Same old. Same old?

One of the things that non-observant people complain about with regards to the Torah is that it is very repetitive. This week's parasha is a fine example. Not only have we already heard practically everything in it, but even within the parasha itself there are phrases that keep repeating themselves. When you visit Israel, you get a better appreciation for the patience of the Israelites who had to hear everything over and over again while standing outdoors, in the desert sun and desert heat, with no air conditioning, no electricity and no running water. Let me tell you, people, this place is hot! Miserably so. And to add insult to injury, every Israeli I met said the same thing "this is the coolest July we have had in years"

So I think about my poor ancestors, who had to listen to the whole book of D'varim in this heat (and I'm sure the Amonites and Moabites and Edomites made them miserable by claiming "Oh, this is nothing; wait until August and you'll see real heat".) For many years, Moshe was teaching the same things, using practically the same words. Now, instead of getting on with it, he is repeating everything. In the same words. Again.

We camped at lake Kinneret this week. I can't remember a time I was more uncomfortable. The heat, the dirt, the little rocks that get inside your clothes (no, this is not a typo), the big rocks that trip you when you seek some relief in the lake, the bugs (oy, the bugs), the humidity, the bathrooms (there's a joke) that were so far away, I had to plan each trip ahead of time. You name it, I suffered through it.

But when I got up (at 5AM, of course, who can sleep in that humidity), the lake stretched out in front of me, grayish blue and shrouded in mists. And the sun, just peeking over the Golan Heights, colored the mountains in the palest of pinks. And I swam far into the lake and floated on my back, alone with the sky and the mountains and the water and the quiet and G-d. Prayers take on a whole different meaning when they burst out of you spontaneously at the sight of His beautiful creation. 

The night before, Kinneret was a black sea, with diamonds and rubies glittering all around the shores, like a precious necklace around a beautiful woman's neck. When we first arrived, in the afternoon, it was a storming sea, pale green and wavy, with just a touch of white foam at the top of each wave.

The next day, once the sun was up, the lake was as smooth as a mirror, light blue and refreshing, and just before we left the waves started once again.

As the song says: "I will look at you again and again, Kinneret; You have a thousand different faces from morning till nighttime."  


Our sages say that the Torah has 70 "faces". I'm sure they meant "Many facets." (The number 70 is too small to be real. Probably the Gazillion of its time.) That's why it repeats everything endlessly. Because the more you read, the more you find out different things. And they are different if you read them in the morning (i.e. as a child) or in the evening (old age). There are even differences in what you see when you read Torah in a happy mood or a gloomy one. If you're sick or healthy. If you read alone or with someone else. It's always different. Like Kinneret. 

It's good to take something that we're sure we already know 'by heart' and find a new 'face' in it. A new way to look at it, a new twist. In a paraphrase on the famous saying about stepping twice into the same river, you cannot read the same verse twice. While the verse is 'the same', you are not. And that makes all the difference.

A quirky twist on chicken

This happened because I chopped some onion for the chicken and then realized it would interfere with the baby potatoes (remember them? I use them all the time; I love them) that I planned to place under the chicken. I also had a quarter of a red bell pepper in the fridge that did not look as if it will be used anytime soon. And I chopped up way to much rosemary for the potatoes. I could not just scatter the stuff over the chicken because then it will slide off and desecrate the potatoes (horrified gasp!) so I came up with a different way to utilize it.


3 chicken thighs and 3 drumsticks (bone-in, skin-on!!)
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 red bell pepper, chopped
1 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped (or 1/4 tsp, dry, crumbled)
Seasoning for the chicken (your choice: salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder,cumin, whatever your family likes)


Carefully push the skin away from the flesh of the chicken pieces, creating space between them, trying to keep the skin intact as much as possible.
Mix together onion, bell pepper and rosemary. 
Stuff a small amount of the vegetable mix under the skin of each piece of chicken. This can be a bit tricky, especially with the drumsticks. Do the best you can and know that it will not be perfect. The idea is to insert some veggies under the skin and to try and keep as much of it as possible in place.
Place the chicken in a roasting pan (I lined mine with baby potatoes, oiled generously with olive oil and sprinkled with coarse salt and rosemary, but you don't have to. Just oil the pan first.) 
Season the chicken to your liking (you can brush each piece with olive oil first, if you wish.)
Bake at 425F until juices run clear, about an hour. 
The veggies cook gently and make nice mini 'side dish' when you serve the chicken.

Serves 4



Homework: Whatever it is in your life that does not touch you any longer (person, place, activity), try to look at it from a different angle. Change the place, the time or the mood you approach it with. You may find a new 'face' you didn't even suspect was there. My secular Israeli friends and relatives: You can even try it with the Torah. It's not a-l-l just boring repetitions of random threats upon your 'freedom'.