thoughts we all hope to see this grow in perspective .... Dauer's ideas on an interfaith parsha are reflected in one of the introductory threads and are still the basis for this dialogue even though it has boiled down to bandit and I lately ....
on another thread someone posted a piece on David and Goliath and said that David picked five stones from a stream (these five stones represented the 5 Books of Moses or the Torah) and chose one that he placed in his slingshot which hit Goliath in the middle of the forehead, the location of the third eye .... the place of seeing .... and I was thinking which of the five books helps us to open the third eye ??.... the place of seeing and knowing .... the place of revelations and visions .... maybe it is all five books together and perhaps it is the oral Torah .... the concept of parshas or cycling through the entire Torah on a regular cyclical basis keeps taking us a little deeper and deeper into the meanings as we age and hopefully grow with wisdom .... we each offer a piece of the knowledge and together we can all see a little better, see a little farther, become a little more knowing .... so let's continue .......
I read a reference about the name of this parsha Va-Yikra which means "to call" in Hebrew .... according to Rabbi Noson Weisz in his deeper insight on the weekly parsha (with a philosophical and kabbalistic perspective) "if you read the text in the original Hebrew you can see that the world is written with a midget sized aleph. This lends the word a surface resemblance to a different Hebrew word - vayikor, which means 'to chance upon'. "
Va-Yikra starts with "and He called to Moses and the Lord spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting" .... then we start with offerings (burnt offerings) animals, birds, grains etc with details on how the offering is to be prepared in such as way as to offer "a fragrant order to the Lord". ...
Leviticus 3 has a section related to instructions regarding the fat or suet that covers the innards and is on the innards including the kidneys and the lobs on the liver which Mary Douglas speaks to in her book .... she sees a system that corresponds the part of the animal corresponding to the tripartite structure of the Tabernacle - the Holy of Holies, sanctuary and outer court - Mount Sinai as it is represented in Exodus- the summit, the middle perimeter of dense cloud (this is the suet area) (restructed to Aaron, his sons and the seventy elders) and the foot of the mountain ...
I personally see all of it also describing the human body and the brain, the tripartite structure of the brain and its limbic system .... this is where I started with this thread, the stone of David that hit Goliath in the middle of the forehead .... awakening the third eye, also known as the pineal gland or the ephiphisis (that place that we meet g-d face-to-face) ....
I have another thought on Leviticus, but I don't know if it will pan out until I read further .... the concept of what one can eat and not eat, wear and not wear .... etc.... corresponds closely to the concept of what fish, animal, plants are protected by different clans in other culture when members of the clan are prohibited from killing or eating certain species (also a great form of preservation of the species) .... these kapu's (forbidden activities) are so strong that I have know of elders who got deathly sick when some of the younger members of their families don't respect this 'kapu' and have eaten certain fish that are 'kapu' to their clan .... likewise I have a "shark belt" given to me by a member of a "shark clan" from the Marshall Islands and this clan protects the shark and is protected in return .... although others have seen this as forms of worshipping idols, in reality it is an ancient practice of preservation ....
the symbol of the pig is also interesting and the whole concept of eating or not eating pork .... the head of the wild pig resembles the shape of the mountain top (as seen from a distance) and each part of the head is connected with a space on the mountain .... the summit in hawaiian would represent the "forest of the gods" or "wao akua" .... a wild place seldom accessed by man .... what does all of this mean .... to reach the summit of the mountain one must be highly spiritual and live a balanced life (be 'pono') .... in some pacific cultures the head of the pig is highly prized and given to the high chief or the chief that represents the top of the seven elders .... so I am entering Leviticus trying my best to see beyond the words and the details of ritual .... he hawai'i au, poh
on another thread someone posted a piece on David and Goliath and said that David picked five stones from a stream (these five stones represented the 5 Books of Moses or the Torah) and chose one that he placed in his slingshot which hit Goliath in the middle of the forehead, the location of the third eye .... the place of seeing .... and I was thinking which of the five books helps us to open the third eye ??.... the place of seeing and knowing .... the place of revelations and visions .... maybe it is all five books together and perhaps it is the oral Torah .... the concept of parshas or cycling through the entire Torah on a regular cyclical basis keeps taking us a little deeper and deeper into the meanings as we age and hopefully grow with wisdom .... we each offer a piece of the knowledge and together we can all see a little better, see a little farther, become a little more knowing .... so let's continue .......
I read a reference about the name of this parsha Va-Yikra which means "to call" in Hebrew .... according to Rabbi Noson Weisz in his deeper insight on the weekly parsha (with a philosophical and kabbalistic perspective) "if you read the text in the original Hebrew you can see that the world is written with a midget sized aleph. This lends the word a surface resemblance to a different Hebrew word - vayikor, which means 'to chance upon'. "
Va-Yikra starts with "and He called to Moses and the Lord spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting" .... then we start with offerings (burnt offerings) animals, birds, grains etc with details on how the offering is to be prepared in such as way as to offer "a fragrant order to the Lord". ...
Leviticus 3 has a section related to instructions regarding the fat or suet that covers the innards and is on the innards including the kidneys and the lobs on the liver which Mary Douglas speaks to in her book .... she sees a system that corresponds the part of the animal corresponding to the tripartite structure of the Tabernacle - the Holy of Holies, sanctuary and outer court - Mount Sinai as it is represented in Exodus- the summit, the middle perimeter of dense cloud (this is the suet area) (restructed to Aaron, his sons and the seventy elders) and the foot of the mountain ...
I personally see all of it also describing the human body and the brain, the tripartite structure of the brain and its limbic system .... this is where I started with this thread, the stone of David that hit Goliath in the middle of the forehead .... awakening the third eye, also known as the pineal gland or the ephiphisis (that place that we meet g-d face-to-face) ....
I have another thought on Leviticus, but I don't know if it will pan out until I read further .... the concept of what one can eat and not eat, wear and not wear .... etc.... corresponds closely to the concept of what fish, animal, plants are protected by different clans in other culture when members of the clan are prohibited from killing or eating certain species (also a great form of preservation of the species) .... these kapu's (forbidden activities) are so strong that I have know of elders who got deathly sick when some of the younger members of their families don't respect this 'kapu' and have eaten certain fish that are 'kapu' to their clan .... likewise I have a "shark belt" given to me by a member of a "shark clan" from the Marshall Islands and this clan protects the shark and is protected in return .... although others have seen this as forms of worshipping idols, in reality it is an ancient practice of preservation ....
the symbol of the pig is also interesting and the whole concept of eating or not eating pork .... the head of the wild pig resembles the shape of the mountain top (as seen from a distance) and each part of the head is connected with a space on the mountain .... the summit in hawaiian would represent the "forest of the gods" or "wao akua" .... a wild place seldom accessed by man .... what does all of this mean .... to reach the summit of the mountain one must be highly spiritual and live a balanced life (be 'pono') .... in some pacific cultures the head of the pig is highly prized and given to the high chief or the chief that represents the top of the seven elders .... so I am entering Leviticus trying my best to see beyond the words and the details of ritual .... he hawai'i au, poh
