Every week I aspire to go through the reading for that week. Often this ends up occurring on Shabbat, as this is the day I spend in the space of the Divine. However, more times than not, I end up breaking a Shabbat mitzah and use the computer to read and/or dig deeper into the meanings of the parasha. I struggled with this, and would like to rise to the place where I will always complete my task before the Shabbat and then be able to maintain my purity during the Shabbat by not using these electronic devices. The Halachic sage in me argues that many good Jews drive to Shul on Shabbat, following the dictum that it is accepted to break a lessor mitzvah to attain a greater one, and being at Shul and participating in the Shabbat with the community is a greater mitzvah than that which we break by driving in our cars.

Every so often, upon reading a parasha, I receive inspiration, and questions about some of the things that are written, the words that are used, and the what is really meant by those words. Sometimes the parasha speaks to me, sometimes it doesn’t.