Rabbi Natasha Mann

This D'var Torah was given to Herzl-Ner Tamid Synagogue, WA, for Parashat Vayishla h 5778 by Rabbinic Intern Natasha Mann. Walk Down the Mountain I have a friend called Valentine. Valentine is two years old, and is currently in the ‘why’ phase. Perhaps you are familiar with the ‘why’ phase. I, however, have had very few two-year-old friends, and I happen to be a student rabbi, so naturally, I thought that I could answer each ‘why’ with something thought-provoking, inspiring, and educational. I was very wrong about that. I started out strong, but after an hour or so of every answer bringing only a new ‘why’, I decided to try a new tactic. Val said ‘ why is it night-time’, and I said, ‘What do you think?’   This is, of course, when the conversation fell apart. Because Valentine said: ‘Because it is!’ ‘Because it is’. ‘Because it is’ was a perfectly satisfactory answer to Val. But what happened inside me was sort of unexpected. Something in my mind railed against ‘because i

This short D'var Torah was given to Herzl-Ner Tamid Synagogue, WA, for Parashat Toldot 5778 by Rabbinic Intern Natasha Mann. The Zero Sum Game I have a question for you. I won’t ask you to put your hands up, because it’s not exactly a fair question, but just by a count of smiles and nodding heads – how many of you have found yourself thinking something along the lines of: ‘ oh my goodness, I’m turning into my mother/father’ ? And for how many of you was the behaviour in question something you once found not-so-favourable about your parent? We learn an awful lot from our parents, and it’s often things that they did not exactly intend to teach us. One of the weird and wonderful things about the Torah’s story of our ancestors   is that it does not shy away from this. Over the last few weeks, we’ve been reading about the life and times of Avraham Avinu, our father Avraham. And among the more controversial of Avraham’s decisions is that he agrees to keep one child, Yitz h ak, t

This kavannah was given to Herzl-Ner Tamid Synagogue, WA, during the Shabbat of Parashat Toldot by Rabbinic Intern Natasha Mann. Eitz H ayyim Hi/Lo BaShamayim Hi ‘Eitz h ayyim hi l’ma h azikim bah, v’tom h eha m’ushar.’ She is a tree of life to those who hold fast to her, and all of her supporters are happy. It’s a phrase that we know well. We’ll sing it a little later, when we put the Torah scroll back into the ark. Sometimes we also sing it when we wrap the scroll after the Torah is read. Even the wooden poles of the Torah scroll are called the ‘atzei h ayyim’ – the trees of life. ‘Eitz h ayyim hi’ is obviously referring to the Torah. Except… actually, it turns out that it’s not that simple. In that prayer for putting the Torah back in the ark   comes an interesting liturgical sleight-of-hand. See, the prayer is made up of verses from different biblical books, and just before ‘eitz h ayyim hi’ in the prayer, we have this verse: ‘Ki leka h tov natati lakhem, torati al-ta’a