D’Varim

Torah Comments for May 28 2022   Iyyaar 27, 5782
SHABBAT BEHUKKOTAV

            Here we are at the end of another book of the Torah.  This parasha is also know as the epilogue to the Holiness Code. It is the conclusion to what the priests and the people need to know – people have free will and are able to make mistakes or not as they choose. If they choose the correct path, they will be rewarded; if they choose the wrong one, they will be punished.

We begin with a blessing. Follow the Lord’s laws and He will grant rain in its season and the crops will multiply. The people will prosper in peace and security “I will rid the land of vicious beasts, and no sword will cross your land.” Sound familiar? The Lord will dwell among the people and the people will be His people. There are two possible interpretations of this section. One is that it is literal – God will physically reside with the people and see to their prosperity. This interpretation would be in line with the older strain of our traditions which envisions a physical presence for God and is reflected in the stories of the Patriarchs and the meetings that Moses has with God. The other interpretation is that this is a metaphorical concept. God’s physical presence will not be with us, but His spiritual presence and guidance will be there. This is a much later concept of God, although it is intertwined in places such as the story of the burning bush, with the original physical concept. As the people left slavery in Egypt, they required a physical concept of an all-powerful God since they had been raised in the community of many gods and statues and tributes to them. In future generations, that concept was no longer needed since the people had been weaned from the gods of Egypt and were enjoined from interacting with the gods of the Canaanites. Depending on your concept of God, you can go either way. I prefer the evolution of God into the metaphorical all-seeing, all-present, all-powerful being that exists on another plane than we do.

Since we are talking this week about free will, the next section of the parasha deals with what happens when we make the wrong choices. I used to tell our children as they were growing up that they could choose what to do in certain instances. If they chose well, we would follow their choice; otherwise, I would take the choice away. As they grew older, we let them learn that there were real consequences for them if they chose poorly. And that is just what we learn next. If we are going to make poor choices as a people, God “will wreak misery upon you – consumption and fever, which cause the eyes to pine and the body to languish…” The crops will not grow, foes will dominate. The consequences of disobedience continue to escalate through the passage from no produce ultimately to death for our sins. Eventually however, the people will see what they have done and repent. Then God will drive out the enemies of the people and the land will be restored. Note first the escalation of punishments. It is reminiscent of the Ten Plagues. Each plague built upon the previous ones and escalated the damage to the Egyptians. They did not learn their lesson and were devastated. Here however, the Torah tells us that the people will come to their senses before it is too late and will eventually be restored to prosperity. Interestingly, the curses recited here are fairly common in the surviving literature of other civilizations of the time such as the Akkadians and the Assyrians. The epilogue to the Holiness Code has ended and the people are reminded that these are the laws given to the Israelites through Moses. The blessing and curse theme will be repeated in Deuteronomy as Moses gives his last speeches to the people. It will be similar to what is found in this parasha. Some theorize that this section of the Torah was written at or about the time of the Babylonian Exile. Either it has themes from Jeremiah and Ezekiel or they took their themes from it. It does appear that the exhortations of blessings, curses, dispersion of the people and their redemption come from the prophets and that does provide the clue as to the time this was written.

Leviticus ends with the means of funding the maintenance of the sanctuary. Several means were identified. Votary offerings were given in silver for certain things – a vow to devote someone to the service of God was redeemed for a certain amount (Women only counted for half of men in value although this could have been a blessing and not an insult since women did rule the household). Some animals brought to the Temple were kept, most for sacrifice; others could be redeemed for their value plus 20%.  Property could be consecrated to the Lord and would be redeemable at its value plus 20%.  Tithes were redeemable at value plus 20%. The priests preferred the redemptions to obtain silver in order to pay for Temple expenses.  

Fittingly, the Haftorah comes from Jeremiah. Jeremiah has witnessed the destruction of the First Temple. He begins by calling the Lord his refuge in the time of desolation. He predicts that the heathens of the world will come to acknowledge their error and will recognize the Lord. Jeremiah recounts the sins of the people and the punishment of the Lord for them. “Cursed is the man who trusts in man … blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord.”  The Torah and the Haftorah parallel each other. We have free will and can choose good or evil. The consequences follow from our choices. So, choose wisely and live safely.

Torah Comments for May 21 2022   Iyyaar 20, 5782
SHABBAT BEHAR

We are nearing the end of Leviticus and the instructions continue. First, considering that the society of the time was going to shift from a nomadic shepherding life to a settled agricultural one, God instructs Moses on how to protect the land. The fields are to be left to rest every seven years. Seven is a popular number, based on Creation. Just as we rest every seventh day, the land will rest every seventh year. One can eat the produce that grows naturally but cannot plant in that year. We are nearing the end of Leviticus and the instructions continue. First, considering that the society of the time was going to shift from a nomadic shepherding life to a settled agricultural one, God instructs Moses on how to protect the land. The fields are to be left to rest every seven years. Seven is a popular number, based on Creation. Just as we rest every seventh day, the land will rest every seventh year. One can eat the produce that grows naturally but cannot plant in that year. Also, God promises that the yield in the sixth year will be sufficient to cover that year, the year of fallow land and the year of planting new crops. No one will starve in the land. This instruction was apparently carried out in Biblical times. It is reported that both the Greek and Roman administrations canceled the annual tribute due them in those years because there were no crops.  

We learn of the jubilee year, year 50, which is just like the seventh year. At that time, land reverts to its original owners. The Torah explains that sales prices will be based on the number of years to the jubilee. Pricing is determined as expected in an agrarian society by the number of harvests left and crops to be anticipated. A different set of rules applies to urban land. A home sold in a walled city can only be redeemed for one year after the sale, unlike agricultural land. Exceptions are made for homes in villages and for the homes of Levites which can be redeemed at any time. In theory, we could go back now and restore those lands that the Israelites held title to which are now in Palestinian hands. They would have to be paid for of course. This whole theory of perpetual redemption has been replaced in modern law by the theory of prescription. After a certain number of years, possession of land becomes permanent in most modern countries. These two contradictory concepts could fuel an interesting debate between the Palestinians and the Jews of Israel and Judea and Samaria. If perpetual redemption is recognized, the Jews should get back the land that the Palestinians inhabit. If there is a date by which redemption ceases, shouldn’t the Palestinians have no remaining claim on the lands that Israel has taken from them? 

The “slavery” of fellow Jews is discussed. Those Jews who had to sell themselves to pay debts were to be treated like laborers, not slaves, and would be freed in the jubilee year. They could be redeemed sooner at a price based on the value of a year’s service and the number of years remaining until the jubilee. Slavery is now approved. This is interesting because we were slaves in Egypt as God keeps reminding us, when telling us to respect strangers.  

The Torah ends with God’s reminder that we shall not make idols, erect carved pillars or stones to worship and shall keep the sabbath. 

Jeremiah relates a vision which occurred during the time that the king of Israel had imprisoned him for his preaching. The year was 587 BCE and the Babylonians had laid siege to Jerusalem. The vision involved an offer to purchase land which Jeremiah did. That land had been lost by his uncle and the purchase was to redeem it. Jeremiah did this as the city was under siege and about to be captured. Why, one wonders, would God do this? The answer is that it was a means of assuring the people that after they repented of their sins they would be restored to the land, and it would be theirs again. Jeremiah would live to see that restoration, which made the land purchase a practical as well as a religious imperative. Punishment was meted out for sin, but hope remained for a bright future. Historically, the future which was anticipated was most probably the restoration of the kingdom of Israel which occurred in the next generation, but one can also see it as being fulfilled by the establishment of the State of Israel. Israel today is greater, more prosperous and more independent than it had been for thousands of years. We can celebrate this modern fulfillment of the vision of Jeremiah and hope that it may continue for our future and that of our children and their children. Stay safe.  

Torah Comments for May 14 2022   Iyyaar 13, 5782
SHABBAT EMOR

Last week’s parasha began with the Lord instructing Moses to speak to the people about how they would become holy. This week, he is directed to speak to the priests about their obligations. At the time, the priests were limited to the family of Aaron, so their numbers were small. The restrictions were therefore only on a few people. Those restrictions included contact with the dead, whom they could marry, and so on. People with physical defects were prohibited from officiating as priests. This would maintain the purity of the sanctuary. Then there were prohibitions on the condition of the priests and their families as they ate the sacrifices provided to them. The sacrificial animals were also to be without blemish. This is reputed to be the cause of some Roman persecution of the Jews. A sacrifice from the Emperor that contained a blemish was alleged to have been rejected by the priests, thereby angering the Emperor with disastrous consequences. 

The parasha then goes on to remind the people of the Sabbath rest and Passover. Instructions are given to the people on the sacrifice of the first harvest and then the seven weeks thereafter for the next festival offering at Shavuot. Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur are described as Sukkot. 

Instructions are given to obtain special oil for the lamps which are to be kept burning from night to morning forever but not during the day. The weekly bread offering is described. 

We come to the famous penalty section. Blasphemy is to be a capital crime. Murder is to be a capital crime. Restitution is required for all other offenses and  

“One who kills a beast shall make restitution for it: life for life. If anyone maims his fellow, as he has done so shall it be done to him: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The injury he inflicted on another shall be inflicted on him… You shall have one standard for stranger and citizen alike: for I am the Lord your God.” 

Ezekiel prophecies that the Levitical priests, and only the Levitical priests, shall minister to God. They are to wear special garments when ministering to Him and to change clothes when they are finished. The restrictions from the parasha are repeated. Thus, the new sanctuary will be and remain pure. The vision goes on to indicate that it is the priests who will determine what is clean and what is unclean. They will be the ones who act as judges. They are not to receive land in Israel but are to live on the tithes and sacrifices. We see the relationship between the Torah and the Haftorah this week. There is also a relationship between them and us in our daily lives. We too need to remain clean and thus will follow the Lord’s commands correctly. Stay safe. 

Torah Comments for May 7, 2022   Iyyaar 6, 5782
SHABBAT HODESH

We continue with the holiness code. The parasha begins with “You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.” The following commands could be a second Ten Commandments with some additions – revere parents, keep the Sabbath, do not make idols, eat sacrifices of well-being on the first two days, leave the gleanings of the field for the poor, do not steal, cheat, commit perjury, rob, pay your laborers at the end of the day, do not insult the deaf or interfere with the blind, be fair in all judgments, do not hate kinsmen, do not bear a grudge. “Love your fellow as yourself…” Follow God’s laws. There are a number of other rules – do not pick fruit the first three years after planting a tree, the fourth year is for the Lord, do not eat blood, practice soothsaying, do not make any marks on your body, keep away from ghosts, treat strangers just like citizens, keep honest weights. 

The Torah now turns to specific rules and punishments for violations. Death is the penalty for human sacrifice, turning to ghosts and spirits, insulting parents, adultery, homosexuality, having sex with an animal. Certain prohibitions on who can have sexual relations with whom are spelled out.  

The Haftorah comes from one of the minor prophets, Amos. Amos is thought to have written around 750 BCE. Amos means “to carry” and that is what Amos did; he carried the word of God to the people. Amos was sent to the people about two years before a major earthquake to warn the people that they were being sinful and would pay the price. After the punishment which Amos predicts, “For I will give the order and shake the House of Israel – through all the nations – as one shakes [sand] in a sieve…” The earthquake comes, the people are brought low, but Amos tells them that they will be restored “nevermore to be uprooted from the soil I have given them.” 

While this Torah portion and the Haftorah are short, they bring to us a significant concept, one that has followed us as a people for millennia; holiness is distinct from others. The prohibitions are all meant to distinguish the people from those who surrounded them, both in the positive and negative obligations. The people as a whole are to be holy. As a whole they can accomplish the goal of bringing the world to God. We state this ideal today in tikkun olam. When every person acts to repair the world, we will succeed in doing so. The theme is that God, by His acts, exhibits holiness and that people will have a long road to achieve their own holiness. That holiness is a quality of life that knows no boundaries of religion or culture. As examples, a number of pagan holy sites continued to be holy to our people. Ultimately, the profane would come to worship God and universal holiness would be achieved.  

Child sacrifice, the cult of Molech, was prevalent in pagan society. The Torah outlawed it, but it was apparently carried out in Israelite communities, even as various kings of Israel attempted to stamp it out. We have dealt with child sacrifice in our past with the Akada. Abraham takes Isaac to sacrifice him to God, presumably because he believes God wants such a sacrifice. This is a major sacrifice, considering that the parents were 100 when Isaac was born and were clearly not going to have another child. Abraham’s perception proves to be wrong when God substitutes a ram for Isaac. This demonstrates the original prohibition of human sacrifice. It is followed in the Torah by the requirement of dedicating the first-born to God. The dedication is to God’s service, though, not by means of taking a life. We do find the later story of Jephthath, who pledged to sacrifice the first object that greeted him on his successful return home. He was met by his daughter and may well have sacrificed her. Happily, this doesn’t happen today. Stay safe. 

Torah Comments for April 30, 2022   Nisan 29, 5782
SHABBAT HODESH

            Acharei Mot. We read portions of this parasha this week and also on Yom Kippur. It is entirely appropriate to do this since the parasha deals with purification. Purification is what we finalize on Yom Kippur. We fast and pray and ask our fellow humans to forgive our sins. We ask God for the same thing.

            The predicate for this parasha is the death of Aaron’s two sons. They died because they offered what were not considered pure sacrifice to the Lord. This is the perfect opportunity for the Lord to explain what must be done for Him and to protect others from death in the performance of what they believe to be their religious duties. Purification begins with the Lord instructing Moses to tell the priests that they cannot come to the sanctuary, then the Tabernacle, at will and must first purify themselves with sacrifice, certain clothing and after cleansing themselves. We read the ceremony every year – the High Priest first prepares sacrifices for himself and his family. He then performs the ceremony of the scapegoat, sacrificing one and preparing the other to send off into the wilderness for Azazel. We do not know what or where Azazel is or was. It may have been a region or location in the wilderness. It may have been the name of the scapegoat – goat that goes to the wilderness. A more appropriate explanation may be that Azazel was a fallen angel or the demon that ruled in the wilderness. The last interpretation would seem to logically fit the wording of the ritual in the Torah. However, that would seem to mean that we were performing a sacrifice to a demon. A better explanation is that the sacrifices are made to the Lord and sending the sins of the people off to the wilderness as a part of the scapegoat is simply a means of walling them off from society. 

            After the scapegoat is sent off, the High Priest makes the sacrifice for himself and his family. He uses some of the blood from his sacrifice to begin the purification process for the Holy of Holies. He then performs the sacrifice for the people and completes the purification of the holy objects and locations. Once the sanctuary has been purified, the High Priest confesses the sins of Israel over the scapegoat. He then sends it off into the wilderness. Yom Kippur is now established forever.

            We begin what is known as the Holiness Code. The theme is that the entire people is collectively to achieve holiness through their actions – how to worship, specific blessings, duties and the calendar of holidays. We begin with the instruction that worship is to take place at the sanctuary. People are not to imbibe blood which is thought to be the carrier of life. Consuming it in a ritual or elsewhere would be a contradiction of the value of human life.

            The Holiness Code informs the people that “My rues alone shall you observe, and faithfully follow My laws: I am the Lord your God.” The Code discusses in detail the family and prohibitions on weakening the family structure. The immediate family is generally considered to be a man, his wives, the children, aunts and uncles. The determination of what constituted the immediate family also had consequences of who could marry whom and who could have sexual relations with whom. It prohibits human sacrifice. It is fascinating that the prohibitions on marriage, if instituted earlier, would have dramatically changed our history. After all, Sarah was Abraham’s half-sister and Jacob married sisters. The Holiness Code set up marriage as a sacred institution blessed by the Lord and separated the Israelites from the rest of the Biblical world by creating specific categories of separation of the family.

            We turn to Samuel for the Haftorah. It relates the story of Jonathan, the son of King Saul and David. David had killed Goliath. Saul was jealous and desired David’s death, but at first wanted the Philistines to be the ones to kill him. Jonathon was close to David. He devised a plan to warn David if he was not safe in the presence of Saul. The plan was successful, and David was saved. This is not the normally read Haftorah, but it comes at this time because the new month begins next week. However, we can all benefit from the lessons of both the Torah, become holy and lead a good life, and the Haftorah, do the right thing for your fellow humans. Stay safe.  

Torah Comments for April 23, 2022   Nisan 22, 5782
SHABBAT PESACH 2

            We’ve been jumping around for our Torah readings because of the holiday. Now, as we complete our observance of Passover, we jump to Devarim. Our discussion begins with the tithe. The Israelites had been farmers, either shepherds or crop farmers. Interestingly, tithes are prescribed in three separate places in the Torah. In Numbers, we have the tithe of produce. It is the first 10% of the harvest and goes to the Levites. They, in turn, give 10% of what they receive to the priests and the Levite tithe. Both here in Devarim and also in Leviticus, we read about the second tithe which is to be eaten by the tither. Then there is a third tithe in the third and sixth years of the seven-year cycle. It goes to the poor and the local Levites. None of the tithe rules refer to the other rules. This could get expensive, especially in the years of the tithes to the poor. Another question arises. Were the tithes mandatory or voluntary? Then comes the question of when they arose. We all know the theory that the entire Torah was written by Moses before his death. Under that theory, the three tithes were always there. Other theories posit that the Torah was really written in stages and that it was not put into its current form until the time of the Second Temple. That could make sense. We read that Abraham and Jacob gave voluntary tithes. Amos seems to indicate that there were voluntary tithes in the time of the First Temple. Historians believe that by the time of the Second Temple the tithes were mandatory.

            Here in Devarim we are ordered to set aside 10% of our produce, including newborn livestock. The purpose of this tithe is not to support the clergy. It is now used to solidify the relationship between the people and the clergy. This tithe is to be eaten in Jerusalem “so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God forever.” The people can convert their tithe into money if it is too far to drive the herd or carry the grain and then spend the money in Jerusalem “on anything you want,” including beer and wine. I expect a lot of wives would want to accompany their husbands on these trips as chaperones. The practical question remains, how could the people consume 10% of their harvest during a brief time in Jerusalem. In practical terms, there must have been some means of disposing of the excess, for instance, giving it to the poor or the Levites or the priests, but the Torah does not explain how the tithe was actually administered. The third tithe, the tithe for the poor, was actually a substitute for the second. In the two years of the third tithe, it was to be consumed by the local poor.

            What follows is a difficult set of rules for the remission of debts. They are to be forgiven every seventh year. While the remission of debts seems to be a universal requirement, the commentary indicates that it may only have been intended for debts incurred by the poor or by those who are insolvent. For instance, a farmer might have had no liquidity and may have needed a loan for seed. The commentators liken such loans to charity, which would make remission more logical. It was common practice in Biblical times for a ruler to grant a remission of debts upon his ascension to the throne. Sometimes, remissions were granted for political purposes, such as to buy the loyalty of subjects.

            There are remission rules in Exodus as well as here in Devarim. They differ in detail but do not conflict with each other. They may have worked in tandem, or one set may have supplanted the other. It may also be that the rules in Devarim are a supplement to those found in Exodus. However, there are also rules in Leviticus and they do conflict. Here, slaves are freed after six years of service or any sooner jubilee year. In Leviticus, it is only in the jubilee. Leviticus provides a formula for payment for early release which is based on the jubilee, which leads to the conclusion that most slaves were probably stuck until then. Commentators also believe that it is strange that Leviticus does not mention the prospect of remission of debts after seven years. However, they seem to subscribe to a theory that every time there is a mention of a subject in the Torah, the entire subject needs to be dealt with. It is much easier to presume that such passages are meant to amplify aspects of certain rules that are most relevant to the overall subject matter of a particular book, rather than to be comprehensive compendiums. If the latter were true, the Torah would be much longer than it is. The triennial cycle might then be a quadrennial one. It is also possible that the reason for the differing treatment of various subjects in different books of the Torah is because the books were written at different times in our history and reflect the rules of the time.

            Remission of debts in the seventh year is compatible with the next passage in the Torah: “There shall be no needy among you…” The Torah goes on to say that if there is a needy person, you are to share with that person. It emphasizes this point by forbidding lenders from refusing to make loans as the seventh year approaches. The Torah then contradicts itself: “For there will never cease to be needy ones in your land…” Perhaps these two sentiments are reconciled by a bridge, and they are meant to be read – There will never be completely needy people among you for you will always make sure to help those who are in need. As time went on, of course, the Israelites used the coming of the seventh year to begin refusing to make loans. Hillel solved this problem by creating the prosbul, a declaration by the lender that a particular loan was not subject to remission. Loans then proceeded apace.

            While Israelites were permitted to own pagan slaves permanently, they had to remit Israelite slavery after six years and to provide them with the means to support themselves. A process was established for a slave to voluntarily make his or her status permanent. This process was ignored by those who recruited Africans in the slave trade by promising them their freedom after seven years, quoting this portion of the Torah.

            We get to the reason for this special Torah portion. The Torah describes the three harvest festivals – Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot. The rules for the seven days of Passover are detailed and all males are to come to Jerusalem with their gifts for the Lord, many of which they were permitted to consume themselves.

            Our second Torah reading again comes from Numbers and deals with the sacrifices of the day.

            There is a lot to deal with in the Haftorah of the day. Isaiah appears to prophecy the destruction of the army of Sennacherib at the gates of Jerusalem in 701BCE. The prophecy is thought to have been made earlier. It goes on to provide that the stock of David will arise again, and the people will be gathered back to Israel in prosperity. There are many passages cited by Christians in this Haftorah as well as by us –

“And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together;”

“And a little child shall lead them…”

“The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and they that harass Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.”

            At this time of the year, messianism is a popular subject. We all hope for the day when peace will reign both in Israel and its surrounding neighbors and in the rest of the world. Stay safe.

Torah Comments for April 16, 2022   Nisan 15, 5782
SHABBAT PESACH

Hag Sameah Pesach! The holiday is finally here. We have had four special Shabbats leading up to this. We’ve heard the story of the Exodus several times. Many of us watched The Ten Commandments on TV again. My wife and I had a preview of Pesach last week at an interfaith seder hosted by the Northeast Illinois Council of the Boy Scouts.  

We begin this Shabbat with instructions for Pesach. While we don’t go slaughter a lamb and use a bunch of hyssops to paint the lamb’s blood on our doorposts, we do diminish the wine in our cups at the seder as we remember the Tenth Plague. The Lord has instructed us to observe the sacrifice every Pesach and explain it to our children. We have all carried out this instruction, at least while we had young children and grandchildren to teach. But it is not sufficient to just do this for young people. We need to repeat the story of the Exodus each year for ourselves. A line in many Haggadahs tells us that in each generation a new wrong that needs to be righted is discovered. We become obligated to help right that wrong. Participating in the seder each year should humble us and remind us that the world is not perfect, and we need to help repair it. Today, we react with horror at the atrocities being committed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine. We need to encourage our leaders to support Ukraine and we need to encourage our neighbors and friends to bear witness.  

In our parasha, we now hear that Pharaoh sent the people away. Moses led them with the makings of the first matzot and many personal items given them by the Egyptians. They left with “600,000 men afoot, aside from children” plus a mixed multitude and livestock. If there were 600,000 men, there were likely a similar number of women. That would put the total Israelite population at about two million or more. It is possible that the seventy souls who entered Egypt some 400 or 430 years earlier could have multiplied that much but this would have required lots of large families and a fairly high survival rate. Commentators wonder at this number, considering that population estimates of the time are that the Egyptian population was only five million. Of course, that could fit with the earlier statement that the Egyptians were afraid that there were too many of the Israelites. Some have posited that the 600,000 number is really describing other units such as clans and that the number could have been as little as 60,000 men. Another interpretation is that the passage is talking about the population at the end of the Exodus Era, the time of the construction of the Temple. There is another possibility. Nowhere does this passage talk about the number of women that left Egypt. Perhaps it would be more realistic to read the passage as “600,000 adults afoot, aside from children.”  That would mean that the total Israelite population was probably less than one million. Such an interpretation would be much more easily supportable, considering possible birth rates and survivability. Regardless, the Lord goes on to require that only Jews could offer the Pascal Lamb. Most significant, immediately following this limitation on who could sacrifice to the Lord, the Lord goes on to say: “There shall be one law for the citizen and for the stranger who dwells among you.” This concept of equality before the law has been enshrined in our Constitution and is a goal for the entire world. No one in our country can be treated differently in the criminal or civil law just because they come from another country or are here temporarily. Would that all countries could recognize equality before the law. 

In the second scroll, we read of the requirements for the festival of Pesach. The requirement to eat unleavened bread and offer special sacrifices are detailed.  

We turn to Joshua for the Haftorah. It continues the story of the Exodus with the preparation to finally cross the Jordan into the Promised Land. The Israelites are directed to purify themselves in preparation for miracles to be performed by the Lord. In a scene reminiscent of the crossing of the Reed Sea, the Lord halts the Jordan River for the people to cross over. Once on the other side, the Israelites were circumcised. This was necessary because all the people who came out of Egypt except for Joshua and Caleb had died and those born in the wilderness had not been circumcised. The men recovered from the circumcision and observed the first Pesach in the land of Israel. The food they ate came from the land and the manna, which had sustained them for forty years, ceased.  

As they approached Jericho, Joshua encountered the captain of the Lord’s host. Joshua was directed to remove his shoes, just as Moses had been at the time of the burning bush. The appearance of the captain of the host as the people were about to assault Jericho emphasized the holiness of the conquest of the Holy Land. The Lord helped the people conquer Jericho and Joshua’s fame spread throughout the land, preparing the Israelites for their future battles. 

Today, we can take comfort in the permanence and familiarity of our traditions. However, we cannot become complacent in our comfort. We must continue to expand the quest for improvement and the repair of the world. I want to quote a few lines from an article in the Chicago Tribune by Deepa Bharath that appeared on Friday:  

Tens of thousands of Ukranian Jews have fled while about 80% remain in Ukraine… Chabad plans 52 public seders welcoming about 9,000 people. In Odesa, [Rabbi Avraham] Wolff is preparing to host two large seders – one in early evening at the Chabad synagogue for families with young children and a later seder at a hotel where participants can stay the night obeying a 9 p.m. curfew.  

”We may not all be together, but it’s going to be an unforgettable Passover,” Wolff said. “This year, we celebrate as one big Jewish family around the world.”  

“Celebrating a holiday can give people a rush of hope and happiness even in grim situations,” said Rabbi Jacob Biderman, who leads Chabad activities throughout Austria, including a center in Vienna that is sheltering about 800 Ukrainian Jews.  

We need to remember these and other Ukrainian Jews this week and all those other Jews who cannot openly and safely celebrate Passover with us and carry on their Jewish lives in safety. I wish you all a happy, fulfilling Pesach this year. Stay safe.  

Torah Comments for April 9, 2022   Nisan 8, 5782
SHABBAT GADOL
SHABBAT METSORA

            This is the real Shabbat Hagadol. Why? We don’t really know, although it is the Shabbat before Pesach and our luah says it may be because the Haftorah ends “I will send the prophet Eliyahu to you before the coming of the great (Hagadol), fearful day of the Lord.” Eliyahu didn’t come before the night of the Tenth Plague. He wasn’t born yet. However, he is coming to announce the coming of the Messiah and we are going to invite him into our homes next Friday and Saturday evening. So, let’s treat this as the Great Shabbat and enjoy it.

            Our parasha begins with instructions on how to treat “lepers.” Their affliction is not what we know as leprosy today but is some other malady that runs its course and disappears. The priest, not the doctor, is the one who deals with this “leprosy.”  This is logical since the priests dealt with all things religious and many maladies were thought to have been the result of sins committed. The “lepers” were sent out of the camp to be quarantined. This was really a tremendous medical achievement. It prevented the transmission of communicable disease centuries before we began to understand the benefits of isolating such sick people. The ritual to purify a person lasted a week and involved several sacrifices, one of which was a guilt offering.

            The Torah goes on to deal with what appears to have been the appearance of mold in the homes to be constructed in Israel. Homeowners were required to report the appearance to the priest who would then examine it. If the mold did not spread, it was cut out. If it did spread, the house would be torn down. Again, sacrifices were necessary to purify the house.

            There was great concern about potential sexual disease. Specific regulations were adopted to deal with abnormal discharges from sexual organs. It appears that abnormal discharges were considered to be contagious, and it was necessary for them to isolate themselves and to clean anything they came into contact with. An essential was to keep people with such problems out of the sanctuary.

            Malachi’s time appears to be 470-420 BCE. He was the last of the twelve minor prophets. His name means “my messenger,” although there are some who believe this is a contraction for Malakiyah, “messenger of the Lord.” In either case, Malachi was there for the people of Judah who had returned from the Babylonian Captivity. His writings were three short chapters. This selection from his final chapter, talks about the Lord’s messenger. Before the messenger arrives, the Lord will punish those who do not properly live their lives. After that punishment, the practices of the days of old will be restored. The Lord says through Malachi, “I have not changed; and you are the children of Jacob – you have not ceased to be.” God simply asks the people to return to Him and He will restore them. On the day which is to come, the righteous will be rewarded and the wicked will be punished. All will be well when the Lord comes for all who properly worship Him. Elijah will come and all will be well. Each year, at our seders we ask Elijah to come. With all the problems that we endure in today’s world, this would be an ideal time for Elijah to come. It is said that when everyone invites him to come with a pure heart he will. Let’s all invite Elijah to come to us this year. Stay safe.  

Torah Comments for April 2, 2022   Nisan 1, 5782
SHABBAT GADOL

            We begin our study this week with the regular Torah portion in Vayikra. Having just learned about sacrifice and kashrut, we now turn to more practical things. First is the question of childbirth. A newborn child is considered pure, but the mother is not. Seven days, again the same time period as Creation, marked the initial period of impurity, followed the next day by the circumcision of a boy. There ensued 33 days during which the mother was prohibited from entering a holy area. These times were doubled for a girl baby. A sacrificial offering was then given to purify the mother. Why this period of time and why the difference between girls and boys. We do not know. However, it may have been that the first seven days were meant as a means to safeguard the health of a new mother who was obviously in a weakened state and was still presumably breast feeding the newborn. Why the added time before the mother was fully able to resume her place in society? Perhaps the reason was to ensure that the mother had regained her health. That may have been signaled by her resumption of menstrual cycles and perhaps they thought that the added time for a girl was because girls were thought to be more fragile than boys and needed more time to nurture to make sure they would survive.

            Staying with impurity, the Torah turns to skin diseases. The priests, not the judges, were to diagnose skin disease. The disease discussed is tsara’at which has been translated as leprosy but is not likely to be what is referred to. We have the institution of isolation to protect the community from the spread of an infectious disease. As we can see, the Torah provides the basis for today’s quarantines. Our people have followed the practice of quarantine for thousands of years and it has protected us from such calamities as the plague. Those who are unclean as determined by the priest are to isolate themselves outside of the camp or settlement until the day that they become clean again. The Torah goes on to deal with the spread of tsara’a to cloth or animal skins. The article of clothing is to be isolated for seven days. If the impurity has spread, the article is to be burned; otherwise, the infected portion is to be removed and the rest may continue to be used. There may have been doctors at the time, but they were not involved in the diagnosis and treatment of skin diseases. Those were reserved to the priests, being considered matters of purity, not just health.

            Ezekiel relates the obligations of sacrifice in the Temple. Israel is to be purified. The initial offerings for that purification are to be joined in by all the people. After that, however, the offerings for the community become the obligation of the prince, the secular leader of the people. Ezekiel then describes the sacrifices to be made for the start of the year and for Pesach. He explains some of the rituals associated with the Temple. Everyone is to worship at the east gate of the Temple. This is of interest since today when we worship, we often face east. The people would have been facing west as they faced the east gate of the Temple. For those occasions when all the people would gather to worship, they would enter the south gate and leave the north or enter the north and leave the south. Significantly, the prince was to enter with the people and leave with them. Thus, the principal was established that the prince was not above the whole of the people but was subject to the same laws that they were. Would it not be wonderful if today’s princes, our elected government officials, all understood and lived by this same principle. Ezekiel also details the sacrifices made each day.

            This is a long and varied worship service, but it offers us a glimpse of the religious lives of our ancestors and is instructive for that reason. Stay safe.

 

The second reading for this Shabbat is the traditional one for Rosh Hodesh and is found in Bamidbar. It begins with the sacrifice for Shabbat – 2 extra lambs and a meal offering. Next comes the special sacrifice for the new moon – 2 bulls, a ram and seven lambs plus accompanying meal offerings. Wine is mentioned in these sacrifices as is a goat which is “a sin offering to the Lord.” It is thought that the phrase, “to the Lord” is added here to make it clear that the sacrifice was intended for God and not as an offering to the moon as some other religions of the time may have done. This phrase again sets us apart from the then contemporary religious beliefs and makes it clear that, at least in later times, we believed in the one, all-powerful God and not other gods with Him.

            The final reading comes from Shemot. This is, of course, Shabbat Hahodesh, is the last of the four special Shabbats preceding Passover. As we prepare for our own seders, the Torah recounts the preparations for the first seder. God instructs Moses and Aaron to tell the Israelites that the first day of the month is the first day of the new year. On the 10th day, each family shall take a lamb and watch over it until the 14th day. They are to slaughter the lamb and sprinkle blood on the doorposts of the home. They are to eat it that night with matzoh and bitter herbs. God warns of the tenth plague to come that night and directs that Pesach is to be commemorated for all time for seven days (eight in the diaspora). The first and last days (2 each for us) are sacred. Of all the traditions that have survived Biblical times, persecutions and pogroms, Pesach is the one that has little changed. We still invite others to share in our seder meal. We eat everything that night and do not save the leftovers (well, some of us don’t). We eat matzot for the entire week and we dispose of our leaven. In modern times, we sell our leaven by giving money to a Jewish charity and it is only sold to the charity for the week, but we still follow these Torah directions, almost to the letter.

Torah Comments for March 19, 2022   Adar II 16 5782
SHABBAT SHEMINI      
SHABBAT PARAH 

Last week, we finished the last of the preparations for formal worship of the Lord. The final step was the seven-day ordination period for the priests. Their sacrifices and purification rituals were intended to prepare them for the people’s sacrifices. So now, it is time for regular sacrifice. The people assembled and the first sin offerings and burnt offerings were made. The offerings were made completely by Aaron and the other priests; thus, the priestly baton was formally passed from Moses to the priests. They first made sacrifices for themselves and then for the people. Next came the meal offering and then an offering of well-being for all.  Finally, Moses and Aaron blessed the people.

            The priests have a limited role to play and cannot step outside their designated roles. Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, demonstrated this by attempting to bring an offering to the Lord that was not required. We aren’t sure exactly what the offering was, but we do know the consequences. They were fatal to the two young priests who were consumed by the fire of the Lord. There is a lesson here for all time – no one should aggregate unto himself or herself authority not expressly granted to them. One who is too pretentious will suffer the consequences. Humility and strict adherence to the rules are essential to the smooth workings of society. This proposition is supported by the Lord’s instruction to Aaron and his remaining sons not to mourn Nadab and Abihu. They were not worthy of mourning due to what they had done.

            The Lord continues with restrictions on priests. They are not to consume alcohol when they officiate since they must be able to carry out their duties without self-imposed limitations. Again, this is a lesson for all of us to this day. Do not put yourself in a position where you have limited your abilities to carry out a responsibility to the community.

            The Torah portion grants the priests the right to eat certain sacrifices. Logically following this, the Torah provides a system of dietary laws for everyone. Kashrut consists of two portions – the first is suitability of food sources and the second is impurity. The Lord specifies what one can eat – animals that have a split hoof and chew a cud – no camels, no hares, no swine. Sea creatures that have fins and scales are permitted; others are not – no lobster, shrimp or clams. For birds, no eagles (This paves the way for the eagle to be our national bird since no one will eat it.), vultures and other hunters. Not all insects though locusts and grasshoppers are okay. Wait for the next time we have plagues; one will be a food source for us. As to purity, one cannot touch a carcass or a prohibited animal. One cannot eat a gecko which should give relief to Geico Insurance users. Crocodiles and presumably alligators cannot be eaten or touched. Rattlesnake meat is forbidden so none of us have to risk our lives at the Great Rattlesnake Hunt. Why are all these rules? Simply because God has told us so. I’m sure each of us has used this explanation before as well – do what I tell you because I told you so.

            We come to the recognition of this special Shabbat – Shabbat Parah. The second Scroll describes the ritual of the red cow. It is brought to the priest who has it slaughtered outside the camp. It is totally consumed on the altar at the Tabernacle and its ashes are deposited outside the camp. A person becomes unclean by touching a corpse, finding one or touching a grave. The ashes become part of a ritual to cleanse the person.

            The Haftorah completes the story. Ezekiel relates his vision. God explains to him that the people had defiled the land of Israel when they inhabited it and earned the wrath of God for that failing. The Lord promises to restore the people, not for their sake but to show that He is the Lord. “Then you shall dwell in the land which I gave to your fathers, and you shall be My people and I will be your God.” The Lord promises to restore the people. Ezekiel’s prophecies were made just prior to the fall of Jerusalem and the exile to Babylonia. These prophecies predicted the return of the people and their future prosperity which of course came to be until the Roman Exile.

            The three stories fit neatly with each other. We have the instructions on how to properly worship and the consequences for not following these instructions to the letter. We have a means of purifying us when we become unclean and finally, we have an explanation of later consequences for not following the laws that God has given us. We must all continue to live good lives and misfortune will not destroy us. Stay safe.

Torah Comments for March 12, 2022   Adar II 9 5782
Shabbat Zakhor  

            What is the Torah and what is its purpose? Many have said that it is a historical record, some say the first novel. Others say it is a divine inspiration and others still say it is a guide to life. It’s actually all of the above and more. The beginning of the Torah is a scientific treatise on creation. The stories through Exodus are a portrait of human nature and a demonstration that it has not changed at all throughout thousands of years. So far in the Torah, we’ve gone through Creation, the building of a world society, prosperity, famine and slavery and finally the building of our people into a cohesive force. We saw the intervention of God in our entire existence and His instructions on how to set up society, religious leadership and the trappings of religion. Now we come to the nuts and bolts of worship – sacrifice.

            Why was there sacrifice at all in Biblical times? It was thought that there was one or in many cases a number of beings or existences that were beyond humans and that those existences at least had an influence on what human life would be like. It then made sense for humans to try to either game the system in their favor or genuinely try to obtain favorable treatment from these existences. It was important to sacrifice something of value to a person to the god to win approval. In some religious traditions, there were only a few gods, but always more than one. They were each assigned certain limited spheres of influence – growth of crops, wine, love, fertility, death and so on. In some cases, simple actions would serve to influence them. A supplicant may have placed a nut in front of the spirit of the forest to gain a good harvest of nuts. It made sense then to give larger sacrifices to gain greater favor. The ultimate sacrifice might be that of a child’s life in order to protect the rest of the family or to ensure victory in battle.

            We come to Vayikra, Leviticus, and the instructions on the ritual sacrifices of the Israelites. The key to Vayikra is that it describes what God wants from us for each situation. Vayikra sets up a society-wide manual of sacrifice, so everyone knows exactly what to do when and how. We begin with a description of communal sacrifice.

            The first type of sacrifice is the olah, the burnt offering. This would generally be a steer or a male sheep or possibly a bird; females were not sacrificed for this type of offering, probably so they could bear future sacrifices. The offering was to be without blemish and was to be brought to the Tabernacle entrance. There, the offering was slaughtered, cut up and placed on the altar. The sacrifice was burnt fully on the altar. The olah might be used to gain God’s favor due to the pleasant odor from the sacrifice. It could have been the opening salvo in a series of sacrifices, designed to get God’s favorable attention for what was to come.

            The second sacrifice was the grain offering. Flour, mixed with oil and frankincense, was a much cheaper alternative to an animal. Part would be burned; the rest was for the priests. An alternative was to present baked or fried flour creations, a token portion of which went to God and the rest was for the priests. The concept was that there would be a pleasing odor for God from the sacrifices and a holy meal to be shared as part of the ritual. We carry this on tradition by serving food at the end of a service even today. No pleasing odor for God in the service but pleasing prayers instead, followed by the equivalent holy meal. The major difference was that the bread was to be without leaven.

            The third type of communal sacrifice, zevah shelamim, the gift of greeting or well-being, could be an animal, this time male or female, cattle, sheep or goats. The fat would be consumed on the altar and the blood removed.  

            Vayikra now turns to sacrifices for particular situations. When a person would inadvertently, either through lack of knowledge of the law or of the implications of an action, that person could seek forgiveness by providing a sacrifice. The acts of a priest, the community as a whole, a leader or an individual could lead to the need for a sin offering. Sacrifices were offered for the sins of omission or commission – failing to testify when a person should do so, touching something unclean, uttering an oath. In this case, if the person could not afford an animal, a bird would suffice or flour. However, if the commission of a sin had consequences to another, such as a theft, the sin offering was not sufficient unless the victim was made whole.

            Our Haftorah relates the story of Saul and his downfall. Samuel instructs Saul, our first king, to destroy Amalek, King Agag, his people and his assets. Saul assembles an overwhelming force, over 200,000 men, and advances against Amalek. He warns the Kenites who had been friends of the Israelites, to get out of the way, and attacks. However, he doesn’t do what he is supposed to. He captures Agag and plundered the people, keeping the best of everything. Just as Adam and Eve discovered, and later Cain, God isn’t fooled and tells Samuel. Samuel, of course, is not amused. He confronts Saul, who tries to say that he did what he was told. Then Samuel asks him what the bleating of sheep and the lowing of oxen is. Saul knows he is in trouble, so he claims that the livestock were saved to sacrifice. Samuel points out that obedience to the Lord’s commands is more important to Him than sacrifices. For disobeying the Lord, the punishment is the loss of the kingship. Samuel completed the task that Saul had failed in by executing Agag and returned to his home, having deposed Saul.  

            This week we observe the second special Shabbat before Pesach, Shabbat Zahor. In the Haftorah, we again blot out the name of Amalek as punishment for their attempt to destroy our people in the wilderness. It is appropriate that we observe this blotting out this weekend, the weekend before Purim, when we blot out the name of Haman for similar attempts to destroy our people as we read the Book of Esther. Stay safe.  

Torah Comments for March 5, 2022   Adar II 2 5782
Shabbat Ki Tissa  

            The work for the Tabernacle was complete. Everything was ready to assemble. The Lord ordered the Tabernacle to be assembled on the first day of the first month, new year’s day, exactly nine months after the arrival at Sinai and two weeks short of a year since the Exodus. That would mean that the religious life of the people would begin on Nissan 1. In fact of course, today the new year is Tishre 1. An accounting of precious metals takes place. The Tabernacle will contain a ton of gold, 7,000 pounds of silver and 2 tons of bronze, quite a large amount for the former slaves to have still had after having already built a golden calf, but there was nothing else to do with all the precious metals that the Egyptians had given them when they left. Moses was directed to see to the actual work and was told exactly where everything would go. The work was done. As Moses finished, the cloud of the Lord settled on the Tabernacle. The cloud would lift when it was time for the Israelites to travel and the people would follow it and fire by night. Here is an interesting note and a clear differentiation between our view of religion and that of other religions. We believe that it is not necessary to have someone to intercede for us with God. Although the priests performed the rituals for us, they were there for ritual. God would accept the prayers of anyone. That tradition is true today as it was in the beginning. We have rabbis, teachers, not priests. We see this principle established as the last chapter of Exodus explains that the people would stay put when God’s cloud stayed in the Tabernacle, and they would travel when God moved out. But the people did not have to be told when to go and when to stay. They could see with their own eyes. God told everyone directly. In other religions, the priest gives the prayers to God and intercedes for the people. We see from this principle that ours is a personal religion.

            Paralleling the Torah, the Haftorah begins as Solomon finished the Temple. Just as Moses had placed the Ark in the newly erected Tabernacle, the priests placed it in the newly completed Temple. They brought with them the Tabernacle from the City of David nearby where it had been kept until then. The cloud of the Lord descended into the Holy of Holies and Solomon blessed the people, just as Moses had done before him.

            In our religion, we do the study, and we do the work to know what to do and how to do it. Our whole theory of Torah and Talmud study is that everyone can do it together and all students are equal. Soon, we will all have the opportunity to study together in this spirit. Stay safe.

Torah Comments for February 26, 2022  1 Adar 25, 5782
Shabbat Ki Tissa     

We are nearing the end of Exodus, so we have some details to clean up. First, we have to tend to the actual construction of the Tabernacle. Moses brings the community together and repeats God’s instructions to them. It’s almost like the World War poster campaign, only it’s Moses, not Uncle Sam – Moses wants You to help build the Tabernacle. The spirit of community and the need to get in good with God after the recent disaster of the Golden Calf take hold. The people volunteer materials. The skilled among them volunteer their efforts. Bezalel and Oholiab take charge, acting as general contractors for the construction. We don’t know what their finished product looked like, but we do know its dimensions and that of each plank of wood and each curtain. We know how big the Ark is and the table. We can only guess at the size of the lampstand, but we know its general design. We know about the altar sizes. We have no idea how long this building project took to complete but it must have been quite a sight when done. Next, we go back in the second scroll and read the truncated version of the census. There is an interesting juxtaposition here. In the census, men over 20 only, everyone was required to come up with a half shekel. In the construction project, however, the people’s generosity provided the labor and materials for God’s temporary house. Why the difference? The census was often considered a military necessity. Countries took a census so they could levy an army. The half shekel was a tax to keep the whole enterprise going. These were necessities and required coercion while love of God fueled the construction of the holy items. 

The Haftorah relates the story of King Jehoash who took the throne at the age of 7 and ruled from 798 to 782 BCE. This appears to be 16 years although the Haftorah says it was 40. This could have to do with his age. Jehoash dealt with corruption in the House of the Lord. He discovered that the money which was being given to the priests to maintain the Temple was being diverted elsewhere. He therefore devised a system of accountability to make sure that the donations were used for their intended purpose.  

The two main stories are connected intimately. The people voluntarily found the materials for the Tabernacle which lasted for several hundreds of years and later found the funds to maintain the Temple which lasted for a thousand years. We too give funds to maintain our buildings over and above what is required to make sure that they continue to exist. I can also tell you that I listened to the meeting of Temple Shalom a few days ago. They would welcome any contributions to keep the temple operating for the benefit of both of our congregations. Stay safe. 

Torah Comments for February 19, 2022  1 Adar 18, 5782
Shabbat Ki Tissa      

This week’s Torah portion begins with a difficult conundrum. Moses is told that he is to take a census of the people. The census as it is described is for men over 20 only and they are to pay a half shekel. You may remember a passage from Numbers that dealt with a census. It is possible that this is the same census. The numbers are similar and there is no particular reason why there would have been a separate one at the later time. Also, this census is almost an afterthought. It spans six sentences and is sandwiched between instructions for building the incense altar and the bronze laver, a copper vessel that stood near the altar and was used for purifying the priests before they performed the rituals. The Lord gave Moses the recipe for making oil for anointing. It required a mixture of spices that were quite costly to obtain. We recall that the caravan that Joseph was sold into had been carrying spices to Egypt from some distance away in Asia. Following the recipe for anointing oil is the recipe for incense.

            The Lord tells Moses who will lead the detailed work of the construction of the sacred objects. There are six units of instruction relating to the construction of the sacred objects. The seventh unit is a demand that the people observe the sabbath. This is yet another parallel to the story of creation.

            It wasn’t clear just where these conversations between Moses and the Lord were taking place until this passage –

“When He finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of the Pact, stone tablets inscribed with the finger of God.”

Now the next scene comes into play and fits logically in the scheme of things. Moses has been up there on the mountain for the same 40 days and 40 nights time period that the flood took place in, and this explains the horror that is to occur. The people know that Aaron and his sons are the priests. They know about the judges over them and are still not comfortable with things. As former slaves, they need their leader in front of them. Now they worry – where is this guy? It looks like he’s not coming back. We need to go back to what we know. We need an idol. The way that this works, we can see that Aaron is weak. He not only helps the people fashion the golden calf, he leads the effort! Not only does he lead the effort, he doesn’t even stop to hesitate. He joins right in with the people clamoring for a tangible god. If that were not enough, he builds an altar and names a festival of the Lord for the very next day. Then, as in all revolutions, the rabble took over, making sacrifices and celebrating.

            God still has Moses up on the mountain. He utters that horrible phrase that has stuck with us for thousands of years, “I see that this is a stiffnecked people.” God threatens to destroy the people for this sacrilege, but He leaves the door open for Moses to intercede and Moses does so. He rejects an offer to be the father of a new people and convinces God to spare the people. This is another in the series of tests that God has used to challenge Moses, from the insistence that he go to Egypt to free the people to the repeated hardening of Pharaoh’s heart, to the lack of food and water in the wilderness. Now God has tested whether Moses has the strength to stand up to His anger and Moses passes with flying colors.

            The story is not over, though. Moses returns from the mountain. He shatters God’s work – the Tablets. He burns the calf, grinds it to powder and forces the people to drink it with water. That act is similar to the trial by ordeal that accused adulteresses were forced to endure. Finally, Moses turns his wrath on Aaron. Aaron, coward that he is, blames the people for what happened. It now seems that rioting has broken out among the people. Moses rallies the Levites. They put down this rebellion at a cost of 3,000 lives. Moses now goes back to the Lord and again asks Him to forgive the people. Instead, a plague descends on them. This is fascinating. We have to wonder at God’s thinking here. He knows that the people are still slaves at heart and need constant reassurances. Yet, he takes their reassurance away by keeping Moses on the mountain for so long. Then, when they look for a substitute to intercede for them, He brings destruction on them for doing just what one would expect them to do. Had God left a suitable leader behind, none of this would have happened. But, just like with the plagues in Egypt, perhaps God was trying to make a point to the people – do what you are told and don’t try to add new things.

            We come back to the theme of God as present in some humanistic form. The Torah tells us that Moses would take a tent and pitch it outside the camp. He would go in and commune there with the Lord. “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one man speaks to another.” God has told Moses that he will send an angel to lead the people to where they would be going. Moses asks God to lead the way Himself and God agrees. There follows a strange passage in which Moses asks to see God. This seems strange, coming just after Moses has been talking with God face to face. Again, we see the conflict between the concepts of a God Who is omnipresent and amorphous and a personal being.

            It’s time to start over again. This time, God tells Moses to carve two tablets of stone like the ones he destroyed. God promises to inscribe the words that were on the first ones and tells Moses to get ready to come back up the mountain. This time, Moses doesn’t tell the people he is going. When he gets to the top of the mountain, he utters those famous words:

“The Lord! The Lord! A God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and faithfulness, extending kindness to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin…”

God now promises to provide the new land to the people and to drive out those who occupy it. He instructs Moses that there are to be no agreements with those people, their altars and sacred posts are to be destroyed, there can be no agreements with the other people and no intermarriage. There are to be no more idols and the people are to observe the festivals and the sabbath. Now, although God told Moses that He would inscribe the new tablets, He instructed Moses to do so. This time, when Moses came down from the mountain after 40 days and 40 nights, the people were ready for him. Moses’ face was now radiant from his experience on the mountain. A similar description of the Christian saints has been given in their liturgy.

            The Haftorah takes us to Elijah in the reign of King Ahab (not the whaler) in the period around 865 BCE. There was a famine in the land due to the wickedness of Ahab. He had married the evil Jezebel. She had captivated him and gotten him to start killing off the prophets. Obadiah hid 100 prophets in caves to save them. He was forced by Elijah to tell the king that Elijah was there. Elijah confronted Ahab over his backsliding. Elijah demanded a test against the prophets of Baal, one quite similar to the one that Aaron and Moses had against the 250 rebels with their fire pans. Elijah instructed the priests of Baal to sacrifice a bull to the Lord and to call upon Baal to light the sacrificial fire. Of course, nothing happened. He then prepared his own sacrifice and the Lord sent fire to complete the sacrifice. The people saw this and cried out “The Lord alone is God. The Lord alone is God.” Today, we do not make sacrifices, but we do make the same proclamation, the Lord alone is God, and we worship Him through prayer and good deeds. Stay safe.   

Torah Comments for February 12, 2022  1 Adar 11, 5782
SHABBAT TETSEVVAH

            We were liberated from slavery in Egypt. We began to wander through the wilderness. We had our bodily needs fulfilled with manna, water and grouse. We received the Ten Words and the laws embellishing them. We got the instructions for our place of worship. Now it’s time to deal with the specifics of worship. We begin with the proposition that all our instructions come from God. This makes it possible for us to follow those instructions explicitly and neither add nor subtract from them, a familiar theme. We begin with the logical need to provide light. We are instructed to use pure olive oil to provide light during the night. This is a significant requirement. Normally, pure olive oil was used for food, not light. It is reversed when we receive the requirements for sacredness here. This will also prove to be a significant part of our ritual to this day as we contemplate the miracle of the Chanukah lights. The concept of the Ner Tamid originates here. The lights of the Tabernacle were lit only from evening to morning. However, Samuel talks about the lamp of God never going out when the Tabernacle was at Shiloh before the Temple was built. Josephus relates that there was a light that was never extinguished in the Second Temple. Rambam’s take was that there was a separate lamp that was never extinguished and was known as the Ner Tamid. His view was that this lamp was used to obtain the flame that kindled the lights of the Menorah each evening at the Tabernacle.

            Incidentally, we discovered last week that a full-scale model of the Tabernacle exists at Timna Park north of Eilat. So, if you go back to Israel and have the time, be sure to visit.

We now discover that Moses, who has led the people from the beginning, will no longer be the sole authority. Aaron and his sons will be promoted to the priesthood and will be responsible for the day-to-day conduct of religious life going forward. Moses will still be the go-to guy for discussions with God, but his time as a leader will not be required for this aspect of life. The anointing of Aaron and his sons as the priests will be paralleled by the later appointment of the judges and the heads of smaller units to decide the minutiae of civil relationships. Moses now fulfills the role of leader but has many others to assist him.

Next, we go to on to uniforms. The High Priest’s garb is first. It must have been spectacular – “How glorious was he when he looked forth from the Tent and emerged from behind the Temple veil! He was like the morning star appearing between the clouds, like the full moon on a festival day…” (Ben Sira) The High Priest was adorned with gold, blue, purple and crimson. The most important part of the uniform is the ephod – a garment covering some portion of the body with two shoulder straps and a band or belt. We do not have a surviving garment to tell us exactly what it was or a good enough description to know what it looked like. Commentators surmise that this is because in Biblical times, everyone knew what an ephod looked like, although there is a reference to the robe of the ephod. Again, as with the Tabernacle and the Temple and other holy objects, not knowing the details permits us to concentrate on our religious practices, prayer, living a good life and doing good deeds, rather than get bogged down in the trappings of religion. One interesting note is that on the hem of the High Priest’s garment there are to be alternating golden bells and pomegranates “so that the sound of it is heard when he (Aaron) comes into the sanctuary before the Lord and when he goes out – that he may not die.” You will recall that God has referred to the Tabernacle as His place of residence in last week’s parasha. We recall the transition of our concept of God from the concept that the slaves had of the gods of Egypt living in their temples to the omnipresent, amorphous concept of God that we have today. This passage gives support for that original concept of God actually living in the Tabernacle. The bells would waken Him or get His attention when the High Priest approached Him so He could be ready for what was to come next. The Torah gives us the rest of the details for Aaron’s uniform and then goes on to give instructions for the clothing of the other priests. These clothing items are much less brilliant than that of the High Priest, making it certain that he will stand out when performing his duties. The theory was that the High Priest’s clothing would be spectacular, reflecting his major role in acting as our go-between with God, while the other priests didn’t need such finery for their supporting roles.

            We have the names of the priests and their clothing. Next, we proceed to their installation. Moses is to install the priests, following a specific ritual of washing, anointing and clothing them. The sacrifices of the ordination are detailed next. It seems that from the time of the Exodus until now there were no animal sacrifices, although we cannot be sure of that. After all, animal sacrifice was what the people knew from Egypt. Its absence would surely be unsettling. The original ordination ceremony lasts for seven days, paralleling the time it took the Lord to complete the Creation and rest from it.

            We complete the Torah reading with the instructions on the making of the altar for burning incense. The altar is to be purified each year.

            We continue with a vision of Ezekiel. The Lord provides Ezekiel with the plan for the Temple and directs him to share it with the people of Israel. Ezekiel has already been given the plan for the building. Now, he is told the dimensions of the sacrificial altar -15 feet high with horns extending another six feet high. It is eighteen feet long and eighteen feet wide. God instructs Ezekiel on the purification ritual for the altar and states that with future offerings there, “I will extend My favor to you.” This Haftorah parallels the Torah reading which describes one altar by describing the other. It also gives hope that following the ritual procedures of the day will lead to our well-being. It is also fascinating since it comes soon after the destruction of the First Temple when everyone should still have been familiar with the construction details of that altar. Perhaps the vision was important because it gave us the hope that the Temple would be restored, and we would be restored to our homeland. Stay safe.

Torah Commentary for Saturday, February 5, 2022   1 Adar 4, 5782
SHABBAT TERUMAH

The Israelites have prepared, obtained their freedom, encountered God and been given the rules to live by. Now, it’s time to provide assurances to them that God’s presence will be with them as they travel to their new home. A sanctuary is needed but it has to be portable so it can come with them. It also has to be strong enough to endure not only the conditions of the wilderness but also the stress and strain of putting it up, taking it down and using it as time goes on. God directs Moses to tell the people to provide the raw materials for the soon to be Tabernacle. They are to do so voluntarily. It’s kind of like setting up a wedding registry. God tells Moses what He would like and Moses opens up the registry. People bring gold, silver, copper, yarn, linen, goats’ hair, skins, wood and the materials to make the clothing of the priests and to facilitate worship.

God provides Moses with the building plan for the Tabernacle and everything else to go with it. There is enough detail for many people to sketch out what they think the Tabernacle and its subordinate structures and appurtenances look like. Some of you will recall the scene a few years ago when I brought a cardboard scale model of the Ark to the temple to contemplate (it’s long gone). We know that the vibrant colors of the curtains – blue, purple and crimson, would have stood out when not covered by animal skins. Of course, we cannot duplicate the designs on the fabric and do not know the size of the Menorah but it’s fun thinking about what they must have been like. 

 

God tells Moses that He intends to dwell in the sanctuary. On one hand, this can give the people comfort since they are not yet ready to accept an amorphous and omnipresent God and they can perceive God as residing with them in His sanctuary just like the gods of Egypt who resided in their temples. This was the concept in the movie, Exodus: Gods and Kings. You may recall the scene when God is walking along with the people next to a wagon. Although we can’t actually see Him there, we know his presence is there. Another view is that the Tabernacle is not to be God’s residence but a tangible symbol of His nearness in addition to His omnipresence.

The question arises, why the detail and why in the Torah? Why do we care today about how to build the Tabernacle or the Temple and why, with all these details, are the significant details needed to really reconstruct these sanctuaries and their appurtenances not enough? The details we are given are lengthy. They were important then because they were a message from God that sets in motion worship practices for our ancestors. It was not only significant that the people would have a place to center their worship on, it was also crucial to know that the place was holy in its origin, determined by God Himself. We know from this that God dictated what He would be satisfied with as a center for His worship. That way, the people would know that there was a reasonable stopping place as they showed their faith. But they also knew that the minimum was also the maximum. Later on, this principle would be made more clear as the rebellions against Moses took place – don’t add to the service and don’t subtract. The fact that we cannot actually duplicate the Tabernacle is also significant. We know they did something, and we have an idea of what it was, but we have moved on to a more modern approach to our religion. We do not have to go backward to what was done before. The same is true of the Temple. We have an idea of what it was, but we no longer need it to worship God. Instead, we need to keep our eye on the ball – worship, purity and good deeds, not what a building is

As far as we can tell, the Tabernacle was brought with the Israelites to the Promised Land and was erected in Shiloh. It may have been moved to Bethel at some time and appears to have existed for most if not all of the 480 years following the Exodus and until the Temple was built. Significantly, there are no contemporary renditions of either structure.

The Haftorah parallels the Torah portion with a description of how Solomon constructed the First Temple. 183,300 people labored over the Temple which of course was much larger than the Tabernacle. Solomon then had a vision of the Lord: “If you follow My laws and observe My rules and faithfully keep My commandments, I will fulfill for you the promise that I gave to your father David: I will abide among the children of Israel, and I will never forsake My people Israel.”

Our parallel construction stories end but our history continues on. In the midst of the Torah’s telling us the story of our people’s forty-year camping trip in the wilderness, I congratulate the Boy Scouts of America on it 112th anniversary celebration. Stay safe.

 

Torah Commentary for Saturday, January 29. 2022 Shevat 27, 5782
SHABBAT MISHPATIM

            Mishpatim – judicial rulings or the right rules or judicial standards of conduct. Last week, we received the overarching rules of the relationships between human and God and between human and human. Now it’s time to put some flesh on these bones. The first discussion is about the laws of slavery. It is instructive that slavery is the first specific topic we deal with. A few months ago, all the Israelites were slaves and suddenly they are free. What we don’t want is for the Israelites to repeat the mistakes of the Egyptian taskmasters and to replace the Pharaoh as cruel owners of other people. To emphasize the importance of this proposition, the laws of slavery and the rights of slaves come before any other laws. In ancient times, slavery was common. However, in many cases it wasn’t the same as the slavery of America in the 1600s through the 1800s. One category of slaves, of course, was the survivors of wars and those persons given in tribute to establish relationships between nations or monarchs and, in some cases, between wealthy people and kings. Those captives were commonly dealt with harshly. Women were raped and could then be killed if not kept for their ability to produce children or do the household labor. Children were either raised as slaves with no rights or coopted into the families of the captors, often depending on how old they were when captured. Men could be killed or might be used as slave labor. Sometimes, they would be forced into the military, perhaps rowers on warships. Another category of slaves were the indentured people. Some became slaves in order to pay off a debt or due to other issues, such as to work off fines imposed for crimes. In some cases, the head of a family would give another family member to a creditor when the family couldn’t pay. The Torah raised the status of the slave. The Hebrew slave was referred to as “your brother.” The slave had the right to rest on the Sabbath and on festivals and had the right to life. The term of slavery was six years and slaves were to be released in the seventh year. Families established before slavery had to be respected. If a man was married and had a family at the time he became a slave, his family would remain with him and would be freed with him at the end of his term of slavery. No one’s wife could be “sold down the river” and his children remained his children. At the end of the sixth year of slavery, a slave could freely decide to continue his status on a permanent basis, but that decision had to be made freely. Female slaves had additional protections. If they became slaves, it was often in a sexual relationship with the master, his son or another slave. If the master did not permanently care for the female slave, she would go free. This provision is one that has carried forward to modern times in the form of alimony. A spouse is often required to continue to support the former spouse who is unable to support himself or herself. This traces to the requirement of the master to continue to care for a first wife or a slave when he marries someone else.

            The Torah turns to the prohibitions of the Decalogue. A murderer shall be put to death. One who strikes or insults a parent shall be put to death. A kidnapper shall be put to death. Punishments are set forth for non-fatal injuries. One of my favorites is this one:

“When men fight, and one of them pushes a pregnant woman and a miscarriage results, but no other damage ensues, the one responsible shall be fined…”

It appears clearly from this passage that a fetus does not have the status of a person; otherwise, the penalty would be death. Notably, this provision, here and in Numbers, is the only Biblical reference to the killing of a fetus. The conclusion is that a fetus is not a human. Therefore, the entire religious justification used today to ban abortion – the claim that life begins at conception – is contrary to Biblical law. There is nothing in the gospels either tat changes this proposition.

            There are rules of responsibility for what is known as tort law today – injury by an animal, due to an open pit, and so on. The penalties for theft are set forth. Restitution for harm caused by a person – starting a fire, injuring an animal and the like are created.

The law of bailment is created. It lasts to this very day. What happens when a person entrusts property to another and the property is stolen or damaged, responsibility is set forth. Much of modern law follows the rules set forth here and in the Talmud. Women gain the protection that if a man seduces a virgin, he has to marry her or pay the bride-price even if her father doesn’t let him marry.

What follows are nine specific rules which protect the relationship to God, the widow and orphan and the poor.

Communal responsibility follows. One must not lie in testimony; one must return a neighbor’s wandering ox; one must protect the needy; do not take bribes; do not oppress strangers; protect the land.

The religious calendar is established. The Sabbath each week, the three festivals and sacrifices are detailed. The comes the cheeseburger rule – You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk. This could have been interpreted restrictively to mean just what it says but no, for us any milk and meat combinations are prohibited by it.

God promises to give the people the land from the Sea of Reeds to the Mediterranean to the Euphrates to the wilderness of Sinai. All they have to do is to follow God’s laws.

Having done all this, the time comes to affirm the Covenant. Moses tells the people what God has decreed, and the people respond, “All the things that the Lord has commanded we will do!” Moses then writes down the laws. He sets up an altar to the Lord. He repeats the new rules, and the people again agree to do what they have been told. At this point, God instructs Moses to come up to the mountain where the Lord will give him stone tablets with the laws. Moses goes up there for 40 days and 40 nights, just like the time of the Flood.

The Haftorah returns to the subject of slavery that the Torah began with. In the Haftorah, Jeremiah relates his vision of the time when King Zedekiah agreed with the people that everyone would release their Hebrew slaves and that Jews would no longer be subjected to slavery. At first, this appeared to be a progression in the recognition of human rights, the right to be free. Then, just as the Pharaoh did, the slave owners changed their minds and re-enslaved the recently freed Hebrew slaves. Jeremiah’s vision began with the reiteration of the law of slavery – the term of slavery for Hebrew slaves was to be six years and they were then to be released. In the vision, God remonstrated with Jeremiah that the people had disobeyed this command and God determined that the people would be punished for this sin. This vision was a prediction of the conquering of Jerusalem by Babylon and the resulting enslavement of the Israelites. This prediction of doom and gloom is softened by a promise to never abandon His people and will ultimately restore them to glory and prosperity.

Today, we are faced with the remnants of former slavery. Over 150 years after the Civil War, some people still cannot deal with the proposition that all humans should be free and should have equal rights and opportunities. It is fitting that as we watch more and more restrictions placed on the freedoms of people around the world and here in our own country that we reflect on the teachings of the Torah. Stay safe.

Torah Comentary for Saturday, January 22. 2022 Shevat 20, 5782
SHABBAT YITRO

            Last week, we left the Israelites at the conclusion of their first armed conflict. This week, we begin with the practicality of life in the wilderness. Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came to visit and brought Moses’ family with him. He took one look at Moses, exhausting himself in trying to resolve every little thing for the people, and told him the time had come to organize. He instructed Moses on how to govern properly by delegating authority and responsibility to others. In this way, Moses could reserve the tough calls to himself and let others deal with the minutia of governing which was necessary but time-consuming. The commentators point out how significant it is to ascribe this, the formation of the Israelite judicial system, to Jethro, a Midianite. The Midianites and the Israelites never got along so for the Torah to say that a Midianite proposed this system is significant.

First, it means that it is likely that this is indeed what happened historically.

Second, this story gives us an important principle to live by- we must always consider proposals neutrally and on their merits, no matter what their source. During my career as an attorney, I often found myself in negotiations with parties getting divorced. Many was the time that I had to stop one of the parties and ask, “did you hear what (s)he just said? Listen to it. It is just what you wanted.” Sometimes, a client would be taken aback by me appearing to side with the other side of the case until the client did what I instructed and thought about the proposal being made. The same would happen if it was the other side. When a proposal is made to you during an argument or by someone you might despise, that does not automatically make the proposal bad. If people in our current political divide would only stop and listen sometimes, we could make a lot more progress toward the goal of a democratic America or a peaceful world.

Third, consider the nature of the structure that Jethro proposed. It completely bypasses any priesthood (that is set up later) and any religious authority to produce a secular structure to control society. Later, when the Temple is established and before, for a period of well over a thousand years, there were parallel structures in Israelite society. There was a priesthood which governed religious life and a secular judicial structure which governed that which was not religious. This separation of church and state has been built into our own and a number of other national structures today.

It is now three months since the Exodus and time for the people to develop a new and permanent relationship with God. They arrive at Mount Sinai where God tells Moses to tell the people,

“You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Me. Now then, if you will obey Me faithfully and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all the peoples. Indeed, all the earth is Mine, but you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

This passage sets forth the whole relationship between our people and our God. It is the foundation for all that comes after it and its exhortation to follow the laws of God echoes throughout the generations as a clarion call, not just in our religion, but also in most religions of the world. Unfortunately, the demand for obedience has led to overzealousness and the commission of many atrocities in the name of religion, but it has also been the light for our faith. If we do as God has required, living a just life and embodying the dictates of our faith, God will reward us.

Now picture the people standing at the foot of Mount Sinai. Thunder and lightning fill the skies; a loud horn blasts louder and louder. A great cloud envelopes the top of the mountain and it begins to shake. God then calls Moses to the top of the mountain and recites what are known as the Ten Words or the Decalogue. The Commandments are divided into two sections, the first governing the relationship between human and God and the second governing the relationships between human and human. Why are there ten? One could treat the first line, “I the Lord am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage,” as a separate commandment. One could also divide these two statements as separate commandments: “You shall have no other gods besides Me. You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image…” However, this would lead to us having thirteen Commandments and that would be unlucky, so we stick with putting all these together and settle on ten.

The people all commit to follow the commandments. Thus, the covenant is formed. God now finalizes the difference between our religion and all others of the time by instructing Moses that future worship will be at an altar of earth or stone and not to a god of silver or gold. Ultimately, of course, the altar becomes elaborate but the prohibition against idols remains permanently in place.

Isaiah caps off our studies this week. He tells of a vision he had in the year that King Uzziah dies. God is seated on a lofty throne with seraphs (six-winged creatures) on each side of him calling to each other,

“Holy, holy, holy! The Lord of Hosts! His presence fills all the earth!”  

A seraph comes to Isaiah and places a live coal from the altar on his lips, telling Isaiah that his guilt shall depart and his sin is purged away.  Isaiah now says “hineni, I am here and will speak for the Lord. God predicts that eventually the people will repent and be saved.

Isaiah then goes on to recount how in the reign of Ahaz, the son of Uzziah, an attempt was made to defeat the kingdom of Judah. Isaiah was delegated to inspire Ahaz to successfully defend the kingdom. The answer to the attack comes slightly later in Isaiah in a passage which is often misunderstood to predict the coming of Jesus but instead most likely refers to Hezekiah:

“For a child has been born to us, a son has been given us. And authority has settled on his shoulders. He has been named ‘the mighty God is planning grace; the Eternal Father, a peaceable ruler” … In token of abundant authority and of peace without limit upon David’s throne and kingdom that it may be firmly established in justice and in equity now and evermore…”

            Hezekiah did in fact come to rule over Judah. He successfully defended the city, building the tunnel which bears his name and remains to this day. It provided not only a protected source of water for the people but also a sewer. I have walked the tunnel and it is truly amazing in its construction. Hezekiah is famed for his reforms in both religious practice and his governance of the people.

            Today, as we gaze back at the achievements of our ancestors, we should again embrace the true meaning of the Ten Words and live safely in our relationships with God and each other. Stay safe.

 Torah Commentary for January 15, 2022

           This week’s story begins the journey through the wilderness. God leads the people with a pillar of cloud during the day and one of fire at night to the Sea of Reeds. God has decided that they should go this way rather than right to Canaan on what was then the equivalent of an interstate highway. The route avoided two perils – that of the Egyptian fortifications along the way and the Philistine army in Canaan. Interestingly, there are other portions of the story where the reference is to the Red Sea, not the Sea of Reeds. One has to wonder which is correct – the swampy area that is sometimes passable and sometimes not or the actual sea. One translation makes the soon to come miracle at the sea akin to the enhancement of a natural phenomenon and the other makes it more of a supernatural event. All of the plagues appear on a careful analysis to be rooted in natural occurrences in Egypt at the time. There are explanations for periodic incursions of what appeared to be blood into the Nile; the frogs, vermin, locusts are all natural periodic issues that Egypt had to deal with. They are made more expansive and destructive in the telling but are still rooted in nature. Even Pharaoh’s magicians can make some of the phenomena appear. The route of the Exodus which leads to the Sea of Reeds would be consistent with this view of the plagues. God has so far used what appears to be natural disasters to convince Pharaoh to let the people go; why not continue in the same vein to enhance the natural propensity of the Sea of Reeds to allow some passages and deter others? Another interesting historical note – some who date the Exodus to the Thirteenth Century BCE contend that the Philistines did not arrive in Canaan until 100 or so years later. They would therefore not have been an impediment to the settlement of Canaan.

           The scene shifts back to Egypt. Pharaoh is informed that the people have travelled to the Sea of Reeds and will be easy to capture. He decides that he really wants his slaves back and assembles the chariot army of Egypt to pursue his slaves.

           The Israelites had initially been extremely upset at the consequences of Moses’ first meetings with Pharaoh and the additional hardships they had to endure because of them. Now, they see Pharaoh’s formidable army advancing on them and express their fears. They are still slaves at heart and have to lash out at someone for their peril. Moses is the logical target since they are still having trouble with the concept of an all-powerful God traveling with them – “Was it for lack of graves in Egypt that you took us to die in the wilderness?” Moses, of course, knows what can happen and tells the people – “Do not be afraid. Take your station and see the Lord’s deliverance that He will do for you today…”

           As at the time of Creation, the breath of the Lord causes a division between water and land, providing a new birth for the Israelites as they cross over the sea to freedom while Moses stretches his hand out over the sea. Once the people have succeeded in crossing, Moses stretches his hand out from the other side and the army of Pharaoh is trapped in the waters which return to their former location. Again, the people have witnessed the hand of God enhancing nature for their benefit. The story of the glory of God in this battle is retold through the Song of the Sea, which we recite every Shabbat to remind us of how mighty God is and how it is God who is solely responsible for our freedom from slavery. After this story has been told by Moses, Miriam leads the women of Israel in her own version of the song.

           Moses leads the people to the next opportunity for them to complain. After three days of travel, they come to Marah where there is only undrinkable water (just like the Nile from the first plague). They complain; Moses cries out to the Lord and he then throws a tree into the water at the Lord’s direction, making it sweet. Now for the first time, the Israelites are told that they need to obey God’s laws and God will protect them.

           It is some 45 days since the Exodus began and the people are engaged in what they know how to do best – complaining. By now, the food that they had brought with them from Egypt has to be running out and they can only see starvation ahead: “Would that we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt…” They seem to have forgotten the bad parts of their lives in Egypt and only remember having bread to eat there. Now God provides quail and manna for the people to eat. Again, this is an enhancement of natural phenomena. To this day, manna appears in the morning in some areas of the Sinai and there are flocks of quail that have been known to appear. The miracle of the manna is that each person, no matter how much he gathers, has just the right amount. The manna only lasts for a day except for Shabbat when the previous day’s amount was doubled and remained edible for until the end of Shabbat. Rest on the sabbath is established to honor the story of Creation.

           The people journey on and continued to complain about the lack of water. They reach Massah and Meribah where God instructs Moses to strike a rock with his staff, providing water for the people and the basis for Moses’ later action which leads to him being barred from the Holy Land.

           Now the people encounter their first real battle, this one with the Amalekites. Joshua leads the troops and Moses watches from a hilltop. We conclude with the first military victory of the people highlighted by their own efforts.

           The Haftorah presents us with a parallel to the battles with the Egyptians and the Amalekites. Deborah is a prophet who is leading Israel some years after the death of Joshua. They are being attacked by Sisera. Deborah orders Barak to defeat Sisera. When he demands that she accompany him in the battle to come, she agrees but then tells Barak that the credit for killing Sisera will go to a woman. Sure enough, Barak prevails in the battle. In a parallel to the Sea of Reeds, Sisera’s chariots are mired in the mud below Mount Tabor. In a parallel to the battle with the Amalekites, the Israeli soldiers charge down from the mountain and defeat Sisera’s army with their swords. Sisera is killed by Jael in her tent by driving a stake through his head. What follows this story is a parallel to the Song of the Sea – the Song of Deborah. Just as in the earlier song, this one details in verse the battle and the roles of the Lord, the troops and Jael in defeating the enemy. The story ends with the statement, “And the land was tranquil forty years.” This is the same period of time that the people lived in the wilderness after the Exodus. It is the equivalent of an entire generation – in the first instance, providing time for the generation of slaves who had been raised in that condition to die out and be replaced by people either too young to have been indoctrinated into a slave mentality or born in freedom. In the latter instance, the people afterward had never experienced war.

Shabbat shalom and stay safe.

Torah Commentary for January 8, 2022

            Are you ready for some more plagues? Here goes! Moses and Aaron confront Pharoah again. They warn him that the next plague will be locusts. Moses doesn’t give Pharoah the opportunity to change his mind with this warning. Finally, though, Pharoah’s servants begin to question him – they warn him that Egypt is lost if he won’t act. Pharoah now calls Moses back and tells him the people can go. Moses says he wants to take all the people and their herds but Pharoah is not obtuse; he knows there is something else going on, so he limits who can go to the adult males. Then he sends Moses and Aaron packing. Of course, this is not good enough so Moses brings on the locusts. Pharoah now calls Moses back and asks God’s forgiveness. Once again, the plague is stopped. This doesn’t solve the problem of the people leaving so God tells Moses to bring on the darkness. This being the third in a sequence of three plagues, it begins without warning. Pharoah continues to bargain on who and what can go and Moses rejects his compromise offer. Pharoah then makes the momentous and ultimately calamitous statement: “Go away from me. Watch yourself. Do not again see my face, for on the day you see my face, you shall die.”

            The Lord now tells Moses that one more plague is coming. It is implied or else concluded by most that after the Pharoah’s dismissal, Moses leaves his presence and has this discussion with the Lord. However, Moses immediately after the talk with the Lord tells Pharoah what is coming – death – and then leaves. There seems to be a significant contradiction here at the end of Chapter 10 and in Chapter 11. However, this can be reconciled by envisioning the scene. Moses and Aaron are there before Pharoah where they reject his offer. The Lord now speaks to Moses while still in Pharoah’s presence but only Moses can hear Him. Moses then tells Pharoah what is coming and leaves his presence.

            The Lord now tells Moses that this is the first month of the year and that the Israelites are to sacrifice a lamb for each household on the 14th day of the month and smear the blood of the sacrifice on the doorposts and lintel of their homes. They are to eat the lambs together with flatbread and a bitter herb, all to be consumed by morning. The Lord tells the Moses to tell the people that this will be a holiday for all time and that the Lord will smite the Egyptian first-born the night of the sacrifices. The plague strikes at midnight after which Pharoah finally tells Moses and Aaron to go off with the people. The people set off with their dough on their backs and the gold and silver of Egypt. The Torah tells us that there were 600,000 men plus the little ones and the rag-tag group that followed. This would amount to a total of at least two million people which historians think is an exaggerated number, based on the total population of Egypt at the time and the unlikely prospect that in 430 years, seventy people could have expanded to this number. Commentators point out that historians often had improbable numbers in the literature of the time.

            The Lord now tells Moses that the first-born of Israel are to be consecrated to Him for all time. Moses now tells the people that they are to commemorate the day of freedom with what becomes matzoh and to explain that the seven days of remembrance are to be carried out and the children of Israel are to be given the explanation in future generations as a token of what the Lord did for them in that day.

            Jeremiah now relates the vision of the Lord that he experienced in which he foresaw the subjugation of Egypt by the forces of King Nebuchadrezzar. Just as the Lord destroyed Egypt to free the people of Israel, he will do it all again as a punishment for the sins of Egypt. We, however, should have no fear “For I am with you.”

            The Lord remains with us as long as we remain with Him. Stay safe until we meet again

Torah Comments for January 1, 2022

            “You shall know that I am the Lord your God Who takes you out from under the burdens of Egypt.” We see this statement repeated in one form or another frequently in the Torah and in the Prophets. But here it is for the first time as Moses tells it to the slave population in Egypt. By now, though, the people are not particularly happy with Moses. After all, he shows up and talks to Pharaoh. Immediately, their conditions of slavery get worse. This is not the way to start off an exodus. The people ignore Moses. God, however, is not discouraged. He tells Moses and Aaron to get over there and talk to Pharaoh again.

            The Lord tells Moses that he will be like a god to the Pharaoh who is thought of as a god himself. Aaron will be the prophet of Moses. God warns Moses that Pharaoh will not listen to him so God’s power can be demonstrated to all concerned. This is a necessity in order to rally the slave people to Moses and also to convince the Egyptians to let the people go.  Moses and Aaron go off to Pharaoh and do the staff to serpent trick. When Pharaoh’s soothsayers do the same trick, Aaron’s staff (now serpent) eats up the serpents of the soothsayers. Now come the plagues. The first comes the very next day when Pharaoh is at the water. The waters of the Nile turn to blood. Pharaoh’s soothsayers apparently find other water and turn it to blood. Nobody can drink water for a week (just like the seven days of Creation) – plague one.

            Plague one doesn’t work so God tells Moses to warn Pharaoh of plague two – frogs. The frogs come and the soothsayers duplicate this plague as well. This time, Pharaoh asks Moses to remove the frogs and he agrees. Naturally, this isn’t enough. This time, plague three (lice) happens without warning. Now comes a horde, probably of insects. Pharaoh promises to let the people go for three days, Moses stops the horde and Pharaoh reneges. This time, Moses warns Pharaoh of a plague of pestilence against the livestock of Egypt, but not of the Israelites. The Egyptian livestock die but none of the Israelite livestock die. Next comes the plague of boils. Now comes the hail. All the crops are destroyed. Anyone who stayed out in the fields is killed. Pharaoh sends for Moses and admits that he has offended the Lord. He offers to send off the people. Even though he has promised to let the people go, he changes his mind. In politics, Pharaoh would have been accused of being a flip-flopper. In fiction, he would have been called an evil soul. But the people are still slaves. Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion next week.

            Ezekiel recites his vision of the Lord promising that when He has gathered the people back to Israel, they shall live in peace and prosperity. He tells the people that the Lord has instructed him to speak against the Pharaoh of Egypt and tell him that the Lord will fling him into the desert as punishment for his treatment of the Israelites. He predicts forty years of desolation for the land of Egypt and dispersion of the Egyptian peoples after which they shall be permitted to return to their homeland. This will happen through the hand of Nebuchadrezzar and Egypt will be a lowly nation but Israel will prosper.

            As we start the secular new year, stay safe and join us as you can at Temple Shalom in Port Charlotte.

Torah Comments for December 25

    We have finally finished the introduction to our people’s history. Genesis, the first book of the Torah, focuses on the individual stories of our ancestors. We begin Exodus with a short recap of the individuals who came down to Egypt – the 70 immigrants who had come for a short time but stayed. Joseph dies and the generations continue. The perspective now changes from individuals to the whole of the Israelite community as we prepare ourselves for the rise of our first great leader – Moses – who will take center stage for the rest of the Torah.

            The story of Genesis spanned thousands of years. Exodus begins by skipping over several hundred years to the time when “a new king arose over Egypt who knew not Joseph.” The new Pharaoh warns his people that there are now more Israelites than there are Egyptians. From this, we discern that the status of the Israelites has not changed since the time of Joseph. They are a people apart and they have a lower place in society than Egyptians. We can also see that they remain concentrated in one area of the country. The enslavement of the people seems to have taken place over a period of time. The worse conditions got, the more the Israelites grew in number. Finally, the king of Egypt, presumably not the one who started this process, instructed Shiphrah and Puah, the midwives (or the head midwives) to put to death all the male babies to reduce the Israelite population. The midwives evade the instruction and more Israelites are born. We must have a new generation of kings for the population to have continued to increase as restrictions on the Israelites became tighter and the final instruction was for the Egyptians to throw male babies into the Nile. Again, this seems to indicate that with the passage of time, the Israelites had mainly stayed in the same section of Egypt that they had originally inhabited, Goshen, the area near the Nile Delta.

            It’s Moses time! The child is born and hidden by his mother for three months. At that point, she made a wicker ark (the Torah uses the same terminology for when Noah made an ark) and placed the ark in the reeds of the Nile River. His big sister watched to see what would happen. Pharaoh’s daughter obviously didn’t get the email about throwing Hebrew children into the Nile and unwittingly hires the mother to take care of him. Eventually, the child, Moses she called him, came to live with Pharaoh’s daughter. We don’t hear anything about how Moses was raised, contrary to The Ten Commandments, and the first thing we hear is the story of the Egyptian who is striking the Hebrew. Moses “turned this way and that and saw that there was no man about, and he struck down the Egyptian and buried him in the sand.” The commentator asks whether Moses looked both ways either to make sure there would be no witnesses to his crime or to make sure that no one else would step forward to save the Hebrew. It appeared that he was not going to be found out so the next day he went out and about to where the Hebrews were working. He intervened in a fight between two Hebrews and rebuked the one who was in the wrong. This was the first speech by Moses that is recorded and it fits with many of his later speeches. We who have read ahead know that he will be rebuking lots of people in the future and even God from time to time. This first speech sets the tone for his future.

            Pharaoh hears about the killing of the Egyptian and decides the time has come to kill Moses. The Torah tells us that he flees to Midian to avoid the consequences of his actions. I know this is contrary to what we see in the movie where Moses is the great builder, there is the confrontation between Yul Brynner and Charlton Heston and the old Pharaoh sends Moses off into the desert to die. Either way, he ends up at the Midianite well when Reuel’s (later referred to as Jethro) daughters are driven off from trying to water their sheep. The Torah relates that Moses saved the daughters. They go back to their father and tell him how Moses saved them and watered the flock for them. Reuel invites Moses to stay with him and he agrees. Reuel then gives him Zipporah for a wife and they have a son, Gershom.

            We end chapter two of Exodus with the familiar words of the seder:

“And it happened when a long time had passed that the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites groaned from the bondage and cried out, and their plea from the bondage went up to God. And God heard their moaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.”

            We come to the burning bush. The Torah tells us that it is located in a wilderness area. Later of course, Moses will spend forty years in the wilderness, preparing our people to accept Judaism and freedom. The Lord’s messenger appears within the bush and it is not burnt up. Now it is God within the bush and He calls for Moses. Moses answers with the response, “Here I am,” and the rest is history. “Here I am,” Hin’ni. This response is one that we have seen throughout our history. In each crisis of that history, a hero has arisen to save and lead us forward. Many times, as with Moses, the hero is reluctant but he or she rises to the occasion and leads us. In a more mundane fashion, we have all been called upon from time to time in our family lives and in our communities to act. We have many times agreed, stepped forward and answered the call, from our country, our religion, our community or our family and have carried on the tradition established by our forefathers to improve our lives and those of our fellow humans.

            God tells Moses that He has seen the burdens of the people and has come down to rescue them and bring them up to “a land flowing with milk and honey in Canaan. Then comes the good news – God is sending Moses to bring the people out. Keep in mind the mission that God gives Moses – he is to take the people out of the land of Egypt and lead them to Canaan. Later, Moses is going to tell Pharaoh that he only wants to take the people out into the desert to worship so he will be dissembling during the time of the plagues. Moses is an interesting choice for this task. After all, he was raised as an Egyptian. Now, he is an outlaw with the death penalty on his head and moreover, he is only a shepherd. God tells him not to worry, God will be with him. Moses points out that his last attempt to help the Israelites didn’t go so well; the Israelites basically ridiculed him. God says go – get together with the elders of the Israelites. He tells Moses that the elders will listen to him and he is then to go to Pharaoh and tell him that he just wants to take the people into the desert three days’ journey to worship God. God tells Moses that Pharaoh will need a lot of persuading but that God will do the persuading. God also tells Moses that when the people leave, the Egyptians will give the Israelite women their gold and jewels to take with them. All this foreshadows what is to come.

            Moses still needs encouragement. God teaches him the snake trick with his staff. God tells him that he will be able to turn the water of the Nile to blood when Pharaoh doesn’t heed him. Moses still isn’t 100% on board. He complains, “I am heavy-mouthed and heavy-tongued.” God says, “So what? You’re going.” God finally loses His patience with Moses but tells him that he can take Aaron with him and Aaron will be able to speak for Moses. Moses finally agrees to go. He takes his leave of Jethro and God warns him that there are going to be plagues to move things along. He again foreshadows, telling Moses to threaten Pharaoh with the killing of his son.

            A strange thing happens on the way to Egypt. The Lord comes to kill Moses but Zipporah saves him by circumcising her son. God sends Aaron after Moses to accompany him and they go off to Egypt where they meet with the elders. Aaron does the speaking and convinces the elders that freedom is coming.

            Moses had no trouble gathering the elders of the Israelites. He also has no trouble meeting with Pharaoh. This seems strange. The Egyptians regard the Pharaoh as a god; Moses is a shepherd from Midian and an outlaw to boot. It is not explained how he manages to get not one, but many audiences with the most powerful man in the world at the time. But Moses gets there and proposes that they go the three days into the wilderness to worship. This means that the people would be gone for a whole week, at least. Pharaoh, of course, has no reason to let the people go. They work building his buildings. Rather than let them go, Pharaoh tells the taskmasters to stop giving the people straw for their bricks. The people then had to find their own straw from the stubble of the fields but they had to continue to produce the same number of bricks they had in the past. The people complain to Moses and Aaron. Moses carries on with his whining to the Lord. The response is, just wait, I will make this work.

            We turn to Isaiah for the Haftorah. At the time when the people are again suffering, this time from Babylonians, Isaiah promises that “Jacob shall strike root, Israel shall sprout and blossom.” Isaiah asserts that the sins of the people will be purged. All they have to do is to come back to the ways of the Lord. The Lord will then pick up the people one by one and they shall hear the great shofar. They will gather at the holy mountain in Jerusalem and worship there. Isaiah says the drunkards of Ephraim will be trampled underfoot. The warning is clear, start following the Lord soberly or else. The Haftorah concludes on a more optimistic note – the House of Jacob will no longer be shamed and the people will hallow the name of the Lord.

            We have all been suffering from the slings and arrows of Covid and of the new rise of anti-Semitism. We need to remain in awe of the Lord and continue to stay safe as we approach Plague Week, coming soon.

Torah Comments for December 18, 2021

            We are reaching the end of Genesis. For me at least, this is a time of reflection on the content and structure of our first book. It stretches from creation to the dawn of recorded history. We begin with the story of creation, which many have tried to view either as a miracle which occurred in seven, modern 24-hour days or which is a representation of evolution over thousands or millions of years. It ends with the final episodes of our Patriarchs, Matriarchs and their children. Significantly, it ends in Egypt where history is now actually being recorded on a regular basis. Beginning at this ending, we should be able to trace our ancestors in real time.

            There are a few main characters in Genesis. I think of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Leah and Rachel, and finally, Joseph. One thing that I have noted about all of these people is how real they all seem. Every one of them has human aspects. They live and breathe before us and they do so just like people today. Some aspects of these stories remind me of the soap operas like Days of Our Lives or Dallas. But one thing appears certain. These are people we can identify with. It is obvious that they were real and led real lives. Of course, we find the fleshing out of these people is more for the men than the women. That was simply the way of things in those days. But we can still see the humanity of the women – Eve deciding to share the fruit with Adam and then backing off when it came to responsibility for her acts, Sarah laughing at the prospect of having a child in her old age, giving her husband the opportunity to father a child with her younger servant and then becoming jealous of the child, Rebecca encouraging one of her children to obtain favor from his father. But there is one structural thing that I have been intrigued with. Perhaps you have noticed it too. The descriptions of each of the men and their lives becomes progressively more detailed. We watch Adam as he is expelled from Eden and we understand it and what happened with him but his character is still rather sketchy. Likewise, his children’s descriptions lack much in the way of detail. As we move on to Noah, we spend significantly more time with him as he builds and sails the ark and then frees the animals but, again, we do not delve deeply into him.

We follow the lives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in much more detail than those who have gone before them. This is altogether fitting and proper since they are our Patriarchs but we gain a great deal more insight into them, their characters, their decision-making, their virtues and vices. We see how each of them provides for their families, protects their wives and children from danger and how each relates to God, God Who also evolves with them from almost a fellow being to a more all-knowing and all-seeing presence. We see much of the character of Jacob than his predecessors. He is far from perfect. He has prejudices and preferences which endure throughout his life – he favors one wife over the other; he favors two of his children over the others. He almost seems to treat his ten oldest children as servants. He is passive when it comes to his daughter’s safety. But we do get to know Jacob pretty well.

Finally, we get to Joseph and his brothers. The lives of the brothers are sketchy at best although we do see some of Reuben and Judah. Joseph, however, is the most detailed of everyone to this point. We follow him from his youth as a spoiled brat in his father’s household to a position of authority first in the home of an Egyptian courtier, then in prison and finally in Egypt. The incidents reported in the Torah are detailed and filled with the emotions we might expect. They also form the prelude to the founding of our religion.

Now, on to this week’s parasha. Jacob lives in Egypt for seventeen years. At the time of his death, he asks Joseph to return him to Machpelah. Commentators have noted that Joseph had lived in his father’s home for seventeen years before being sold into slavery and Jacob lived in his son’s home for seventeen years before his death. The symmetry is interesting.

As Jacob is getting ready to die, Joseph brings his sons to him for a blessing. He adopts them as his own. It is interesting to note that he prefers Ephraim, the younger, over Manasseh, replicating what happened between himself and his older brother. He also places them in the same context as Rueben and Simeon. He intimates that Joseph’s sons will supplant his two oldest sons, the one who slept with his concubine and the other who helped lead the massacre at Shechem of Dinah’s violators. He tells Joseph that the two will become the heads of tribes of Israel, just like his other sons. As he does this, he refers to his still prominent grief at the death of Rachel years before. One commentator suggests that the preference of these two grandsons of his and of Rachel’s is an attempt to compensate for the prospect that, had Rachel survived Benjamin’s birth, there would have been other children that would have shared in his bounty. Ultimately, according to the census as the Israelites left Egypt, the younger child, Ephraim, the one Jacob preferred, has a larger tribe than his brother. An interesting result of all this is that in some contexts there are thirteen tribes – those of the eleven other sons of Jacob and excluding Joseph. The land of Israel is divided into twelve sections with the Levites having no land but several towns. The number twelve is preserved by the interpretation that the tribes of Joseph’s sons are half tribes, not whole.

Jacob is finally about to die. He calls for his sons and it is here that the future is foreshadowed and connected to the personalities of Jacob’s sons. Jacob tells each son what he thinks of them and why. He tells Rueben that he will not prevail because he violated Jacob’s concubine. Rueben’s tribe disappears from Israel very early in history. He curses Simeon and Levi and says they will be dispersed in Israel. He tells Judah that his progeny will rule and this is the forebear of King David. The others are also discussed. It appears as if this chapter might have been written by someone at the time of the kingdom of Israel, when the fates of all the tribes had been settled.

Joseph weeps for his father; the reactions of the other brothers are not given. All Egypt mourns Jacob for seventy days. Joseph asks permission to take Jacob to Machpelah for burial and Pharaoh agrees. However, although Joseph and his brothers are permitted to go, the children stay behind. Pharaoh also sends a number of dignitaries and a significant military force along. There is no chance that Joseph won’t be returning to Egypt.

In many families, the parents are the glue that holds everyone together. Now that Jacob is gone, Joseph’s brothers again fear that Joseph will be unleashed and punish them for selling him into slavery. This is not an uncommon end for many families. I witnessed it in a number of estate proceedings when I was still practicing law and I am sure many of us have as well. It was therefore only natural for the brothers to worry. Joseph reassured them that the past was past and that they were safe with him. As Joseph dies, ending the book of Genesis, his final wish is that he be buried in Canaan. The Tomb of Joseph is located in modern Nablus which is at the site of Shechem, the place where he had begun his epic journey from shepherd to slave to control of Egypt.

It is fitting that this parasha is paired with the death of King David. He calls Solomon to his bed and charges him to follow the ways of the Lord. He asks him to deal harshly with Joab for what he did to David’s generals, Abner and Amasa, paralleling the comments of Jacob concerning Simeon and Levi. The Haftorah ends with the statement that Solomon’s rule was firmly established. All the palace intrigues were foiled and David’s wishes were carried out.

There is much to consider here in the closing pages of Genesis. We look forward to the challenges of Exodus, beginning next week. Stay safe and try to attend in person at Temple Shalom if you can.

Torah Comments for December 11, 2021

            There is only one more week in Genesis and two more Shabbats. It’s interesting that we reach a conclusion next week and have a new beginning just as the secular new year is about to begin.

            We’re finishing up the incident with Joseph’s goblet. The brothers still don’t know who Joseph is and think he is an Egyptian. They’re faced with the “fact” that Benjamin, their father’s current favorite, is about to be condemned to be Joseph’s slave. The situation is critical. The brothers are responsible for having taken Jacob’s first favorite, Joseph, away from him and now face the prospect of having his second favorite, Rachel’s only remaining son, taken away too. Judah is finally able to deal with the situation and recognizes that he is not going to be Jacob’s favorite, no matter what. He attempts to save his youngest brother by begging Joseph for him. He says, “Should he leave his father, he would die.” Now in English grammar, we would assume that the “he” here ought to refer to the same person, Benjamin. However, most people have interpreted the meaning of the second “he” to be Jacob. This is definitely not clear in the wording. One commentator says that Judah makes this deliberately fuzzy so Joseph cannot really determine whether it is Benjamin or Jacob who will die. Would this appeal to that strange Egyptian who now holds the power of life or death, freedom or slavery over all the brothers? Judah also tells Joseph that the brothers have accepted collective responsibility for Benjamin in order to come to Egypt and buy food to save their father’s life. He now makes it clear that it is Jacob who would die if Benjamin is not returned to him. Judah also tells Joseph that it is he, Judah, who made the pledge to protect his brother. He acknowledges his responsibility by offering himself in exchange for Benjamin. Judah has finally realized that he has to pay for the original sin (if you will forgive that formulation) of taking Joseph away from his father by becoming a slave in Egypt to protect Benjamin. This is an especially poignant moment when one considers that twenty years ago, Judah was willing to let his father twist in the wind of the lie about Joseph. No more, Judah says. I will protect both Benjamin and Jacob.

            We now witness Joseph’s human nature. He has exacted his revenge on his brothers for what they did to him. He tells all the Egyptians to leave and reveals his true identity to his brothers. “I am Joseph,” he says. The brothers come to the realization that the brother that they condemned, probably to death, but certainly to deprivation, is standing before them and still has the power of life and death over them. They have just gone through a grueling punishment for what they did to Joseph and are afraid that it is not over yet. Joseph has to convince them that all is well. He tells them that it is God’s plan that he was sent to Egypt to prepare the way for them in the face of the famine. He tells them that there are five more years of famine left and that they need to get their father and the entire household and return with them to Egypt where they will be safe. This conversation would have been in the Hebrew of Joseph’s youth where before then the probability is that Joseph had been speaking Egyptian and using an interpreter to talk with the brothers. This is one more means by which they are convinced that he is truly Joseph and is in earnest.

            Pharaoh finds out what has been going on with Joseph and his brothers. There must be a royal gossipmonger out there. He decides this is a good thing and offers “the best of the land of Egypt” to them. Joseph had told the brothers that they would settle in Goshen. Presumably, this is the same land, the fertile Nile Delta region, where the cattle and sheep will prosper. Since the Egyptians did not like shepherds, this would also keep the Jews away from them.

            Now the brothers return home to Jacob and have to explain how it is that, not only is Joseph still alive, he is pretty much running Egypt for the Pharaoh. Jacob, now an old and presumably weak man, emphasizes his old age with his final statement in Chapter 45, “Joseph my son is still alive. Let me go see him before I die.”

            The Torah says, “And Israel journeyed onward,” and some have taken this to mean that it was not Jacob’s intent to settle in Egypt but to simply stay there for a time until the end of the famine. Nonetheless, off he goes with all his people and possessions. God now comes to Jacob in a dream, just like God had come to Abraham years before. Just as Abraham had done, when God appears, Jacob says, “Here I am.” Just like with Abraham, God promises Jacob that he will be a great nation. God promises Jacob His protection for the journey. Prophetically, God does not make any promises about the future condition of Jacob’s family except that He will bring the people back up from Egypt. This is again a kind of throwback to the concept of a personal God, as opposed to the amorphous concept we have today. The Torah now enumerates who the people were who went to Egypt. It includes Joseph’s sons and comes to the number 70 which we find in our Haggadah.

            Joseph reunites with his father. He then goes to report to Pharaoh, bringing several of his brothers with them. Jacob meets Pharaoh and gives him a blessing. Pharaoh gives Joseph a free hand with his family and Joseph settles them in what is now called Rameses but what is thought to be Goshen. Joseph now sells grain, the grain that the Egyptian farmers had raised and delivered to him in the years of plenty, back to the farmers. First, he gets all their money; then he takes their herds; next came all the land of Egypt; finally, Joseph exacted the ultimate price, the freedom of the Egyptians. As our portion ends, he makes slaves of the Egyptians and the Israelites are fruitful and multiply, setting the stage for the tragedy of oppression to come.

            Ezekiel relates the vision of the sticks. One stick is for Judah and the Israelites with him and one is for Joseph and those associated with him. The sticks are representative of the two kingdoms of Israel – Judah and the Northern Kingdom. The Lord instructs Ezekiel to bring the sticks together. God tells Ezekiel that He will make them one and that Ezekiel is to preach to the people that God will unite them and return them to Israel under one king, never again to be divided. He concludes that when the people return, they will be cleansed – “I will be their God and they shall be My people.” This reunion is reminiscent of the reunion that occurred between Joseph and Jacob in the Torah portion. It was meant to refer to the restoration of the Jewish people after the Babylonian Captivity but it can also apply to the Israel of today where we are all welcome to visit as Jacob intended to do in Egypt or to stay as Jacob actually did. Stay safe until we meet again.

Torah Comments for December 4, 2021    Kislev 30, 5782

            Wow! Three Torahs! This only happens a few times a year. It’s also the first time we are having in-person services in our new home at Temple Shalom. What’s more, it’s Chanukah and Rosh Hodesh, all wrapped up in one special day.

            The stories for this week are full of detail and demonstrate human nature as it exists to this day. For that reason, I love to read them every year at this time. Joseph is still in prison where he has been supervising things for two years. Pharaoh now has his dreams of the seven fat cows being devoured by the seven lean ones and the seven ears of grain on one stalk being eaten by the seven lean ones at the Nile River. The two dreams are alarming to Pharaoh. He was torn from his sleep by them. The second dream is similar to the dream Joseph had about the ears of grain that he made the mistake of recounting to his brothers in a parasha a few weeks ago. That didn’t turn out very well for Joseph since it led to his being thrown into the pit and sold into slavery. The ultimate consequence (so far) was him being imprisoned due to Potiphar’s wife’s accusations.

No one has any idea what the Pharaoh’s dreams mean but the cupbearer finally remembers Joseph and his ability to interpret dreams.  He tells Pharaoh about Joseph’s abilities. Pharaoh sends for Joseph. At the time, Joseph is in the prison and it is in a pit that he is located. He is about to go from that pit back where his brothers put him through the pit in Egypt and into the royal audience room. Before entering into Pharaoh’s presence, Joseph shaves and puts on new clothing. This is another transformative moment for Joseph. Only Egyptians were clean-shaven and he is given new clothes. Remember that when Joseph was thrown into the first pit, his brothers removed his ostentatious coat. He now gets rid of his slave clothes and is recast as a man of some significance.

Pharaoh tells Joseph he has heard that Joseph understands dreams and would like Joseph to solve the dreams he has had. Joseph tells Pharaoh that God will solve them. Pharaoh then tells Joseph about his dreams. Joseph doesn’t miss a beat. He immediately tells Pharaoh that his two dreams are one and that they are a message from God to Pharaoh that there are about to be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine in Egypt. Again without hesitation, Joseph lays out the plan for Pharaoh to follow – appoint a food czar, collect surplus food and distribute it when the need arises in seven years. He does this in such a way as to give Pharaoh the idea that only Joseph can solve the problem and lead the country through the crisis. What follows has to have confirmed for Joseph his earlier dreams in which he was to dominate his entire family. That domination is now expanded to include the most organized and powerful society in the area. The transformation is symbolized by another change of clothes for Joseph. He is now in almost the same kind of clothing that the Pharaoh wears, quite a step forward for a Jewish shepherd boy. This is especially true since in Egypt, slaves and Jews in particular are held in very low esteem. This is heady stuff for a 30-year-old Hebrew. He gets to ride in a fancy chariot, gets the Pharaoh’s protection and a wife out of the deal.

Joseph succeeds completely in preparing for the famine and has two sons during this time. The story now shifts back to Canaan where Jacob realizes that his survival depends on Egypt. He sends all of his children but Benjamin to collect provisions. Revenge time! Joseph recognizes his brothers but they do not recognize him. After all, it has been some time since the pit and Joseph surely has changed from the youth in the coat. Joseph now brings his dreams to the forefront and here indeed are the brothers bowing down to him, just as he foretold. He accuses them of being spies and puts them through the ringer. They tell him that they have one brother back in Canaan and one that has died (Joseph). He imprisons his brothers and demands that they bring him Benjamin. He sends them home with provisions and does not take their money but keeps Simeon as a hostage.

Once home, the brothers report to Jacob what has happened. He absolutely refuses to send Benjamin to Egypt. One can just see the favoritism coming out, just like it had with Joseph. As the famine worsens, Jacob knows that he needs food. Judah now decides the time has come to supplant his older brother, Reuben, and offers to take Benjamin with himself as the responsible person. Off they go.

The brothers all get back to Egypt with lots of money to buy goods. Surprisingly, they are conducted to Joseph’s house. This puts them in a precarious and potentially dangerous position. After all, they are coming to Egypt to buy food. This is a purely commercial enterprise. Yet they find themselves being taken to the home of the second most powerful man in all of Egypt. They are concerned that this could be a trap of some kind. It is a wonderful turnabout from the last time they saw Joseph. Then, they were alone with him in the fields. Now, they are alone in the house of a powerful Egyptian. Again, revenge is sweet for Joseph.  Their fears are allayed as Joseph’s servant returns Simeon to them and makes them comfortable. Joseph appears and sees his brother Benjamin. The Egyptians and the brothers eat separately since Egyptians would never deign to eat with Jews. Joseph sits before the brothers during their meal. Things appear to be well. They all eat and drink together and some, at least, drink a bit more than they should.

Punishment for the past remains on Joseph’s mind. He instructs his servant to hide his silver goblet in Benjamin’s bags. The brothers appear to have accomplished their mission. They leave the city with their supplies and are on the way home. Clearly, they are relieved and pleased with their success. But then, disaster strikes. Joseph’s servant intercepts them and accuses them of stealing the goblet, telling them that Joseph uses it for divination. He pronounces the death penalty for the thief. The brothers can’t believe the accusation. They know they didn’t steal anything and they agree that if one of them stole the goblet he can be put to death. They offer to then become the servants of Joseph. Surprise, surprise; the goblet is found in Benjamin’s things. They are brought back to Joseph and Judah again speaks for the rest of them. By now, he has supplanted Reuben as the primary brother. Joseph continues to turn the screws to his brothers. He tells them that Benjamin will remain as his slave and the others can go home. Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion to this story.

Meanwhile, we get to the special Torah portions of the day. First comes the passage detailing the special sacrifices of Rosh Hodesh. I almost have this one down pat so one day I should be able to chant it. Then comes the offering for the sixth day of the dedication of the Tabernacle, identical to all the others.

Zechariah the prophet worked during the reign of Darius in the 500s BCE while the Temple was being rebuilt. His Haftorah begins with the promise that the Lord will come to dwell in the midst of His people, presumably when the Temple is completed and all nations will join them. He recites the vision of the High Priest standing before the angel of the Lord and one called the Accuser (Satan) in filthy garments. Filthy garments represent a loss of purity by the wearer. The argument by Satan is that the people are no longer fit to worship the Lord and rebuild the Temple because of the idolatry they associated with in Babylon. The angel directs his attendants to clothe the priest in his priestly garments and states that he has removed the priest’s guilt. He says that if the priests will all walk in the paths of the Lord, the angel will forgive the sins of Israel. Thus, the people are indeed fit to rebuild the Temple and worship there.

Zachariah recites another vision in which he sees a lampstand of gold with seven branches. He explains with the famous quote:

“Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit.”

We learn that righteousness is demonstrated by actions of obedience to God and not by force. Stay safe and I hope to see you at worship services.

Torah Comments for November 27, 2021

Sibling rivalry was a big thing in Biblical times – Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau. It remains a big thing today. I am sure you all have witnessed it in your own lives. Our three children have certainly displayed it on a regular basis, although now that they are grown, the rivalries are more comical than anything. When our oldest comes over and has one of her mother’s sweet rolls, she often tells her brother and sister that she ate the last one. Our middle child used to count the number of times I let her sister drive me to Shopko while she was learning how to drive so she could get her fair share when she started.

The children of Jacob were just like the children of today, except that there were twelve of them. Dinah, being a girl, apparently didn’t count. Jacob didn’t make things any easier. He made it clear that he like Joseph more than the others. Joseph didn’t help matters either. He was a spoiled brat and a tattle tale. Doesn’t that sound familiar. Jacob made an ornamental tunic for Joseph so he really stood out with his brothers. Then came the dream. Now Joseph’s dreams weren’t like those of his father or his grandfather. It wasn’t God coming over for a conversation. Instead, Joseph had visions that were omens for the future. He had to lord it over on his brothers when he had the dream that showed his sheaf of grain ruling over those of his brothers. He just made things worse by telling them of the dream of the sun, moon and eleven stars bowing down to him. There have been some additional discussions of the meaning of these dreams. The first is agricultural in nature and fits in with the lives of shepherds that Joseph and his brothers were living. It was a prediction that the brothers would be ruled by Joseph but only relates to the brothers and his standing with them. The second dream, however, is much more pretentious. It deals with the whole celestial firmament and indicates that Joseph may end up ruling the world. To expand on this theme, there are some interpretations that indicate it was not eleven stars bowing to Joseph but eleven of the twelve then known constellations, the whole universe.

There is a difficult passage here. Jacob rebukes his son, saying

“What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall we really come, I and your mother and your brothers, to bow before you to the ground?”

            You will recall that Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin a week ago in our story. If Rachel is still alive at the time of the dream, there should only be ten sheaves and ten stars, not eleven. And if there really are eleven because Benjamin is already born, how can Rachel still be alive since she died with Benjamin? One could say that Jacob is really referring to his remaining wife, Leah, at this time. That would potentially work. It seems that at least until this time, the children of a concubine were, at least to some degree, treated as the children of a wife. If the concubine was a servant of one of several wives, the children would probably have been treated as that wife’s children. Otherwise, they probably would have been considered the children of the first wife. In this case, it is therefore possible that Jacob could really be referring to Leah, not Rachel in the passage.

Every action has consequences. When Joseph was sent out to check on his brothers and the sheep, the consequence for his actions came back to him in spades. Joseph can’t find his brothers where they are supposed to be, but he encounters a stranger who tells him that he overheard them saying they would be going to Dothan. The commentator looks at this encounter as an omen of bad things to come. It’s just like one of those murder mysteries I like to read; the clue is there if you just realize its importance. Of course, it isn’t until after the fact that the clue’s significance becomes apparent.

Joseph’s brothers see him coming. All of them except Reuben, the oldest, decide they are going to kill him and claim that he was killed by a vicious beast. Reuben convinces them to dump him into a pit instead. Fortuitously, a caravan comes along and they decide to sell him to the people there. Now miraculously (?) some Midianites appear. They pull Joseph out of the pit and they sell him to the merchants in the caravan. Joseph’s brothers have been able to avoid killing him and selling him. Now the brothers take the coat and spill some blood on it (what a waste to ruin a perfectly good tunic) so they can tell Jacob that he is dead.

There is another difficult passage at this point. The Midianites have sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites in the caravan for twenty pieces of silver and Joseph goes off to Egypt. However, the Torah now tells us that the Midianites sold Joseph into Egypt to Potiphar, the Pharaoh’s high chamberlain. This apparent conflict is not explained.

The Torah now goes on to tell the story of Judah. Judah obtains a woman with whom he has three sons. He finds Tamar for a wife for his first born. Judah’s first son is put to death by the Lord. His second son is directed to enter into what later became known as a Levirate marriage with the wife of his brother. He refuses to do so and the Lord puts him to death as well. He then sends Tamar home so his third son won’t also incur the wrath of God.

Judah goes off to the sheep sheering festivities. Tamar hears he is coming; she knows that his third son is now an adult and doesn’t want to have to marry him. She disguises herself and sits by the side of the road. Jacob thinks she is a whore and bargains for sex with her. They agree on a kid from the herd. She must appear beguiling to him because she is able to insist upon obtaining his seal and cord and staff as security for the kid. This price is like a modern person paying a prostitute with his or her driver’s license and credit card. Nonetheless, Judah promises them and actually gives them to her. Tamar goes home pregnant. Judah is incensed at his daughter-in-law’s promiscuity and demands that she be burned to death with no trial and no evidence. She is able to save her life by proving that Judah himself did the nasty deed with her. He then couldn’t kill her without be killed himself. Twins are born and, just like with Jacob and Esau, there is a question of who came first.

We return to the story of Joseph. He gets to Egypt and quickly gains the favor of Potiphar, being put in charge of the household. Joseph does well. He also attracts Potiphar’s wife who demands sex with him. This whole thing sounds more and more like Peyton Place (for us older folks), doesn’t it? Joseph refuses; she grabs him by the garment he wears; he pulls free but the garment stays with her. She accuses Joseph of trying to rape her and shows the garment to prove her story. There were no lie detectors in those days so who was Potiphar going to believe? His wife, of course. Off goes Joseph to prison where the foundation for the future is created. The warden, just like Potiphar, recognizes a good administrator when he sees one and puts Joseph in charge of all the prisoners. There appears to be a tremendous change in Joseph since the time of his life in Canaan. He is no longer a spoiled brat or a tattletale. Somewhere along the way he must have picked up a degree in ancient business matters which are clearly in a category totally removed from the shepherd business. He certainly excels at these things.

            Now come two more dreams and these are the ones that determine the fate of our ancestors. The cupbearer dreams about the three grapes which he puts into Pharaoh’s cup. Joseph tells him that in three days he will be restored to his position as cupbearer. The baker dreams about three baskets and birds which eat from one of them. Joseph tells him that in three days Pharaoh will cut off his head and stick his body on a post for the birds to eat. Sure enough, three days come, the cupbearer is restored to his job and the baker is executed. There is no explanation for this precipitous act of execution. I never knew that baking was so dangerous. It almost makes me want to stop baking bread. Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter in the story of Joseph.

We don’t often hear from Amos. He is attributed to nine short chapters among the minor prophets. Amos appears to have lived around 750 BCE when there was still a kingdom of Israel. He warned the people of their sins about two years before a great earthquake occurred. He could have said I told you so. Amos tells the people that they will be punished for having sold others into slavery (just like Joseph’s brothers are accused of doing although they were technically innocent of that particular crime). The people are accused of ignoring the needy and standing in the way of the downtrodden. Fathers and sons have relations with the same women; people drink in the Temple. How could the people do this, he asks, after all the Lord has done for them. He warns that a reckoning is coming and it will not be pretty.

“Can two walk together without having met?…

Does a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey?

Does a trap spring up from the ground unless it has caught something?…

Can misfortune come to a town if the Lord has not caused it?”

 

On this second Thanksgiving of Covid, I hope everyone will celebrate wisely and enjoy your holiday. Stay safe and I hope that many of you will be able to attend our first services next week during Chanukah.  May the lights of the season kindle a light in ourselves and lead us to better times.

Torah Comments for November 20, 2021

            Jacob is on the way home. He had his encounter with Laban and resolved that and now he has his next challenge – his brother, Esau. Jacob has a good memory and he remembers that his mother warned him that Esau was ready to kill him for stealing his birthright, his blessing and the affections of his mother. So, he prepares. He sends messengers ahead with instructions to deliver a conciliatory plea. But they come back and say that Esau has 400 men with him. Well, you don’t generally need 400 men to have a happy family reunion. That was the number of men that would form a regiment and you would only need that for a battle. Jacob takes the standard military precaution of putting his wives and children and some of his herds on the other side of the river to protect them. He doesn’t want to have a war with his brother so he sends him several different gifts of animals, one following the other in close succession, both to convince Esau that he is now a man of means who will not take anything else from him and to soften his heart enough for a peaceful reunion.

            That night, Jacob plans to be alone and to prepare for whatever fate will lie in wait for him. Instead, this is the night of the wrestling match. Jacob doesn’t know who this man is but he spends the entire night in this match. The man needs to get out of there before dawn (just like in the old fairy tales) and Jacob demands a blessing to let him go. Jacob now realizes he has been fighting with a being greater than a man. He obtains a blessing and he undergoes a name change to Israel, although he still goes by Jacob most of the time.       

            The fight is over. Daylight comes and with it, Esau and his 400 men. Jacob makes sure that his most beloved family members are in the safest position and then heads off to meet Esau alone. He bows seven times as he approaches (like the seven times we set a coffin down on the way to the grave). He still has no idea how this is going to come out. Eureka! Esau is happy to see Jacob. He runs up to him and embraces him, weeping. It turns out that Esau has done pretty well in the 20 plus years that have intervened and he says that he has plenty and doesn’t need Jacob’s gift. Jacob says, “I have everything,” outbidding his brother again, and insists that Esau keep the herds he sent him. The brothers agree to live in peace – Esau returns to Seir and Jacob goes off to Succoth. He buys a parcel of land (the second land transaction detailed in the Torah) and sets up an altar.

            We come to the troubling story of Dinah. She is apparently Jacob’s only daughter. She goes off travelling. As an immigrant, she is vulnerable and encounters Shechem who rapes her. The act fills him with love and longing for Dinah and he tells his father to take Dinah for his wife.  Hamor, the father, sees an opportunity to smooth this incident over and to create a win-win situation with both extended families allying themselves through intermarriage. He offers any amount of money for this to happen. In the meantime, Hamor is holding Dinah hostage in his town. Jacob’s sons get into the bargaining and demand that all of Hamor’s males circumcise themselves as a price for what is being proposed. Hamor agrees and everybody gets circumcised. Whoops, that turns out to be a wrong move. Jacob’s sons never had any intention of letting Dinah marry Shechem. Simeon and Levi take advantage of the weakened state of Hamor’s townsmen and kill them all. Thus, they get Dinah back along with all the women, children and assets of Hamor’s town. What does Jacob say about all this? Absolutely nothing. Could it be that this is what he wanted to happen? Jacob has been duplicitous before. He grabbed onto Esau’s ankle when the two were born; he stole the birthright; he pretended to be Esau to get the blessing; he fooled Laban. Now he gets the best of both worlds. He doesn’t have to do the dirty work of avenging his daughter but he gets the spoils of the revenge.

            Now Jacob takes some action. He sets off for Bethel. First, he destroys all the pagan idols that his people have, including those of his slaves, apparently. God, whom Moses cannot witness, now shows up to Jacob and confirms his new name of Israel, again to be used sparingly in the future. God reconfirms his promises to Abraham and Isaac of the land of Canaan. Rachel gives birth to Benjamin at Bethlehem and dies. She is buried there and her shrine has endured to the present although it has been damaged by Palestinians in recent history.

            Rueben challenges his father’s authority and his manhood by having sex with Jacob’s concubine, Bilhah. An out of place reference is now made to the death of Isaac. Esau and Jacob, working together at the time of his death as opposed to the way that they acted separately at birth, bury Isaac at the cave with Abraham and Sarah.

            The Torah now goes on a genealogical spurt. This is often a way of separating one story from another. It also provides certainty to the events that have been recounted in these stories.

            We conclude our studies with the prophecy of Obadiah. His book is the shortest of the prophets. It is believed that he had his vision during the Babylonian Captivity but there is no information about who he was or what he did in life except to receive his prophecy. Obadiah tells us that the Lord has chastised Edom, the descendants of Esau, for their evil ways. Edom will be destroyed for not having raised its hand to side with their brother, Israel, against the Babylonians as they destroyed Jerusalem and took the people hostage. Obadiah tells us that Jacob will return and Edom will be destroyed. Ultimately, Jacob will control the land as before. The prophet has made it clear that those who do not stand with the Lord’s people will be doomed. Stay safe until we meet in person.

Torah Comments for November 13, 2021

            When we left our patriarchs last week. Esau still had a need to ingratiate himself with his father so he married Isaac’s niece, Mahalath. This week, we start off with Jacob’s dream. He reaches what is now Bethel and was then Luz and decides it’s time to go to sleep. He appears to be out in the open, so he must be near Luz, not in it. Luz was apparently a cult center for the Canaanites. There is no bed where Jacob stops for the night so he lies down on the ground. In my translation, he puts a stone at his head (probably for a protective barrier) rather than using it for a pillow. He dreams that there is a ramp which begins on the ground and stretches out to heaven. This ramp is typically rendered as a stairway to heaven (according to the song) or more traditionally, as a ladder. It is depicted in the movie Grease as more of the stairway when Frankie Avalon comes down from heaven to tell Rizzo to go back to high school. An interesting note is that messengers are going up and down the ramp to report to God and that God is “over” Jacob. This is a somewhat more modern concept of God as being “up there” than the one we had in recent weeks where He appeared to be actually living among the patriarchs. God promises the land to Jacob and his descendants who will be “like the dust of the earth.” Later, the stone is used as a pillar. This was a common practice in that time in the pagan religions. Again, we have this moving back and forth between the pagan practices of the time and a new approach to religion which is being formed as we watch. It begins in fits and starts with a grounding in the familiarity of idol worship of the gods and gradually moves toward the concept that we find in the later stages of Moses’ time of a being that we cannot encounter without risk of death. At any rate, Jacob begins as unsure of what to do with this being he has encountered. He makes a bargain – I’ll adopt this God as my own if I make back home safely.

            Jacob gets to Haran and stops at a well. It has a stone protecting it. So here we have another stone that figures prominently in Jacob’s story. This one is the foundation for his macho act of rolling the stone off the well so Rachel can water her sheep before the others who are gathered at the well. Obviously, Jacob immediately falls in love with Rachel when he sees her coming. This is an interesting concept when we consider that she was probably about as covered up as you can be when he saw her but there is nothing uncommon about it. Love at first sight is prominent in literature and life from the time of Jacob to today. The idea of wanting to impress a young man or young lady on first sight is also common in our tales of love. In this story, as soon as Jacob rolls the stone away, he kisses Rachel. Apparently, this is the way courtship took place in those days. There are some similarities between this story and the one where his mother was encountered by Abraham’s servant but here it is Jacob himself who does the asking for a wife. Jacob proposes to stay with Laban, Rachel’s father, and work for him for seven years to be able to marry Rachel. Laban, of course, wants to marry off Leah first but he doesn’t say so. Instead, he agrees to the bargain. We know the story. Jacob works the seven years. He then demands his prize and he takes her to bed. He must have been pretty drunk not to realize he had Leah but he only figures that out the morning after. Laban demands another seven years for Rachel and Jacob agrees. Now we come to the foundation of the twelve tribes of Israel. Jacob doesn’t like Leah as much as Rachel so God sees to it that Leah is the one who gets pregnant. She produces four sons and Rachel is jealous. So, she gives Jacob her slavegirl, Bilhah, who produces two sons. Not to be outdone, Leah gives Jacob her slavegirl, Zilpah, and she produces two sons. Leah then produced two more sons and a daughter for Jacob. Finally, Rachel produces Joseph.

            All this time, Jacob has been working for Laban for close to twenty years. He has two wives and twelve children but no money. It’s time to leave and Jacob tells Laban it’s time to pay him for all his efforts. Now generally speaking, it is a better practice to agree on the wages in advance. Jacob had tried that at the beginning. He asked for Rachel for seven years of work and then for seven more. But he stayed much longer than that while he accumulated his children. Jacob bargains for the dark colored sheep and the speckled goats from Laban’s herds. Laban thinks that’s a pretty good bargain because most sheep are white and most goats are not speckled. Laban tried to trick Jacob by removing the speckled goats and the dark sheep from his herd and sending them away – sound familiar? What a great father-in-law and a tremendous example for his grandchildren. Fortunately, they don’t follow his example. Meanwhile, Jacob is not above a little trickery of his own. Jacob manages to get the flocks to produce only speckled goats and dark sheep, thus outsmarting Laban.

            Jacob figures out that Laban is not happy with him and God tells him to go back home. He gets his wives and children and takes off as quickly as he can with his new herds of sheep and goats. Rachel, apparently no paragon of virtue either, steals her father’s household gods. Off they go. They get a three-day head start but Laban goes after them and catches them. God appears to Laban in a dream and warns him to be careful what he does with Jacob. We get to the scene in the high country of Gilead. Jacob has his herds, his children and his wives. Laban has followed him and approaches with his men. He accuses Jacob of not giving him the opportunity to give Jacob a good send-off and to say goodbye to his daughters. There is the incident of the stolen gods. Laban accuses Jacob of taking them. He searches everywhere but can’t find them – Rachel has concealed them. Eventually, the two men make a pact and seal it with, you guessed it, stones. They agree on boundaries for their future pastures. Laban leaves and Jacob does as well. He is confronted by angels as he leaves as a counterpoint to when he came to Laban’s home and had the dream of the ramp with the messengers traveling up and down its length.

            The Haftorah comes from Hosea. Hosea lived from 755 to 715 BCE and made his prophecies in the days of Isaiah and Micah. He tells the story of how Jacob had fled to Aram after the issue with the blessing. He recounts the story of Jacob’s working for his wives. He then warns the people of the fate that came to Ephraim for idol worshipping. He points out that the idols are nothing and will disappear. The Israelites have had one true God who has cared for them since the Exodus from Egypt but the people have forgotten Him. The punishment is to come –

“So I am become like a lion to them, like a leopard I lurk on the way; like a bear robbed of her young I attack them and rip open the casing of their hearts; I will devour them there like a lion, the beasts of the field shall mangle them.”

            Hosea tells the people to return to the Lord who will take them back in love, finishing with these words:

“He is wise who will consider these words, he who is prudent will take note of them. For the paths of the Lord are smooth; the righteous can walk on them, while sinners stumble on them.”

            We can all learn human nature from the stories of this week. We see the stinginess of Laban, his trickery and his willingness to lie and cheat for his own benefit. There is the macho act by Jacob to win over Rachel. We see the petty jealousies between Rachel and Leah and their competition to be first in their husband’s eyes. Laban, after twenty years, has not changed and Jacob has to resort to his own trickery to obtain his just wages for all those years of work. Then we see the changing concept of the role of God in all of this. God is becoming more of an all-encompassing entity instead of just one of the group of local nature gods. Eventually we see that Jacob’s decision to follow God is the proper action. When his descendants back away, they are punished for it. Stay safe until we meet in person. We are getting closer and closer to having that happen.

Torah Comments for November 6, 2021

            This story begins the lives of Esau and Jacob and provides insight into the marriage of Isaac and Rebecca. The story starts out just like a story in Greek mythology (although this one is older). Isaac asks God to give his wife a child. Rebecca is granted pregnancy. Then, when the fetuses begin to clash with each other in her womb, she complains in that typical fashion, “why me?” She goes to talk to God. Is He living next door in this concept of God? He certainly is approachable for our ancestors. However, they recognize that He is the Lord, even though He appears to be there with them when they want Him. The Lord acts like the Oracle of Delphi here and tells her that she has twins who will become the fathers of great nations and also that the elder child will become the slave of the younger. Esau comes out first with Jacob right behind. As Jacob comes out, he is holding onto Esau’s heel. They grow and Rebecca is partial to Jacob. He is the younger and is more of a homebody than his brother, the hunter. We don’t know why Rebecca feels this way but we do know that Isaac likes Esau more. The reason for Isaac’s feeling is that Esau is that prototypical macho man. He hunts. He brings home game that he has killed. Isaac apparently gravitates to him for that. Perhaps he wants to live vicariously through Esau. After all, he is a shepherd and has tended to the flocks for his whole life, to the extent that his servants didn’t do the dirty work. Rebecca, just like in the modern family, takes to the other child, the one the father doesn’t associate with. We can see through thousands of years that family dynamics remain the same as they always were.

            We have a number of significant incidents in today’s portion that detail the characters of the brothers and their parents. Esau goes off hunting and has a bad day – no game. Meanwhile, Jacob has concocted a (probably vegetarian) stew. Esau is hungry and wants stew. The Hebrew connects the wording of his request to how one would want to feed an animal. His brother seizes on the opportunity and tells Esau to sell him Esau’s birthright for the stew. Esau agrees and gulps down the stew. To each, the sale is practical. Esau thinks only of the present and fills his stomach. Jacob looks to secure his future.

            Another of those famines happens. Here is the only time that we see Isaac taking the proverbial bull by the horns. When we first met him, he carried the wood for the sacrifice and apparently either willingly or passively let himself be tied to that wood as the sacrifice. When it came time for a wife, it was his father who sent a servant to find him one. Later, he will be the “victim” of Rebecca’s intrigue. Now however, he starts off toward Egypt, just like his father had done. The Lord tells him to stay in Gerar and promises to fulfill the promise of land that he had made to Abraham. [Again, the Lord is described more in human than godlike terms.] We get that same old story from the time of Abraham where the men of Gerar are attracted to Rebecca and Isaac says that she is his sister, not his wife, fearing that he will be killed over her just as Abraham had feared with Abimelech some years before. Abimelech observes the two and calls Isaac on his lie. Abimelech warns his people to leave the two of them alone and Isaac does well as a farmer. In a similar vein to what will happen in Egypt in the years to come, Isaac becomes too powerful for his neighbors. Unlike what will happen in Egypt, Abimelech just tells Isaac to get out because he and his possessions have too much potential for competition with his neighbors. Here, just like with his father, Isaac has conflicts over wells until he comes to Rehoboth, where he is allowed to possess a well without conflict. Eventually, Isaac’s men dig another well at the town which becomes Beersheba. Esau comes to his 40th birthday and marries Judith, a Hittite. This causes problems for Esau’s parents. Again, a child marrying outside the faith has remained a challenge for parents to this day, and not just in our religion.

            Isaac is losing his sight as he gets old but he wants to bless Esau while he still can. He sends his son off to shoot game before he is blessed. Rebecca hears the challenge and springs into action to fulfill the Lord’s promise. She has Jacob get her lambs to prepare and disguises him as Esau, using Esau’s clothes and some animal skins to fool her husband. Jacob carries out the scheme. Although Isaac appears to recognize Jacob’s voice, he is fooled by the assertion that the person before him is the firstborn, the hair of the animal skins and the smell of Esau’s clothes. He gives Jacob the blessing that he had reserved for Esau, telling him that he will rule over his brother. Esau shows up right after the blessing and Isaac discovers what has happened. He cannot retract his earlier blessing and Esau breaks down, losing control in despair after having been supplanted. Esau plans revenge, just as Cain had killed Abel. Rebecca tells Jacob he had better get out of town for his own safety. She then complains to Isaac about Esau’s Hittite wife and tells him she wants Jacob to have a proper one. She uses that victimhood plea that Jewish mothers are said to have used for generations to get what they need through a guilt trip – if Jacob doesn’t get a proper wife “what good to me is life?”

            Isaac tells Jacob to leave and to find a wife in Paddan-Aram from his cousins. Off goes Jacob. Esau, seeing the lie of the land, takes another wife, this time a daughter of his uncle Ishmael.

            Malachi, the last of the prophets, is the final person to have visions and to prophesize. He reminds the people that the Lord has shown them love and has been the determinant of who has become the proper figure in Jewish life – Jacob, not Esau. He also rails against the people for having defiled the sacrifices and threatens the priests who do not follow His laws that they will be cursed. Stay safe until we are able to resume our in-person interactions.

Torah Comments for October 30, 2021

            Sarah has died. She is the first of our historic matriarchs and patriarchs to meet that fate. This is a major event which requires actions that will reverberate until today. Abraham needs to take that first step that all of us need to take after a death in the family. He has to find a burial site for his wife. Now some of us have prepared for this eventuality already and have our sites already selected. Some have even settled on the details of the funeral and paid for it. My father always told me not to do any of that in advance because all these things are tax deductible if you wait until the time comes. Abraham didn’t have to worry about taxes but he didn’t do it in advance either. Of course, Abraham was a wanderer so he may have been practical in that regard. He didn’t know where he would be living when the time came to deal with death so he waited.

            Bargaining is an integral part of life and death as well. Here we find Abraham bargaining with the Hittites over the burial site. They begin with flattery, calling him a “prince of God among us” and offer him the use of a grave. Abraham wants his own holding as a place for the grave. He suggests the cave of Machpelah. One reason for this selection is that it is at the end of the land of the owner. This means that Abraham will not have to traverse someone else’s land to get to the grave. He insists on paying full price for the cave so it is clear that this is a full sale of property. The cost of the site is 430 shekels which is in fact an extortionate amount in those times but Abraham pays rather than haggle over it and buries Sarah there.

            Every one of us is aware of the ultimate consequences of this, the first completely memorialized transaction in the Torah. Sarah is buried there; Abraham will be buried there. Isaac and Jacob, Leah and Rebecca will also be buried there. It is likely that Rachel would have been there too had she not died at Bethlehem in childbirth. So here in one location are our patriarchs and matriarchs, the founders of our religion. Here is a historical tie to the land of our fathers and mothers. Although today the Cave of Machpelah is located in the West Bank area misgoverned by the PA, there remains a Jewish presence, a small community. We are able to visit this site as Nancy and I have in the past. It is our anchor to Israel.

            Abraham is getting ready to die but he has to make arrangements for the future. He tasks his most trusted servant with finding a wife for Isaac back in Nahor where he came from. The story is interesting at this point. The servant leaves with ten camels and much of Abraham’s wealth to buy a wife for Isaac. Historically, many experts say that camels had not yet been used as beasts of burden in the time of Abraham but there is the possibility that Abraham was ahead of his time. In the story, of course, the camels are a critical part. The servant takes the camels to the outskirts of Nahor to the communal well. He prays to God that a woman will come from the town and offer to give both he and the camels water and that this woman will be the “one” for Isaac. Rebecca comes out and gives both he and the camels water. The servant gives Rebecca a gold nose ring and bracelets and she offers the man a place for the night. Rebecca’s brother Laban sees the bracelets and the nose ring. He comes over to the servant and brings him to their home. The servant tells Laban his story and Laban and Rebecca’s mother send her off to marry Isaac.

            Abraham’s time hasn’t quite come yet. Perhaps seeing Isaac get married gives him new strength. He remarries, Keturah. Keturah produces six children for him. That’s pretty good for a man who is well over 100 by now. Abraham does to his six children what he did to Ishmael and sends them off. He dies at 175 and Ishmael and Isaac get together to bury him in the Cave of Machpelah next to Sarah.

            The Torah now digresses as happens often in its structural content and details the lineage of Ishmael. He has twelve sons who all become the heads of tribes just as Jacob later has twelve sons who all become the heads of tribes. Next comes Isaac.

            The Haftorah is an interesting one and parallels the end of the Torah portion. King David being quite old was cold all the time. His courtiers found him a beautiful young woman, Abisag, to wait upon him. They did not have sexual relations according to the story but she took good care of the king.

            One of David’s sons, Adonijah, decided to make a play for the kingship. He assembled the trappings of royalty and sought allies in the priesthood. Nathan the prophet warned Bathsheba that Solomon was in danger of not assuming the throne. They concocted a scheme to get David to settle the matter and were successful. While Abraham had a wife in later life with whom he produced six children, David had one who remained chaste in her marriage, after which she was heard from no more.

            There is much death in this week’s study. I am happy to counter it with the announcement that our board has voted to accept an offer from Temple Shalom in Port Charlotte to hold our future services there. I am traveling to Florida for a few days where we will be finalizing the details shortly and I look forward to announcing when we will be restarting our activities. Stay safe.

Torah Comments for October 23, 2021

            This week we have the story of Abraham and his encounter with what he believes to be three strangers. It begins with the phrase, “And the Lord appeared to him…” What Abraham saw was not the Lord, but three human shapes. He immediately got to his feet, went over to them, bowed low and, addressing the most powerful appearing of them, asked them to tarry and take some water and a morsel of bread. The story is similar to the Tale of Aqhat, found on a tablet. That story details a visit by the god Kothar to childless Dan’el. The same details occur. Typically, the story is interpreted as the epitome of ancient Middle Eastern hospitality. Details are given of that hospitality, led by Abraham himself. First, he instructs Sarah to make bread for them. Then he selects a calf to serve. He brings it to the men with curds (parroting an old Wisconsin tradition) and milk. Obviously, they haven’t gotten to the idea of separating milk and meat yet. They eat and one asks where his wife Sarah is. At this point, Abraham begins to realize that these visitors may be more than mere mortals. One visitor tells Abraham that he will return in a year Sarah will have a son. Sarah is eavesdropping and laughs to herself, considering that she is pretty old and knowing she can no longer have children. The Lord, the real visitor, asks Abraham why Sarah laughed and again promises to return in a year when Sarah will have a son. The Lord, of course, has “heard” what Sarah said to herself. Sarah, still in the tent?, claims that she didn’t laugh but the Lord says she did.

            The Lord confides in Abraham that he has come to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. We now encounter the first argument that a human has with God. How can you destroy the innocent with the guilty? He gets God to agree to forego the destruction if there are 50 innocents there. They get down to 45, then 40, next 30, then 20 and finally 10. What a bargainer he is. The deal is so good that the number 10 becomes the foundation for future administrative units and ultimately, the minyan.

            Lot is sitting at the entrance to Sodom, just like Abraham had been sitting at the entrance to his tent when the three strangers approached. This time, there are two – the two who had been with the Lord when visiting Abraham. Lot invites the two strangers to spend the night in his home and they agree – again Middle Eastern hospitality. This time, things don’t go so well. The men of Sodom had noticed the coming of the two “men” and had decided that they would rape them. Lot offers his two young daughters to the mob instead. The two rescue Lot from the mob and tell him to take his family and get out of town before they destroy it. Lot’s married family members ignore him and Lot, his wife and two youngest daughters flee. They are told not to look behind them and of course, Lot’s wife disobeys, shades of Eve in the Garden of Eden. She turns into a pillar of salt. Lot takes his daughters off and they go into a cave where the daughters get their father drunk and have sexual relations with him. They both became pregnant – one’s child became the father of the Moabites and the other’s became the father of the Ammonites.

            Abraham went on to Gerar and repeated the deception that hadn’t worked in Egypt, pretending that Sarah was his sister. It didn’t work this time either. God came to the king, Abimelech, in a dream and told him that he had messed up. Abimelech did the right thing and returned Sarah to her husband. We learn that Sarah is in fact Abraham’s half-sister. It appears that the marriage was incestuous but no one cares any more.

            Sarah does become pregnant and has Isaac. He is circumcised when he is eight days old and Abraham is 100. Sarah finally is able to laugh out loud. Now Hagar laughs at Sarah over Isaac. We had thought we got rid of Hagar last week but not so. Abraham sends Hagar off with Ishmael. She fears that they will die in the wilderness but God sends a messenger to her and assures her that Ishmael will become the father of a great nation, just like Isaac will be.

            Abimelech’s men come into conflict with Abraham’s but they settle matters in Beersheba.

            Finally, we come to the test of Abraham. God calls out to him. Abraham responds, “Here I am.” God instructs Abraham to take Isaac to Moriah and sacrifice him. Think about it. Abraham is over 100. He just got rid of his other son, Ishmael, and now is told to kill Isaac. He knows that he will never be able to have another child, yet he goes off to obey without question. As Abraham leads Isaac to the place of sacrifice, traditionally the rock under the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount, Isaac asks him where the sacrifice is. Abraham responds that God will provide it. Isaac must have gotten a hint that something was wrong when his father tied him on top of the wood for the sacrifice but doesn’t protest. Finally, at the last moment, God’s messenger appears and a ram appears for the sacrifice. The sacrifice takes place and God again promises that Abraham’s seed will be “as the stars in the heavens.”

            The Haftorah comes from II Kings. It begins with the story of Elisha and the widow who has nothing but debts that her husband had incurred. Elisha has her gather a number of oil containers, oil fills all of them and it is sold, saving her from her creditors.

            Next is the story of a woman who provided Elisha with a meal and a place to stay whenever he passed by. Paralleling the Torah portion, Elisha promises the woman that in the next year she will have a son. The son dies suddenly. The woman goes to Elisha. He comes with her and brings the child back to life. This story goes a step further than the binding of Isaac where that sacrifice did not happen but the result is the same, the child is saved and goes on to presumably have a full life.

            We will have an update on our services shortly. Stay safe.

Torah Comments for October 16, 2021

            We have travelled from the stories of myth and legend – how the world began, how humans began and how the ancient world was populated – to a new epoch. We are now at the time of actual recorded history. The stories that we follow from now on are still legend, but they are based on what actually happened. We now have archeological evidence of what takes place.

            We begin with the story of Abram. God talks to Abram, just as He did to Adam, Eve, Noah and others. He tells Abram to leave his homeland and go to a place that He will show Abram. He promises to bless and protect Abram. Abram doesn’t speak with God at this time but he listens to Him and leaves for, if you will excuse the expression, God knows where. He takes his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot along with his slaves and off they go. They travel to Shechem in Canaan and God appears to Abram (note that He will not do this for Moses). God promises Abram that his descendants will inherit Canaan. Abram remains a nomad so he moves on, building an altar in the process.

            The story goes on to foreshadow the stories of Joseph, Moses. A famine arises. Abraham decides to go to Egypt to ride it out. He pretends that Sarai is really only his sister, not his wife, so the pharaoh won’t kill him for her. As we expect, the pharaoh’s servants see Sarai and take her off to the harem for the pharaoh. However, instead of enjoyment, the Pharaoh is afflicted with plagues and tells Abram to go along with his family.  Watch for him to try this trick again with another king soon. Keep in mind the fact that the pharaoh found out about it and was not pleased.

            Abram returns to whence he came. There, he and Lot realize that they will not be able to coexist on the land; there are just too many of them and too many flocks. Lot chooses the plain of the Jordan River for himself and goes there. Abram remains in Canaan where God promises him that his descendants will be as the sand on the shoreline. War breaks out near the Dead Sea and Lot is kidnapped. Abram brings his 318 men with him, apparently a formidable army at the time, and rescues Lot. He also obtains booty which he shares with the enemies of the people who kidnapped Lot.

            God now changes his relationship with humanity. He appears to Abram in a vision instead of personally. For the first time, Abram responds to God. He complains that he has no children. God tells Abram to make Him a sacrifice which he does and God then tells him a child is coming.  God comes to Abram a second time, this one in a dream, and makes a covenant with him that his descendants will indeed inherit the land before him.

            Sarai gives Abram Hagar, her slave, to make a baby. They are succeeding and Sarai gets upset. Abram tells Sarai she can do what she wants with Hagar and the baby. Here he is a typical cowardly husband who lets his wife make the decisions. However, if we read this one line from the Torah carefully, it has a lot of meaning in today’s world: “’Look, your slavegirl is in your hands. Do to her whatever you think right.’” First of all, it is true that Abram is refusing to take any responsibility for this crisis. He says to his wife, you solve the problem. But there is a more significant point here as well. Abram tells Sarai that Hagar is her slavegirl to do with as she wishes. He recognizes that his wife has certain rights which he cannot countermand. He doesn’t even offer his own advice on what to do. Sarai has her right and can make her decision. Here is the first time in the Torah that women’s rights are on display unless you count the banishment of Adam and Eve from Eden as a woman’s equal right (to punishment). It is significant for us to realize that at the first opportunity in history, the Torah champions rights for women, something that many other religions and cultures have failed to do to this day. Of course, the incident also demonstrates that women truly rule the roost in many home situations.

            Here’s another interesting question on the other side of things. Sarai invited Abram to take Hagar as his concubine. The Torah tells us that, at her urging, he took her on as a wife. She surely should have known that there was going to be a child coming as a result of this. It was her objective. So now the child comes and Sarai is jealous. What did she expect would happen? Again, we have a window into human nature that hasn’t changed in thousands of years. Abram is smart enough not to get into the middle of this but he is also smart enough not to interfere with his wife’s jealousy. There is only one way to resolve this problem and that is for Hagar and Ismael to leave so they do not serve as a daily reminder to Sarai of Hagar’s ability to have a child when she can’t.

 Off go Hagar and Ishmael into the wilderness. At the time, Abram was 86. He turns 90 and God appears to him, again apparently in person. God promises Abram a son and that he will be the father of nations. As a sign of this promise, God demands that all males be circumcised. Abram now becomes Abraham and Sarai becomes Sarah. God promises the heir will come when Abraham is 100. We jump back and forth for the circumcision. It happens when Abraham is 99 and Ishmael is 13 (bar mitzvah time).     

            We turn to Isaiah for the Haftorah. He asks why Israel says that its way is hidden from the Lord when the Lord has created the world. We must all trust in the Lord. Even through the exile to Babylon, Isaiah reminds us that the Lord has not deserted us. He has come with us from the time of Abraham and has led the way throughout all history. The Lord will continue to protect and care for us for all time. Stay safe.

Torah Comments for October 2, 2021

            It’s a new year and I am a year older. This is a perfect time to start the Torah again. As we begin, we have to decide what we are reading. Robert Alter, the translator of my favorite version of the Torah, says the Torah is not really a book; it is a scroll. As a scroll, it is made up of a number of separate panels stitched together. He posits that thousands of years ago the definition of the scroll was looser than it is today and that it was not all that uncommon for the keepers of the scrolls to add a new panel here and there. It is important to keep this in mind as we read what has been standardized for much of the last 2,000-3,000 years. This fits in with the difficulty we often have with seeming contradictions in the story and apparent fragmentary stories. There clearly were other traditions out there that got incorporated into some of our favorite stories. Many scholars look at parts of the Torah as having been rewritten to take into account new factors that arose and new needs such as the conquest of the Promised Land. We can feel that need in the laws set forth in Leviticus, the priests’ handbook.  Now, this doesn’t mean that the main story is not real and that it didn’t happen; it means that mere humans may not be able to have interpreted it properly or that differing perceptions have made their way into the story. After all, how could someone or several someones who lived 4,000 years ago have accurately described evolution by themselves?

            We begin the first section of Genesis this week with Primeval History – the period of time from the beginning to the time of Abraham. Later, we will be reading the next period, that of the Patriarchs. I love the beginning of the Creation Story:

            “When God began to create heaven and earth, and the earth then was welter and waste and darkness over the deep and God’s breath hovering over the waters, God said…”

            In six days, God brings the world into being. First comes light and the structure for our days which begin at sundown because evening is mentioned first before morning for the day. God doesn’t have to actually do anything; He says and it happens. Light and dark happen the first day; Heaven and water are the second day; earth and the seas are the third and plants grow that day; the sun, the moon and the stars become the fourth day; on the fifth day, sea creatures and birds are born and multiply; on the sixth day, creatures of the land are born; on the sixth day,

            “And God created the human in His image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them.”

            The final day, God ceased work. The Torah does not say He rested; it says he ceased work. After all, everything was finished so God could take a break. That break, of course, became Shabbat. We now come to the second Creation Story. In the first, God spoke and things sprang into being. We don’t know how long a day was in that story; old style creationists assumed it was 24 hours long, just like it is today. However, it is possible that a “day” was a figure of speech and that it was really years or centuries long during creation. It could also be that what could have been viewed as a 24-hour day from some location in space was longer on earth. Now in the second Creation Story, God actually works. God is said to have breathed the breath of life into the human; God planted the Garden of Eden.

            Now God goes back to commands. He commands the human not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge.  That human is traditionally Adam. God then created all the animals and adopted the names for them that Adam gave them. God then took a rib from Adam and used it to construct a woman. She is to be a “sustainer” for Adam. God then indicates that a man is to leave his parents to cling to his wife.

            We come to the story of the serpent. It walks and talks and, in this case, talks the woman into eating from the tree of knowledge which she does. She then gives some of the fruit to the man. God is also walking around and seems to be corporal; He confronts the man who blames his wife, of course. The man also appears to blame God for giving the woman to him. The woman blames the serpent. God punishes the serpent by taking away the ability to walk and determines that there will always be enmity between humans and serpents. God then punishes the woman by imposing birth pains on her and, in the passage that has led to centuries of problems, says:

            “And for your man shall be your longing and he shall rule over you.”

God then punishes the man. God then punishes both of them by driving them out of the Garden of Eden.

            We now have the story of Cain and Abel. Later, it will be paralleled by the story of Jacob and Esau. God prefers Abel which incenses Cain and leads to the first murder and that famous line, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” God sends Cain away and we now find out that there are other people in the world.  Cain takes a wife from somewhere and has Enoch and we have the first family tree. Adam and Eve have Seth and Seth has Enosh. The Torah now gives the story of the lives of the first humans and the lengths of their lives, i.e., Adam lives 930 years, Seth 912, Enosh 905, etc. Finally, Noah lives 500 years before having his three sons. God then decided that an appropriate life span should be 120 years. The Nephilim are mentioned for the only time. They appear to be the offspring of the sons of God and women. It appears that there must have been other stories about them that were known when this was written but the stories have been lost. The discussion is a brief parallel to the mythology of Greek and other traditions. My daughter and I used this story as a spring board for the race of Neandros that we created in our second book, The Pirate Skeleton.

            The Haftorah comes from Isaiah. He begins by referring to the story of Creation:

            “Thus said God the Lord, Who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread out the earth and what it brings forth, Who gave breath to the people upon it and life to those who walk thereon.”

God says that He has created and summoned us to be a “light of nations.” We must sing the praises of the Lord. Isaiah pictures God as a warrior who will attack His enemies and save those who worship Him. He points out that He has created humans and He will redeem us and gather us in.

            Our Creation Stories are consistent with what we believe as evolution if we consider them to be poetic explanations of creation. They also track exactly with the order in which evolutionists claim that things took place. Therefore, unlike what you may hear from some, I believe that we can take what the Torah says as an accurate, though poetic description of our origins. Stay safe.

Torah Comments for September 25, 2021

            It’s Sukkot. We’re out of regular Torah portions for the year since the last part of the Torah will be read on Simchat Torah so there are substitutes for the holiday. We go back to Exodus and find Moses talking to God at the Tent of Meeting outside the camp of the Israelites. Moses expresses concern because God has told him to lead the people but not to what destination. Moses asks God to lead the people wherever they are going to go and God agrees. Moses then asks to see God and is told that he can see God’s Presence but not God Himself if he wishes to live.

            God next instructs Moses to carve out two tablets of stone to replace the ones that Moses shattered when he came upon the Golden Calf. God indicates that He will inscribe the words from the first tablets on the new ones. Moses makes the two tablets and climbs Mount Sinai alone. There God’s Presence passes Moses and God proclaims His Thirteen Attributes and a bit more:

“The Lord! The Lord! a God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and faithfulness, extending kindness to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He does not remit all punishment but visits the iniquity of parents upon children and children’s children, upon the third and fourth generations.”

            God then promises to work wonders never seen before and to drive the other peoples out of the Promised Land. He warns Moses not to make covenants with those people and instructs him to destroy their religious symbols. Further, the people are not to intermingle with those peoples in order to protect them from idol worship. God instructs Moses that the people are to observe the Passover. He consecrates all the first born of Israel to Himself; he orders that the people observe the Sabbath; that the people observe Shavuot; that the first fruits of the harvest are to be delivered to the Temple to be built; and that one shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk – there go the cheeseburgers in paradise.

            From the second scroll the sacrifices of the day are listed.

            The Haftorah comes from Ezekiel. He recounts the promise by the Lord to destroy Gog when Gog dares to attack Israel. The invaders constitute the descendants of Noah’s sons, Japeth and Ham. They will gather an army from Europe, the Middle East and Africa to be arrayed against Israel, but Israel, with the help of God, will prevail. There will be so many invaders destroyed by the Lord that it will take seven months to bury them all. Their weapons will provide fuel for seven years. In the end, all will know the power of the Lord and the people will be secure in the Promised Land. This Haftorah parallels the promise of the Lord made to Moses that He will destroy the peoples of the land of Canaan to make way for our people. The Torah portion promises that the people will be brought to the land of Canaan and placed there; the Haftorah promises that as God prepares for the establishment of His kingdom on earth, He will decimate the sinners who dare to challenge His supremacy. Some say that this Haftorah predicts a nuclear war in which the survivors will be Israel and the Jewish people. The current situation, with Iran seeking nuclear weapons, terrorists having the prospect of acquiring them, a number of African countries being hostile toward Israel and many in Europe turning a blind eye to this is the setting for such a war. Time will tell. In the meantime, stay safe.

Torah Comments for September 18, 2021

            I hope that everyone had a peaceful and rewarding Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur. This is almost the end of the Torah and the end of Moses’ life. We can see a continuing theme here from the birth of Moses to his death. That theme is water. To begin, Moses was born a slave in Egypt at a time when the Pharaoh decreed that all Jewish male babies should be killed. Moses’ mother placed him into a reed basket and sent him down the Nile River in the hope that his life could be spared. We all remember that Pharaoh’s daughter named the baby Moses, which means “I drew him from the water.” When Moses killed the Egyptian guard, he was exiled by the Pharaoh into the desert with only a small skin for water. When Moses came back to Egypt, he confronted the Pharaoh at the Nile River. He struck the rock to provide water for the people. Finally, at the conclusion of his life, Moses is at the Jordan River.  The fact that he is at the Jordan rather than preparing to cross it is due to that other water act – the striking of the rock to provide the water.

            Water served as a medium for Moses’ birth and his early success story. In Egypt, he led the people across the Sea of Reeds. Now at the end of his life, he can no longer lead the people, so he tells them where to go and how to do things. The contrast is total, from leading the people to seeing them off under the leadership of Joshua.

            Moses started out by telling God that he wasn’t capable of carrying out God’s mission. He went anyway and spent 20 years demonstrating that he was capable of taking on anything that came his way. From telling God that he couldn’t do what was asked of him, he progressed to arguing with the most powerful man in the world, the Pharaoh, to arguing with God. He led the people, he saved them and he prepared them to live in freedom with a new religion. His time with us is now just about over and he recites the poem that God has given to him.

            What a poem it is. Moses begins by asking that his words be heeded. He then praises God, “The Rock! His deeds are perfect, yea, all his ways are just.” He goes on to catalogue how the people are not worthy of His love. He points out that God established the people and made our ancestors prosper. And what happened? We know. The people neglected and even defied God. The result – punishment – famine, plague, pestilence and vicious beasts. He promises redemption and vengeance against the tormenters of Israel if the people will again become faithful to God.  

The poem was apparently recited regularly during Temple times. Josephus states that a copy was kept in the Temple and was read over a period of six Sabbaths by the Levites. It does seem to stand alone. A scroll found in Qumran contained only the poem so it appears to have been read on specific dates.

As the poem ends, Moses almost begs the people to take it to heart. God then tells Moses that his time has come. He is to ascend Mount Nebo where he will die alone and in secret. The cave of Machpelah has the tombs of our Patriarchs and Matriarchs. There are tombs for Rachel who died on the way to Bethlehem, Joseph and the prophets but there is no tomb of Moses. Spiritually, there can be several reasons for this. One is that God has instructed us that there are to be no idols. We are to worship one God and no one and nothing else. Had Moses been buried in a public place, the people may have decided to worship him as the leader who freed us and began our religious traditions. By having him die anonymously, this prospect is eliminated. The anonymous burial is also in keeping with Moses’ life. He was placed in that basket by the Nile and sent out as an anonymous baby. Afterward, he was raised for some years in a community of slaves before coming to the royal palace to live. He then endured the wilderness before coming to his new home where he was a mere shepherd. There is no indication that he lived better than any of the participants in the Exodus during the 40 years of wandering. So, an anonymous place of death fits neatly with his life.

            The Haftorah comes from 2 Samuel. It begins with an early poem from David, praising God for saving him from King Saul: “All praise! I called on the Lord, and I was delivered from my enemies.” David explains that the Lord has saved him from peril and poetically explains how that happened. He attributes God’s efforts on his behalf poetically.

            We are almost at Moses’ death and the opportunity on Simchas Torah to begin life anew. Stay safe.

Torah Comments for August 28, 2021

            Moses is now getting practical. When the Israelites settle in the Promised Land, they will be a primarily agrarian society. They will not harvest crops for some time after they get there. First, they have to secure the countryside. Then they have to plant. Certainly, they will be able to take advantage of any orchards that already exist and there may be fields under cultivation that they can take over, but they can’t take that for granted.

            The first instruction then is to the farmers. Moses instructs them that they are to take some of their first fruits to the priest in charge. They are to recite a specific formula. Interestingly, a portion of this formula includes a direct address to God. In our modern tradition, of course, anyone can pray directly to God and anyone can lead a service. In the time of the conquest of Israel proper, however, the priesthood was supposed to be the group that dealt directly with God. The priests performed the sacrifices which were to take place only in Jerusalem. This formula, speaking directly to God, is more modern than most of the other things that took place in that time period.

            Tithing rules are next. The tithe is a tenth of all produce. Every third year, the tithe is devoted to the Levites, the strangers, orphans and widows. The statement that a farmer is to make at this time is a declaration to the Lord, pointing out that the tithe really belongs to God but is being used as required for those who do not have their own resources.

            Moses is now getting to the end of the laws he is promulgating. First, there is a mutual commitment. The people commit to follow God’s laws and to walk in His ways and the Lord commits to set the Israelites “high above all the nations” in exchange. Next, he instructs the people that when they enter the land, they are to set up stones on Mount Ebal (located north of Shechem and providing a commanding view of the entire area), plaster them and write the laws upon them. They are to set up an altar of stones there and offer burnt offerings. Moses next calls for a ceremony to take place on both Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim nearby. Half of the tribes are to go to each mountain and the Levites are to deliver curses and blessings. The curses go to the people on Mount Ebal; the blessings on Mount Gerizim.

            An interesting problem with the text arises. The text clearly requires the people to carry out the ceremony immediately upon entering the Promised Land. However, Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim are more than a day’s journey from the Jordan River. It would not have been possible to accomplish this requirement. Further, the Israelites did not cross the Jordan at that location; they crossed near Gilgal which is near Jericho. If the stones and the altar were erected at Gilgal, that would have been consistent with the location of their first camp and the stories in the Book of Joshua. The Mountain location happens to be closer to central Israel and is also the place where Abraham built his altar. Some scholars believe that this section of Deuteronomy was written by people from the Northern Kingdom who did not want Jerusalem to be the central place of worship.

Then there is the question of the stones upon which the Teaching is inscribed. Initially, it appears that there are to be a few stones which are plastered over and inscribed. They are to go onto the mountain. A bit later though, there is an implication that the stones are really supposed to be the stones of the altar. Again, if we go to Joshua, there is a statement that he gathered the stones for the altar and inscribed the Teaching on them. It could well be that this discrepancy represents the tension between the requirement to destroy all the old stone pillars and centralize worship and the older practice of seeming to set up stones everywhere to commemorate almost every significant act like when Abraham did it and when Jacob and Esau did it.

Back to the ceremonies. There are twelve curses which are to be acknowledged by the people -making idols, insulting parents, moving a landmark, misdirecting a blind person, interfering with the rights of the downtrodden, having sex with a father’s wife, an animal, a sister, a mother-in-law, striking down an Israelite in secret, accepting a bribe in a murder case, failing to uphold the laws. The blessings for those who follow God’s laws follow. People will be blessed throughout the land, their children, produce and livestock will be blessed, the people’s utensils will be blessed, travel will be blessed. Enemies will flee before the people and they will live in prosperity. On the other hand, the consequences for not following the commandments parallel the blessings and continue in detail, including pestilence, disease, drought, famine and destruction. An enemy from afar will conquer the people. They will be scattered throughout the world and will never have peace. The details of these curses are horrific. They must have left the people in great fear of a future without Moses to intercede for them. One might wonder at the huge discrepancy between curses and blessings. Older scholars (even older than me) thought that this was the result of a rewriting of the chapter after the Babylonian Captivity. More modern scholars point out that the discrepancy is similar to other writings of blessings and curses in other writings of the time and point out that the intention here may have been to simply instill the fear of God into the people to make sure they would toe the mark in the future.

The significance of the ceremonies described here cannot be overemphasized. Just think about the major events that have occurred to the people beginning with the Exodus, the supplying of manna, water and meat over forty years, the delivery of the Ten Words, the defeat of armies on the way to the Promised Land. All these events point the people toward the entry into what will become Israel. The ceremonies which take place as the people enter into the land are both the culmination of a great migration and the beginning of a new world for the Israelites. It is appropriate that they will all take part in ceremony to mark this huge transformation in their lives.

Moses now begins his third discourse. He assembles the people and reminds them that they, just as their parents, have experienced the miracles that the Lord has wrought. Therefore, they are to “observe faithfully all the terms of this covenant, that you may succeed in all that you undertake.”

We now come back to Isaiah for the sixth of the seven haftorot of consolation. He begins:

“Arise, shine for your light has dawned; The Presence of the Lord has shone upon you! Darkness shall cover the earth, and thick clouds the peoples; but upon you the Lord will shine, and his Presence be seen over you, and nations shall walk by your light, kings by your shining radiance.”

Isaiah promises that the people will be restored to the land and will prosper. The former oppressors will help bring them home and all will be well in the future. From our perspective, much of the prophecy has come true for us, albeit in America. But the future should become better for all of us. Stay safe.

Torah Comments for August 21, 2021

Here we are in the middle of Moses’ Second Discourse. He is going on and on and on. Think of the entire Israelite population standing or sitting there in front of him. There are probably people stationed at intervals repeating what he’s saying so everyone can hear it and that makes the talk twice as long. It’s almost like the Puritans had to endure from Cotton Mather.  

Today, in Ki Tetse, we have a list of laws, primarily dealing with private things. We begin with what happens to a woman captured in war. This is a follow on to the recent story about how the women of a town were considered to be the spoils of war. Now we find out about the futures of some of these women. Normally in those times, the women captured in war were slaves. The victors could do whatever they wanted to them. Here however, at least some women were granted rights. First of all, they were given a month to mourn their parents. They were to cut their hair and nails and their clothing was taken away. In effect, they were being reborn. At that point, a man could marry her. She then had the same rights as a free Israelite woman. Now we come to the Rachel and Leah situation. You will recall that Jacob liked Rachel a lot more than Leah. Moses requires that in such a case, the husband cannot prefer the children of the loved wife over those of the unloved one. We learned something since Jacob.  

Sons are next. An insubordinate son is to be brought before the town. Both here and in the case before this one, we can see that parental rights are no longer absolute as they were for Roman parents. The father of the child of an unloved wife was to treat the child like his other children. In this case, the parents don’t have the right to kill their disrespectful son; this can only happen on the verdict of the elders. Some think that this really never happened. The end of the passage says, “All Israel will hear and be afraid.” Perhaps the existence of this absolute remedy was enough to keep the children in line.   

The body of an executed criminal is not to be left overnight. That would be an affront to God. In the days of the Roman siege of Jerusalem, that is what the Romans did to the Jews that they caught and slaughtered. They cut down the trees around the city (something a Jewish army was partially forbidden to do), put the people on stakes cut from the trees and left them to rot in front of the city to demoralize the inhabitants. You may remember an earlier situation somewhat akin to this. According to the tradition, Jesus was crucified on a Friday with the other two men. They had to be taken down and buried before sundown. I recall a novel I read where Jesus and his disciples planned the crucifixion by giving him a potion to make it appear that he had died. They revived him that night in the tomb and spirited him away. Well, I suppose anything is possible. 

Moses told the people that they had an obligation to return lost animals. If necessary, they were to feed and care for them until the owner appeared. The same was true of lost possessions – no finders, keepers here. One was to assist a fellow whose animal had fallen. One could not take both the mother bird and her babies together. Here’s one for OSHA – in building a home, it was necessary to construct a parapet on the roof, at least 30 inches high, so no one would fall off.  

Separation – only one crop per field; no plowing with an ox and an ass on the same plow; no mixing of wool and linen cloth. 

Rules were established to protect the reputations of wives. Adultery was punishable by death. A woman who was engaged was considered to be in a state akin to marriage and sexual relations with someone not her betrothed were considered to be adulterous. However, if the acts occurred in the countryside, only the man would be punished; it was presumed that the woman had resisted and called out for help. If the woman was not engaged, the man was forced to marry her. Certain relationships were prohibited – one could not marry his father’s former wife, even if she was not his mother. Some, such as Ammonites and Moabites, could not convert to Judaism. 

Abolitionists found comfort in a passage “You shall not turn over to his master a slave who seeks refuge with you from his master.” Faithful Christian slave owners must have had trouble with that one. 

Interest could not be charged to Israelites but could be charged to foreigners. This one was probably understandable in the agrarian society that existed at the time the Torah was written. It appears to have been unique in the time. Later, of course, a more commercial society developed and at that time they found a way to charge interest. Throughout the Dark Ages and into modern times, this prohibition was observed by Christians among themselves. Jews, while prohibited from many occupations, were allowed to be money-lenders and to charge interest. This, of course, had consequences. In some of the European towns where Jews loaned money to their fellow townsmen, when they could not or decided not to repay the loans, they were known to have instituted pogroms. Their solution – kill the money-lenders that they had frequented. 

One must fulfill vows made to the Lord. This was a means of honoring God. As we know, shortly we will be annulling our vows to others from this year at Yom Kippur. We won’t be annulling vows to God.  

It was acceptable to enter a neighbor’s vineyard and eat grapes or use your hand to pick grain but one could not leave with either.  

One could not remarry a former wife who had been married to another. One who has taken a bride would be exempt from military service for one year. One could not pawn implements needed to carry on a trade. Debtors were entitled to respect. Creditors could not enter a home to repossess collateral. Wages for a laborer were due on the same day as the work was performed. 

Here’s one the Romans missed when they killed some of our martyrs – “Parents shall not be put to death for children, nor children be put to death for parents: a person shall be put to death only for his own crime.” 

A person had to respect the poor and not crush them when they were downtrodden. After all, we were all slaves in Egypt. Similarly, one did not have the right to go over a field twice when harvesting. Whatever was missed was for the poor.  

Corporal punishment was limited. Levirate marriage was established to make sure that no bloodline would die out with a husband who had no sons. A man who refused a levirate marriage was shunned. Honest weights were required. Finally, there is the difficult passage which instructs us not to forget to blot out the memory of Amalek for their cowardly attacks in the wilderness. 

The fifth Haftorah of consolation comes again from Isaiah. Isaiah tells the people to forget the past. They should enlarge their dwellings to make room for the families they will create. “For a little while I forsook you, but with vast love I will bring you back.”  

As we continue toward the new year, we should all maintain our careful lifestyles and stay safe. 

Torah Comments for August 14, 2021

Shofetim, the judges. This is one of my favorites, dealing with the judicial system and also one that reminds me of the failings of our modern judicial systems. Moses is instructing the people. He tells them to appoint magistrates and officials in each settlement and each tribe. They are to judge with due justice. Judges are to govern fairly, to show no partiality, to refuse bribes. The famous quotation comes:

“Justice, justice shall you pursue.”

This sounds good. The problem is to make sure the right people are appointed. We have all seen what happens when political hacks are appointed to the judiciary. They may claim impartiality and that they are being fair, but we know they are not. Of course, in my practice, I must always have been right. When I lost a case, it was just those idiot judges who were not properly appointed that didn’t agree.

The people were told not to set up sacred posts. This carries forward the prohibition that we heard recently indicating that worship could only take place in what became Jerusalem. This had the effect of centralizing the religion and preventing people from succumbing to Canaanite religious practices. The punishment for this and for worshipping other gods was death by stoning. However, there had to be two witnesses to the transgression and they had to be the first ones to stone the offender. This had the effect of limiting the punishment, since finding two witnesses might not be easy.

Difficult cases were referred to Jerusalem and the verdicts were to be carried out exactly as stated.

Moses explained that the people could agree to be governed by an Israelite king chosen by God. The king was admonished not to keep too many horses, too many wives or two much gold and silver. He would be required to write a copy of the instructions to be kept and referred to during his reign.

The priests were established and would not have any land. They were to have what the people would give them from their tithes. Certain types of people, such as sorcerers, were prohibited. But Moses promised the people that the Lord would set up a prophet to carry on for him.

Moses goes on to require the establishment of sanctuary cities for people who inadvertently killed someone to seek refuge in.

Rules of evidence and practice were set forth. Land boundaries could not be moved. It would take more than one witness to convict someone of a crime. Penalties for false testimony were established – life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. The penalty would mirror that which the accused faced.

The Israelites had a code of war. At the time, the Canaanites had chariots and the Israelites did not. Moses told them not to fear. The priest would stand before them and remind the troops that God was marching to battle with them. There were exemptions for people who had just built a new home, had never harvested his field or was about to get married. Those who were afraid were to be sent home. Before an attack, the army was to offer terms of surrender including forced labor for towns some distance away. Otherwise, after the attack the men were to be killed and the women, children and goods of the town became the spoils of war.  As far as the towns directly in the path of the Israelites, no mercy was to be shown. The army was not to cut down trees that yielded fruit. While this is what Moses demanded, in fact, archeological findings seem to indicate that only a few Canaanite towns were actually decimated. Instead, it appears that most of the Canaanites were expelled. It is suggested that many Canaanites were given the choice of subjugation and that the story relating to destruction of their towns was created to explain why their tribes ultimately disappeared.

Finally, there was a procedure for determining what to do about an unsolved murder. The townspeople were to follow a ritual to absolve themselves of guilt.

Isaiah provides us with the fourth Haftorah of consolation. He begins by addressing those who have been oppressed. He recognizes their issues and promises that the tormenters of the people will be the ones to suffer. He inspires the people to shake off the past. “Awake, awake, O Zion! Clothe yourself in splendor; Put on your robes of majesty, Jerusalem, holy city!” The Lord promises that the bonds of captivity are at an end. A herald will announce happiness and the Lord will march back to Jerusalem with the people.

We are fast approaching the New Year and with it the conclusion of the Torah. Stay safe.

Torah Comments for August 7, 2021

“See, this day I set before you blessing and curse: blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin upon you this day; and curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn away from the path that I enjoin upon you this day and follow other gods…”

This is a fascinating passage. The blessing is clear – the carrot for the people. Obey the commandments and you will prosper. The curse is more complicated. A close reading seems to indicate that there are choices that we can make. The first choice is whether or not to follow the commandments. The second, if we choose not to follow them, is whether to just remain neutral or to affirmatively turn away from God and follow other gods.

We need to put everything that is happening into context. Forty years ago, the Israelites left Egypt as slaves. The adults who participated in the Exodus and the giving of the Ten Commandments died out in the wilderness with the exceptions of Moses, Caleb and Joshua. A portion of the Israelites who are now about to enter the Promised Land may have been children at the time of the Exodus and the time of the Ten Commandments, but most of the people were born in the wilderness and did not personally witness the plagues, the parting of the Reed Sea, the incidents at Meribah and Massah or the giving of the Ten Commandments. Others who did witness these or some of these events may have been too young to appreciate what happened. They were certainly too young to have experienced the travails of slavery. So, for them, it is critical that Moses provides the context to what is to come next. He needs to convince them that God is real and all-powerful and that their future requires reliance on the laws. He takes the opportunities presented in his three discourses to formally teach them their history and the reason that they have to obey God. He knows he won’t be there any longer to guide them and neither Caleb nor Joshua has the ability to pass on the knowledge.

So, Moses instructs the people to renew the covenant with God as they enter the Promised Land in a ceremony where they recite both blessing and curse. This is a perfect way to enter into the land. It will set the tone for their future properly and begin with them having a clear understanding of their dependence on God and their need to always keep this foremost in their minds, no matter what they are doing.

If one makes the most important law the first one, that law is also one of the most interesting ones. It begins with the requirement that the old shrines and religious sites of Canaan are to be destroyed. This makes sense and follows a long tradition of telling the people that they should not be tempted by the practices of the pagan religions that surround them. Destroying the Canaanite sites will help ensure a future without the beguiling temptations that have ensnared many Israelites in the wilderness. Moses goes on to require sacrifices to be performed only at the one location that God selects. Everything, sacrifices, tithes and contributions is to take place at that location. This is a major reversal from the past. Remember, Abraham set up altars at various locations. Isaac did the same. There were a number of places where God was worshipped. This all changes as the people come to Canaan.

There are some who view this new centralization as a necessity, a means of consolidating power in one central location. Others have theorized that this is really a reaction to a later time in history when the kingdoms of Judah and Israel were separate. Jerusalem had the Temple then but the Northern Kingdom’s inhabitants worshipped at Shiloh or some other location. In this theory, the priests of Judah were trying to discredit their northern rivals. One wonders why, in the society of the time, where distances were magnified by the fact that transportation was generally limited to foot speed, would God require people to have to travel what amounted to several days to get to the site of worship? As we think of the fact that the people were often susceptible to other forbidden religious practices, why would anyone want to make it harder to follow God’s rules? Maimonides said that this was done to minimize sacrificial practice and to emphasize prayer in the religion. However, this seems to be inconsistent with the fact that sacrifice was just being instituted on a regular, sustained basis at the site of the Temple. Of course, later on, when the Temple was destroyed, the whole basis for this rule disappeared and it was ignored as our religion became decentralized in the synagogue.

Early on, however, the rule did have the benefit of providing a central, specific location for religious practice. There would be no argument about what was the correct way to do things since everything happened under the watchful eye of the High Priest. Josephus said that the requirement was to ensure that the people would remain true to monotheism. After all, all the other gods had lots of sanctuaries and places of worship. They were false gods so there was a true distinction with the one true God, who would only be worshipped in one location. Malachi disagreed with this proposition, insisting that God’s presence was everywhere and His worship could be everywhere as well. Again, this view worked well after the destruction of the Temple.

The most common explanation of this law is that multiple worship sites and their accompanying sacrifices were inherently pagan. This would seem to be a reasonable explanation for the law. It would also explain its positioning right after the requirement to destroy all the Canaanite worship sites. What it does not explain is why sacrifices were continued. If anything was a major part of paganism, it was sacrifice. Yet we continued to sacrifice until the destruction of the Temple. It was then convenient to end the practice entirely by citing this law which prohibited the sacrifices at any other location. Again, by the time the Temple was destroyed, adherence to this law could not continue if our religion was to survive.

Moses goes on to condemn the practice of human sacrifice, a feature of many of the pagan cultures of the time. He then instructs the people again to neither add to nor subtract from the laws.  Moses tells the people to follow God alone and God’s laws alone and no others. Idolators and others who insist on following other gods are to be put to death.

Moses tells the people how to mourn the dead and how to eat in a holy manner. He summarizes the laws of kashrut and concludes with the prohibition on mixing meat and milk. Moses instructs the people on the laws of tithing – the amounts and uses for tithes. He then orders the remission of debts every seven years. The needy are to be cared for. Slavery is to be for a maximum of seven years, after which the slaves are to be freed. They are to be treated well upon achieving their freedom. An out exists for those who wish to remain enslaved but only if they wish it.

The Torah portion concludes with instruction on the worship practices for Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot, the harvest festivals. On those holidays, the men of Israel are to come to Jerusalem with gifts for the Lord.

Isaiah was writing for the people who were “unhappy, storm-tossed … uncomforted.” He reported that the Lord would restore the people to greatness through righteousness. The people would be saved from oppression and should have no fear. The vision for the future is a rosy one for the third Haftorah of consolation following Tisha B’Av.  Stay safe.

Torah Comments for July 31, 2021

Moses continues talking. Can you imagine him on the top of a prominence between two mountains with the people spread out below? Lengthwise, his discourses are reminiscent of Cotton Mather’s sermons or else they could be harbingers of what was to come. Unlike Lincoln’s speech at Gettysburg, we can assume that there were people spread out below to relay his words to the rest of the Israelites.

Moses tells the people that if they do what they are supposed to, the Lord will favor them and bless them. They will multiply and be healthy.  Moses then goes on to incite what we would call genocide today. The peoples of Canaan are to be utterly destroyed. God will help the Israelites to prevail by instilling terror in their enemies. Once they are conquered, their idols, including the gold and silver on them, are to be destroyed and the valuable metals are not to be kept. Moses goes on to remind the people that it was God who sustained them in the wilderness and helped them through hardships in the desert.

Moses now warns the people. They are about to enter a good land and prosper. Once they have done so, though, they need to remember the Lord and that it was His efforts that sustained them. If they do not remember, they will be destroyed, just like the Canaanites. Moses tells the people that they are not going to be given the land because of their goodness; instead, it is because the current inhabitants are wicked.

Moses recounts the instances of obstinacy by the people – the complaints and defiance – the Golden Calf – the stories of the ten of the twelve spies. So, what does God want from us?

“Only this: to revere the Lord your God, to walk only in His paths, to love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and soul, keeping the Lord’s commandments and laws.”

Moses tells the people that the covenant with the Lord is with everyone, no matter when they were born. He says that it is as if all the people before him (and thus all those to come) personally experienced God’s miracles. As long as they understand this, they will be strong enough to take over the Promised Land and enjoy prosperity there. The second paragraph of the Shema follows – do the right thing and you will prosper; do the wrong thing and you will die.

We come to the second Haftorah of consolation, this time from Isaiah. He tells the people that God has not forgotten them. He predicts a time when everyone will again be gathered together after the Babylonian Exile and God will protect us. Isaiah tells the people to stand together in reverence to the Lord. The Lord has saved us and comforted us in our time of trial.

While there is no direct correlation between the Haftorot of consolation and the Torah portions, in this case we can see that adherence to Moses’ exhortations would save us from many tribulations. Stay safe.

Torah Comments for July 24, 2021

This week we continue with Moses’ first discourse. He is reminding the people of their past and his. We begin with Moses reminding the people that he has led them from Egypt through the forty years of wandering and has asked the Lord to let him see the fruit of his labors. He tells them that the Lord has refused his request and instructed him to go up the mountain to view the Promised Land but to then turn things over to Joshua to lead the people to their destiny. At this point, there are only three people left who were adults in Egypt – Moses, Joshua and Caleb. Moses alone will not be allowed to go with the rest of the people. This is going to be traumatic, not just for Moses who is being left behind, but also for the people. They have never known another leader and are now expected to follow Joshua, someone they really don’t know.

Moses understands the angst that the people will experience. He now gives them a sermon, telling them to obey God’s laws. He begins by telling the people,

“You shall not add anything to what I command you or take anything away from it…”

He reminds them that the people who did not do this were struck down by the Lord. He tries to convince them of the wisdom of following his instructions by telling them that if they follow God’s rules, other nations will be impressed with Israel. He exhorts the people to teach the rules to their children and grandchildren and reminds them of God’s words and deeds. He repeats the Second Commandment – no idols. He tells the people that they are too good for idols; they are for other people. This is the carrot; then comes the stick. If you don’t follow the laws, you will die. After all, he tells them, you have all seen the great deeds that the Lord has done. You know how powerful He is and you know what happens when you don’t obey Him.

Now that the sermon is over, Moses gets practical. He reminds the people of how they got to the banks of the Jordan with God’s help. He begins by telling the people that the covenant is with them personally, not just with their fathers. He proceeds to the Ten Words. His rendition of them is someone different from that in Exodus but this is considered to be the one to follow.

The first set of Commandments deals with our relationship with God:

  1. There shall be no gods beside the Lord.
  2. Do not make or serve idols.
  3. Do not swear falsely using the Lord’s name.
  4. Keep the Sabbath.

The second set of Commandments deals with our relationship with humans.

  1. Honor your parents.
  2. Do not murder (murder, not kill – certain types of killing are not prohibited such as war and capital punishment)
  3. Do not commit adultery.
  4. Do not steal.
  5. Do not bear false witness.
  6. Do not covet what others have.

Moses next goes into the laws to be observed in the Promised Land. Here is the Shema which we recite each day.

“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.”

Take the words of the prayer to heart and teach them to your children so they will always be before us.

Moses goes on to tell the people that when they conquer the people of Canaan, they must show them no mercy. Otherwise, they will seduce the Israelites into worshiping other gods. After all, the Lord has chosen the Israelites to be holy and the Lord will favor them as long as they remain loyal to Him.

This Shabbat is the 15th of Av. It was known as Tu B’Av and was traditionally considered to be one of the most joyous days of the year. It marked the beginning of the grape harvest. Also, young maidens would dress in white and dance in the vineyards. Young men would follow them trying to find a bride.

This Shabbat is also known as Shabbat Nahamu, the first Shabbat of consolation. Isaiah begins with the words, “Comfort, oh comfort My People.” He tells the people that their time of troubles is ending. God will come and gather the people together. He will protect them and make them prosper. Call out to the Lord and you will be saved, Isaiah says.

Our message is clear and our instructions are simple. If we follow them, we will prosper. If we do not, we will suffer. So, let us spend our time doing good, not evil. Stay safe.

Torah Comments for July 3, 2021

Last week’s parasha ended with an unsettling act. You recall Phinehas appearing out of nowhere and spearing an Israelite, Zimri, and a Midianite woman, Cozvi, who were acting sacrilegiously before the community. Phinehas took the law into his own hands and killed this couple. The result was the end of God’s wrath against the people for their idolatry.  The Lord is not so troubled by this act. In fact, He makes Phinehas and his descendants the priests. Later, God does the same thing in the civil arena for David and his descendants. In these divisive times, one hates to see anyone taking the law into his or her own hands. Thus, the example of Phinehas remains a troubling one. This is especially true when one looks at the situation in Israel between the Jews and the Palestinians. The Palestinian answer to any attempts to coexist is similar to that of Phinehas. Some might therefore say to our zealots, be careful what you wish for in the practice of our religion.

God continues His reaction to this event and others of the same time period by instructing Moses to defeat the Midianites in battle. In preparation for the battle, God instructs Moses and now Eleazar, the new High Priest after Aaron’s death, to take a military census of all Israelites over 20 who can bear arms. The final number is 601,730 potential soldiers. These are all people who have grown up during the forty years in the wilderness. It is not clear whether any of the children who left Egypt forty years before would have been able to bear arms, they all being at least forty, if not more. Having determined who is able to fight by tribe, the next task is to divide the spoils of the future. The Lord determines that the land will be divided based on the size of each tribe but also by lot. This allocation will only involve the 9 ½ tribes that are going to reside across the Jordan River. The other 2 ½ tribes will send soldiers but will remain across the Jordan in what is now Judea and Samaria. Of course, the Levites are not involved in either this part of the census or in the land allocation. There are 23,000 male Levites over the age of one month. Commentators interpret the instruction on division of the land to mean that the areas that the tribes will inhabit will be chosen by lot but the size of each tribe’s area will then be adjusted due to its size.

Zelophehad had died leaving five daughters. They asked for an inheritance for their father’s share of the land. The law of inheritance is now established. First comes the son. If there is no son, then comes the daughter (but only to pass on to the daughter’s children). If there are no children, the inheritance passes to the brothers. If there are no brothers, it goes to the uncles. Finally, it goes to the nearest relative. The assumption if there is a widow and no children appears to be that she will marry the brother of the deceased. This is an interesting departure from a number of other societies of the time and of before this time. As an example, In Egypt, initially, a man could devise his property to his wife. Later Egyptian law provided that the wife would end up with 1/3 of the estate and the rest went to all the children equally. This is especially interesting because the Israelites were only forty years removed from living in that Egyptian society and had to be familiar with the Egyptian inheritance laws. Some have theorized that this is due to the difference in the societies. Egypt was urban in nature where Israel was agricultural. In Israel, it was necessary to make sure that the land stayed with the clan; that was not necessary in Egypt. The later rabbis filled in the inheritance laws by dealing with what happened when a man had two sons and they had children. One son died before his father. The estate was then divided in two. Half to the surviving son and half to the children of the deceased son. Today’s intestate inheritance laws are kinder to women and provide them with basically equal rights in division of estates. Most laws provide for widows and widowers alike, also protecting children of a first marriage.

God tells Moses that his time is about up. He is to ascend the heights of Abarim to see the Promised Land and then he will die. Moses asks God to name his successor and God chooses Joshua ben Nun. Moses is to assemble the people and bring Joshua before Eleazar the priest. There he is to be given the authority to succeed Moses.

The parasha now goes on to list each of the sacrifices to be given to the Lord. The first sacrifices described are the daily ones. Then come the sacrifices for Shabbat. Next are those of the new moon. Finally come the sacrifices for the holidays. We are familiar with these passages since they are recited from the second Torah on Rosh Hodesh and the holidays.

Our Haftorah comes from Jeremiah. It is the first of three Haftorot of rebuke preceding Tisha B’Av. Jeremiah was a prophet who was active both before and during the Babylonian captivity. Jeremiah relates that he was chosen by God to speak for Him before he was born. He tells of his visions, first of an almond tree which indicates that the Lord will be watchful over his prophecies. The second is a steaming pot pointing toward the South which indicates that disaster will befall the people and it will come from the North, which is just where the Babylonians come from as they defeat Israel. He goes on to state that the Lord has decreed this disaster will come because the people have deserted the Lord and worship other gods. Everyone will be held responsible for the sins of Israel as the Babylonians come. Only Jeremiah will stand firm against the idolatry of Israel.

One can easily relate the two selections. The Torah begins with the aftermath of serious backsliding by the Israelites as they prepare to enter the Promised Land. A plague is unleashed on them which is only ended when Phinehas skewers two of the most brazen offenders. God responds by praising and rewarding Phinehas and instructing the Israelites to destroy the cause of the backsliding – the Midianites. An interesting side note not lost on some even then is that Moses married a Midianite. The Haftorah comes during a period of backsliding and Jeremiah predicts the doom of Israel as a result. He too is praised and rewarded with what amounts to armor against his detractors. For us, the message is to stay true to the tenets of our religion. Stay safe.

Torah Comments for June 26, 2021

In preparation for this week’s parasha I did some research. Do you remember Francis, the talking mule? I went back to look at part of one of his seven movies with Donald O’Connor back in the 1950s. Francis could talk whenever he wanted to but rarely did he do so in front of anyone other than Donald. The result, of course, is that people thought Donald was crazy for saying he had a talking mule.

On to Balak. The Israelites are on the march. As they get ready to cross into the Promised Land, they conquer the Amorites. Balak is the king of the Moabites and is frightened by the expanse of Israelites heading his way. He forms a loose alliance with the Midianites and sends messengers to seek out Balaam. Balaam is well-known as a diviner who can predict the future. His curses destroy people and his blessings elevate them. That night, God comes to Balaam and warns him not to curse the Israelites. This is interesting because it is perhaps the only time that God appears in the Torah to have a one-on-one conversation with someone who is not Jewish. It is explained by the rabbis telling us that God came to Balaam in a dream rather than in person. This reduces the significance of the meeting.

Balaam refuses the job. Balak sends more messengers to try to convince him to change his mind. He tells them no. However, that night God stops by again and tells Balaam to accept the invitation. Balaam saddles his ass and off he goes. God now gets upset with Balaam for going. There is no direct explanation for this change of mind but without it, there would have been no story. One possible explanation is that God determined that Balaam really wanted to curse the Israelites which is why he readily agreed to accept the invitation. God would have preferred more reluctance on Balaam’s part. As Balaam proceeds on his journey, an angel steps in front of the ass with a sword in his hand. The ass sees the angel, Balaam does not. The ass gets upset and takes off across the fields to avoid it. Three times the angel gets in the way of the ass and three times the ass avoids him. Each time, Balaam beats the ass. Now for Francis. God has the ass start speaking. Balaam and the ass have a conversation which seems perfectly normal to Balaam, just as it did to Donald O’Connor.

Now Balaam is permitted to see the angel. He has a conversation with the angel, again seeming to think this is perfectly normal. The angel tells Balaam to go along with the messengers and say what the angel wants him to when he is called on to curse the Israelites. Balaam meets Balak and tells him that he can only say what God wants him to. Balak makes sacrifices and shows him the Israelites. Balaam offers sacrifices and is then told by God that he is to tell Balak that he cannot curse the Israelites. Balaam gives the Israelites a blessing which makes Balak upset. Balaam has another encounter with God and gives a second blessing to the Israelites. Balak offers a compromise – don’t bless the Israelites and don’t curse them. Balaam finds himself with an opportunity to curry favor with God, so he blesses them. Balak is outraged and tells Balaam to get out. Before he leaves, Balaam tells Balak that the Israelites will prevail against him and leaves.

The parasha ends with the Israelites consorting with the Moab women. God tells Moses to have the ringleaders impaled. He also brings a plague against the people. Moses instructs his officials to carry out God’s order. Before they can do so, an Israelite shows up with a Midianite woman while the people are weeping over their punishment of the plague. Phinehas, the son of the High Priest goes after the two people and stabs them both through the belly. The plague ends with the deaths of 24,000 Israelites.

The Haftorah comes from Micah. Micah prophesied from about 737 BCE to 696 BCE. He experienced the invasion of Judah by Sennacherib in 701. Micah was active during the reign of King Hezekiah, among others. Micah says that the defeated Israelites would be scattered throughout the nations. The cities will be destroyed. Micah urges the people to listen to the fate that he predicts. He concludes with this famous passage:

“He has told you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: only to do justice and to love goodness, and to walk modestly with your God;”

The Haftorah is a reminder of what happens when the commands of the Lord are not followed. This is a follow on to the incident at the end of the parasha where the people have backslided and are faced with a plague. It is our job to follow the instruction of Micah – to do justice, love goodness and walk modestly with our God. Stay safe.

Torah Comments for June 19, 2021

Having gotten through the four rebellions we return to ritual. We are all familiar with the ritual of the red cow. A perfect red cow that has never been used for work is to be taken to the High Priest who has it slaughtered outside the camp. It is burned to ashes with purifying materials. The ashes are collected and safeguarded for use in future purification ceremonies. When the work is done, the priest and all others who participated are required to wash themselves and their clothes to regain purity themselves.

The Torah goes on to discuss the rules relating to corpses and purification of those objects and persons who come into contact with them.

One sentence now serves to recognize the death of Miriam at Kadesh.

Whine, whine, whine. There is no water so the people blame Moses and Aaron. They get back to complaining about having had to leave Egypt and travel through the wilderness. Of course, all of the whiners are adults. All of them chose to leave Egypt with Moses. None of them decided to desert the Israelites. They all witnessed the power of the Lord and all agreed to obey His laws. Even after witnessing the four rebellions and having sided with Moses then, they now complain. So, Moses and Aaron do what they have always done; they go off to see the Lord for advice. He tells them to assemble the people in front of a rock, take the rod and order the rock to provide water. Moses apparently experiences a communication problem. He gets the first part right, assembles the people before the rock and gets the rod, but then he drops the ball. Well, literally, he strikes the rock. He does it not once, but twice. The water comes out and everyone satiates their thirst. God, however, gets upset. Moses didn’t do what he was told. Punishment is called for and God tells both Moses and Aaron that they can’t enter the Promised Land because they didn’t trust the Lord enough to speak to the rock instead of striking it. The water is now described as the water of Meribah-kadesh, where the people quarreled with the Lord.

This incident is the subject of a great deal of controversy. Why was Moses punished? Why include Aaron? Some commentators have theorized that it was because Moses lost his temper with the rock. Others say it was because not only did he strike it instead of speaking to it, but he hit it twice. But God says, you didn’t trust me – that is not due to anger. As to striking the rock, the last time this came up and Moses was told to bring the rod, he was told to and did strike the rock. This time he was told to take the rod. Why do that if not to strike the rock? A modern commentator suggests that there is only one incident relating to water coming from a rock and it is told about twice, once in Exodus and once in Numbers. The result of this theory is that the reason Moses was punished was because of the words he spoke as he struck the rock –

“Listen, you rebels, shall we get water for you out of this rock?”

The key word here is “we.” Shall we get water for you…? Moses doesn’t ask if the Lord should get the water for the people; he asks if he and Aaron should get it. The Lord takes this statement as a challenge to His power and an assumption by Moses of authority beyond his station. Hence the punishment that the leaders, Moses and Aaron, will suffer the same punishment that the people did for their refusal to trust in God – banishment from the Promised Land. This is a pivotal point in the transformation of the Israelites from slavery to freedom. While the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, they observed the Egyptian priests compelling their gods to take action. The Israelites have always observed Moses asking God to act or telling them that God has decreed this or God has decreed that. For Moses to now say “Aaron and I are going to direct God to do this” is a horrible example that needs to be punished dramatically. The death of Aaron shortly after this incident further demonstrates its importance.

If the rock incident wasn’t bad enough, more troubles come. The people had originally planned to enter the Promised Land from the South but that plan failed when they scouts gave the wrong report to them. [Of course, anyone reading the second book that my daughter, Tanya, and I wrote, The Pirate Skeleton, would know that the report of the giants was correct. We featured them prominently in that book. They were known as the Neandros.] Now, Moses decides to go into the Promised Land from the East through Edom. He sends a message to the chieftains of the Edomites with a pretty reasonable proposal – Let us go through your land. We’ll stay on the main road, stay out of the fields and vineyards and not drink from the wells. Surprise, surprise! The Edomites don’t think this is a very good idea. In fact, they think it is so bad that they mobilize an army to prevent the Israelites from going through. The Israelites move on to Mount Hor and Aaron dies. In contrast to Miriam, Aaron’s death has a whole ritual connected with it. He gets 30 days of mourning afterward as well. Some say that Miriam also had the 30 days although the Torah does not say so. It appears instead that the people were more concerned with a lack of water than mourning for Miriam.

The people move on to the land of the Canaanites in the Negev. These people react the same way that the Edomites did and go to the next step. They attack the Israelites and capture some of them. This doesn’t sit well with the Israelites and they decimate these Canaanites.

The people get upset with the travel schedule. They don’t like the manna and the quails any more and want to go back to Egypt.  The Lord gets exasperated and sends poisonous snakes to the complainers. [There is a substantial history of vipers, puff-adders, cobras and others in the Sinai. T. E. Lawrence mentioned them in his memoirs, saying that at night they needed to beat the bushes when they walked at night.] Moses gets back on God’s good side and is promised that the snakes will stop if he makes a copper serpent for the people to see. This ends the plague of serpents. There is a long association between healing and snakes. Just look at the symbol used by doctors – the twined snakes of the caduceus.

We now get a travelogue of sorts, describing the route that the Israelites follow through and around Transjordan. Eventually, they come to Sihon and make the same offer they had made to the Edomites. Sihon’s king rejects the offer. This time, the results are different. The Israelites attack and defeat Sihon. There is now a string of Israelite victories against the Amorites. Finally, they camped on the steppes of Moab across the Jordan River from Jericho.

The Haftorah continues the story of wars with the story of Jephthah, the Gileadite. Jephthah’s father was not as circumspect as one might like. He got together with a prostitute to produce Jephthah. His family drove him out because of his mother. That turned out not to be such a good idea. The Ammonites attacked Israel and the Israelites did not have a military leader capable of taking over the defense of the country. The elders realized that they were in an untenable position and begged Jephthah to come back and lead them. They made a deal that he would become their leader if he was able to defeat the Ammonites. Jephthah was no fool; he tried first to make peace with the Ammonites. He failed in this but was successful in leading the Israelites to defeat the Ammonites through the help of the Lord.

There is a lot to consider in this week’s parasha. If we look at the battles, we see that the Israelites are successful when they have the Lord with them. They recognize His power and work with it, not against it. When they do not heed the Lord, they lose. We also see this with the whiners. They do not accept the Lord’s providence and He sends them poisonous snakes. When they look up to His symbol of healing, the copper snake, they are healed. Moses and Aaron are punished for the cardinal sin of substituting themselves for the power of the Lord, just as Korah, Dathan, Abiram, the 250 leaders and their supporters were last week. Our task is to remain humble and not try to usurp godliness. If we follow the rules and especially the Golden Rule, we will do what is expected of us. Stay safe.

Torah Comments for June 12, 2021

How many times do you have to be told “no” for it to sink in? In the last few months, we have been accompanying the Israelites on a journey from slavery to freedom. They began the journey by witnessing the power of God through the Ten Plagues. They saw the pillar of fire which protected them from Pharaoh’s chariots. Then there was the parting of the Reed Sea. In the wilderness, they got water, manna and quail. At each step along the way, they complained, and God took care of them with Moses as His point man and Aaron as the assistant. They got to Mt. Sinai and received the Ten Words. Then they got the instructions and built the Tabernacle, the Ark, the altar and everything else that went with them. They watched as Aaron’s family became the designated priests and were told what the ritual would be. Last week, they heard from the spies and believed the majority who told them not to go into the Promised Land. Then they tried to go anyway. They were condemned to die in the wilderness and the attempt to conquer the land failed.

You’d think all that would be enough to make the point – do what I tell you and you will be fine. But if you’d think that, you wouldn’t understand human nature. That being what it is, nothing is ever good enough. So here we go. Everything seems to be happening at once. There are four rebellions at almost the same time. Rebellion one: Korah and 250 chieftains rebel against Aaron. Rebellion two: Dathan and Abiram against Moses. Rebellion three: Korah and the people against Moses.  Rebellion four: Korah and the Levites against Aaron. The way the story is told, it is difficult to separate these rebellions from each other. The scholars who think that the Torah was written over time and that it is a compilation of several sources believe that some of the stories of the rebellions are truncated, which would explain this difficulty. However, it is necessary to separate them to understand the responses and the discrete punishments involved.

Korah is a Levite, just like Moses and Aaron. He gets Dathan and Abiram and On, all from the tribe of Rueben, to rebel against Moses. He also convinces 250 chieftains to rebel against Aaron. Korah’s point in the rebellion against Moses is that he is a great grandson of Levi, just like Moses, Aaron and Miriam. Rueben, of course, was the first-born to Jacob, something that was hugely important in Biblical times. Korah claimed that Moses had too much power in the religious life of the community and in its leadership. He also claimed that Aaron was no better than he was, so why should his family be the priests? After all, didn’t God want the entire community to be holy? And of course, Dathan and Abiram are from the tribe of Reuben, the first-born. Why shouldn’t they lead the people instead of Moses?

Moses meets the challenge of Korah and the chieftains against Aaron. He tells the 250 chieftain rebels to bring their fire pans to the Tabernacle the next day and put fire and incense in them. God will decide who is the proper leader of the priesthood. The next day arrives. It’s just like High Noon at the OK Corral. There in front of the Tabernacle are Korah and his 250 would-be priests with all the other rebels behind them. Facing them all are Moses and Aaron. The 250 try the incense in their fire pans and the presence of the Lord appears. The presence indicates that the incense from their pans is not what the Lord wants; it is what comes from Aaron. The 250 pan holders are consumed by fire.

Aaron’s son, Eleazar, collects the 250 fire pans. The Lord states that they are now sacred, and they are used to cover the altar.

The second challenge here is to Moses’ authority as the leader of the people. He demands that the challengers – Dathan and Abiram (On too, we suppose, although he is not mentioned) appear before him. They refuse. Somehow, we are transported from the site of the Tabernacle to the tents of Dathan and Abiram. This is presumably some distance from the Tabernacle and the story does not explain how the scene changes. Dathan, Abiram and their families stand before their tents and Moses speaks their fate. The ground opens up, swallowing all of them.

You would expect that this whole thing would have made the point and that it was all over – not so. The next day, the entire community rose up and blamed Moses and Aaron for the death and destruction – rebellion three. God has lost patience with the people again and is ready to annihilate them. Moses intercedes for what seems like the thousandth time, but a plague breaks out, killing 14,700 Israelites before Aaron can assuage God and stop it.

It’s time for the final proof of leadership in the religious life of the people – rebellion four. Each of the chieftains of the twelve tribes is ordered to bring his staff to the Tent of Meeting with his name on it. Aaron’s name is placed on the Levi staff. The Lord says that the staff of the person who will be the true religious leader will sprout overnight. Of course, Aaron’s staff is the one that sprouts, showing that he is the true priest. Finally, the people get it through their heads that they are not to be the priests, Aaron and his sons are. They understand that they are to stay away from the Tabernacle and only the Levites are permitted there.

There is an interesting theory that this last test really took place earlier, during the other rebellions. That theory is that the sprouting of the Levi staff only convinced the other tribes that the Levites were the ones who would conduct the ritual. This supposedly convinced the others that the Ruebenite rebellion should fail but fueled Korah and the 250 chieftains to claim that they had the right to the priesthood. One can accept this theory since the Torah doesn’t always place every story in chronological order.

There is a question that no one has been able to answer authoritatively – what happened to Korah? Did he get swallowed up by the earth with Dathan and Abiram? Was he consumed by the fire with the 250 chieftains? Did he die in the plague? Or did he simply disappear?

We now come to an unusual twist. God talks directly to Aaron. This only happens one other time in the Torah. It is a significant happening, both because it is an instruction to Aaron of the obligations of the priesthood and because it puts the final nail in the coffin (literally and figuratively) of those who would usurp the position of Aaron and his sons as the priests. God has determined that the priests would be the ultimate guardians of the Tabernacle and no one else is to intrude on their duties. The Levites are to guard the outer precincts of the Tabernacle, the priests the inner ones. The Lord gives Aaron and his descendants the sacred donations of the Israelites – the sacrifices, the offerings of the first fruits and the first-born males. First-born males could be redeemed for five shekels, first-born animals were to be sacrificed. In exchange for this set of gifts which were to support the priests, they are not given any land. The Levites are given the tithes in exchange for their services, so they also receive no land. They in turn are required to tithe for the priests. Thus, the religion will be supported by the people.

The prophet Samuel was active during the reign of King Saul. This week’s Haftorah begins with the inauguration of Saul’s monarchy. A celebration takes place as Saul is made king before all the people. Samuel, who has led the people to this point, now cedes his leadership to Saul. He recites for the people all the things that the Lord has done for them from the time of Jacob in Egypt and how each time the people have forgotten the Lord, only to be punished and then to seek forgiveness again. Samuel threatens the people with punishment in the future if they and the new king do not follow the Lord’s commands and revere Him. But he promises prosperity if they do right. He promises to continue to pray for the people in his retirement.

The historical significance of the two readings cannot be overemphasized. This is the stuff of our history. The first reading provides us with a window into the solidification of the Biblical religious structure of Judaism and how religious and civil authority was to be maintained. The second demonstrates that no one is above the law, including the king. We can understand that it was necessary for everyone in our primitive, slave-mentality community to buy into the legitimate leadership of both the community as a whole and its religious life. At the time, the people could only understand the concept of a powerful overlord such as the pharaoh. Moses steps in and tries to remake society. He encounters resistance in part because he does not presume to be all-powerful; this is the province of God. Moses does exhibit a large ego when he asks God to solidify his leadership, but he also remains humble by letting God decide how to punish the rebels. Samuel emphasizes the point that the leader, in his case, King Saul, needs to have humility and to understand his place in the grand scheme of things. Of course, we all know that Saul can’t follow through and this leads to his downfall. Ultimately, we can learn from this that we mere mortals should not presume to change Judaism to suit ourselves instead of following its traditions as they have developed over the centuries.

Stay safe until we meet again.

Torah Comments for May 29, 2021

For several weeks, we have been having instructions on how to live and how to pray. Today, we begin with instructions on the lamps of the Menorah. The Menorah was next to the Southern wall of the Tabernacle and was to cast its light onto the rest of the enclosure. It was to be lit at night only.

We were told in the last few weeks that the Levites would have jobs tending to the sacred objects and making sure that the priests could perform their duties. Since certain Levites would necessarily come into periodic contact with sacred objects, they had to be purified so they would not contaminate them. God repeats His determination that the Levites belong to Him. This time an explanation is given. The first-born of the Egyptians were taken from them through the last plague. The first-born of the Israelites symbolically took their place before the Lord. The Levites stood in for them and became the substitute for the first-born, working for the Lord in the Sanctuary. Levites began their service at the age of 25, earlier the age was 30, and continued to age 50 when they were to retire from work at the Tabernacle and could continue as guards. An interesting question is how to resolve the 5-year age discrepancy for the starting age. Apparently, this was dealt with by having Levites begin their service at 25 as assistants and allowing them to be full-fledged workers at 30.

The second Passover took place on the first new moon of the second year in the wilderness. The ceremony took place on the 14th day of that month. For those who could not participate in the Passover service at the appointed time, God established a second Passover a month later. They were instructed to eat the Passover sacrifice with matzot and bitter herbs. A critical passage comes as the sacrifice is described:

“There shall be one law for you, whether stranger or citizen of the country.”

This is a revolutionary statement. Just image if it were truly applied in our country today. There would be no such thing as second-class people; no discrimination in how the law is applied to every citizen and every foreigner. There would be no more George Floyds suffering at the hands of law enforcement. And then, if we could apply the principle to everyone, there would be no more anti-Semitism or anti-Asian or anti-Black attacks.

A discussion follows on how the Israelites knew it was time to move on. The cloud symbolizing God’s presence in the Tabernacle would rise and move off. The Israelites would break camp with the Levites and the priests transporting the Tabernacle and the sacred objects to the new location, where they would set everything up again until the next time. Unfortunately, the Israelites lacked one of the basic necessities of a modern society – cell phones. Therefore, the Lord instructed Moses to have a few silver trumpets made so the priests could communicate the need to move or to stop to the rest of the people. The trumpets were also to be used to warn the people in time of war and to usher in important days on the calendar.

Before the Israelites set out on the journey through the wilderness, Moses asked his father-in-law to join them. You remember him; he was the guy who taught Moses how to delegate authority and freed him up to make the important judgment calls. He refused and instead headed home.

Now comes the famous passage that we chant every Shabbat as the congregation prepares to take the Torah out of the Ark:

“When the Ark was to set out, Moses would say:

Advance, O Lord!

May Your enemies be scattered,

And the land and will choose Jerusalem once more in the Holy Land. Zechariah reports that he witnessed Joshua, the high priest, standing before the Lord in tatters. God’s angel orders him dressed in priestly robes, his guilt removed. All will be forgiven their sins. Another vision – Zechariah sees a seven- branched lampstand of gold with a bowl above it. The angel explains the meaning of this vision:

“Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit…”

The Lord will smooth the path before the Israelites and there will be prosperity. Zechariah promised that the people would be judged for sin and then cleansed and forgiven. God would assist in the rebuilding of the Temple and the people.

There is comfort and joy for us in these words. The people have been downtrodden. Rebellion has taken place. Yet peace and happiness can be attained by allowing others to help us. Stay safe until we meet again. I also prepared a commentary for the Boy Scouts of America this week which follows.

may Your foes flee before You!

And when it halted, he would say:

Return, O Lord,

You who are Israel’s myriads of thousands!”

It was time for a revolt. Thomas Jefferson said that a little revolution every once in a while is a good thing. But that doesn’t apply here. People were upset and complained to the Lord. The result? A fire broke out in the camp. Moses had to intercede to stop the fire. People then complained, but only the riffraff, this time. They wanted meat to eat. They had forgotten the stringencies of slavery and wanted the “good life” back in Egypt. They weren’t satisfied with manna. Moses and the Lord had a tiff – Moses complained that he was bearing the brunt of the people’s dissatisfaction when it was all God’s fault. Moses threatened to die and let God deal with the problem. God came up with a solution. Moses was to find 70 elders to share the burdens of leadership with. He instructed the people to purify themselves in preparation for meat and delivered quail. But He was not satisfied with the whiners and delivered a plague upon them. The survivors set out for greener pastures and Moses endured yet another rebellion, this time from his brother and sister. They complained that Moses had married a Cushite. They insisted on equal status with their brother. God brought them all to the Tabernacle and made it clear that Moses was the head guy. Miriam was stricken with a skin disease. Aaron repented but Miriam was sent out of the camp for a week as punishment for her actions.

The Haftorah comes from Zechariah. Zechariah preached beginning around 520 BCE. This was at the time of the reign of Darius the Great and marked the return from the Babylonian Exile. This particular passage is upbeat. Zechariah reports his vision that the Lord will return to the land and will choose Jerusalem once more in the Holy Land. Zechariah reports that he witnessed Joshua, the high priest, standing before the Lord in tatters. God’s angel orders him dressed in priestly robes, his guilt removed. All will be forgiven their sins. Another vision – Zechariah sees a seven- branched lampstand of gold with a bowl above it. The angel explains the meaning of this vision:

“Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit…”

The Lord will smooth the path before the Israelites and there will be prosperity. Zechariah promised that the people would be judged for sin and then cleansed and forgiven. God would assist in the rebuilding of the Temple and the people.

There is comfort and joy for us in these words. The people have been downtrodden. Rebellion has taken place. Yet peace and happiness can be attained by allowing others to help us. Stay safe until we meet again. I also prepared a commentary for the Boy Scouts of America this week which follows.

 

Derech Tzofeh for May 29, 2021

[This week’s commentary comes from Bruce Chudacoff. Bruce has just completed eight years as chairman and president of the National Jewish Committee on Scouting.]

 

This week is Shabbat Beha’alotekha. It contains instructions on how to prepare the Levites for their tasks as the assistants to the priests. The second Passover takes place (the first was the night of the Tenth Plague) and the Lord provides for those who cannot participate on the right night by creating a second Passover a month later.

More instructions are given. First of all, trumpets are made to signal the Israelites. There are specific signals for when to assemble, when to break camp, when to leave and how to go.

Moses is finding that being the sole leader of over 600,000 people is just too much for him to handle. God instructs him to assemble seventy elders to share the burdens of leadership. Another incident occurs. Miriam and Aaron decide that they should be equal to Moses in the leadership of the Israelites.

There are a few great lessons in this Torah portion for all of us as Scouts. We can apply them to our camping experiences but they have meaning for us in everything we do.

Moses was appointed the leader of the people. Miriam and Aaron tried to take his authority away. We see that once someone is put in charge, a senior patrol leader, the person in charge of a camping trip, the person making arrangements for an event, that person needs to be respected and his or her leadership needs to be followed.  You may prefer to do things your way but that is not the Scout way just as it was not the way of our ancestors.

Moses found out the hard way that leadership can be a great burden. The Lord showed him how to obtain help so his leadership could produce positive results. The appointment of seventy elders provided Moses with a way to share the burdens of day-to-day life while still maintaining his authority. In Scouting, we recognize the wisdom of appointing helpers. We have a senior patrol leader and patrol leaders; we have a cook and assistants; we have one person in charge of the camping trip, a quartermaster to make sure we have the right equipment, someone to buy the food, someone to work on the transportation and travel permits if we need them, someone to check health forms and so on. Scouting teaches the lesson that Moses had to learn for himself; don’t take on the whole job by yourself. These lessons are of greater importance as we enter adult society. No leader can succeed without surrounding himself or herself with competent helpers who help to carry out the leader’s vision.

The Torah portion teaches us something else of major importance – preparation and planning are central to success. At the beginning of the portion, the priests prepare the Levites for their service at the Tabernacle. They all know what their jobs are in advance and are purified so they can perform them properly. We all need to be told what our individual jobs for an activity will be ahead of time and then we have to practice them so we are ready to carry out our assigned tasks at the right time.

The Torah also teaches us the importance of clear communication. They didn’t have cell phones in Biblical times, so trumpets had to do the work of notifying the people when it was time to take certain steps. We learn the importance of communication from these instructions. Yes, we too can use trumpets or bugles at camp as long as we communicate and let everyone know what our signals mean. We can also use a cell phone or other communications devices to make sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to our events.

There’s a lot to learn when we try to visualize the experiences of the Israelites in the wilderness and in early Israel. Just as Moses had to learn how to be a good leader by sharing the load, the people had to learn that a good leader needs to be trusted and followed. Planning, training and communication are keys to success in Scouting, just as they were in the wilderness.

Torah Comments for May 22, 2021

If you thought we were done counting last week, you were wrong. Remember that the Levites were not counted in the census. They were exempt from military service and were not going to receive any land in the Promised Land, so they didn’t have to participate in what went before. Well, now it’s their turn. Each clan of Levites gets counted, although only the men from 30 to 50. That is going to be the age span during which they will be performing their duties. Of course, all the Levites camped around the Tabernacle in the desert. The Gershonites (2630 of them) were now responsible for transporting the coverings, the altar and its accessories. The Merarites (3200 of them) were to carry all the wood, the posts and sockets. The Kohathites (2750 of them) already got their assignment last week.

Although the Torah assigns responsibility for transporting the structure of the Tabernacle to the Gershonites and the Merarites, they don’t actually transport them. They have carts to do that. On the other handm the Kohathites were required to actually carry the sacred objects, such as the Ark.

It was necessary to maintain the health of the community. This was done by removing people who exhibited certain diseases which could be contagious from the camp. Once they were outside, if they could purify themselves, they could return.

The specific list of people who were subject to removal from the camp appears to be arbitrary. Clearly there were more contagious diseases than those listed in this Torah portion. It has been suggested that the categories of the prohibited people relate to four specific items – death, blood, semen and skin disease. Under this theory, these items all signify the opposite of holiness and the attendant purity required for it and the prohibition of these people from the camp was to ensure the continuation of the Israelites as a holy people.

It was also necessary to maintain public order (purity of another nature). People who committed a wrong were to confess and make restitution of 125% of the value of what was taken plus a sacrifice to the Lord. This was a major change to society. Confessions of sin were now required, even if they were against someone else. Restitution was also required and, if the wronged person had died without kin, the restitution was to be paid to the priest so no one could escape responsibility for a crime.

We come to a situation that makes at least half of the congregation truly mad. If a man suspects his wife of adultery, he is to bring her to the priest. There is a process by which it is determined if the charge is correct. The water of bitterness is made – sacred water mixed with dirt from the floor of the Tabernacle and the ink from the curse of the priest. The woman drinks it. If she is guilty, she is punished. If not, nothing happens to the husband. Of course, there is no corresponding ritual for an unfaithful husband. One must therefore assume that such a creature must never have existed. After all, even King David had the husband of the woman he wanted to sleep with killed so he wouldn’t be unfaithful to all of his other wives.

The ordeal pictured here consisted of two parts, an incantation and an action. This was a common formula in the other cultures of the time. A variant of the ritual in Middle Assyrian culture was to throw the accused into the river. If she sank, she was guilty. Does this remind you of the trials of the witches in Salem? In any case, it appears that the ritual was carried out until the destruction of the Second Temple, after which it was discontinued, in part because of its obvious unfairness to a wronged wife whose husband had strayed.

It is significant that adultery was considered to be an affront, not only to a husband, but also to God or to the gods in other societies in Biblical times. Interestingly, except for the Israelites, the husband of an adulterous wife could mitigate the punishment of the wife in other societies. In some, monetary compensation was appropriate. With the Israelites, there was no actual punishment other than barrenness. God would deal with it at some time.

Some people were especially ardent in their religious life. They would become Nazarites, either temporarily or permanently. A Nazarite would take a vow to follow stringent rules – no alcohol or vine products like grapes, no hair cutting and no contact with a corpse. A special ritual took place when the term of the Nazarite ended. If the Nazarite made special commitments at the time of the beginning of the term, he or she was required to abide by them.

Nazarites lived in regular society, not as hermits. They were obvious by their long hair. Two permanent Nazarites are mentioned in the Scriptures – Samson and Samuel. A third was John the Baptist. Their mothers had all been barren and dedicated their future child to the Lord as thanks for the blessing of having them.

Temporary Nazarites were not necessarily priests but one can compare their lifestyles. Some of the restrictions on their lives were the same. Nazarites could raise their status to almost that of the priests by taking their vows. At the conclusion of their term, they would shave their heads and present the hair to the Lord. This is similar to traditions in many of the other societies of Biblical times – Babylonians, Greeks and Arabians, to name several sacrificed their hair to the gods for one reason or another.

We come to our ancient priestly blessing:

The Lord bless you and protect you!

The Lord deal kindly and graciously with you!

The Lord bestow His favor upon you and grant you peace!

Next follows the ritual of the consecration of the Tabernacle. Moses purifies it and each of the chieftains of the twelve tribes brings a sacrifice, one each day. The sacrifices are individually listed in the Torah, so if you knew your tribe, you could figure out its sacrifice. I know most of you do not have an ancestry.com report that ties you to a particular tribe. Do not despair! Each tribe’s sacrifice for the newly consecrated Tabernacle was identical to that of the others. All in all, there were 12 bulls, 12 rams and 12 goats for sin offerings and 24 bulls, 60 rams, 60 goats, 60 lambs plus meal offerings for the dedication offering. This portion of the Torah has been interpreted to mean that the sacrifices were presented to the Tabernacle on twelve successive days but all the actual sacrifices took place afterward. This resolves some potential conflicts in dates with Passover and also resolves a problem of how the sacrifices were to be made by the priests.

Finally, the Torah explains that the voice of the Lord would come to Moses from above the cover of the Ark in the Tabernacle.

The Haftorah comes from Judges. At the time, the Israelites were under the sway of the Philistines. The Haftorah tells the story of Manoah and his wife, Hannah. She could not conceive but an angel appeared to her and told her that she would become pregnant. The angel instructed her not to drink alcohol and to eat a proper diet. The angel predicted that she would bear a Nazarite who would grow up to free the Israelites from oppression. She told Manoah what had occurred and he immediately asked the Lord for guidance on how to raise the child to be. The boy was, of course, Samson.

In conclusion, I repeat the priestly blessing: May the Lord bless you and protect you; may the Lord deal kindly and graciously with you; may the Lord bestow His favor upon you and grant you peace. Stay safe.

Torah Comments for May 8, 2021

It’s taking a double portion to do it, but this week we finish Leviticus. Stay tuned next week for Numbers. We’ve gotten the priesthood and worship all set up and now it’s time for some practical rules.

We start with land. Biblical Israel was an agricultural society, so the land was critical to everyone’s well-being. There were two aspects of land regulation – ownership and use. The key to the whole structure of land tenure is the proposition that no person can truly own the land – it all belongs to God and we are merely using it. This is the basis for land use rules to originate with the Lord. Since the land belongs to the Lord and we are only tenants, the Lord can tell us how to use it. The use of land rules parallel creation, the work week and the cleanliness rules. Also, note the seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot. For six years, we can cultivate the fields and orchards, but in the seventh year, they lie fallow. Fallow isn’t quite accurate, however. While a farmer could not plant new crops in the seventh year, he and his family, servants and livestock were permitted to eat what grew naturally during the year. This situation presented practical problems for the Israelites. If, during the seventh year, no crops were planted, how did a farmer subsist? More important, how did the laborers who were not needed to farm the land subsist? That appears to have been the purpose behind allowing everyone to eat from the normal produce of the land in the seventh year.

The jubilee is also discussed. We will have gone through a cycle of seven periods of seven years and how come to the fiftieth. Just as when a new ruler would take the throne in Biblical times, the jubilee was meant to be a time of release. Debts, servitudes and liens were all released in celebration that we had reached this time. We are all familiar with one translations of this requirement in this country – “Proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” Yes, we can find it on the Liberty Bell and on 50 replicas, one of which resides in each state of the United States. This was a time when foreclosures were reversed and families were permitted to return to their land, even after the lender had taken it. Sales and leases of land took the jubilee into account. If a person were to lease land two years before the jubilee, the cost would be less than if it were thirty years left. This took into account the practical effect of the return of the land at the time of the jubilee.

In America, there is generally a period of redemption after a foreclosure judgment which allows a debtor to get his land back by repaying the debt in full. Once that time, a year or six months in many jurisdictions, expires, the land is gone. There Is no such finality in the Torah. The land can always be redeemed, taking into account the time remaining until the jubilee. Accompanying this theory is a requirement to help your kinsman who falls into debt.

The Torah goes on to deal with bound laborers, those people who had to bind themselves to a neighbor to repay their debts. The bonding would end in the jubilee year and the servitude would end at the time of the jubilee. The practice differed for non-Israelites. An Israelite could own slaves who were not Israelites and that status remained permanent. Israelites bound to non-Israelites were subject to redemption at any time, but a calculation needed to be made based on the time until the jubilee.

Prior discussions have related to what we called the “Holiness Code,” the rules for the priesthood set forth in Leviticus. The Torah now resorts to the familiar carrot and stick. The carrot for “follow My laws” was rain when needed, abundant crops, peace and prosperity. The stick for failing to follow the laws was misery, dominance by others, famine and wild beasts. This was a fairly universal feature of other religions in the time frame that Judaism developed. Examples include the Code of Hammurabi and the codes in existence in Egypt. Some scholars believe that the portions of Leviticus relating to the blessings and curses were written around the time of the Babylonian Captivity, 586 BCE. The language is similar to that of the Assyrians. Interestingly, portions of the Torah seem to parallel the prophets. One could ask, did this part of the Torah come before Ezekiel? Isaiah? Were they contemporaneous? If the Torah came first, was there a situation before the Babylonian Captivity that paralleled it and therefore provided the basis for the two to almost echo each other? It seems likely that all three – Leviticus, Ezekiel and Isaiah were composed at the same general time. Unfortunately, we cannot go back in time to see what really happened.

The last chapter of Leviticus is practical. How do we pay to maintain the Temple?  Scholars think that this chapter was added at a later time to deal with the practical question when it arose. A standard value was set for a pledge of a person to the service of the Lord. The value of animals, homes and land consecrated to the Lord was to be determined by a priest and a person would then redeem the pledge in cash or equivalent. First-born animals were generally not discussed in this context since they already belonged to the Lord.

Leviticus ends with this statement: “These are the commandments that the Lord gave Moses for the Israelite people on Mount Sinai.” Clearly, some parts of Leviticus were not given on Mount Sinai, but this statement gave the imprimatur of the Lord to all the priestly requirements and thus provided a basis for their enforcement.

The Haftorah comes from another contemporary prophet of the Babylonian Captivity, Jeremiah. Jeremiah predicts that all nations will come to the Lord and admit their errors. He echoes the curses we read about in Leviticus due to the failure of the people to follow God’s laws.

“Cursed is he who trusts in man, who makes mere flesh his strength, and turns his thoughts from the Lord.”

On the other hand,

“Blessed is he who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord alone.”

Jeremiah concludes,

“Heal me, O Lord, and let me be healed; save me, and let me be saved; for You are my glory.”

The time for healing is at hand. Stay safe.

Torah Comments for May 1, 2021

This weekend’s Torah portion begins with laws governing the priesthood. This is a significant departure from the norm in Biblical times. For everyone else, the priesthood was a secretive group of people whose actions could not be observed, let alone criticized. The other priests were sacred in and of themselves. Our priests were fully human and were required to live by a strict code.

The priests had to be pure in conduct, had specific limitations on whom they could marry, had to be physically without blemish (just like sacrifices) and were entitled to the edible parts of sacrifices. The rules for the High Priest were stricter than those for other priests. All the rules fit logically into the overall scheme of purity in our relationship to God.

The Torah continues to discuss the sacrifices brought to the priests. The people bringing the sacrifices must be pure as well as the sacrifice.

The parallel requirements for physical soundness between priests and sacrifices included prohibitions on the blind, no broken limbs vs. no injured or maimed animals, scurvy, boils, scars, limbs that were not equal, issues with testes and eyes.

The Torah goes on to discuss the sacred calendar. First is Shabbat, the holiday that comes every week. Passover and its sacrifices come next, followed by the counting of the omer. Now that we have passed Lag B’Omer, Shabbat will be day 34. Shavuot and its sacrifices follow. Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur come next. That old calendar started with Pesach, not Rosh Hashonah. Sukkot follows and is the last of the Biblical holidays.

The concept of Shabbat appears to be original with Judaism. Historically, there was no other religion that divided lunar months into weeks, punctuated by a day of rest, which seems to be a weekly reenactment of the story of creation. We work for six days, doing all that is necessary to live and prosper and rest for one, just like God did when He made the world and all within it. Shabbat seems to have become more prominent around the time of Isaiah, Amos and Hosea. Shabbat was celebrated in the Temple with the people observing for those who lived in Jerusalem. In other locations, it was observed by the family unit. The king traditionally participated in the Shabbat worship. While such things as animal slaughter and the work involved in preparing them for food were generally prohibited, they were permitted by the priests on Shabbat. There was no rest for the priests – they worked every day.

The origins of the holiday celebrations and the requirements of the sacrifices are not well documented, but it does appear that some of the highlights had their origin when there were parallel kingdoms. The Northern Kingdom fell in 722 BCE and the religion then centered in Jerusalem. There appears to be a significant change in the way the holidays are defined and observed from one book of the Torah to another. Some scholars attribute this to the theory that Deuteronomy was written much later than Exodus and Leviticus. According to this theory, the sacred rituals evolved and were explained differently as the books were written. Originally, the holidays could be fully celebrated anywhere; later, they had to be celebrated by pilgrimages to Jerusalem. At first, the holiday of Passover is thought to have happened at the time that barley crops were hardening (April); the next holiday was for the barley festival in May (Shavuot) and the last was the festival of ingathering in September (Sukkot). The timing of the holidays appears to have changed due to the needs of cultivation and the harvest into our current calendar. This became necessary when it was required to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Difficulty had to arise during a transition period from when the paschal offering took place at home to when it had to be at the Temple. People who travelled to Jerusalem for Pesach often had to spend the whole holiday week there which coincided with the requirement to eat matzoh during the time.

We continue on to the Menorah and its special oil. The lights were lit from evening to morning. Twelve loaves of bread were to be prepared, one for each tribe, each Shabbat. It reminds me of my grandmother, who baked bread every Friday until shortly before she died. Her bread was terrific, but she took the recipe with her to the grave. I have never been able to quite duplicate it but keep trying.

Criminal law is discussed. Blasphemy is prohibited, punishable by stoning. Murder is also punishable by death. Killing a beast or maiming a person requires the famous punishment – “fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.” All the rules apply to both the stranger and the citizen.

There is a significant discussion of the law of retaliation in the Talmud which is based on the Torah discussion of criminal penalties. In that discussion, the sages agreed that money would be appropriate compensation for other than murder. Therefore, it wasn’t necessary to do an eye for an eye in their view. While there are differing viewpoints on whether compensation was permitted instead of maiming as punishment, it is true that in other Biblical societies, compensation for injury to humans and animals was recognized. Therefore, it is practical for us to assume that it was permissible to pay damages for an injury to another person. It may well be that this, like the way holidays came to be celebrated, recognizes an evolution in Biblical thinking about bodily punishment.

Ezekiel discusses the Zadokian priests. They are the only people who are eligible to become priests and to perform religious rites. They are to wear certain types of clothing when officiating. Paralleling the Torah parasha, they must keep their hair trimmed, refrain from drinking wine during their duties and have marriage limitations. The priests are the sole arbiters of what is pure and what is not. They are also to be the judges, the teachers of the law and the guardians of Shabbat. The priests are not given land in Israel, so they are compensated by being awarded the first fruits of the land and certain sacrifices.

On the surface, the connection between the Torah and the Haftorah is the life of restrictions that the priests lived. More deeply, we say that the relationship among God, the priests and the people is characterized by a striving for purity throughout and this parasha is but one facet of the whole. Count your Omer and stay safe.

         Torah Comments for April 24, 2021

We’re closed again after two successful in-person minyans, so I am sending you my comments ahead of time to maintain contact with our Temple Beth El family. We will set up a Zoom conversation hour again in the near future so we can see how everyone is.

If you’re just tuning in, you may be wondering what’s going on in the Torah this week. It’s not Yom Kippur. You have not been transported six months into the future. Don’t worry; we still have time to seek forgiveness for our sins before the Book of Life is closed on us. Then why are we talking about sin and purification and Yom Kippur rituals? The Torah progresses at its own rate and here we are in Leviticus talking about purity. We’ve talked about purity in eating, in dealing with the environment and in matters of childbirth. We’ve had the original dedication of the Tabernacle and the ceremonies and sacrifices that accompanied it. Now we can deal with the continuing purity of the holy site. We take a step back to the deaths of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, who had tried to bring their own worship practice to God. Aaron is told that he cannot just come and go in the Sanctuary when he feels like it. The space is reserved for specific religious rites. As High Priest, Aaron can only come inside when the time is right and when he had purified himself. He had to bathe and don specific purified clothing. He could only enter when he was bringing a sin offering and a burnt offering with him. His first job was to purify himself. Once that had been done, he performed the ritual of the scapegoat which designated one goat as the sin offering of the people and the other to be sent off into the wilderness, Azazel. After the rituals of a sin offering for himself and the people, the High Priest (Aaron in the Torah and his successors) would purify the Sanctuary from the sins of the people. Expiation came first for himself, then for his household and finally the community. Next came the purification of the altar. Finally, the scapegoat was sent off to Azazel and everyone was ready for the next step. The High Priest was to finish off the sacrifices and the people were ready for another year.

The ritual of transferring our sins to an animal or another object, like our Yom Kippur ritual, was a fixture in many other societies over many centuries. Human sacrifice was fundamentally the same as our scapegoat ritual, only the scapegoat was a person. Through the ritual employed, either with us or the Aztecs or many other religions, sins and other shortcomings were magically transferred to the scapegoat which was subsequently destroyed along with our sins and shortcomings.

Our religion employed similar means of transferring illness to birds – the ritual of cleansing a person who had a skin disease and the confinement of the new mother that we talked about a week ago was that transfer. The magical transference of illness or uncleanness in these cases occurred at the end of the practical process of examination and quarantine but the transference was required to complete the process. The ritual of the scapegoat to eliminate sin is closely related to the ritual which restored cleanliness to those who had been ill.

Some scholars have theorized that the ritual of the scapegoat is a vestige of polytheism. The scapegoat is sent off into the wilderness where the existence of evil is predominant. The scapegoat, in that explanation, is really a sacrifice to the god of evil who inhabits the wilderness. This theory makes the scapegoat ritual similar to the practice in Greek and Roman religion of simply adopting the gods and practices of the people they conquered and bringing them into their own pantheon. It would also be similar to what the Christians did by coopting the Christmas tree from Europe and other traditions from pagan religions. For the Greeks and Romans, they were used to a lot of gods so a few more didn’t make much difference. For the Christians, adopting pagan practices made it easier to gain converts. Another view of the scapegoat ritual is that it was retained, not as a sop to old religious practice, but for the drama which led the people to more fervently seek forgiveness for their sins.

The Torah now spells out the significance of Yom Kippur. It is to be a day of atonement for the sins of each person, a day of fasting and a day for the burdens of the sins of the prior year to be lifted from us.

We move on to what is known as the Holiness Code. The Israelites are to become a holy people because God is holy. At the start of the Code, the Torah makes it clear that all sacrifices are to be carried out at the central worship site. This provision was made to follow through with the admonishment to Aaron on the death of his sons – carry out the rules that have been established – don’t add to them and don’t subtract from them. This was the means to make sure that our religion would be guided by the priesthood and only by the priesthood and centered all authority in the priests at the Sanctuary, first the Tabernacle and later the Temple. There was an interesting dispute occasioned by the exact wording of the verse relating to the location of sacrifices. One view was espoused by Rabbi Ishmael. He claimed that the wording of this passage in Leviticus meant that the slaughter of all animals was required to happen at the Temple, including those killed for food. His contention was that this requirement was later loosened in Deuteronomy, then permitting people to kill animals for food at any location. Rabbi Akiba was more practical. He said that the location limitation was for sacrifices only and that other animal slaughter (for food) could take place anywhere. The ultimate consensus was that the rule in Leviticus was for sacrifices only. Otherwise, after the destruction of the Temple, we would all have had to become vegetarians.

These rules were to apply both to the Israelites and the non-Israelites living among them but not others. There was also a prohibition on consumption of blood from a bird or animal. It was considered that blood was the source of life and one should not consume it. Dracula, beware of the Jewish people!

The Torah next set up the rules of sexual purity for the families of the Israelites. The people were to shun the practices of Egypt and of Canaan and to follow the rules laid down by the Lord. There was a whole litany of prohibitions on who could have sexual relations with whom. Incest was prohibited; sexual relationships with the spouses of family members was prohibited. Relationships with sisters, mothers and daughters, women during the time of menstruation and neighbors were prohibited. Human sacrifice was prohibited. Violation of these prohibitions would not only contaminate the participants but would also defile the land.

It is interesting to see how marriage rules changed over time. We read today that a man could not marry a half-sister. Yet that was Abram and Sarai. In 2 Samuel, Tamar tells her half-brother, Amnon, to stay away from her – their father was David and Amnon was told that David would never approve the marriage, meaning that at that time at least, it was not prohibited. In other cases, Amram married his aunt Jochebed to produce both Aaron and Moses. Jacob married sisters Leah and Rachel. All these practices obviously changed over time and these kinds of relationships eventually became taboo according to the Torah. While Levirate marriage was permitted as an exception to marrying a brother’s wife and people were encouraged to marry within their own clan to preserve the land, the prohibitions of today’s parasha were specific limits on whom one could marry that were in force during later Temple times.

The thrust of the entire set of Torah holiness rules is encompassed in this statement:

“You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.”

Rules of conduct are reinforced – honor your parents, keep the Sabbath, do not make idols, sacrifice properly, leave the gleanings at the edges of your fields for the poor and the stranger, do not steal, do not cheat or lie, do not profane the name of the Lord, pay your workers the day that they work for you, do not insult the deaf or impede the blind. And finally, for this parasha,

“You shall fear your God; I am the Lord.”

The concept of holiness that is encompassed in our parasha posits a gulf between holiness and that which is profane. However, what the discussion shows is that this gulf is not a permanent one. The idea of achieving holiness through prayer, ritual and sanctification was common throughout the religious practices of the Near East at the time of the founding of our religion. Holiness was something that was not limited to religious ritual; it was a part of daily life. The rules of this week’s parasha were those governing people’s daily conduct, not just what would happen at the Sanctuary. The roadmap was provided to everyone as to how to achieve holiness through our everyday conduct.

Our Haftorah reading this Shabbat is from Amos. Amos was a prophet who preached for five years between 760 and 755 BCE. He had been born in the Kingdom of Judah but preached in the Northern Kingdom. This was a time when there was peace and prosperity, but people did not respect the laws of God. Amos pointed out that the Lord had brought the people up from the land of Egypt but that He had done the same for other peoples. Amos predicted that the Lord would wipe out the sinful kingdoms of Israel and that the House of Israel no matter where throughout the world would be punished for its sins. However, he also held out hope, promising that the people would eventually be restored to their cities and their lands and would again be prosperous for all eternity.

This week, Sephardic Jews read from Ezekiel who lived 150 years after Amos. The theme is similar. The Lord relates to Ezekiel that He brought the people out of Egypt to the land of milk and honey. The Lord appears to be frustrated. He brought us out of Egypt and gave us everything we needed. All He wanted from us was to follow His laws. But the people wouldn’t do this, and the Lord prepared to destroy the people in the wilderness. Even though the people rebelled time and time again, God held back and did not destroy us. In an alternate selection, Ezekiel conveyed the warning that, since the people had violated the rules established in this week’s parasha, punishment was coming. Of course, this warning was not heeded and the result was the Babylonian Captivity beginning in 586 BCE, during the time of Ezekiel.

Our job is to follow the rules of the Torah. Only then will we be holy and benefit from the promises that God has made to us over the generations. Stay safe.

Torah Comments for April 17, 2021

We are solidly into Leviticus. We’ve just finished studying rituals concerning kashrut and questions of purity and cleanliness. We begin this week’s Torah study with a discussion of what to do with women and children right after birth. The discussion is categorized as one of cleanliness and is related to menstruation. A woman is considered unclean for seven days after giving birth to a male. He is circumcised on the eighth day, the day after the mother is deemed to have completed the first stage of her uncleanness. Her second stage lasted another 33 days. Afterward, her purity was confirmed by an offering to God. Just like many people relate the laws of kashrut to health, commentators relate the rules for childbirth to health as well. We need to remember the state of health care several thousand years ago. Women gave birth at home, often with the assistance of a midwife. There were no ultrasounds or x-rays and there was no surgeon standing by in case a problem developed. The death rate of both new mothers and babies was significant. Therefore, the mother and child had to be safeguarded from possible disease for a period of time long enough to recover from the dangers of childbirth and society wanted to make sure that the baby would survive before welcoming it. A week was sufficient time to allow people to predict that the baby would live so the circumcision awaited that determination. The mother was given the chance to recover before resuming her household duties. Although it is only mentioned in passing in the Torah, the death of Rachel was a prime example of a mother dying in childbirth. We visited her tomb many years ago.

The other question, the one that at least half of us have trouble with, is why the time periods of impurity were double when the baby was a girl. There are several theories about this. One is that the time had nothing to do with the mother but everything to do with the baby. Girls were considered to be weaker than boys; the girl babies needed more time for protection to ensure that they would survive. Another theory is that girls had to be protected for a longer period of time to ensure their future fertility. After all, it was vital to grow the community and that couldn’t happen if all the girls died right after their births. We can’t go back and ask about this, of course, so we will just have to take it on faith that the Lord had good reasons for these rules.

In other faith traditions of the time, there was a significant connection between the event of birth and the lives of the gods. The pharaoh was divine, and his birth was celebrated as a significant event. We are all familiar with the Greek and Roman mythologies that dealt with the gods having children with each other and also with humans. Their progeny were considered to be either minor gods or semi-gods, depending on their parentage. The Israelites separated themselves from surrounding societies by not deifying birth, but all societies protected the new mother.  We can look at later religions to see how they treated birth as well. Take a look at what Christianity did. It went back to the pagan religious traditions with the story of the birth of Jesus. His mother was either a virgin or a young woman, depending on the translation, but Jesus was the product of some kind of union between Mary and the Lord. This story separated the Christians from us at a time when the Romans were persecuting the Jews and gave the early Christians a story that was familiar to the pagans of the Roman Empire, making it easy for them to accept as the Christians tried to win converts. We do have our own birth stories, but they are very different from those of the other religions. Instead of God having a relationship with Sarah that leads to her having a baby at 99, God simply promises that it will happen. Elisha does the same with the Shunamite woman; there is a miracle of pregnancy but not one that made the child divine. Likewise, the births of Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David and Solomon, to name a few of our heroes, are normal, everyday births; it is what comes later in their lives that is inspired by God. Our tradition doesn’t celebrate or remember a person’s achievements on her birthday but on the anniversary of her death.

The Torah goes on to deal with a subject that should be near and dear to our hearts today – what to do with communicable diseases. The rules that related to diseases of the skin required an examination of the diseased individual and quarantine. There were to be periodic re-examinations and the quarantine was not lifted until the person was cured. If the disease was incurable, the individual was permanently separated from the community. The precautions that the community took extended to the clothing of the diseased person and ultimately to his home. Evidence of disease was cut out of the clothing and also from buildings. Rules like this and traditions of bathing regularly have benefited Jewish communities throughout history. Many attribute these habits to the survival of Jewish communities in Europe during the Black Plague.

The Jewish approach to cleanliness is just like what the CDC has done through its guidelines during the current pandemic. The CDC and our responsible leaders have told us to use the Biblical remedies of isolation and quarantine for our protection. We socially distance ourselves and we make sure we wash our hands frequently and we also wear a mask. The key to remember is that in the Torah, the priest continued to re-examine the patient and the restrictions were to remain in place until the patient was cured. We can learn a great lesson from the Torah about patience. The pandemic is clearly not over. There are many individuals out there who are infected but neither diagnosed nor treated. We cannot let up on our vigilance now. As the Torah teaches us, it is not until after everyone has been certified to be cured or vaccinated that we can resume normality.

We come to the Haftorah which is set in the time of the prophet Elisha. His name means God is salvation. Elisha lived during the latter part of the prophet Elijah’s life and was his successor. He was prophesying in the 800’s Before the Common Era (about 3,000 years ago. At that time, there were two kingdoms of Jews – the Kingdom of Judah and the Northern Kingdom. Elisha lived in the Northern Kingdom. This Shabbat’s story is about the four lepers. They lived outside the city walls due to their leprosy. The Aramean (Syrian) army had encircled the city and was slowly starving the people. One night, the lepers decided that they might as well go ahead and surrender themselves to the Arameans since they were about to starve to death anyway. When they arrived at the Aramean camp, they discovered that no one was there. The Arameans had thought they were about to be attacked and had fled, leaving everything behind.

Human nature immediately set in. The lepers feasted on the food that the Arameans had left behind and started to loot the camp. However, there remained a connection to their community and they quickly recognized that they had an obligation to it. They returned to the city and informed the king’s gatekeepers what they had found. The king sent out scouts to confirm the situation and then allowed the people to plunder the Aramean camp. One man had ridiculed the lepers’ report. For that, he ended up being trampled to death when the people stampeded out of the city to loot the camp.

The obvious connection between the Torah and the Haftorah is the quarantine of the lepers in both. The deeper meaning, however, is that we all have a connection to each other and to our community, no matter what our individual condition is. We all have a duty to our community to protect it from harm. As I said earlier, we need to protect ourselves and we need to protect others. It is not enough to just get the vaccine and then resume a normal life. This does not fulfill the duty to the community that the lepers had and that we have. We need to remember these obligations until all is well again – Wear a mask; socially distance; encourage others to get vaccinated and wash your hands. Stay safe. Shabbat Shalom.

Torah Comments for April 10, 2021

I’m thinking of the old commercial – plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is. And it is truly a relief to be back here in our own building today. We are sitting a little way apart from each other and we aren’t serving food today but we are here. Isn’t it great?

We are now solidly into Leviticus which is often known as the manual for priests. This part of the Torah is directed at the priesthood, not the people and deals with subjects that don’t happen any more. Our priests don’t perform sacrifices for us today and they don’t deal with issues of purity and uncleanness that stem from contact with dead or unclean animals. They certainly don’t officiate at the Tabernacle or the Temple. So, why do we care about Leviticus? Why don’t we just skip over it and study the more relevant parts of the Torah? The answers lie in the truly unique place that Judaism had as a religion in the ancient world. First of all, everything about our religious life was public. There were no secret books of the dead known only to the priesthood. There were no secret rituals that no one knew about. Everything was out there for all to see. Even though not everyone could be a priest and officiate or assist in our rituals, everyone knew what they were and therefore why they were significant. Further, a study of Leviticus is significant because it emphasizes the proposition that every aspect of our religious practice was holy. It originated from God and was not just a possible good practice, it was a requirement based on the highest authority. I know we all tend to gloss over the details of how the sacrifices happened, but it is still appropriate to stop for a moment and visualize the actual rituals. Not only is the process important, but so is the reason behind the rituals and the reaction of the people to them.

Parasha Shemini – the first sacrifice at the new Tabernacle by the consecrated priests. Moses directs Aaron to perform the first regular sacrifices. There are to be a sin offering, a burnt offering, a sacrifice of well being and a meal offering. The sacrifices take place in front of the Tabernacle in full view of all the Israelites and in the presence of the Lord. The sacrifices are detailed and are followed by Moses and Aaron entering the Tabernacle. When they leave it, they bless the people. The presence of the Lord makes itself felt and a fire appears, consuming the burnt offering.

It’s now time for a lesson. The priests may be the ones who perform sacrifices to the Lord and in turn bless the people, but they are only human. This is a significant departure from other religions of the time where the priests took on an almost godlike status and could do no wrong. Here, Nadab and Abihu become the example. They decide to institute their own tweak on the ceremonies and a fire from the Lord consumes them. Our priests are required to toe the mark. Do what is required but no more and no less.

Here’s a twist. God speaks directly to Aaron. He sets up rules for the priests to follow – no drinking on duty. Only in this way can the priests be assured of the ability to tell pure from impure, right from wrong. The priests are further instructed to teach the people what the law is. The priests are to eat the meal offering at the Tabernacle and unleavened. The other portions of the sacrifices that they are entitled to consume are also spelled out.

Now that the priests are taken care of it’s time to deal with the rest of the Israelites. The laws of kashrut  are spelled out. Land animals with split hoofs that chew a cud are acceptable. The others are not. Inhabitants of the waters that have fins and scales are appropriate; the rest are not – no crawlers, no lobsters, no shrimp. Birds – no eagles, vultures, ravens, ostriches, hawks or owls. No sea gulls, storks or herons. Locusts, crickets and grasshoppers are okay.

People become unclean by touching or carrying an animal carcass that is unclean – no geckos, no mice, no lizards. If an unclean carcass comes into contact with an earthen vessel, the vessel must be destroyed. Snakes are prohibited eating. Why is all this?

“For I the Lord am your God; you shall sanctify yourselves  and be holy, for I am holy.”

How do we synchronize this parasha with a Haftorah? The only way to do it is to install the Ark of the Covenant in the Temple of Solomon. The Ark had been kept at Abinadab’s place a few miles from Jerusalem. King David and 30,000 men of Israel come out to convey the Ark. It is placed on a cart and off they go. However, in a parallel to what happened to Aaron’s sons, the Ark begins to find itself in danger of falling. Uzzah, in complete good faith, reaches out to steady the Ark and is stricken down by the Lord. Do what you are required to do and no less and no more. This incident leads David to take a three-month hiatus during which the Ark visits at the home of Obed-edom.

They reach the City of David amidst rejoicing and dancing. Human nature now arises. Michal is the daughter of Saul and the wife of David. She is obviously a part of a bargain to solidify the monarchy and she is not happy in her role. She observes David dancing through the streets. Martha and the Vandellas aren’t there yet so there is nobody to sing the right songs about what David is doing. Michal therefore feels empowered to belittle her husband. But God has the last word and Michal is never able to bear children after this incident.

The Ark is installed in a tent. I guarantee that this tent is more elaborate that the one that Nancy and I used to use when we went camping and it had to be bigger than the one I used a few summers ago at the World Scout Jamboree. David feels guilty and complains to the prophet, Nathan. But Nathan tells him not to worry, God is used to living in a tent or a Tabernacle. Nathan reassures David that things will be okay. He promises David that his throne will be established forever.

Today, we learn that the requirements of our religion are specific, and they are of equal importance. We don’t add and we don’t subtract. We just do. If we do this, we can be assured of a bright future. But in order to experience it, we still need to be careful. Remember to follow the rules – social distance, masks in public, get your shots and wash your hands. Stay safe. Shabbat Shalom.

Torah Comments for April 3, 2021

Passover is about to end. This is a huge climax for all of us. We spent months and the first two books of the Torah building up to the seminal moment of our religion. We went through creation, the meaning of human nature, a flood, the nomadic beginnings of our forebears, slavery and freedom, deprivation and elation, rules and backsliding and, finally, the delivery of the Ten Words. In the last few weeks, we have been filling in the outlines of our regular biblical worship.

This Shabbat, we step back to the Exodus. The Tenth Plague has happened, and the pharaoh has finally let the people go. They follow God’s lead in what I used to call my “most direct route” when taking my children and grandchildren for a walk. They don’t go directly to Canaan; instead, they head over to the Sea of Reeds. They bring with them the bones of Joseph as promised, following a pillar of cloud in the day and a pillar of fire at night. God has Moses lead the people to the “trap” at the shore of the Sea of Reeds and warns him that He will be hardening Pharaoh’s heart so He can exact the final measure of punishment on the Egyptians. Sure enough, the pharaoh decides to get the Israelites back. He gets together al his chariots and his army and catches up with his former slaves. Those slaves, not yet understanding the meaning of freedom, start grousing to Moses,

“Was it for want of graves in Egypt that you brought us to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, taking us out of Egypt?”

Forgotten were the travails of slavery, the deprivations, the beatings, the hard labor. Forgotten also was the might of the Lord from the serpent trick with the rod to the Ten Plagues, to the final willingness of their former masters to give them provisions for the journey. But most of all was a veil of forgetfulness of the last plague, where they finally saw that the Lord would protect them from the angel of death.

The Lord urges Moses to lead the people on into the sea and protects their rear. Moses stretches his arm out over the waters and a bridge of land appears. The people follow it to safety. As the Egyptians follow, the waters return, and the army is decimated. Moses and the Israelites then sing the Song of the Sea, which we repeat each Shabbat [next week at the building – I can hardly wait] and Miriam and the women then dance and chant praise to the Lord. Finally, three days on, the Israelites come to Marah where God again demonstrates His power over nature by instructing Moses to make the water drinkable by throwing a piece of wood into it.

The second Torah portion of the day details the burnt offering and the meal offering for Passover and sets aside the seventh day of Passover as a sacred day of rest.

The Haftorah begins shortly after King David has defeated the Philistines and has been rescued from personal danger. He sings a song of praise to the Lord for delivering him from his enemies. He relates how he had found himself in the throes of defeat but called upon the Lord. He poetically describes how the Lord came down and rescued him. David attributes all good things to the Lord –

 

“You, O Lord are my lamp; the Lord lights up my darkness … The way of God is perfect. The word of the Lord is pure. He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him. Yea, who is a god except the Lord, who is a rock except God – the God, my mighty stronghold, Who kept my path secure.”

There is the story of the man who was in danger from a flood. As he watched the floodwaters begin to attack his house, a National Guard truck came by to save him. He said, “I don’t need you; God will save me.” The waters rose and he found it necessary to retreat to the second story of the house. A canoe came by with more National Guardsmen to save him. He said, “I don’t need you; God will save me.” The waters rose further, and he retreated to the roof. A helicopter hovered over him with a winch to pull him up. He said, “I don’t need you; God will save me.” Shortly afterward, the waters rose again, and he drowned. As he approached the pearly gates of Heaven, he came into the presence of the Lord. Angrily, he demanded to know why the Lord hadn’t saved him. The voice of the Lord boomed out, “I sent you a truck; I sent you a canoe; I sent you a helicopter.”

There is a parallel to the main Torah reading and the Haftorah. The two great poems of praise to the Lord – the first for delivering the Israelites from the clutches of the pharaoh and the second for delivering them from potential defeat at the hands of the Philistines teach us that God will save us from death, degradation and destruction. Unlike the man in the story, we can take heart in the development and distribution of vaccines that will protect us from Covid-19 and thank God for our good fortune, as the Israelites did in the past. Stay safe and we will see you next week in our masked, socially distanced first in-person minyan at the Temple.

Torah Comments for for March 27,2021

Hag Sameah! Passover has finally arrived. We’ve been reading about it, preparing for it and now it’s here. This evening is the seder during which we recount the Exodus and celebrate our journey from slavery to freedom which became the foundation for Judaism as we know it. Since Shabbat ends just before Passover begins, this is also Shabat Hagadol – the Great Sabbath.

We continue our study of Torah with a description of the burnt offering. The fat is to be turned into smoke. The ashes are to be removed from the Tabernacle and taken outside of the camp. We are told that the altar must always be burning. This symbolizes the devotion of our people to God – we are to always be attendant upon God. The Torah goes on to describe the meal offering. Part of the flour and oil and all the frankincense are burned. The rest is eaten by the priests as unleavened cakes in the sanctuary.

The Torah goes on to describe the offerings to be given as Aaron is anointed as the High Priest and as his successors are anointed. Then comes the sin offering which is to be eaten in the sanctuary. Next is the guilt offering. It too is eaten by the priests. Both these offerings are considered to be the property of the priest who offers them as are certain meal offerings. They do not have to be shared. Other meal offerings are shared with all priests.

The Torah continues with the offering of well-being which may be for thanksgiving or as a votive or free-will offering.

We now come to some of the details of kashrut. Do not eat anything that touched something that is unclean; do not eat fat from an ox, a sheep or a goat. Do not consume blood. With the details of the sacrifices in hand, we will be able to proceed to discuss the initiation of the priests next week.

Our Haftorah comes from Malachi. The entire Book of Malachi is only three chapters long. This week’s special Haftorah begins with an exhortation to restore the sacrifices of yore. The Lord will punish those who do not fear Him (respect His greatness and omnipotence), sorcerers, adulterers, false swearers, cheaters and those who do not support the widow, orphan and stranger. The Lord points out through Malachi that He has not changed, the Israelites have. The Lord tells us to return to Him and we will then see the return of His blessings for all. As the song says for a somewhat different purpose, “He’s making a list, He’s checking it twice, He’s gonna find out who’s naughty and nice.” And when the Lord does that, evildoers will be burned to ashes and those who are good will lead us to happiness. The Haftorah ends with the promise that the Lord will send Elijah to us to usher in the Day of Judgment. So, Saturday night as we conduct our seders and symbolically welcome Elijah into our presence, we are really asking God to bring His presence to us and, as we demonstrate our readiness to return to Him and His goodly ways, we will usher in a new era of holiness, prosperity and happiness.

Remember, it’s only two weeks until April 10, when we will return to the temple for our first in-person service in just over a year. Stay safe and I look forward to seeing you then.

Torah Comments for March 20, 2021

We are finally out of Exodus and are joining Leviticus. At this point along the way of our religious story, we are no longer dealing with history. Now the time has come to deal with how to run a religion. As it was said in Exodus, “Indeed, all the earth is Mine, but you shall be My kingdom of priests and holy nation.” So, here we go:

We begin with continuity. The Lord calls to Moses from the Tabernacle. Remember, we just finished talking about how the Lord was doing that for the time in the wilderness and here we are. The first of the sacrifices is that of cattle if they are to be a burnt offering. They are to be males only and without blemish. They must be accepted by the priests who slaughter them, prepare them in a specific way and burnt up. Then come sacrifices of sheep or goats. They are similarly chosen, approved and sacrificed. Next come birds – turtledoves or pigeons. We’re done with animal sacrifices. Next, we turn to the meal offering. It is made with choice flour, oiled and scented with frankincense. The priests throw a little bit onto the altar and they get the rest. Alternate meal offerings are discussed; the key is that they are to be unleavened. There must be some salt with each meal offering. The offerings of first fruits are detailed.

The burnt bird and animal sacrifices and meal offerings are the first two types of sacrifices. The third is the sacrifice of well-being. This kind of sacrifice ca be an animal. The fat goes to the Lord. As an emphasis, the Torah tells us, “It is a law for all time throughout the ages, in all your settlements: you must not eat any fat or any blood.”

Finally, we get to expiation. These are the sacrifices we normally think of when we talk about sacrifices, ours, those of the Romans and those of the Greeks. The sacrifice of the priest and that of the community for an unwitting violation of the rules is a bull, the choice parts of which are taken to the ash heap where they are burned. A chieftain’s sacrifice for an unwitting sin is a male goat, a lay person’s is a female goat or a sheep. There is another set of sins, those of people who hear an oath or become unclean or recite an improper oath. The penalty for these is a female goat or sheep. These folks, if they are too poor to afford a goat or a sheep, can substitute two birds. One becomes the sin offering and the other is a burnt offering. If the person can’t afford two birds, flour mixed with oil and frankincense will do. Trespass against the Lord costs one a ram or the financial equivalent plus restitution. For crimes such as robbery, fraud, lying about finding something, require a sacrifice, restitution and a fine of 20% of the value of the thing involved.

Isaiah complains on behalf of the Lord that the people have not honored Him with sacrifices as required. The Lord reminds the people that He has previously punished the backsliders. The Lord challenges the people to explain their failings. He reminds them that it is He who has brought them good times. He utters this famous line, “I am the first and I am the last, and there is no god but Me.” The Lord goes on to exhort the people to worship properly. After all, “The makers of idols all work to no purpose; ad the things they treasure can do no good.” God points out the idols are worthless:

“They have no wit or judgment: their eyes are besmeared, and they see not; their minds, and they cannot think. They do not give thought, they lack the wisdom and judgment…”

The Haftorah concludes with a plea to the people to come back to God who will wipe away their sins. While we no longer support animal sacrifices or meal offerings, we do recognize the merits of prayer and the need to follow the rules that God has laid down. Stay safe until we meet again. We will be trying this, socially distanced, April 10. I hope to see you then.

Torah Comments for March 13, 2021

This is the fourth and final special Shabbat before Passover, Shabbat Hahodesh. Here we are, at the end of Exodus. It’s been a long journey from Creation to the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, from slavery in Egypt to freedom. Soon, the realization of the dream of the land of milk and honey will occur. But wait, you say. How can that be? We have just had the Ten Words and the Golden Calf. It’s only been a year since we left Egypt and there have to be 39 more years. Just wait a bit and I will tell you how that happens.

Finally, the people have the Ten Words. Moses has interceded for them and they are secure in their relationship with God. Now the time has come to build the outward symbol of our religion, the Tabernacle. Moses begins the process by reminding everyone of their obligation to respect creation – the seventh day will be a day of rest, even when building God’s home. A few weeks ago, we heard the plan for the Tabernacle. Now it begins. Moses calls for donations of the construction materials and explains what will happen to them. He asks the craftsmen to volunteer for the work. The Torah tells us that “everyone whose spirit moved him came,” and soon all the materials were ready. The construction began with the weaving of the sides of the Tabernacle. Clasps to secure the cloth sides, planks of wood for the building, support bars, curtains, all were prepared. Bezalel, with the help of Oholiab, built the Ark of acacia wood and overlaid it with gold. He made a table for the holy utensils and a lampstand with six branches. He made the incense altar and the sacrificial altar, the laver for washing before the service of the Lord and the hangings that would surround the Tabernacle.

The Torah lists the amount of each item that went into the construction of the Tabernacle.  It goes on to describe the making of the priestly vestments, all in accordance with the previous instructions.

Everything was completed. Moses inspected the work and blessed the workers. God then instructed Moses on when and how to set up the worship center – the set up for the Tabernacle, placement of the Ark, the altars, the lamp and the table. God then instructs him to anoint the Tabernacle and its accouterments to make them holy. The Tabernacle went up on the first day of the second year of the flight from Egypt. The cloud of the Lord settled on the Tabernacle so Moses could not enter it.

So, here we are with the answer to what happened to the next 39 years. Everything you ever wanted to know about that time is encompassed in the last two sentences of Exodus:

“When the cloud lifted from the Tabernacle, the Israelites would set out, on their various journeys; but if the cloud did not lift, they would not set out until such time as it did lift. For over the Tabernacle, a cloud of the Lord rested by day, and fire would appear in it by night, in the view of all the house of Israel throughout their journeys.”

And so ends the Book of Exodus – Hazak, hazak, venithazzek.

The second Torah reading for this special Shabbat comes from earlier in Exodus. It marks the instructions to Moses and Aaron to prepare for the Exodus by securing the Paschal lamb which will be consumed on the night of the Tenth Plague. The future commemoration of the Exodus is also detailed with the requirement to remove leavening from the homes, conduct the seder and eat matzoh.

There is a special Haftorah for this Shabbat. Ezekiel describes the communal sacrifices and states that they shall be the obligation of the prince of Israel. He describes the preparations for Passover as the Temple is cleansed and the sacrifices are made.

Ezekiel makes it clear that the worship services are to be conducted inside the Temple. The people are to gather before the gate during the service. For some services, the people can come into the Temple by one gate and leave by another, but they do not actually witness the offerings that are made. The priests perform this service for them.

Finally, Ezekiel makes it clear that the king cannot take property from the people for himself or his sons. This does not eliminate the right to tax but does secure people in their holdings.

All three readings tie together to the rituals of Passover. In a few weeks, we too will be able to celebrate at our seders. They may not be in person again this year, but the light is at the end of the tunnel. Stay safe.

Torah Comments for February 27, 2021

This weekend’s portion is a continuation of the first instructions on how to practice our religion. Last week we read the instructions to construct our place of worship. Now we learn how to use what was constructed. A significant point to consider is that the rules come direct from God. The priests do not decide ritual for the people. This means that there should be no dissents from our rituals and, as it says later in the Torah, do not add anything and do not subtract anything.

The priests are assigned the duty of lighting the lamps. The lamps are to be in front of the room in which the Ark is kept and are to be lit from evening until morning. This morphed into the Ner Tamid which we keep lit at all times, not just at night.

God determines who the priests will be. The priesthood is to be hereditary, not voluntary. God determines what the High Priest’s uniform will look like. It begins with the gold, blue, purple and crimson ephod. On the ephod are two stones which represent the twelve tribes of Israel. There is the breastplate of decision which has twelve gemstones, again for the twelve tribes. The Urim and Thummim are placed inside the breastplate to be over the High Priest’s heart. There is a blue robe with a hem of blue, purple and crimson interspersed with gold bells. There is a headdress with a golden frontlet that has inscribed on it, “Holy to the Lord” and a sash. God then goes on to describe the uniform of the ordinary priest and, compared to the High Priest’s uniform, the ordinary priest’s uniform is rather ordinary. No one will mistake one for the other.

Moses is to install the first priests over a period of seven days. The instructions explain the sacrifices and anointing of the priests in detail. Presumably, the ritual sacrifices are similar to those the Israelites had witnessed in Egypt.

Finally, this parasha details the construction of an altar for burning incense during the rituals.

Ezekiel has a vision from the Lord as to what the Temple is to look like. He also sees what the altar is to look like and what the sacrifices are to be.

As we review the beginnings of our rituals, we have the opportunity to continue the rituals of today with our annual congregational meeting this Sunday. We are operating by Zoom so everyone can stay safe. Whether you have received your vaccinations or not, please remain careful and vigilant.

Torah Comments for February 20, 2021

This is Shabbat Zakhor, the Sabbath of Remembrance. Tradition tells us to remember Amalek’s attack on the Israelites soon after they left Egypt. In the second Torah portion, we are commanded to remember the treachery of Amalek. The portion goes on to state:

“… when the Lord your God grants you safety from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a hereditary portion, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!”

The day of forgetfulness has not yet arrived. While Israel has returned to the land, it is not safe from the enemies that surrounds it. Israel returned to the land in the early days of the last century. From that time until now, our brethren have not been safe. From the persecutions and atrocities we faced in Israel at the hands of our Arab neighbors in the early years to the attack by the armies of the Arab nations upon the Declaration of Israeli Independence, to the provocations of the Six Day War and the cowardly attack during the beginning of the Yom Kippur War, the suicide attacks, the intifadas, the constant rocket attacks, BDS and the attempts to delegitimize Israel to the rise of anti-Semitism here and in Europe, Amalek continues to hound us. The story of Amalek in Exodus a few weeks ago marks the beginning of a life of freedom and responsibility for that freedom among our ancestors. They had lived as slaves until they left Egypt. From then until the attack on them by Amalek, they had been under the protection of God. Amalek changed that. They had to go out and defend themselves although with God’s help. The lesson was that they had to do something for themselves to be successful and secure. We must continue to remember so we will be prepared to defend ourselves as long as necessary. We can hope that the day will come when we can follow the command to blot out the memory of Amalek.

We now go to the regular portion of the Torah. This shabbat we deal with the construction of the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was used for the forty years in the wilderness and, presumably, until the First Temple was completed. Its dimensions and the materials used to make it are detailed in the parasha. I love visuals and I love building plans. Moses has gone up to the mountain and has disappeared. We know he will come back because the last line of last week’s parasha tells us that he was there for forty days and forty nights. Now the Torah skips ahead of what we are going to hear when Moses returns and starts the preparations for the establishment of our religious practices. That establishment begins with the place of worship, the Tabernacle, which will be portable since the Israelites will be touring the wilderness for the next forty years. By the way, note the recurrence of the forty time period in our history – forty days and forty nights for the flood, forty days and forty nights for Moses on Mt. Sinai and forty years in the wilderness.

The first principle of the construction is that materials are to be gifts from the people. What do we need? Gold, silver, copper, yarns of blue, purple and crimson, linen, goats’ hair, tanned ram skins, dolphin skins and acacia wood for construction, oil, spices, precious stones for the garments and for the services. The Tabernacle is to be God’s dwelling. Next come the Ark and its cover, the table, the sacred bowls and implements, the lampstand. We have a detailed description of each of the items, but no real idea of what they looked like. There are no photos of the finished products, of course. There are no final drawings or paintings. So, even though there are page after page of descriptions, the only image that exists is the one of the lampstand that had stood at the Holy Temple destroyed by the Romans and that is located on the Arch of Titus in Rome. Even it doesn’t really convey a sense of what it had looked like and certainly not what the lamp of the Tabernacle looked like. Although I brought a golden ark to our temple a few years ago which was built to the size of the Ark described in the Torah, I couldn’t duplicate the Ark cover or the rings at the bottom of it. I didn’t even try the poles.

The Tabernacle is better. There is a specific description of what the inner wooden structure was to look like. We have the dimensions of the structure and the individual planks of wood that made up its sides. We know that the wooden planks were inserted into silver sockets and can actually reconstruct it with some accuracy. We know that the overall length of the Tabernacle was 100 cubits (150 feet) and the width was 50 cubits (75 feet). The Tabernacle was divided into two equal sections – the outer courtyard and the inner courtyard. Within the inner courtyard was the Holy Place [20 cubits (30 feet) by 10 cubits (15 feet)] and the Holy of Holies [10 cubits (15 feet) by 10 cubits (15 feet)]. Once we have completed the wooden structure, we can move on to the coverings. Here is where we have a great deal of detail, but again, not enough to duplicate the coverings. We know that there was to be a curtain of blue, purple and crimson with cherubim on it that was to be the partition between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. There was to be a screen of linen, again in blue, purple and crimson that was embroidered to be 20 cubits (30 feet) wide at the entrance to the Tabernacle. There were to be linen curtains hung around the perimeter of the Tabernacle.

Over the next few weeks there will be more instruction on the trappings of our early religion.

The Haftorah is connected to our special Zahor reading with its beginning passage, the direction of Samuel to King Saul:

“I am exacting the penalty for what Amalek did to Israel, for the assault he made upon them on the road, on their way up from Egypt. Now go, attack Amalek, and proscribe all that belongs to him. Spare no one, but kill alike men and women, infants and sucklings, oxen and sheep, cattle and asses.”

This is the famous story of Saul’s downfall. He immediately mustered an army of 210,000 and waged war against the Amalekites. Of course, he disobeyed the rules of engagement but sparing King Agag, the best livestock and the valuables of the people. Saul reported back to Samuel that he had obeyed the Lord’s command, at which point Samuel asked him “is this the bleating of sheep in my ears and the lowing of oxen I hear?” Saul tried to recover his faux pas by claiming that he had saved he livestock to sacrifice to the Lord, but it was too late to save himself. Samuel told the king that he was rejected by the Lord and would be replaced. Saul tried to beg forgiveness, but it was no longer possible. Samuel executed Agag and left Saul’s presence to find a successor.

We learn this week to take responsibility for our own safety and success while following the dictates of the Lord. If we do this, we will continue to succeed. Stay safe.

Torah Comments for February 13, 2021

We’re getting ready for Pesach already. This Shabbat is Shabbat Shekalim. The special Shabbat recounts the obligation of every Israelite man to contribute half a shekel annually to the Temple. The funds were used to maintain the sanctuary and to provide a census of the number of men. In Biblical times, the half shekel was collected during the month of Adar and here we are. Today, it is appropriate to donate mahatsit hasekel, or three half-shekels, (today, that’s about $1.50) to a Jewish institution or another charitable fund. Please consider a donation. Consider planting a tree in Israel to carry on this tradition. You can do so by going to jnf.com and finding the link for “Plant a Tree in Israel.” I know that my family has a grove there.

This Shabbat is special in another way. There are three Torahs in use. That only happens a few times a year. This is one time; another is Chanukah. This week, one Torah is for the regular Shabbat; one is for Rosh Hodesh and one is for Shabbat Sekalim. Two of our Torahs are pretty heavy. I miss setting them up and figuring out how we were going to carry them, lift them and use them during the service.

This week’s parasha, Mishpatim, true to its name, contains a series of judicial rules. The first set of rules relates to slavery. Slaves could only serve for six years. Then they were to be set free. If they came into the arrangement married, they would leave with married. If they came in single and were given a spouse, they would leave alone. The children produced during the slavery would belong to the master. At least this practice was better in several respects than slavery in our South. The master couldn’t separate a married couple by “selling one party down the river” or to another slave owner. Also, the slavery would end in a reasonable period of time. Slaves who wished to remain permanently enslaved were entitled to make that choice at the end of the seven years of slavery.

There were special ules for women who became slaves. They were treated almost as if they were wives. They were to be fed and clothed and were entitled to have conjugal rights. A master who failed in these regards lost the slave.

Capital punishment was also defined. Murder, kidnapping, striking or insulting a parent and killing a slave were all punishable by death.

We then come to two of the most significant passages to me in this parasha. The first:

“When men fight, and one of them pushes a pregnant woman and a miscarriage results, but no other damage ensues, the one responsible shall be fined according as the woman’s husband may exact from him…”

There is discussion about this rule which indicates that the situation was not uniquely considered in the Torah. Sumerian law, the Hammurabi code, Hittite law and Middle Assyrian Law were all similar in nature. In each case, monetary compensation was ordered. Why is this significant today? This is the closest that the Torah comes to discussing abortion. Clearly, it does not consider the termination of a pregnancy to be the equivalent of murder. This is a major contradiction to Evangelical Christian doctrine. Nowhere else in our texts or theirs is there a reference to penalties for the termination of a fetus. Thus, abortion does not constitute a sin. If anything, it becomes a civil wrong to the parents.

“But if other damage ensues, the penalty shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.

This provision has often been cited as justification for capital punishment. The “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” mantra is famous in Westerns just before the lynching. It was used by the Romans as an excuse to kill rabbis martyred2,000 years ago. It appears that this rule, the lex talionis, was really developed to limit punishment. Prior to the Hammurabi codes, the punishment could be by extracting a fine from the offender, but all assaults were considered family members, to be resolved by retaliation.

This Biblical code made assault and battery a crime. It limited punishment but the rabbis also saw in it a grant of authority to exact fines for anything short of murder. They opined that the existence of a person was an equivalency but eyes, limbs, etc. were different for everyone, so the actual punishments were to be based on the significance to the victim of the harm inflicted short of death.

More rules provided for penalties for mistreating slaves -emancipation – and for vicious beasts and their owners. One would become liable for negligently digging a pit that someone fell into, for a person’s animal injuring another’s animal. Penalties were imposed for theft, differing in kind based on the type of theft. Penalties existed for grazing on someone else’s land and starting a fire that spread.

The theory of bailments was laid out. In certain circumstances, a person became liable for damages if he held the property of another and it was damaged or stolen. This law has been fleshed out and is an important segment of civil law to this day.

Men who seduced virgins had to marry them and pay the normal bride-price. There could be no sorcery or sacrifices to other gods. The Torah made a major point in requiring that we treat widow, orphans and strangers properly.

Now comes another famous set of rules. Jews had an obligation to treat fellow Jews, including the poor, with respect and compassion. Lenders could not take interest. If one took a garment as a pledge, it had to be returned at night. We saw the consequences of the interest prohibition when we were last in Europe. We visited several cities in which Jews had flourished for hundreds of years. In one city square, the former synagogue’s outline was preserved in a series of concrete benches where people could sit and talk or just enjoy the outdoors. What had happened? During the 500 years that the Jews had lived there, the only occupation that the authorities permitted was money-lending. When the Christians owed them too much, they conducted a pogrom, killed the Jews and destroyed their place of worship.

The parasha goes on to spell out duties to God. Don’t revile God; don’t put a curse on your leaders. Don’t delay the harvest of the first fruits which is due to God. Dedicate the first born to God, sons and animals. Be holy; eat proper food.

Then come the judicial rules – no false rumors, no false testimony. Justice is to ignore people’s financial possession. Do not take bribes; treat your enemy and the stranger with respect. Rules for agriculture – use your fields for six years and then let them have a year of rest. In the same vein, work for six days and have your servants work for six days, but rest on the seventh.

The three annual festivals are detailed – Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot. The foundation of kashrut – “You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.”

The prediction is made that God’s angel will come to the people and will lead them against their enemies for the time it takes to conquer the Promised Land. In return for strict compliance with the Word of God, the future Israel will encompass the land from the Mediterranean Sea to the Gulf of Akaba and from the desert to the Euphrates. This appears to be the geographic area of Canaan which had been a province of Egypt. It was never the full extent of Israel but the Biblical boundaries of Israel did extend for a significant distance across the Jordan River as well as north through the Golan.

The portion concludes with details of the receipt of the Ten Words. Moses leads Aaron, his two sons and seventy elders to the front. He writes down the rules and prepares an altar. Sacrifices are made; Moses reads the rules to the people and they all agree to commit to them. Moses goes up to the mountain and disappears into a cloud where he stays for forty days and forty nights, receiving the Ten Words on two tablets of stone during the time.

The sacrifices for Rosh Hodesh are recited from the second Torah and from the third we recite the rules for the census and the establishment of the requirement of the half shekel to support the Tabernacle at the time and the later Temple.

The Haftorah begins with the priest Jehoiada who renewed the covenant between God and the Israelites. He led the people to the temple of Baal where they smashed the idols after which he placed guards at the Temple and then escorted the king into the royal palace, placing him on the throne.

The Haftorah goes on to the reign of King Jehoash, who became king at the age of seven. Jehoash ordered the priests to use all the funds donated to the Temple for its upkeep. At the age of thirty, he discovered that this was not happening. Jehoash instituted joint control of the donations. A locked chest was placed In the Temple for donations. It could only be opened jointly by a priest and a representative of the king. An accounting was kept, and the funds were paid directly to the workers and suppliers.

It is fitting to have a Shabbat devoted to the maintenance of our religion. This gives us an opportunity to focus on the need we have to maintain our religious traditions and to support the practical side of our religion – our infrastructure – the buildings we use, our clergy and our supplies, the Torahs, the books, the furnishings. We all know what will happen soon as Moses is inside the cloud on the mountain and will remain there for forty days and forty nights. No, not another flood, the Golden Calf. We must exhibit patience. We know Moses will come back with a precious gift from God and we know that the pandemic will end. Have patience and stay safe.

Torah Comments for January 23, 2021

It seems hard to believe that, after all that happened last week, the Israelites are still slaves. Seven plagues have pretty much devastated Egypt and have brought shame and discomfort to the Pharaoh and his court. Yet, with all that, nothing has changed in Egypt to paraphrase a line from The Sound of Music. God explains His reasoning to Moses:

“For I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his courtiers, in order that I may display these My signs among them, and that you may recount in the hearing of your sons and of your sons’ sons how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and how I displayed my signs among them – in order that you may know that I am the Lord.”

God recognizes that the Israelites have been raised as slaves and have a slave mentality. They need to totally change their way of thinking and to learn that they will now take responsibility for their own future. They also have to be educated to realize that God exists and is supreme. The other objective is to show not only the Egyptians, but also the entire world, that the Israelites are special and that God is all powerful.

So, off go Moses and Aaron to the pharaoh, knowing that the eighth plague isn’t going to be the last. Moses warns Pharaoh that locusts are coming and will destroy all the crops that remain. This is a good place to remember that our ancestors came to Egypt in the midst of a famine. Now they are going to leave in the midst of another famine. The first one appears to have been part of a natural cycle of feast and famine; this famine is punishment for the cruelty the Egyptians imposed on the descendants of their previous savior, Joseph. Ultimately, the people will leave and take Joseph’s bones with them as a symbolic closing of a chapter in our history. Joseph came to Egypt as a slave and became a hero. The Israelites were made into slaves and now leave as free people, taking Egypt’s hero with them. Moses had offered Pharaoh the possibility that the people would go to the desert to worship God and then return. Pharaoh’s refusal to permit this led to the permanent departure of the people.

Moses tells Pharaoh that the plague is coming if the people are not permitted to leave to worship God and walks out. Pharaoh’s courtiers seem to have learned from the last seven plagues; they saw the results of each refusal to let the people go. They tell Pharaoh to let the people go worship and Pharaoh agrees, summoning Moses and Aaron to tell them the good news. However, they can’t agree on the details and Pharaoh insists that the children remain behind to ensure that their parents will return. Guess what? On come the locusts, away go the crops. “Whoops,” says Pharaoh to Moses. He doesn’t promise to let the people go in the story but that is implied by the fact that after Moses intercedes with God for him at his request, the Torah says,

“But the Lord stiffened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.”

It’s back to the drawing board for the ninth plague. This time, Moses doesn’t warn Pharaoh in advance. At God’s direction, Moses holds out his arm and brings darkness on all of Egypt for three days, all of Egypt that is except for the Israelite homes. Pharaoh now tells Moses he can go and take everyone with him, but he has to leave the livestock. “Not good enough any more,” Moses replies. “Now I want to take all the people, all the livestock and, as an added bonus, you, Pharaoh, are going to provide us with the sacrifices we need to make to God.”

Last week, I told you how I love to envision what is happening. Right now, I envision myself standing in the background at Pharaoh’s palace. There is Pharaoh up on his throne of gold, surrounded by all his advisors, elegantly dressed, living in the lap of whatever luxury remains in Egypt. And there is Moses standing before him proudly with Aaron at his side. No one has ever dared to confront Pharaoh like this, but Moses does it. He is finally his own man, comfortable with himself and totally in control. But Pharaoh still doesn’t get it. He tells Moses to get out and not come back or he will die. Moses responds calmly in the face of this threat which would have rendered almost anyone else quacking in his sandals, “You have spoken rightly. I shall not see your face again!”

Moses gets his instructions for the final plague from God. He instructs the Israelites to get ready to leave. They are to go to their Egyptian neighbors and “borrow” their gold and silver. These items will later form the holy objects that are fashioned in the wilderness but also the unholy Golden Calf. Here is a contradictory passage in the Torah which is often remarked on. Moses was in front of Pharaoh and told to get out. Pharaoh promises that Moses will be a dead man if he sees him again. In the next paragraph, God tells Moses what is coming, and Moses presumably instructs the people on what to do. Obviously, he has to have left the Pharaoh’s presence to do this. Yet in the next paragraph, Moses is again talking to Pharaoh. Since neither of them had a cell phone, they had to be back together again. Moses tells Pharaoh that the final plague is coming and every first-born child and the first born of the livestock will die. He then leaves Pharaoh. Now, how could that have happened without Pharaoh killing Moses as he had promised?

We leave this unsatisfactory contradiction. Timing is now significant. God tells Moses that this is a new month. He says that in ten days it will be time for each household to obtain an unblemished sheep or a goat, one for each home or group of homes. The people are to watch the sheep or goat for four days. Then, all the animals are to be slaughtered at twilight. The Israelites are to smear some of the animal’s blood on the doorposts of the home where the animal is to be eaten, take it into the home, roast it and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. There are to be no leftovers. Moses is to give this instruction and to tell the people that they are to remember the Passover to come as an annual festival for all time.

That’s all for today. The plague is coming next week. Don’t forget to smear blood on the doorposts of your house next Friday evening, symbolically of course, and prepare for that Passover meal. Next week it will be travel time.

The Haftorah that accompanies the Torah part for this week is symbiotic. Jeremiah is repeating the word of the Lord. He tells of the coming of Nebuchadrezzar, leading the troops of Babylon into Egypt. “Their day of disaster is upon them, the hour of their doom.” Although the Lord promises to have Babylon destroy Egypt, He will return Israel from the Babylonian Captivity:

“But you, have no fear, My servant Jacob, declares the Lord, for I am with you.”

The plagues are coming to an end. The moral of the story is that wrongdoers will eventually be punished for their misdeeds. All will be in proportion to the offenses they have committed. Eventually, those who adhere to the laws set by God will eventually be rewarded. Stay safe; the vaccine is coming.

Torah Comments for January 16, 2020

I just love imagery. I love to put myself into the picture and try to imagine just what something historical must have been like. What if I had been an invisible observer, especially if I could have brought my digital camera with me and been able to record the events I was watching as they unfolded. This week’s parasha is a perfect one for visual images. That’s why it’s one of my favorites. It even starts out right: “You shall soon see what I will do to Pharaoh…” says God. And that’s what is about to happen. Plague week – let’s get to it.

Moses has just come from being snubbed by the Israelites that he has come to save. He is obviously discouraged and God pumps him up with His statement – just hang in there and things will work out fine, Moses. God tells Moses that He is the God of the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but that they did not experience His true greatness. That’s over. Moses is to go back to the people and tell them that they are to be free and are to be delivered to the land of Canaan. Of course, the Israelites are slaves. They have been for years and are just not ready to accept the concept of freedom and the obligation to make their own decisions in life so they reject Moses. God doesn’t let Moses quit. Instead Moses gets the order to confront Pharaoh again and get the show on the road. This is stage one of the liberation process. You can just see the people rejecting Moses as he promises something that they cannot comprehend because of their bondage. So now we’re getting ready for the big show. Before it starts though, the Torah has to end the chapter. Typically, this happens by setting forth a genealogy and that happens now. We get a whole history from the sons of Jacob down to Moses and Aaron. This serves both as the transition from one part of the story to another and also as validation of the authority of the two brothers who are about to lead one of the most momentous occurrences in our people’s history.

God tells Moses that his relationship to Pharaoh, the most powerful ruler on earth, is about to literally become what the relationship was factually between Joseph and the Pharaoh who knew him. While that Pharaoh remained the titular ruler and held the theoretical power of life and death over Joseph, in fact Joseph had the real power, secular as it was. He exercised that power to save Egypt and his family from the famine. Now, Moses is going to not only demonstrate his superiority over Pharaoh, he is going to do so through the power of God. He is thus about to take things to a higher level than Joseph did. God tells Moses what is going to happen. He tells Moses that when he goes to Pharaoh, God is going to make sure that Pharaoh doesn’t give in to the demand to free the Israelites until God has demonstrated His power to all Egypt and punished the Egyptians for what they have done to the people over several centuries.

It’s helpful to remember these scenes from The Ten Commandments as they play themselves out. Moses and Aaron start out with that serpent trick. Just watch in your mind as Aaron tosses the staff onto the floor of the palace and it becomes a snake. Watch Pharaoh summon his magicians to do the same thing and then see their snakes swallowed up by Aaron’s staff. It’s the next day and Pharaoh is there at the Nile to bless the water. Again, God tells Moses what he and Aaron are to do. Moses goes to Pharaoh. You can just see the reactions of Pharaoh and his priests. First, they are shocked to see this troublemaker again. Then, they see for only the second time in their lives, someone defying their living god, the Pharaoh. Moses tells Pharaoh what is going to happen. Then he has Aaron strike the water with the staff and all the water turns to blood. The fish die immediately. Of course, Pharaoh’s magicians can duplicate this one too, so Pharaoh ignores Moses.

A week goes by. The Egyptians make do. God tells Moses that it’s time for the frogs. He warns Pharaoh that they’re coming if the Israelites are not freed, obviously to no avail. Moses tells Aaron to do use the rod again and the frogs overrun Egypt. This time, after only two plagues, Pharaoh calls Moses and tells him to get God to get rid of the frogs. At least by this point, Pharaoh concedes that there is another god out there besides his own. Pharaoh now promises that he will let the Israelites go to worship God, so Moses asks God to get rid of the frogs. He does and guess what? Pharaoh changes his mind. Well, why not? After all, Pharaoh is a god too and has his own gods to help him.

It’s time for Plague Three – vermin. This one comes with no warning. This time, the magicians cannot duplicate the plague. This doesn’t solve the freedom problem. God sends Moses off to Pharaoh again and tells him to warn Pharaoh that the next plague will be insects if the people are not freed. On come the insects, everywhere except where the Israelites are. Pharaoh seems to get this message. He calls Moses and Aaron and tells them they can take the people out in public to sacrifice to God. Moses insists that they be allowed to go three days’ journey into the wilderness to do it. Pharaoh agrees and Moses asks God to get rid of the insects. Voila! No more insects. Voila! Pharaoh changes his mind again.

Time for the next plague. Moses warns Pharaoh that this one is going to strike all the Egyptian livestock with pestilence but none of the Israelite livestock. The plague comes; the livestock die; the Pharaoh remains stubborn and the people are stuck. It’s time for another punishment plague. Pharaoh needs to be punished for not listening. This time, it takes two to deliver. Moses and Aaron both take soot from the kiln and throw it into the air. Dust flies throughout Egypt and the Egyptians and their beasts are struck with an infestation of boils. Even the magicians are stricken with boils. Pharaoh is still not ready to capitulate. So far, the plagues have not personally hit the Pharaoh and his family. That is about to change. Moses warns Pharaoh that hail is coming and tells him that they need to take shelter. Finally, a split occurs among the Egyptians. Some of them believe in God’s power and they take shelter. The others don’t. The hail comes and destroys the grasses and trees and everyone who is outside.

Pharaoh summons Moses and Aaron again and tells them that he gives up. He promises to let them go. Again, as soon as the plague stops, Pharaoh changes his mind and insists that the Israelites cannot go. Stay tuned for next week’s thrilling conclusion and try to keep the images of what happened this week in your mind until then.

 

Now comes the Haftorah – Ezekiel. Just as in the story of the plagues, the Lord tells Ezekiel that He is going to gather the people together in our holy land. The Lord will punish the people who dispersed the House of Israel and our people will live in peace and security. We have a reprise of the instructions to Moses. The Lord says, “The Nile is mine, and I made it.” God will disperse the Egyptians for a period of forty years after which they will be restored to Egypt but in a backwater country.

There are great moral truths here – despotism and the imposition of slavery will be punished and the victims shall be restored to their rightful places. For us, stay safe. The vaccine is coming.

Torah Comments for January 9, 2021

Welcome to a new year and a new book of the Torah and a new fate for our ancestors. The story begins with the 70 people that joined Joseph in Egypt. Here are the two key sentences that give rise to all that is to come:

But the Israelites were fertile and prolific; they multiplied and increased very greatly, so that the land was filled with them.

A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph.

These two things, taken together, and one more, sealed the fate of the Israelites. We recall that Joseph predicted seven years of plenty which would be followed by seven years of distress. The 70 Israelites arrived in Egypt near the beginning of the seven years of distress. Their stated purpose was to ride out the problem, which they did. Then, instead of returning to Canaan, they remained. And why not? They had it all – good land, their flocks increased, they had the good graces of their brother, Joseph, and of the Pharaoh. What more could they want? But this third factor, their decision to remain in Egypt, combined with their increase in numbers and the opportunism of a new pharaoh. Their protected status suddenly disappeared and they became imperiled. The hitherto comfortable people found themselves reviled and slaves. This should sound familiar to us. It has happened time and time again throughout history. A few examples – the Babylonian Captivity, the Roman dispersion, pogroms in Europe, the Inquisition, the Holocaust. No matter how secure our people felt in each situation, safety and prosperity was fleeting and led to disaster. The same has been happening in the last few years in European countries – French Jews no longer feel safe, UK Jews are experiencing more and more instances of intolerance, don’t even think about Poland. And what of the United States? Again, we are experiencing increasing instances of anti-Semitism which in some cases has escalated into murder. Hopefully, the presence of the state of Israel is helping to preserve our places in American society.

Back to the story. Historians have opined that the enslavement of the Israelites took place around the reign of Ramses II. They didn’t just get this idea from Otto Preminger in The Ten Commandments. At the time of Ramses II, Egypt was experiencing major challenges from the Hyksos hordes. The Hyksos had infiltrated into Egypt. They may have introduced horses into their art of warfare and were certainly a ferocious group to deal with. At the same time, the large Israelite presence in the same general area that the Hyksos were near would have caused a great deal of concern to Egypt’s rulers. To protect the country from the possibility that the Israelites would provide invaders with a huge advantage, the pharaohs were able to protect against the danger by enslaving them. As a bonus, this gave the pharaohs a cheap labor force to construct fortresses to protect the country from potential invaders.

The pharaohs didn’t appreciate the benefits of an increasingly large labor force of Israelites, so they decided to kill it off by having the Hebrew midwives kill all Hebrew male babies. Of course, the midwives weren’t about to follow this order, so they staged the first recorded instance of civil disobedience. When that happened, the pharaoh ordered the Egyptians to take over the job. Apparently, they met with some success as witnessed by the seminal story that comes next.

MOSES!! The time has come for the focus of the entire Torah to change. From hereon out, one of the most frequently found words in the Torah is “MOSES!” As we try to find our place each week during the triennial cycle, we often look for that phrase, “And the Lord spoke to Moses.” Then we can compare it to the next few sentences and we are ready to read the next week’s parasha. So here we are. Moses is born; his other keeps the baby for three months and then sticks him into a basket, places it in the reeds in the Nile River and sets Moses’ big sister, Miriam, to watch what happens. Pharaoh’s daughter finds him and takes pity on him even though she knows he is an Israelite. Miriam appears. She has access to the Pharaoh’s daughter, something that is rather surprising, considering her royal status and that Miriam is a Hebrew but that’s the story. Pharaoh’s daughter places a lot of faith in Miriam, again a surprise, and lets Miriam and her mother scam the royal household into paying Moses’ own mother to raise him for her.

The Moses birth story is one that can be found throughout history. Oedipus is given to a shepherd to be killed but the shepherd hands him off to ultimately be raised by a king. Hercules is abandoned but found by Athena who gives him to another and he is ultimately raised by his mother. Romulus and Remus are to be drowned but are only abandoned, are raised by wolves and found Rome. Sargon of Mesopotamia gets the same story as Moses and becomes a king. The story of Cyrus of Persia also closely resembles this one. There are, of course, differences in each case but Moses, the only commoner of the bunch, goes on to found a religion and to lead his people to freedom.

Moses grows up and moves to the palace. He gets an education, good food and status, even though he is an Israelite. Moses, at least, knows that he is an Israelite. Others at the court, if not everyone know it as well. Moses now does three things that show character; the first two happen in Egypt – He sees the Egyptian beating a Hebrew and kills him. He tries to prevent two Israelites from fighting. Moses then leaves town in a hurry to avoid being killed by the pharaoh and goes off to Midian. The Torah version is less entertaining than the movie version where Moses is exiled and has to make his way through the desert to get there, but the result is the same. He shows up at a well, just like in the stories of the Patriarchs. Moses defends the daughters of the priest, Reuel, from the shepherds and waters their flock. Moses stays with them and marries one of the daughters, Zipporah. He has Gershom.

Pharaoh dies and his son takes over. Things don’t get any better so God finally decides that the time has come to take care of the problem. The Midian postal system is even worse than the U.S. Postal Service so God can’t send Moses a summons to appear before Him. Instead, he uses the burning bush. Moses sees it and knows there is something special happening. When God calls him, Moses answers with a rousing Hinini, “here I am,” and gets his first opportunity for a conversation. God tells Moses that he is going to Pharaoh to save the people. Moses, being a modest person, tells God that He’s got the wrong guy but of course God won’t take no for an answer. He promises to go with Moses. He gives him specific instructions on how to go about his task and tells Moses what will ultimately happen.

Moses must have had a connection to a forerunner of Missouri because he asks God to show him. God teaches Moses the rod into snake and back trick as a way to convince the Israelites to follow him. Then, he tells him to put his hand on his chest and withdraw it. Moses does so and finds his hand covered by scales. At God’s direction, he repeats the maneuver ad his hand is normal again. God tells him that trick will certainly convince the people. But, if that doesn’t work, God tells him to do the water into blood trick. Moses keeps objecting; God gets mad at him but agrees to let Aaron, the older brother that no one knows he has until now, go with him and do the talking for him.

We have two Haftorahs to choose from. Our Ashkenazi one is from Isaiah. He says that the descendants of Jacob will take root, grow and prosper. All they have to do is build altars to God. The great ram’s horn will blow and the people will return to Jerusalem. Isaiah says that the people are muddled by liquor, implying the need to sober up and listen if they are to prosper. Then they will heed the word of God and will be saved.

Jeremiah begins with a Moses-like encounter with God, where Jeremiah says “I am still a boy,” to try to get out of being a prophet. God puts His words into Jeremiah’s mouth to enable him to go to the people and persevere in his message. He sends Jeremiah off to spread the word and save the people.

The parallels between the Jeremiah story and the Moses story of the assignment to save the people is obvious. God sends both of these reluctant prophets off to save the people. Moses brings the Israelites out of Egypt. Jeremiah sees to it that they will return from Babylon to Jerusalem. The message is clear from all three sources – don’t be shy and don’t be afraid to speak out what is right. Stay safe.

Torah Comments for January 2, 2021

This Shabbat’s Torah portion marks the end of the Book of Genesis. As Genesis ends and Exodus begins, 2020 ends and 2021 begins. We can hope for a more positive experience in the year to come than in the one that has just ended.

The ending in Genesis begins with the death of Jacob. He was 130 when he entered Egypt and 147 when he died so he had 17 years of family life. Jacob insisted that he be buried in the cave of Machpelah with his parents and grandparents. After agreeing, Joseph took his sons to their grandfather where Jacob adopted them, this elevating their status to be equivalent to Joseph’s brothers. Their descendants would take Joseph’s place in receiving the inheritance of a portion of the Promised Land.

Just as what happened with Jacob and Esau, Jacob blessed the younger brother first, this time knowingly, and stated that Ephraim would be greater than Manasseh. As he delivers this blessing, he granted Joseph an extra share of his inheritance, one share for each of his two grandsons.

Jacob, now on his deathbed, called his sons to him. He spoke to them and predicted their futures. He castigated Reuben, the first-born, for sleeping with his concubine and Simeon and Levi for their actions in Shechem when they attacked the inhabitants over the rape of Dinah. He praised Judah as the future leader he would become. He predicts that Zebulun will reside by the sea ahead of Issachar, the elder, who would be a shepherd. Dan was born to a concubine, so he had status over the others not born to Jacob’s wives and his future seems to be predicted to be precarious. Gad, to be on the East side of the Jordan, would be a raider and to be raided by outsiders. Asher would become prosperous, Naphtali fruitful. Joseph, in the stead of his children, has special status among the tribes and has the greatest blessings of all. Finally, Benjamin is called a ravenous wolf. Jacob’s words have been characterized as his final blessing; they are certainly his final words, some for each male child and some are positive, some negative. The words are the predictions of the future for each of our twelve tribes. Jacob tells his sons to take his body back home and dies.

Joseph weeps at the death of his father. He takes precedence over his brothers in that regard as he foretold in his interpretation of his first dreams. He had Jacob embalmed in the Egyptian tradition. The whole of Jacob’s family, together with the officers of Pharaoh’s court and a military escort, return Jacob’s body to Machpelah where they bury him next to the other patriarchs.  At this point, Joseph’s brothers decide they have to make sure that they are safe from retaliation from him, but Joseph promises them that he will take care of them.

Joseph lived to the age of 110 after which he was embalmed as his father had been. This is important for the scenes from The Ten Commandments when the Israelites carry his coffin with them during the Exodus. And that is the end of our first book. Hazak, Hazak, Venithazak.

The Haftorah parallels the stories of the deaths of Jacob and Joseph with the story of the death of King David. On his deathbed, David only brought his son, Solomon, to him and not the others. He instructed Solomon to follow the teachings of God as related by Moses and promises that if Solomon’s descendants also do so, they shall reign for all time. Then he goes and spoils it all by instructing him to take revenge on Joab and Shimei. David dies and is buried in his city which is located close to the Old City of Jerusalem.

In these readings, we experience endings, those of Jacob, Joseph and David, and beginnings, those of the Israelites in Egypt and Solomon in Jerusalem. We learn that righteousness will be rewarded, and less appropriate conduct will be punished. As we await the opportunity to receive our vaccines and embark on new beginnings, we need to continue to be careful and prepare for a better future. Stay safe.

Torah Comments for December 26, 2020

We witness both a high and a low point in the relationship of Jacob’s sons. Judah has a audience with the Pharaoh’s vizier. He begs for Benjamin’s freedom, telling the vizier that if they don’t bring Benjamin back home, their father, Jacob, will die. He offers himself as a substitute for his youngest brother. Joseph is impressed with the family loyalty that he has now witnessed among his brothers and he reveals his true identity to them. He tells them not to worry about revenge; he tells them that their action, selling him into slavery, was part of God’s plan to save lives.

Joseph tells his brothers that the famine is going to last another five years. He tells them to go back home, get the rest of the family and bring them to Egypt to dwell in Goshen. It appears that Goshen was in northeastern Egypt and was a fertile place. The story continues – Pharaoh is told that the visitors are Joseph’s brothers. He confirms Joseph’s invitation and directs that wagons be sent to help bring the rest of the family to Egypt to live.

Israel, after some convincing, realizes that Joseph is still alive. He sets out and comes to Beersheba on the way. He stops there, apparently reluctant to go on. That night he has a dream and God tells him to go on to Egypt. God tells him that He will go with him. Off they go and they reach Egypt. The story now pauses to list the names of the people who arrive with him. As tradition has it, there are 70 people who come. Joseph comes to meet Jacob and the rest of the family in Goshen. He instructs the family to tell Pharaoh when they meet him that they are shepherds. He warns them that this is the way to make sure they are able to settle in Goshen. The first little inkling of future problems arises when he tells them that Egyptians abhor shepherds.

Pharaoh is very hospitable and agrees to settle the family in Goshen. He even offers to let them take care of the royal livestock. It’s a good thing now because it means that those family members will be royal officers with good standing. However, is this a foreshadowing of the future when they will be required to take care of everything for a future Pharaoh?  Pharaoh meets Jacob who is then 130.

The Torah tells us that the famine has extended across the entire world, but especially in Egypt and Canaan. Joseph first sells food until the people have no more money. Then he buys out all the livestock in the land. Next, he takes all the land of the people for food. Joseph moved the people of Egypt from one end of the country to the other in order to totally sever them from their former land. Finally, he made all the Egyptians into serfs, supplying seed for a tax of 20%. In the meantime, the family of Jacob increased greatly, another foreshadowing of future doom.

Ezekiel takes over. Ezekiel was active between 593 BCE and 573 BCE. He had several famous visions. In this selection, Ezekiel relates that the Lord instructed him to take two sticks – one for Judah and the Israelites related to him and one for Ephraim and the Israelites associated with him. Ezekiel joins the sticks together and proclaims that the Jewish people will return to the land of Israel where they will be a single nation and never again be divided in two. God will cleanse the people, they will live under one king and follow God’s rules and laws.

We travel from the homeland that God has promised to the Patriarchs to Egypt in the Torah. After 420 years, we travel back to the land and set up a country which later splits in two. Following that, both kingdoms are conquered, and the people are again scattered to the four winds. But Ezekiel brings a message of hope for a united and prosperous future. Today, our people are home again after 2000 years in a single, united country which welcomes Jews from all over the world. It seems that Ezekiel’s prophecy may now have come to pass.

Stay safe until we can meet again in person.

Torah Comments for December 12, 2020

Happy Chanukah. This is a special day in our liturgy and in our history and we observe it with two Torahs and a special Haftorah. Chanukah reminds us of the dual importance of history and spirituality and the fact that, in our religious tradition, they are joined together. The origin of the holiday is in faith toward God and our worship requirements. The revolt against the Syrian Greeks was triggered by an attempt to prohibit Jews from following our religion. Rooted in the promises God made to our Patriarchs in the stories just concluded, God protected the pious Jews who refused to give in. They demonstrated that they understood the need for people to take action to preserve their heritage and God, in turn, protected them in the revolt. Success was achieved through their efforts because of divine support. Then came the spiritual dilemma. Do we kindle the light in the Temple or wait seven days until we knew that there would be oil coming before the supply on hand ran out or wait eight days until it was actually in hand. The choice was to take action, light the light and trust that God would help. The choice proved to be the correct one, the lights burned for the eight days until new oil arrived and from then until now, we have celebrated the intersection of God, our worship traditions, and our own efforts with the traditional lighting of the Chanukah lights. As many have said recently, in this dark time the lights of the Chanukiah provide a symbol of hope that the ravages of the pandemic will soon end.

But now to the Torah for this date. The Patriarchs are, as I have indicated, basically done and it is time to set the prologue for the real development of Judaism. Joseph is at the center of this story and we continue it through to the end of Genesis. The story of Jacob is unique in that it does not refer to the presence of God at all. This is a secular story of the life of a young man and his family which could have been written by a modern novelist or biographer. While there is a sense of something special about Joseph, there are no sessions with God, no miracles. We see the family dynamic in the same way that we experience our own family dynamics.

Seventeen year-old Joseph is Jacob’s favorite and they both show it. Jacob gives Joseph the “technicolored dream coat” celebrated on Broadway and in the movies. The other brothers are naturally jealous and Joseph compounds the problem by telling them that in his dreams he learned that they would all ultimately be bowing to him and doing his bidding. Guess what? The others got even more upset and decided, just like jealous brothers throughout all history (beginning with Cain and later at least for a time including Esau), that they would get rid of this spoiled brat. Initially, the brothers were pasturing the sheep at Shechem where    they had just killed all the men over Dinah’s defilement, but they moved on to Dothan.

Reuben, the oldest, the one who slept with Jacob’s concubine, decides to assert his authority as the eldest and saves Joseph’s life by convincing his brothers not to take that extreme measure. He then goes off for a bit. The brothers throw Joseph into a dry water reservoir and Judah later steps in to sell his brother to some Midianites in a passing caravan for twenty pieces of silver (Christian tradition one-ups this sale when Judas sells out Jesus for thirty pieces of silver but maybe that was inflation).  This is another example of sibling rivalry which foreshadows a later conflict where Judah becomes the more powerful brother, supplanting Reuben. Watch for details when Benjamin’s safety is called into question. The remaining brothers invent a story that Joseph was killed by a wild animal, create proof by staining his dream coat with the blood of a kid and maintain that to their father. Off goes Joseph to Egypt, a victim of the slave trade of the day, where he is sold to Potiphar at Pharaoh’s court.

The Torah now interrupts the story and follows Judah. Judah leaves home, marries and has three sons. Judah’s sons grow up and he finds a wife, Tamar, for his first-born. That young man dies and Tamar marries the second son, Leverite marriage. The second son dies and Judah decides not to have her marry his last son. Tamar waits until Judah’s wife dies and his mourning period is over. She then tricks Judah into sleeping with her, pretending to be a harlot. Judah pays Tamar with his seal and staff and goes off. Tamar gives birth to twins, just like Rebecca had.

The second Torah portion relates to the gifts that the twelve tribes brought to Moses for the dedication of the Tabernacle in the wilderness. This is the second day, the day of the gifts of Issachar. The gifts, of course, are the same as those of each of the other tribes.

The Haftorah is from Zachariah. Zachariah’s prophecies began in 520 BCE. By then, the Babylonian exile had ended and the people had returned to Israel. Construction on the new Temple had begun and stalled but Darius ordered that it be started again.

“Shout for joy, Fair Zion! For lo, I come; and I will dwell in your midst – declares the Lord.”

Zachariah’s vision is of Joshua, the high priest appearing before the angel of the Lord in rags. The angel has the rags removed and has him clothed in priestly robes. Joshua is told that he will return to serve the Lord. The import of the vision is clear – Israel has been forgiven for its past sins and is being restored to greatness.

The Haftorah ends with the famous passage, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit – said the Lord of Hosts.”

We too have the opportunity to serve God and to spread the light of Chanukah and faith through our words and actions.

Stay safe.

Torah Comments for December 5, 2020  Kislev 19, 5781

It’s time for a homecoming. This isn’t going to be like Homecoming weekend in high school or college. There won’t be any bands, there’s no football game and there certainly won’t be a dance. This time, it’s Jacob coming home and he’s pretty nervous. We all remember why he left home in the first place. He had just stolen Esau’s blessing and he was pretty certain that his brother wanted to kill him for it. That was fourteen years ago but Jacob has no idea whether he’s still in danger.

Jacob starts off by sending messengers to Esau telling him that he is on his way. His message also tells Esau that he has property now – maybe something to bargain for his safety with. He finds out that Esau is on his way to meet him with 400 men. That doesn’t sound particularly promising; in fact, it sounds downright dangerous. That’s what Jacob thinks, so he divides his camp in two, figuring that at least some people will survive an attack. He sends Esau a large number of livestock in separate herds. Each herd is out of sight of the others and the shepherds are instructed to tell Esau that Jacob is right behind them. The theory is that as Esau receives each gift, he will grow more favorable to Jacob. Jacob then sends his family and the rest of what he has to the other side of a nearby stream for safety.

Jacob spends the night alone, but not quite alone. He encounters a “man” who wrestles with him all night. Finally, as dawn approaches, the “man” acknowledges that he is an angel and blesses Jacob with the name Israel. Dawn comes and with it, Esau approaches. Israel headed toward his brother and bowed seven times on the way to him. In some traditions, we lower a coffin to the ground seven times on the way to the grave. Happily for Israel, Esau runs up to meet him and embraces him. What follows is a diplomatic exchange. The result is that Esau keeps the gifts his brother has given him and they part company as Jacob returns to Shechem.

Some years pass in peace and comfort until Dinah grows up. She goes to visit some of her friends in Shechem, is seen by the king’s son, also Shechem, and raped. He decides he really likes Dinah and wants to marry her. His father asks for a marriage and offers to intermarry between his tribe and Jacob’s to solidify peace in the land. Now in later times among young Jewish men and women, this was a standard way of finding a wife. One could have thought that this was where the tradition began. Such was not to be. Jacob’s sneaky children tell the king to circumcise all of his men and they will agree to the marriage. Of course, they had no such plan. Simeon and Levi went off to the town and killed all the men while they were recovering from their circumcisions. Jacob had remained silent throughout the whole drama. Now that it was over, he chided his two sons for having potentially brought the wrath of other tribes on him.

God now sends Jacob off to Bethel to build an altar and to reside. Jacob first purifies the family and off they go. There Jacob meets up with God who confirms his name as Israel and reaffirms his prior agreements with Abraham and Isaac. They went on. Rachel was pregnant with Benjamin and gave birth to him near Bethlehem. She died in childbirth and was buried there. Rachel’s tomb was a landmark and a frequent tourist stop for people traveling to Bethlehem for many years. [This week’s comments feature a photo of the tomb that I took some years ago when we were in Israel.]

Sex rears its ugly head. Rueben has sex with Jacob’s concubine. This is an interesting tidbit since she was old enough to be his mother. Nothing further is heard of this incident. Jacob dies at the ripe old age of 180 and Jacob and Esau come together to bury him at Machpelah, where his grave can be seen to this day with those of his father and grandfather and their wives.

We’ve heard all about Jacob and his thirteen children with two wives and a few of their servants. Now comes the story of Esau. Esau had several wives who were Canaanites and then another who was from the original family. The Torah gives the details of Esau’s children and the clans that they headed. Now that we know the who’s whos of the families of Jacob and Esau, we can prepare for the story of Jacob. Stay tuned.

The Haftorah is the entire book of Obadiah. Tradition has it that Obadiah became a prophet as a reward for having saved 100 prophets from persecution by Jezebel. He is said to have used all his wealth to help the poor prophets. His vision is from 853 BCE. He prophesies the utter defeat of Edom, the descendants of Esau, as punishment for its failure to come to the aid of the descendants of Jacob when the kingdom of Judah was destroyed. He predicts that a remnant of Jacob will survive and later prosper while there will be nothing left of Edom.

The stories of the patriarchs are finished. The foundation for our religion has been laid. Soon we will experience the seminal events of our religious history, the rise of Judaism. Until then and the availability of an effective vaccine.

Stay safe.

Torah Comments for November 28

We’ve heard the details of the lives of our first two patriarchs, Abraham and Isaac, to the degree that the Torah relates them. There is enough of a flavor in those stories that we can get a feeling of what life must have been like at that time in history – kings, the rich, the poor, farming and hunting, wars and treaties. We can see something of subsistence living – note ho important wells were to the people’s lives. Wars were fought over them; people vied over who got to use them first. We also saw the importance of hospitality in this ancient society. Hospitality to strangers was especially important in a society which existed barely above the subsistence level. We also tasted a flavor of the relative status of men, women and slaves of the time.

Jacob has grown up, but we really know nothing about him other than the fact that he was willing to take Esau’s birthright and his blessing and, of course, we knew that Rebecca liked him more than his brother. Well, Jacob has left Beersheba, running away in case Esau wants to kill him. It’s time for him to grow up emotionally and to reach his potential. He is apparently travelling alone and lays down to sleep, using a stone for a pillow. Now, I like a hard pillow but that still seems like a stretch. He dreams – this could be the first real dream related in the Torah. The Lord speaks to him in the dream and tells him the same thing He told Abraham and Isaac – “your descendants will be as the dust of the earth.” Apparently, this sort of thing was common at that time. A person who wanted to know what a god had in store for him would spend the night at the god’s temple and hope for a revelation through a dream. Jacob’s situation was different because he didn’t go to some holy place to get a revelation. Instead, God picked the time and place to reveal Jacob’s future to him and to promise that he would be protected.

Jacob wakes and expresses amazement at his dream. His father and grandfather were accustomed to communing with God, but this was quite a surprise to Jacob. This all took place at Luz but Jacob renamed the place Bethel. Bethel later played a major role in the religious traditions of Judaism. It was a holy site according to Jacob. An altar was eventually erected there. It may have been the same place where Abraham erected an altar or at least in the same vicinity. In later times, Bethel was the town where the Ark was kept before Solomon completed the Temple. After the division of Israel into the two kingdoms, it became the religious center of the Northern Kingdom. Bethel had been a religious site of the Canaanites some 5,000 years ago, long prior to the time that the Israelites took over the land. It may be that the name Bethel is really the name of the Canaanite god who was considered to be the chief god, the Zeus of Canaan, so to speak. Although that is likely to be the case, the Torah takes pains to separate Bethel from its Canaanite past. It appears that Jacob just happens to stop there. The stone pillow which is later used as a marker seems to have been just a stone lying there. The name of the place is attributed to Jacob and not to Canaan.

Jacob pledges his allegiance to God and promises to support Him with a tithe.

We move on. Jacob is on the way to Haran to find his wife. He comes to a well, the top of which is protected by a stone cover and stops to talk with some men around it. They tell him that they come from Haran and that they know Laban. As a matter of fact, they say, here comes Rachel, his daughter with her sheep. Jacob falls in love as soon as he sees Rachel. As we see, love at first sight does work, and if you consider the rest of the story, that love lasted throughout their lives together. [I can say that love at first sight still works out. I fell in love when I first saw my wife on a train in Copenhagen and we have been married over 52 years.]

In a reversal of the earlier story of Abraham’s servant meeting Rebecca, Jacob rolls the stone off the top of the well and waters Rachel’s sheep for her. Jacob gives Rachel a kiss, not so strange when we consider that he knows she is his cousin, and then introduces himself. Today, here in the United States at a minimum that kiss would have led to a slap in the face or possibly a sexual harassment suit. This is especially true because Jacob was there all by himself and apparently without a shekel to his name. Then comes the bargain, such as it was. Without even trying to bargain, Jacob agrees to serve Laban for seven years if he can marry Rachel. So, Jacob waits seven long years, to him it was like a few days, and consummates the marriage. Then to his horror, he discovers that he has married and slept with Leah, not Rachel. Laban makes all kinds of feeble excuses, but the deed is done. Maybe, this impersonation is Jacob’s punishment for impersonating Esau to get Isaac’s blessing, but that’s for others to ponder. Laban makes a new bargain – I’ll let you marry Rachel in a week, but you have to work for me another seven years.

Now comes the next thorn. Jacob loves Rachel, not Leah, and God makes Rachel barren and gives Leah children, one after another, four sons. Rachel gives her maid to Jacob and there are two more sons. Now it’s Leah’s maid’s turn and she had two sons. These boys grow up somewhat at Reuben collects some mandrakes, apparently an aphrodisiac. One sees the enmity between the two wives as they haggle over the mandrakes. Ultimately though, they make a bargain. Leah has two more sons and then a daughter, Dinah. Finally, Rachel has a son. Jacob has eleven sons and one daughter. He has to have a lot of sheep to feed everyone.

Jacob decides it’s time to move on. He’s been at Laban’s for fourteen years, has a family and has accumulated nothing to speak of. Jacob asks that he be not paid for his time there but that he be entitled to the next year’s speckled and spotted young. Laban, unsuspecting the result, agrees. Jacob has a plan. He sets things up so the flocks will produce speckled and spotted young, so he ended up with a lot of young sheep. Jacob warns his wives that things are about to turn ugly. They can see the handwriting on the wall and agree to return to Canaan. Soon, we will see the result.

Hosea was the first of our twelve “minor” prophets. He was active from about 796 BCE to &68 BCE during the reign of King Amaziah of Judah. Amos was a contemporary of Hosea’s. Hosea recounts the story of Jacob’s time seeking a wife in Haran. He goes on to castigate Israel for worshipping Baal. He makes God sound like a rejected suitor –

“You have never known a true God but Me, You have never had a helper other than Me.

The prophecy goes on to tell Israel that it is undone for forsaking God. Trouble is on the way as “Samaria must bear her guilt.” Hosea exhorts the people to return to the Lord. If they do, He will take them back in love and all will be well. He concludes his prophecies with these words:

“He who is wise will consider these words, he who is prudent will take note of them.

For the paths of the Lord are smooth; the righteous can walk on them, while sinners stumble on them.”

The stories of the patriarchs and the matriarchs are coming to a close soon. Even in the prose of the Torah, though, we can see that human nature is the same today as it was 4,000 and 5,000 years ago. Envy, jealousy, love and hate existed then just as they do today. Chivalry did not originate with the knights of the Round Table. It was present in the hospitality that people exhibited to others. Marital strife was the same then as it is now. It is comforting to know that our forbears were human just like us. They experienced trouble and travail in their lives and learned how to cope and persevere. We can learn from their example in our troubled times today.

Stay safe.

Torah Comments for November 21, 2020

This is my first commentary here in Florida. I would much rather be giving this as a talk on Shabbat but safety is more important right now, so here goes.

Toledot is the story of Isaac, our second patriarch. Isaac is the only patriarch with one wife. He lives most of his life in the Beersheba and never leaves the Promised Land. His name comes directly from God. Isaac marries Rebecca at age 40. We begin the story twenty years after the marriage with the difficulty she has in giving birth to Jacob and Esau, or rather, Esau and Jacob since that was the order of their birth. Back in those days, God spoke to both men and women. He spoke to Rebecca and told her

“Two nations are in your womb, two separate peoples shall issue from your body; one people shall be mightier that the other, and the older shall serve the younger.”

Sure enough, Esau is born first, and Jacob follows him, hanging onto his heel. Hosea says that this shows how Jacob wanted everything from Esau even before they were born. Esau became the hunter and Jacob stayed home. Rebecca favors Jacob and facilitates his efforts to supplant his brother. The first written attempt to supplant Esau comes with Jacob cooking a lentil stew. Esau has been out hunting and is starving. He begs for some of the stew and Jacob, what a brother, sells it to him for his birthright. Jacob shows no regard for his brother. Apparently, we haven’t learned anything since Cain was asked if he was his brother’s keeper.

It’s famine time. God tells Isaac not to go off to Egypt for food, so he goes to Abimelech in Gerar. Presumably, this is a successor to the Abimelech that Abraham knew. God renews the covenant He made with Abraham 70 years before – “I will make your heirs as numerous as the stars of heaven … so that all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your heirs…”

Isaac uses the same story Abraham tried twice with Sarah, she’s my sister, not my wife. Abimelech is not fooled and extends his protection to Isaac and Sarah, just like the previous Abimelech did for Abraham and Sarah. Isaac does too well in Gerar and this causes conflict so Isaac leaves and eventually settles in Beersheba. The city was named for a well that Isaac’s people successfully drilled.

Esau turns 40 and marries Judith, a Hittite. Isaac and Rebecca are unhappy with the marriage, possibly because Judith is a native of Beersheba instead of a member of the original Abrahamic family. We come to the third and final consequence of the rivalry between Esau and Jacob – the loss of the blessing from Isaac. He’s pretty old by the time of this incident – 100 – which accounts for his inability to distinguish between his sons. Isaac decides it’s time to give out his blessing, the last thing of value he has to offer. He tells Esau to go out and hunt some game and then bring it back and make him a meal. Rebecca conspires with Jacob to trick Isaac. She has him get two kids from the herd and prepares the meal. She dresses Jacob in his brother’s clothes and uses the hides from the kids to cover his hands and neck. At her direction (remind you of Eve?), Jacob impersonates Esau, gives him the meal and gets the blessing. Jacob goes off and Esau arrives with his meal. Well, by now Isaac isn’t hungry any more and it’s too late for the blessing.

Esau is pretty unhappy with things. This sort of thing has happened to him for his whole life. He decides to employ the Cain remedy and kill Jacob. Rebecca saves him by having Isaac send him off to Paddan-aram to live with his uncle. He also tells him to find a wife there. Esau finally gets wise and adds a wife from his Uncle Ishmael, his first cousin Mahalath.

The haftorah comes from Malachi, the last prophet and the shortest. Malachi apparently lived in Jerusalem around 445 BCE or as late as the 300s. Malachi may have been a pseudonym for Esther’s Uncle Mordechai, for Ezra the Scribe or may have been himself. His prophetic writings may have originated with him or may have been a reprise of earlier ones.

The book begins by attributing its source as the Lord speaking through Malachi. The Lord answers the skeptics who want to know how He has shown our people love. The Lord replies that He has accepted Jacob and rejected Esau. Malachi goes on to say, “A son should honor his father, and a slave his master.” This passage was used in the South by slaveowners before the Civil War to justify the institution of slavery. The Lord goes on, says Malachi, to demand that sacrifices be pure as required in the Torah. If not, the Lord will curse the priests. Happily for me, the Lord says that this is a requirement to carry on His special relationship with the House of Levi and the promise to that tribe of life and well-being.

That promise of life and well-being should extend to all of us. Stay safe until we are able to meet again.

Torah Comments for November 14, 2020

Today’s parasha starts out with sadness. Sarah dies at 127. Her son Isaac is 26. Abraham is in mourning and needs a place to bury Sarah. He negotiates with the local residents as what he calls himself, a sojourning settler,” or the equivalent of a resident alien. They arrange for him to purchase the cave of Machpelah for 400 silver shekels. This transaction is the first specific land transaction in the Torah. Scholars say that the price is exorbitant, but that evaluation does not consider the ultimate use of the cave. Eventually, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Leah and Rebecca follow Sarah into the cave. The significance of Machpelah cannot be overemphasized. This location is the earliest physical evidence of the origins of Judaism. It is impressive in both its construction and its symbolism. The cave itself contains the tombs of the Patriarchs and the Matriarchs except for Rachel who died on the way to Bethlehem. The tombs are impressive, each in their own right, and one can approach a gate before them. Sadly, my personal photos of the tombs are not as good as those that can be obtained online. Each tomb has a structure inside the mosque built over the cave. On the level below is the actual tomb, covered with a large tapestry. The history of the tombs and their administration is also important to us. For many years, Muslims controlled access to the cave, prohibiting Jews from venturing below the seventh step down into the cave and limiting the times they could access it. Now, we are permitted to view the entire tomb area but only when Muslim prayers are not taking place. Israel has maintained a small Jewish community nearby in Hebron and a military garrison to protect them and pilgrims to the tombs.

Abraham is getting older and the time has come to implement God’s promise that his seed will be as the sands on the shore. He arranges with his most trusted servant to find a wife for Isaac. He instructs him to return to Abraham’s homeland and find someone who is willing to come with him to marry Isaac. The servant comes to Nahor and stops at a community well early in the evening. This is apparently girl-watching time in Nahor and, as we will later learn, lots of other places where people are looking for prospective brides. Rebecca, shows up and looks pretty good to the servant. He runs up to her and politely asks for a sip of water. She obliges him and tells him to drink his fill. She then offers to get water for his camels and does so. He gives her some pretty expensive bracelets and a nose ring (I guess that’s what they did in those days; it must have made a fashion statement) and asks who she is. She tells him and invites him to spend the night and he decides he has found the right woman for Isaac. Rebecca runs off to make arrangements for the night and her brother goes over to get the servant. As he passes Rebecca, he notices the jewelry she has on and invites the servant into their home. The servant explains what he is doing there and Laban tells him “take her and go.”

Isaac is out for an evening stroll as Rebecca arrives. They see each other and it’s love at first sight. Isaac marries Rebecca and they set up housekeeping in his mother’s tent. At this point in the story there is no mention of Abraham. Speculation is that when he sent his servant off to find a wife for Isaac he was on his deathbed and that he died while the servant was off getting Rebecca. This would seem reasonable although right after this story comes another chapter in which Abraham takes Keturah for a wife. She produces six children for him. Abraham sends them off just like he sent off Ishmael so Isaac will be the only son left in the home. Abraham dies at 175 so he outlives Sarah by almost 50 years. He is buried at Machpelah along with Sarah. The Torah has a number of stories that are out of historical sequence so this one could be as well.

The Torah goes on to list the twelve tribes that are descended from Ishmael who dies at the age of 137. It now goes on to discuss Isaac. He is 40 at the time of his marriage which would indicate that Sarah is indeed dead but Abraham should still be alive. Perhaps he is off enjoying his time with Keturah which would explain why he doesn’t interact with his son and his wife.

The haftorah tells the story of King David’s old age. His children are vying to succeed him. Intrigue ensues with Adonijah pushing hard. The prophet Nathan warns Bathsheba that she needs to protect herself and her son Solomon from Adonijah. They plot to get David on their side and succeed in getting him to solidify Solomon’s claim on the throne.

The stories of the Torah and the haftorah have obvious parallels. We have old Abraham looking to solidify his dynasty through Isaac by sending his other sons away and old David endorsing Solomon as the future king. The intrigues from before with Hagar and Ishmael and from Adonijah seem eerily like the intrigues of today as the current election works its way to its endpoint. In the meantime, all of us need to be careful and stay safe.

Torah Comments for November 7, 2020

It’s a hot day in Mamre and 100-year old Abraham is sitting by his tent when three men are suddenly standing there in front of him. I suppose Abraham could have been dreaming or napping. After all, he is 100 years old. But he sees these men. Now I don’t know about you but if I had been sitting out there on my front porch here in Glenview, Illinois and suddenly three men were standing in front of me, even though this might not have been during the pandemic, I might have been startled. But not Abraham. He immediately gets up, runs over to these strangers, bows to the ground and asks them to accept his hospitality. Abraham quickly gets them water, retreats to his tent and directs Sarah to make bread. He Gets a calf to cook for them and gives them curds (I didn’t know he was from Wisconsin) and milk. He stands like a waiter while they eat.

Now the strangers ask where Sarah, his wife, is. Without hesitation, he tells them and one of them promises that in one year she will have a son. Sarah, like a typical wife, is eavesdropping. She hears this promise and laughs to herself. The Lord, who is apparently there in the form of one of the strangers, asks why Sarah laughed, even though no one heard the laugh. The Lord also asserts that He can do anything, even cause a barren woman to have a child and finally says that He will return in a year for the birth.

Next, we come to the first true argument with God. The Lord debates with Himself about telling Abraham His plans. He finally decides that Abraham is righteous so why not let him in on the secret. He tells Abraham that He is going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham confronts God – “Will you really wipe out the innocent with the guilty?” Abraham sets the bar at 50 innocents. When God agrees, Abraham lowers the bar to 45, then to 40. He pushes on to 30 and then 20. Finally, Abraham can see the limits of his argument and makes the final number 10, the number that to this day is a minyan.

While Abraham and God are arguing, the other two strangers go off to Sodom. They find Lot at the entrance to the city, just sitting there like Abraham had been at his tent. Just like Abraham, Lot extends an invitation to the strangers to come on over and spend the night at his place. As they finish dinner, a mob approaches the house and demands that Lot give them the two men for a gang rape. Lot refuses and offers the mob his two virgin daughters in their place. The mob turns on Lot and the two strangers protect him from them, blinding the mob. Then they warn Lot that he had better leave Sodom because the Lord is going to destroy it. None of lots married daughters or their husbands are willing to go but Lot takes his wife and the two virgin daughters. Everyone knows the story; the men tell Lot and the women to flee and not to look back. Lot talks them into allowing him to flee to the town of Zoar and, as soon as he gets there, brimstone and fire destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Obviously, God couldn’t find ten righteous men there. Lot’s wife, Eve-like, looks back and becomes a pillar of salt. Interestingly, the natural action of springs in the area can coat a person’s skin almost like a pillar of salt. This story is reminiscent of Gramma’s Marathon which I ran many years ago. As I was running along, I saw a billboard in front of me featuring a very mean-looking pit bull. The billboard warned, “Don’t look back!” Like Lot and his daughters, I was careful to keep my eyes looking forward. I don’t know if the people who did look back were attacked or if they finished the marathon.

Now Lot and his daughters take refuge in a cave. The two sisters get Lot drunk and have sex with him, one on each of two nights. Both became pregnant and had sons. So, Lot’s hospitality comes full circle. He had offered his daughters to the mob to protect the strangers in his house. Instead, he becomes responsible for their loss of virginity.

The Torah follows Abraham on his journey to the Negev. Obviously, Abraham has learned nothing since his trip to Egypt. He pretends that Sarah is his sister, so, of course, off she goes to King Abimelech’s harem. The Lord comes to Abimelech in a dream and says that the king is “a dead man” for having taken Abraham’s wife. Abimelech decides that he would rather survive than die so he returns Sarah to Abraham, gives him the choice of land anywhere in the kingdom, money and livestock. The fear of God has definitely gotten to him.

It’s Isaac’s birthday! Now that Isaac is around, Sarah asserts herself and demands that Abraham get rid of Hagar and Ishmael. Here’s something that both Christians and Muslims have missed. God tells Abraham, “Whatever Sarah says to you, listen to her voice.” Just think what such a direction should mean for women’s rights around the world, and especially in the Abrahamic religions. Hagar leaves with Ishmael and starts off through the wilderness. Ishmael grows to be a man and becomes a hunter in Paran.

Abimelech’s army seizes a well that belonged to Abraham. He gives it back and the two make a peace pact at Beersheba.

Finally, we come to the extremely difficult story of the binding of Isaac. God is testing Abraham and calls to him. Abraham responds, Hinini, just like the cantor does at the High Holidays. Abraham is instructed to take Isaac up into the land of Moriah and sacrifice him to God. Without hesitation, unlike when Abraham argued with God over Sodom and Gomorrah, he makes plans and sets off with Isaac, two servants and wood for the fire. They get near the place of sacrifice. Abraham puts the wood on Isaac’s shoulders and the two set off for Isaac’s final resting place. Isaac wants to know what is going on with the sacrifice and Abraham tells his son, “God will see to the sheep for the offering.” Shortly after that, Isaac probably becomes suspicious. Abraham builds an altar, puts the wood on it, sticks Isaac on top of the wood and ties him up. Then he grabs a cleaver. Fortunately for Isaac, just as Abraham’s arm starts forward with the knife in it, the Lord’s messenger stops him and tells him to hold off, almost like the quarterback whose arm doesn’t quite get to go into a forward arc, causing a fumble. Abraham sees a ram caught in the bushes and substitutes it for Isaac. Everyone but for the ram is happy with the change in plans. God promises Abraham that the future of his descendants will be rosy – “as the stars in the heavens and as the sand on the shore of the sea.”

The Haftorah jumps ahead to the story of Elisha the prophet and the widow of one of his disciples. She tells him that she is poor and is about to lose her children to slavery to pay off her husband’s debts. She tells Elisha the only thing she has is a jug of oil. Eisha instructs her to borrow containers from her neighbors and pour her oil into the containers. The oil doesn’t stop pouring until it fills all the containers – it’s similar to that old cartoon, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, where Mickey Mouse messes up and causes a series of brooms to bring never-ending buckets of water to drown him out. In this case, the oil is put to good use, paying off the debts and saving the children.

Next comes the story of a woman whom Elisha would visit for meals whenever he was in the area. She set aside a room in her home for Elisha to rest in when he traveled past. Elisha wished to reward the woman and told her that she would give birth to a son. She did and one day during the harvest season, the boy suffered a seizure and died. The woman went to find Elisha and told him what happened. He sent his servant with his staff to place on the boy’s face and revive him. He then followed with the woman. When he arrived, he placed his body over the child and the child recovered.

There are parallels galore between the Torah and the Haftorah. The story of Elisha and the woman who provided him with hospitality parallels that of Abraham and his hospitality toward the three strangers and Lot’s hospitality toward the two strangers. In Abraham’s case, Sarah has a child. In Elisha’s, the woman has a child. Then there is the story of how the child of that hospitable woman dies and is revived which is similar to that of Hagar and Ishmael in the wilderness. The story of the widow of Elisha’s disciple has a parallel in God’s promise to Abraham of future fortune. It has been a difficult several months, with campaigning, people having fits and complaining and insulting each other and even reaching a level of physical intimidation. Now that the elections of 2020 have ended, let’s hope that we can all begin to emulate Abraham and Lot and resume a hospitable attitude toward our fellow citizens.

Stay safe.

Torah Comments for October 31, 2020

The first three big stories in the Torah were Creation, the Flood, the Recovery. Now we get into “recorded” or specific history beginning with the story of Abram, later Abraham. Abram is just a 75-year old guy married to Sarai, later Sarah, living near his parents. God tells him to go forth to “the land I will show you” and “I will bless you and make your name great.” Abram takes his family, including his nephew, Lot, and heads to Canaan where God tells him he has reached the place where his descendants will live. Abram enters Canaan near Shechem and travels through the country to the Negev. Scholars tracing his route claim that he passed through Jerusalem at the site of the Temple. Later, when we get to the binding of Isaac, many claim that this took place on the rock which is under the Dome of the Rock on the Kotel and that it was the location of the Holy of Holies when the Temple was built. This is the beginning of a string of continuities that tie our history together from the Patriarchs to the monarchy in Israel to today.

The Torah now tries out the story of the famine which led his grandson and great grandson to sojourn in Egypt. Famines were not unusual in Biblical times and Egypt was perennially shielded from them by the Nile River. Abram travels to Egypt with Sarai. She is beautiful and Abram is afraid that he will be killed so the Pharaoh can claim her for his harem. They concoct the scheme that she is his sister so, of course, Sarai goes off to the harem. Pharaoh is punished for his libido by plagues, summons Abram and kicks them out of the country. This sounds a lot like what is to come with the Ten Plagues but in much less detail.

Abram travels back to the future land of Israel and stops near Bethel in the center of the country. Since the land cannot support everyone, Abram tells Lot it’s time to separate. He gives Lot the choice of where he wants to go. Lot chooses the area near the Jordan River and goes there. Abram stays in Central Canaan. Lot’s choice brings him to the cities, places of sin and degradation – Sodom, sin city, just like Las Vegas. Abram, on the other hand, sees the land that is the future of our people. He moves to Hebron where he will eventually become a party to the earliest recorded deed for land still in existence – the cave where the Patriarchs will be buried.

Now it’s time for the first war described in the Torah. Lot becomes a victim – the first recorded prisoner of war. Abram hears about it and marshalls what for the time was a significant army – 318 people. He marches to a location north of Damascus and rescues Lot in a night attack. Abram, now a military hero, meets with the king of Sodom. The king blesses Abram and Abram gives the king the spoils of his campaign.

We come to the first conversation between God and Abram. God tells Abram He will protect him and he will be rewarded. Abram complains that he has no children. God tells Abram not to worry, he will have children who will father descendants who will claim the land. God now comes to Abram in a dream and foretells 400 years of slavery in Egypt followed by redemption. The Torah portion ends with a covenant between Abram and God that grants the land of Israel to the descendants of the first of the Patriarchs.

Sarai, the practical one, tells Abram to go ahead and have sex with Hagar, her maid, and, with Abram at the age of 85, they produce a son, Ishmael. Hagar, being only human, lord’s it over Sarai since she has a son and Sarai does not. Sarai punishes Hagar who runs away but an angel sends her back home. It’s bar mitzvah time for Ishmael and Abram is 99. God comes to Abram and changes his name to Abraham, renewing the promise that he will have many offspring and they will inhabit the land of Canaan. In order to signify this covenant, all the males are required to be circumcised on penalty of being cut off from the people. Abraham and all of the males of his household comply.  God renames Sarai and she becomes Sarah. He promises Abraham that Sarah will have a son, Isaac. God tells Abraham that both sons will be the fathers of great nations but that the covenant will continue with Isaac.

Isaiah begins the Haftorah by asking the people why they are so distressed. He asks,

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord … gives strength to the weary, fresh vigor to the spent.”

He tells us to trust in the Lord and points out that it is the Lord who is all-powerful. “Fear not for I am with you,” Isaiah tells us the Lord has said. God will be with us and we will prevail.

The Torah and the Haftorah emphasize the relationship between God and man. God will prevail against our enemies. All we have to do is to give God His due and trust in him.

As we approach the election that will determine our futures, trust in the Lord and stay safe.

Torah Comments for October 24, 2020

It’s a cold, dreary, rainy day. What a perfect time for the story of Noah. Noah was considered to be a righteous man, one of the few of his time. The world, besides Noah and his three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, “was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with outrage.” God’s creation had populated the earth and was lawless. God determined that it was basically time to start over. He instructed Noah to build an ark, 300 cubits (450 feet) long, 50 cubits (75 feet) wide and 30 cubits (45 feet) high. A year or so ago, we made a Holy Ark to scale and brought it to the temple for Shabbat. This ark is a little to large to repeat that effort, and besides, there’s no one there to see it. Go visit the Ark Encounter in Williamstown, Kentucky if you need to see one. That ark is a little larger than what I believe is correct – 510 feet long, 85 feet wide and 51 feet high, but people are taller and wider now than they were back on Heshvan 17, 2458 BCE when the rain started according to the source I found on the internet and the Torah, which refers to the seventeenth day of the second month.

God instructed Noah to gather his wife, his sons, their wives, two of everything that was to be kept alive and lots of food for the humans and the other living things. The Torah says “Two of each thing shall come to you to be kept alive.” That’s the reason there are no unicorns any more, at least according to the Irish Rovers who in their song have Noah lament that “them unicorns was hiding, playing silly games.” Had they showed some personal responsibility, we would still have unicorns outside of the world of Harry Potter. As is typical in the Torah, the numbers change in the next chapter. Now it is seven pairs of the animals that are fit for sacrifice and one pair of everybody else.

It rained for 40 days and 40 nights and the ark was carried away for 150 days during which the earth was covered with water and everything not on the ark perished. The ark did its job and eventually found a mooring place on what was called the mountains of Ararat. It is believed that this location is somewhere in Turkey and possibly on Mount Ararat. Seven days later, a dove brought Noah an olive leaf. God sent Noah, his family and the animals out again for a new start. God promises Noah that He will not again strike down all of humanity and the animal kingdom, although He later thinks about changing His mind a numb er of times such as in the desert when the people rebelled against Moses.

Here is the point in the Torah where God anoints Noah as the top of the food chain. God tells Noah not to eat flesh which still contains blood; hence, we drain meat of blood as part of the kashrut process. The rainbow appears as a sign for all time that there will not be another worldwide flood.

Ham makes the mistake of seeing Noah naked and drunk. Some say that he actually had sex with him; others that he failed to avert his eyes. Whichever sin he committed, it was enough to bring a curse on his son, Canaan, and his progeny. Noah was 600 at the time of the flood and died 350 years later at the age of 950. The Torah now skips ahead by listing the generations after Noah as many nations are formed from his three sons.

The Tower of Babel is built with its top in the heavens. The people who build it seek to make a name for themselves so they will not be scattered around the earth. The Lord decides that the people are getting too big for their britches so He brings down the tower, gives them separate languages and does what they were afraid of – scatters them around the earth. The Torah ends with the description of the family tree of Shem which, in ten generations, produces Abram, soon to become Abraham, the first of the Patriarchs.

Isaiah has the Haftorah for this week. He exhorts those who could not bear children to shout for joy “for the children of the wife forlorn shall outnumber those of the espoused.” God admits that He has turned away but He now agrees to take us back in love. The passages are a metaphor for Israel which has been forsaken and has lived in poverty and shame. The future will be bright ahead and all will be well, says Isaiah.

The Haftorah and the Torah tie together perfectly. The two describe the parallel rises of humanity after Eden and Israel after Sinai. They take us through the fall of humanity at the time of Noah and Israel, both because of lawlessness and the failure to properly worship God and end with a bright future when all will be well. So, on this dreary, Covid-19 filled day, look to a bright future ahead. We will overcome this too.

Stay safe.

Torah Comments for October 17, 2020

Well, here we are, starting over again. Technically, we started over on Simchat Torah with the story of creation but that was really for continuity. We symbolically ended the Torah and began again, showing that life is a continuum and for everything, although there is a beginning and an end, yet everything continues on forever.

Chapter 1 of Genesis detailed the first six days of creation and we read the first part of Chapter 2 which told us about the seventh day. Over the years, there has been great controversy about this version of creation. Fundamentalists have insisted that we have to read the story literally. In the movie, Inherit the Wind, the fundamentalist Matthew Brady says that each day was twenty-four hours long and each hour consisted of sixty minutes and that everything happened as stated in the Christian version of creation. Henry Drummond made Brady look foolish with this version and defended the longer view expressed by Darwin that evolution took place over millions of years. Interestingly, one of my former rabbis, a physics major, provided support for Brady a few years ago. He said that all time is relative and that, if one were positioned in a specific location actually watching creation take place, it would appear that the time which on earth lasted millions of years happened in the space of one day at the right location. So, both versions of creation are correct.

Meanwhile, back on the ranch, or the Garden of Eden, the Torah backtracks and tells the story of Adam and Eve:

“then the Lord God fashioned the human, humus from the soil, and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and the human became a living creature.”

The story continues with the creation of the Garden of Eden. It is located where one river splits into four, two of which we know – the Tigris and the Euphrates. We know the story – eat everything you want except from the tree of knowledge. As Lionel told me today, knowledge is not important if you don’t know you don’t know. And that was true in the Garden of Eden. Neither Human nor Woman had knowledge but they didn’t know that and they were perfectly okay.

“And the two of them were naked, the human and his woman, and they were not ashamed.”

Things change quickly in Chapter 3. The serpent starts tempting the woman by saying, “Though God said, you shall not eat from any tree of the garden.” The woman interrupts and says that’s not right; we can eat from all the trees except from the tree of knowledge. She misstates the prohibition to include touching the fruit as well as eating it. The serpent goes on to tempt her by telling her that she will become as a god and know about good and evil. The woman lusts after the fruit, eats it and gives some to the human who also eats it. They now have knowledge and now they know that knowledge is important. Thus begins the world of fashion. Adam and Eve need clothes and from then on, fashion becomes important. Should I wear the black dress or the green one? These shoes or those? Is my hemline all right?

Ah, but I digress. Back to the story – God gets after the human. He admits that he was afraid and that he has learned knowledge. God wants to know how that happened and the human immediately “outs” the woman – it’s all her fault, he says. God then turns to the woman and she blames the serpent. Talk about passing the buck and not taking personal responsibility. The human blames the woman. He also blames God for “the woman whom you gave by me.” The woman blames the serpent. God metes out His first punishment in the history of the world. First, He punishes the serpent with crawling and enmity between serpents and humans. Second, He punishes the woman with the pain of childbirth, then with longing for man and finally with subjugation to man. From that day on, women have had to contend with sexual discrimination which has persisted to this day. Finally, God punishes the human, he will be forced to labor in pain for his whole life to produce food and, having begun in the dust, will return to the dust. This leads to names. The human names the woman Eve.

God now feeds into the fashion world by giving the human and his woman skin coats. Again, fashion becomes significant. Consequences result. Adam and Eve are forced out of the Garden of Eden so they can no longer live forever.

Chapter 4 begins with sex and the inevitable result – Cain and Abel. That leads to sibling rivalry, jealousy and the first murder. There are a lot of interesting beginnings here – farming is considered superior to hunting. Hunters are wanderers. The stage is set for the story of Jacob and Esau. Society’s norms are begun – “Am I my brother’s keeper?” is the question. The answer appears to be something akin to “probably,” although this proposition is subject to debate to this date. We have the second expulsion – Cain from the presence of his parents.

Now we learn that there are other people besides Cain and Abel, Adam and Eve. Cain has a wife. Where did she come from? It doesn’t say. Seth is born to Adam and Eve and he has a wife. There are Enoch, Irad, Mehujael, Methusael, Lamech, Adah, Zillah, Jabal, Jubal Tubal-Cain, Naamah, Enosh and assorted others who are not named but need to be there for these people to be born as well as cities of people. Here again is the opportunity for Darwinism – humanity may have begun with one couple but it branched out into many others of which Adam and Eve appear to be in some contexts the first people but in others representative of all early humanity.

The Haftorah, I Samuel, recounts the story of David and Jonathan. The two are not actual brothers, but they are as close as brothers could possibly be. The story is about the attempt by Saul to get rid of David. Jonathan agrees to spy on his father and determine if Saul in fact wants to kill him. They concoct a plot. David hides in a field and Jonathan attends a banquet hosted by Saul. David has been invited but does not show up. Saul rages and says that he will have David killed so Jonathan can ultimately become king. Jonathan warns David and they agree to be allies. Jonathan demonstrates true humanity and loyalty. He is indeed his brother’s keeper, unlike Abel.

We could spend hours studying the implications of these passages. There is the question of creation, fashion and compassion, the relationship between man and animal, man and woman, the foundations of society, brotherhood, equality, and the list goes on. We need to remember humility and respect.

Stay safe.

Torah Comments for October 10, 2020

We’ve got another busy weekend. We begin with the reading for Shemini Atseret – Deuteronomy 14:22. The people are required to tithe the yield from their fields and the first born of their animals each year and eat it in Jerusalem. However, if Jerusalem was too far away, people would be permitted to sell the tithe at home and bring the proceeds to Jerusalem. Once there, the people could use the proceeds of the tithe to purchase food to eat and drink there. So, when Jesus was throwing out the moneychangers in the Temple, he was interfering with the ability of the people to carry out this obligation.

Every third year, the tithe was set aside for the Levites, temporary residents and orphans. The Torah doesn’t specify what happened to them the other years.

At the beginning of each seventh year, all loans to Jews but not non-Jews were released. The Torah says, “there will be no pauper among you.” It then goes right on to say “you shall not harden your heart and clench your hand against your brother the pauper.” So, the Torah recognizes that even with a periodic remission of debts there will still be poor among the people and exhorts them to remember that there is a communal responsibility to the entire population.

We come to the famous excuse used by slave traders to induce some Africans to come to the New World voluntarily – if one’s brother or sister is sold into slavery, that slavery will end in the seventh year and the slave will go free with the means to provide for his or her own support. The ceremony for making slavery permanent is described and the obligation to provide the first-born of the flock for the Lord is also indicated.

Finally, the holiday of Passover is described along with Shavuot and Sukkot.

We come to Simchat Torah. It’s the beginning of the end. Moses blesses the people one last time. The blessing echoes the blessing of Jacob to his sons before his death. He poetically describes the Lord as coming from Sinai, shining with fire bolts from his hand. Moses goes on to describe an assembly of the tribes to proclaim God’s supremacy and reflects on each of the tribes of Israel. He concludes by predicting a bright future for Israel – “Your enemies cower before you and you on their backs will tread.”

The last chapter of the Torah begins. Moses goes up to Mount Nebo where he views the Promised Land. Parallels are significant. The burning bush where Moses began his journey to save the Jewish people was on a mountain; the Ten Commandments were handed down to Moses on a mountain; and now Moses dies on a mountain. In each case, God talks to Moses. It appears that God buries Moses although it is not clear that this is what happened. Moses is apparently taken down into a glen where the burial occurs and the location is hidden from everyone. This also raises the question of who chronicled the death and burial? Did Moses write it before he died, being told by God what to expect? Did Joshua find him and bury him? No one knows. In any case, since no one knows where the grave is, no one can make a pilgrimage to the site and Moses cannot become the subject of a cult.

The Torah concludes,
“But no prophet again arose in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, with all the signs and the portents which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, and with all the strong hand and with all the great fear that Moses did before the eyes of all Israel.”

The Torah ends with a vision of the importance of the Law as given in the Torah and the significance of these interactions. But we are not through. Simchat Torah is designed to demonstrate the importance of the study of Torah as a continuing obligation. We have finished studying but now we have to begin again. And so we take up the Torah again, this time in Genesis. We ended at the end of the life of Moses and the beginning of the history of Israel. We begin at the beginning of all things.

“When God began to create heaven and earth, and the earth then was welter and waste and darkness over the deep and God’s breath hovering over the waters, God said, ‘Let there be light.’ And there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day and the darkness He called Night. And it was evening and it was morning, first day.”

Each day follows and on each day there is a new evolution in the creation of the earth. On the sixth day, God created humans and gave us dominion over all of his Creations. Creation ends on the seventh day when God ceased His work and blessed the day.

This whole study session seems exhausting but we are not through yet. We have Haftorot to review. The first, for Shemini Atzeret, comes from I Kings. Solomon has dedicated the Temple. He blesses the Lord and the people. He sacrifices 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep as part of a two-week long celebration.

The Haftorah for Simchat Torah begins appropriately with the beginning of Joshua. The Lord speaks to Joshua and tells him that the time has come to cross the Jordan and take the land. “Be strong and resolute,” the Lord commands, and recite the Teaching day and night. Joshua gives the people three days’ time to prepare and redeems the commitment of the two and a half tribes – Reuben, Gad and Manasseh, to lead the way into battle.

This ends our study for the week. We have witnessed an ending and a beginning. For us, this week is also a new beginning. We can begin to see the future in which we will be able to again function in a normal way so long as we remain careful now. Stay safe.

Torah Comments for Shabbat Shuvah and Yom Kippur September 26-28, 2020

This is a really congested time for Torah readings. The normal Shabbat reading for September 26, Shabbat Shuvah, brings us to almost the end of our journey from creation to the entry into the “Promised Land.” Of course, the Israelites have already conquered territory to the East of the Jordan River which becomes part of Israel proper, but that is all the prelude to the post-Torah history of our people.

The parasha begins with Shirat Ha’azinu, the poem of Moses. Moses starts out invoking the attention of all:

“Give ear, O heavens, that I may speak, and let the earth hear my mouth’s utterances. Let my teaching drop like rain, my saying flow like dew, like showers on the green and like cloudbursts on the grass.”

Moses knows this is the end for him and this speech is the most important one he will have ever given. He emphasizes to the people that the Lord is perfect and that any problems humans have experienced are due to their own failings. He reminds the people that God allotted lands to all nations and approved subordinate gods for all the others but reserved Himself for Israel and has provided protection for His chosen people. He points out that Israel has spurned the Lord and there has been punishment for this backsliding. He goes on to tell the people that their enemies have no understanding of how they were able to prevail over Israel (through God’s help) and that the Lord will ultimately punish those enemies.

Moses takes his leave of the people. The Lord tells him to go up to Mount Nebo where he can see the land of Canaan. He is to die on the mountain for having disobeyed the Lord back at Meribah by striking the rock to obtain water instead of praying for God to order the water to gush forth.

In the morning or so on Monday comes the first Yom Kippur parasha. This one begins after the death of Aaron’s sons for having encroached on the sacred space. The Lord instructs Aaron that he cannot just come and go into the area where the Ark rests at any time. He can only come there when he is going to perform a sacrifice and he must purify himself and wear special clothing. The ritual of the scapegoat is then described. Lots determine which goat is to be spared and that goat is sent into the wilderness. That goat carries with it the sins of the people. This is a ritual which is not unique to Judaism. It had been followed in a number of other civilizations of the time. For us, of course, it is part of the central theme of Yom Kippur. We symbolically cast off our sins by asking forgiveness, first from those we have wronged and then from the Lord, after which we approach the end of the holiday with clean consciences to ask for another year of life. We repeat the ceremony every year at this time and it connects us to our ancestors in a very practical way. We are also reminded of the special sacrifices for Yom Kippur.

Afternoon arrives. Soon it will be dusk and it will be the end of our opportunity to atone for our sins. This is a perfect time to remind everyone of the uniqueness of our society and the rules by which we are to abide. The final Torah portion before dark is a reminder of the proscriptions against sexual perversions and promiscuity. The Torah goes into great detail about which practices are prohibited – adultery, incest, bestiality, sexual contact with close relatives. Homosexuality among men is bad, women are not mentioned in this prohibition. We are reminded that we must follow God’s rules or we will be cut off from our people.

We have three Haftorot to consider at this time. Depending on our heritage they are different. For me, the Haftorah for Shabbat Shuvah is found in Hosea who was active between 786 and 721 BCE and Joel. Joel prophesied at an unknown time between 500 and 800 BCE. It may have been during the last days of the kingdom of Judah, during the reign of Joash, during the reign of Uzziah, during the time of Hosea, Amos and Jonah, the time of Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Habakkuk or the time of Zechariah and Haggai. Parts of his writings are found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. For others, Micah is substituted for Joel and for yet others we study all three.

Hosea calls on the people to return to the Lord. Instead of sacrifices, he implores them to use prayer. He tells us that if the people return, the Lord will heal them and take them back in love.

Joel gives a call to action:

“Blow a horn in Zion, solemnize a fast, proclaim an assembly! Gather the people, bid the congregation purify themselves.”

Joel tells us that the Lord will heed our pleas, drive the northern conquerors away and restore fertility and abundance to Israel.

“And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: That I the Lord am your God and there is no other. And my people shall be shamed no more.”

Last comes Micah. Micah was a prophet from 737 to 696 BCE and continued through the reigns of three kings. He typically rebuked corruption in the cities. In this Haftorah he praises God’s mercy and calls upon God to remember the promises made “to our fathers in days gone by.”

On Yom Kippur morning, Isaiah demands that all obstacles in the way of the people to return to God be removed for God will not be angry with the people forever. God will heal the people who are good and cry out to Him but the wicked will not be protected. Isaiah reminds the people that they have suffered because they have not been pure. On days of fasting, they have continued to see to business and have oppressed their workers. He begs the people to repent and act with charity and compassion, sharing bread with the hungry and clothing the naked. Fast, act kindly to others and observe the Sabbath and then we can seek the favor of the Lord, he says.

Yom Kippur afternoon concludes with the recitation of the book of Jonah. For years, I enjoyed chanting Jonah when living in Appleton. We know the story well. Jonah is ordered by the Lord to go to Nineveh and proclaim judgment against it for the wickedness of its residents. Jonah, like Moses, is afraid to carry out the Lord’s command. Unlike Moses, he doesn’t have the courage to obey. Instead, he decides to elude the Lord and gets onto a ship heading to Tarshish. Obviously, this doesn’t work out well for anybody. God brings a storm and endangers the ship. The crew casts lots and determines that the storm is Jonah’s fault. Jonah confesses and asks the sailors to throw him overboard to save themselves. They first try to save him but ultimately toss him into the sea to save themselves.

A huge fish swallows Jonah. After three days and nights, Jonah gets the hint and promises to do what he is supposed to. He goes off to Nineveh as ordered and tells the inhabitants that they have 40 days’  time left. The Ninevens fasted and  put on sackcloth. They prayed for forgiveness and the Lord agreed to let them off the hook. Now Jonah was upset. He turned on the Lord and asked how God could betray him like that. After all, he had risked his life for what, he asked? He wanted to die. So Jonah left Nineveh and went to a place nearby to die. God provided a plant which grew well, making Jonah happy. He then produced a worm which made the plant wither. Jonah said to the Lord that he wanted to die because of what happened to the plant. The Lord replied to him and pointed out that Jonah had cared for the plant which he had nothing to do with. Why then, asked the Lord, should He not have cared about Nineveh whom Jonah had made to see the light and repent?

There are connections among all of these Torah and Haftorah portions. The Lord’s greatness and compassion is one. The other is that people will sin and will be punished but that they will be redeemed if they but call upon the Lord with true repentance for those sins. We should all use this season to reflect on our shortcomings and our relationships to others. We need to recognize our need to repair our connections with those whom we know and interact with.

Stay safe.

Torah Comments for Rosh Hashanah

I know, you were relishing the story of Moses’ final discourse. He was just finishing up. He had publicly introduced Joshua as his successor and was getting ready to go off and die. The people, now sufficiently cheered by God’s promises and chastened with his curses were itching to cross the Jordan. But now we have to take a little detour and go back to Genesis. Not the beginning; we’ll get there soon but now we have Chapter 21.

“And the Lord singled out Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. And Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age.”

Abraham is 100 at this point. He was only 99 when he impregnated Sarah – I guess we all still have to be careful since we’re so much younger than that. We get to the human nature part next, of course. Sarah is afraid of two things – first that people will laugh at her, mocking her for having a child at this age, and second that Hagar will get part of her son Isaac’s inheritance for her son Ishmael. Somewhat against his will, Abraham listens to and obeys Sarah when she insists that he banish Hagar and Ishmael. She is being protective of her own son but this sounds similar to Adam, eating the fruit of the tree at Eve’s insistence, although reluctantly.

God does promise that Ishmael will become a great nation, just like Isaac and he does, founding the Arab people.

Meanwhile, back at the well… Just before this story, Abimelech’s troops had tried to take over a well that Abraham’s people had been using. The two made a peace treaty and called the place Beersheba, the well of the oath.

The second day continues the story with Chapter 22 of Genesis. God calls out to Abraham and he replies, “Here I am,” “Hinini,” just as we hear at the beginning of Musaf. God tells Abraham,

“Take, pray, your son, your only one, whom you love, Isaac, and go forth to the land of Moriah and offer him up as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I shall say to you.”

We’re all familiar with the story. Abraham is faced with a terrible choice. He considers Isaac to be his only true son. Ishmael is gone – out of sight, out of mind. He has to know that now that he is a lot older than 100, he’s not going to have a second miracle. If he sacrifices Isaac, that will be the end of his line. And yet, he doesn’t hesitate. He gets up, cuts the wood for the sacrifice himself and takes Isaac out for the sacrifice. Abraham gets everything set up and ties Isaac up. He gets ready to kill him and only then the Lord’s messenger calls out and puts a stop to it. The messenger supplies a ram which Abraham sees for the first time, caught in a thicket, and that is what is sacrificed. The messenger informs Abraham that the Lord will now reward him with descendants like “the sand on the shore of the sea.” The Torah portion concludes with the genealogical list of Abraham’s brother, leading to the birth of Rebekah.

Next are the Haftorot.

On the first day of Rosh Hashonah, we study Samuel. This is the story of Hannah, wife of Elkanah. Hannah was barren while her rival, the other wife, had children. Hannah was heartbroken and one day she went to the temple in Shiloh. She prayed silently to the Lord for a son. Eli, the priest, saw her there and, thinking that she was drunk, criticized her for her public drunkenness. When Hannah explained that she had been praying and not drinking, Eli told her, “then go in peace and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of Him.” Sure enough, nine months later Hannah had a son. She named him Samuel and brought him to the temple in Shiloh to serve the Lord. The Haftorah concludes with Hannah’s prayer to the Lord.

The second Haftorah comes from Jeremiah. He predicts the coming return of the people to the land of Israel.

“He who scattered Israel will gather them, and will guard them as a shepherd his flock.”

The first day’s study teaches that no miracle is impossible. Birth at an advanced age, birth by a barren woman, can happen with God’s help. The second day demonstrates that God will reward piety with positive results. We need to begin the new year on a positive note and stay safe.

Torah Comments for SHABBAT NITZAVIM AND VAYELEKH, September 12, 2020

This week’s Torah portion begins with the concept of communal and individual responsibility. Moses requires every Israelite to participate in the entry of a new covenant with the Lord. The concept extends to all the people who are about to enter into the Promised Land and also everyone who is not there, that is, us. So, here our ancestors commit themselves and us and our descendants to the terms of the covenant. The covenant will contain mutual promises and there will be consequences for failing to live up to it.

Moses demonstrates his command of human nature when he says some people will think that they are immune to the consequences –

“I shall be safe, though I follow my own willful heart.”

No way, José, as they say.

“The Lord will single them out from all the tribes of Israel for misfortune.”

Even those people who stray in secret are known to the Lord and will be subjected to punishment for their wrongful acts and thoughts. Just remember the song,

“You better watch out, you better not cry, better not pout I’m telling you why, Santa Claus is coming to town.”

In our case, of course, we’d better watch out because God is watching us and God knows what’s happening. But Moses provides hope for us. He knows, he says, what’s coming. People are not perfect and they’re going to stray. The result is a foregone conclusion. They will be punished for it. The hope though shines through. When we repent and we return to the Lord with all our heart and soul,

“Then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and take you back in love.”

Moses points out that our obligations are not all that hard to follow. Just

“love the Lord your God, [] walk in His ways, and [] keep His commandments, His laws, and His rules.”

Moses tells everyone, us included, “Choose life … and thereby you shall have life.”

It’s over. Moses tells the people that it’s over. He’s 120 and he’s through. He introduces Joshua as his successor, tells the people to follow him and tells Joshua that the Lord will be with him as they conquer the land. Moses then writes down the laws he has just given to the people and orders that the writing be read to the people every seventh year on Sukkot before the entire people. One last act, Moses writes down a poem for the people to hear. Stay tuned for it next week.

Following the theme of “it’s over,” we read the last of the seven Haftorot of consolation. This week, Isaiah begins with optimism:

“I greatly rejoice in the Lord, my whole being exults in my God.”

Isaiah foresees the renewed triumph of Israel and says that when the redemption occurs it will be forever. We see in both the Torah and the Haftorah, a recognition of the weakness of our human condition, the certainty that we will fail to do what is right from time to time and will suffer for it. But we also see that in the end, if we but come back to doing what is right and good for ourselves, our fellow humans and for the Lord, all will be well.

Keep the faith and stay safe.

Torah Comments for SHABBAT KI TAVO September 5, 2020

This week’s parasha begins with the first-fruits ceremony. “When you enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you…” The people are required to give the first fruits to the priest in the holy city and to acknowledge that they are able to do this because the Lord has assigned the land to them. The formula the people recite on bringing the first fruits to the Lord is one of the few actual recitations required by the Torah. It emphasizes the role that God has played in our history and how God has given us the land. This isn’t just any offering though. The farmer who brings it to the priest is to eat of it along with the priest and the strangers. Each third year, the tithe, 1/10th of the produce of the fields, is not shared by the farmer who brings it. Instead, it goes to the poor. Again, there is a formula recitation that is made with the offering.

It’s now time to sum up. Everyone has been instructed in the law. The terms of the agreement between the people and the Lord are clear – “The Lord your God commands you this day to observe these laws and rules; observe them faithfully with all your heart and soul.” On God’s part, the Lord affirms a special relationship with the people and promises them a place at the head of nations.

Next, the arrival ceremonies to take place are spelled out. First, on Mount Ebal, the people are to set up large stones coated with plaster and to inscribe the teaching on them. This is a unique requirement and it becomes a necessary first step in conquering the holy land.  Next, an altar is to be constructed there made of uncut stone. Sacrifices are to be made there before the people set out.  There is speculation that the altar was found to exist there in modern times.

The next ritual is that of the blessings and the curses. Half the tribes are to stand on Mount Gerizim and half on Mount Ebal. The tribes on Mount Gerizim were there for blessings and the others were for curses. One can envision the scene. The people file onto the two mountains. The priests walk into the middle space carrying the Ark with them. The Levites face the people on Mount Ebal and recite the twelve curses to which the people respond “Amen.” They then turn toward Mount Gerizim and recite blessings. Then the people are told in no uncertain terms what the consequences will be if they do not obey the Lord –

“Because you would not serve the Lord your God in joy and gladness over the abundance of everything, you shall have to serve – in hunger and thirst, naked and lacking everything – the enemies whom the Lord will let loose against you. He will put an iron yoke upon your neck until He has wiped you out.”

Just imagine being there and hearing the promises and threats, knowing what God has done for the people, being faced with the future right there before you and knowing you can have it all. All you have to do is follow the rules – or else. Who needs plagues and pestilence, who needs to be wiped out? All it takes is to keep to the covenant. Moses brings the people together one last time and reminds them that they have experienced great miracles at the hand of the Lord, including liberation from slavery, food to eat, water to drink, clothes to wear and military victory.

“Therefore, observe faithfully all the terms of this covenant, that you may succeed in all that you undertake.”

Some people may have been energized by the brevity of last week’s Haftorah. That’s great because this week, Isaiah takes a lot more time to provide an almost final dose of consolation following Tisha B’Av.

“Arise, shine, for your light has dawned; the Presence of the Lord has shone upon you!”

Isaiah tells us to look around. The people will be restored to Israel and “the riches of the nations shall flow to you.” Isaiah promises that peace and prosperity will again be known in the land. All these good things will come in due time.

So, what do we do today? Stay on the right mountain and listen to the blessings. We follow the rules. Wear a mask. Social distance.

Stay safe.

Torah Comments for SHABBAT KI TEITZEI August 29, 2020

Moses is still talking. He could give a real spellbinder to the faithful like Elmer Gantry. Or, to the not so faithful, he could drone on and on like some of the speakers at our national political conventions. This parasha deals with some miscellaneous laws.

We begin with women’s rights. This is a topic that is significant in the time period that it was created. In many cases, women in the ancient world had no rights. In others, they had some rights but they were not codified in the law. This set of rights makes a major statement, even if it does not go as far as we would like to see it go in today’s context. The first rule is an especially substantial change in the way captives of war were to be treated. In the Greek and Roman world, women captives could be raped, beaten and murdered at will. Here, captives had to be made wives and if they ceased to be desired, they were to become free. A man with two wives was to treat them fairly and the first-born son, no matter whose child, was to inherit. No more treating Rachel better than Leah.

Punishment of the wayward son is next. The parents bring him before the community and charge him with defiance. The town judges him and stones him if he cannot be redeemed. An interesting provision of the law prohibits the people from leaving a criminal’s corpse exposed after dark.

There is an obligation to return lost property. If it is unknown whose property it is, one must take it home and publicize its finding to give the owner the opportunity to reclaim it. This is interesting because there is a whole section of the Talmud that discusses how one obtains ownership of lost property. It appears to be by possessing it. This may require significantly more advanced study to explain. There is a similar obligation to assist a fellow Jew in distress, the example being if an animal falls by the wayside, one must help restore it.

Here’s one I encountered in a divorce case. No one is permitted to wear the clothing of the opposite sex. I had a client whose former husband insisted on dressing their daughter in boys’ clothes. We couldn’t get the judge to follow the Torah there.

Birds’ eggs are fair game but not the mother. There has to be a parapet on the roof of every home so no one falls off.

There are prohibitions on mixing things – only one kind of seed in the field, do not plow with an ox and an ass together, don’t wear wool and linen together.

There is a reminder to wear tassels (fringes) on our garments. Women were exempted from this requirement and in the Middle Ages, it was modified by the rabbis to permit Jews to wear a symbolic tassel inside clothing so they could not be singled out for persecution because of their clothing.

Sex crimes are next. Women are supposed to be virgins when they marry or they can be stoned. Men are not permitted to falsely claim their wives were not virgins or they could be fined. Adultery was punished by death. Rape is determined by where a person had sex with an engaged woman – if it was in town, it was not rape because she could have cried for help. In the country, it would be rape because no one was there to hear her. If a man had sex with an unengaged woman, he had to marry her and could never divorce her.

Finally, no Ammonite or Moabite can be allowed to convert to Judaism.

This is the fifth Haftorah of consolation. It’s the shortest Haftorah of the year. My wife, Nancy, loved it and would chant it when she could. Isaiah writes of the barren woman who will now bear children and how, like He promised Noah that there would be no more huge floods, God would not forsake our people again. Isaiah’s reference to the barren woman is to Israel and the Jewish people. We can return to our homeland and will be content there.

The promulgation of every day rules in this parasha is the foundation of the civil and religious society that will be established in Israel. Again, we are told to follow these rules to protect our future. In the next few weeks Moses will continue to lay this foundation for a successful future society in Israel.

tay safe.

 

Torah Comments for SHABBAT SHOFETIM August 22

This week, Moses starts out with a subject near and dear to my heart – the appointment of judges and other officials. The keys –

“You shall not judge unfairly: you shall show no partiality; you shall not take bribes…Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may thrive and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”

The worship rules take a change in direction as the people get ready to enter the Promised Land. No longer can there be a sacred post or pole near the altar and no longer can the people erect a stone pillar, something that had been permitted in the past. This is a further attempt to centralize the worship in the new location.

We next turn to purity. Sacrifices are to be pure animals and the people are to be pure. Anyone caught worshipping other than the Lord is to be put to death. But, and this is a big but, no one can be put to death without the testimony of two witnesses and the witnesses are to cast the first stones. This is a practical method of making witnesses realize the significance of their words.

Hard cases, those that local judges cannot understand, are to be brought to the city of the Lord and turned over to the priests or magistrates there for determination. Their rulings are to be followed to the letter. This is akin to a system of courts that has existed in many US states to this day. We in many cases have municipal or district courts for the easy disputes and circuit courts for the more complex ones. We also have specialized courts for the difficult cases – patent courts, admiralty courts, bankruptcy courts.

The king! No, not Elvis. Moses tells the people that they can decide to have a king in the Promised Land. There are conditions – the king must be chosen by God; the king has to be Jewish; the king cannot have lots of horses or lots of wives, nor may he have a lot of silver and gold. Of course, there are those that say if the king had lots of wives, he wouldn’t have to worry about having lots of silver and gold and if he didn’t have lots of wives, he might have more money. Remember, we are talking about different times here when men thought they ruled the world and women had little to say at least in public. The truth of course was different then just as it is now. The king was to be circumscribed by the law. He was to have a copy of the Torah with him at all times and he was to read it regularly so he would be governed by the word of God.

The priesthood was dealt with. The tribe of Levi, was to have no land but was to live off of the offerings to the Lord. They would be entitled to a portion of the sacrifices and the first fruits of the people. All Levites were considered equally qualified to serve the Lord.

Moses promises the people that he will be followed by other prophets.

Moses now creates the judicial system. First, he establishes three sanctuary cities inside Israel to which manslayers can go if they have accidentally killed someone. They are to be safe there from revenge. Provision is made for three more cities in the future. Sanctuary is to be provided only to the accidental killer though and not those who deliberately kill someone.

A lot of Moses’ rules have meaning today. He declares that boundary markers cannot be moved. False swearing is prohibited and the penalty for it is the penalty that would have been imposed on the person that the witness is testifying against. And here is one of the most famous quotations from the Torah which is supposed to relate to the criminal law –

“Nor must you show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”

Scholars indicate that the penalties can be imposed through payment of money rather than physical punishment. The statement in Numbers 35:31 indicates that money will not be permitted to substitute for capital punishment and the implication is that it is available in non-capital cases.

Moses has specific instructions relating to war. The priests are to exhort the troops before a battle and are to remind them that the Lord will be with them. After the priests speak come the rules on exemptions from battle – those with new homes they have never lived in, fields they have never harvested, those who are engaged and those who are afraid are to go home.

Before attacking the army is to offer terms to the enemy. The battle can be avoided if the enemy agrees to surrender and to become servants. If the battle takes place, all male adults are to be killed but the women and children and their possessions are for the army. These restrictions do not apply to the cities nearby because the residents have encouraged the Israelites to worship idols. Another interesting rule is that the army is not to cut down those trees that can yield fruit, even in a siege.

Finally comes the question of what to do when there is an unsolved murder. In that case, a process is created for determining responsibility.

With all these somber rules it’s time for some consolation. In comes Isaiah:

“I, I am he who comforts you!
What ails you that you fear
Man who must die,
Mortals who fare like grass?”

Isaiah tells us that the time has come to rejoice because we will never again drink from the Lord’s cup of wrath. Jerusalem will be restored and the people will be redeemed and will return to Israel.

The time has come to establish a new society but that society will be governed in justice by the rule of law and by people who follow the word of the Lord. When that occurs, everyone will live in peace and contentment. We can take comfort by the logic of the new society’s creation and a happy future. Stay Safe in the coming week.

Torah Comments for SHABBAT RE’EH August 15

Moses is still talking, but now he is getting to the meat of it. First, he tells the people that they have the choice between a blessing and a curse. To make the contrast as stark as can be, he instructs them to pronounce the blessing at Mount Gerizim and the curse at Mount Ebal. The two mountains face each other across the Jordan River where the people will go but Moses will not. He exhorts the people to observe all the laws that he has “set before you this day.”

The first law Moses gives is to destroy every site where the people of Canaan have worshiped their gods. The second law is to worship only at the place the Lord has chosen for worship. The third law is that non-worship animal sacrifices can take place anywhere. Moses presents these three laws as a means of centralizing the practice of Judaism. It makes a great deal of sense to do so, considering the problems Moses faced in the wilderness. There, the people rebelled time and again and it was only through the force of being the only leader that they had ever known that Moses was able to prevail. He and Aaron defeated idol worship (the Golden Calf), religious schism (the fire pan rebellion) and civil rebellion (almost too numerous to mention). For the future, by centralizing worship in the location chosen by the Lord, Moses was able to protect his successors, at least in the beginning, from the rebellious nature of our stiff-necked people.

Moses goes on to insist that the people do exactly what they are told, no more and no less. Prophets claiming to follow other gods are to be put to death. The people are told to resist taking the easy way out, either as proclaimed by that nasty prophet or by close relatives. The path of righteousness is not through practices that seem attractive, but through following the dictates of the Lord.

There’s an old saying, “Fifty million Frenchmen can’t be wrong.” At the time it was coined, there were only fifty million Frenchmen, so the idea was that if the entire country believed something, it had to be okay. Moses scotches that idea. He says that, even if an entire town comes up with improper practices, the people are not to follow them; instead, the town is to be destroyed and the people and all their possessions are to be destroyed with it.

Moses instructs the people not to cut themselves when mourning. They are also to eat only proper foods, such as oxen, sheep, goats and deer, but no camels, hares or swine. Fish must have fins and scales – put down that shrimp! No birds of prey and no swarming insects. He tells the people they cannot eat animals that have died a natural death and not to boil a kid in its mother’s milk – no cheeseburgers and no Philly steaks.

There are affirmative duties too. One-tenth of produce is to be dedicated to the Lord but to be consumed by the people in the holy city to be named. This is the tithe. Every three years, the tithe is to be given to the Levites and the poor. Every seven years, all debts are to be remitted. This was a common practice in the ancient Near East when a new ruler took command. He goes on to state that there will be no needy people among the Chosen Ones but then says, if there is someone who is needy, one must lend him what he needs to survive. Slaves are also bound by the seven-year rule. At the end of that time, they are to be freed along with the wherewithal to become independent. A process is established to permit a slave to become a permanent one but that happens at the end of the seventh year. The slavers who took Africans from their homes to the New World often promised that they would be indentured for seven years only and not permanent slaves but they skipped the ceremony marking permanent slavery and went right to it, selling their captives permanently when they arrived.

The perfect first-born were to be consecrated to the Lord. Moses describes the major harvest festivals – Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot – and instructs the people to appear at the place the Lord chooses with a sacrifice for the Lord for each of the festivals.

This is the third Haftorah of consolation, again from Isaiah. He tells the people that the Lord will help them:

“And all your children shall be disciples of the Lord, and great shall be the happiness of your children… You shall be safe from oppression and shall have no fear.”

So, what’s the point of all this? The people who are about to enter the Promised Land never knew the degradation of slavery. The only structure they ever had in their lives was that of the nascent religion, led by Moses and Aaron. Aaron is gone; Moses is about to leave them. They need to know what to do in the future and how to do it and they also need to know what the consequences will be if they do what they should and, more significantly, if they don’t. Moses tells them what they need to do and he tells them what the consequences will be if they fail the test. Isaiah doesn’t have to dwell on the consequences of failing to follow God’s law; the people have already been exiled so they know. He does have to hold out the hope for the future that Moses had promised, and he does so. We too should have hope for a future in which this pandemic is defeated and we can resume our normal lives.

Stay safe.

Torah Comments SHABBAT NAHAMU for August 8, 2020

We start out in the middle of Moses’ first discourse. He began this speech last week by reviewing our people’s history and God’s patience with them. In this way, Moses may have felt that he could instill some gratitude in the people and a willingness to listen, especially since he has reminded them how powerful God is and how precarious their position has been. Now Moses shifts the focus to himself. He tells the people that God is not going to let him go with them into the Promised Land. He almost sounds like the first stereotypical Jewish mother, as he tries to make the people feel guilty that he is being punished:

“But the Lord was wrathful with me on your account.”

Now Moses gets to the heart of what he wants the people to hear:

“And now, O Israel, give heed to the laws and rules that I am instructing you to observe, so that you may live to enter the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.”

Moses warns the people to obey the laws to their full extent, not to add to them or subtract from them. He points out that the people promised that they would do this at Mt. Sinai and reminds them of the pitfalls of failing to follow through on that promise. Moses again reminds the people that he has made the sacrifice of not being able to go to the Promised Land so they can. He explains to them that idols do not do the things that they and their fathers have witnessed God doing and exhorts them to return to the Lord when they are in distress.

At the end of this speech, Moses establishes three cities of sanctuary on the west side of the Jordan River.

Now it’s time for the second discourse.

“Hear, O Israel, the laws and rules that I proclaim to you this day! Study them and observe them faithfully.”

Moses now repeats the Ten Commandments. This version is the one that is generally accepted as the correct one:

  1. “I the Lord am your God Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of slaves. You shall have no other gods beside Me.
  2. You shall make you no carved likeness, no image of what is in the heavens above or what is on the earth below or what is in the waters beneath the earth. You shall not bow to them and you shall not worship them, for I am the Lord your God, a jealous god, reckoning the crime of fathers with sons, and with the third generation and with the fourth, for my foes, and doing kindness to the thousandth generation for My friends and those who keep My commands.
  3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not acquit whosoever takes His name in vain.
  4. Keep the sabbath day to hallow it as the Lord your God has charged you. Six days you shall work and you shall do your tasks, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. You shall do no task, you and your son and your daughter and your male slave and your slavegirl and your ox and your donkey and all your beasts and your sojourner who is within your gates, so that your male slave and your slavegirl may rest like you. And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord brought you out from there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore did the Lord charge you to make the sabbath day.
  5. Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God charged you, so that your days may be long and so that He may do well with you on the soil that the Lord your God has given you.
  6. You shall not murder.
  7. And you shall not commit adultery.
  8. And you shall not steal.
  9. And you shall not bear vain witness against your fellow man.
  10. And you shall not covet your fellow man’s wife, and you shall not desire your fellow man’s house, his field, or his male servant or his slave girl, his ox or his donkey, or anything that your fellow man has.”

 

Moses then goes on to give us the Shema:

“Hear O Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”

He tells the people to pass down the laws to their children and to teach them that they are to obey them because

“We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and the Lord freed us from Egypt with a mighty hand.”

The Haftorah is the first one of consolation following Tisha B’Av. Isaiah tells us “Comfort, oh comfort My people, says your God.” We are all to proclaim the might of God and God’s greatness.

Can you imagine the scene? The Israelites are there, gathered in a large valley next to the Jordan River. They have already been successful in conquering the lands to the west of the Jordan and are poised to begin the final push. Moses, the only leader they have ever known, rises before them. He charges them with the obligation to follow God’s laws as they inherit their future. He tells them that he will not be going with them. Their anchor will be the laws he gives them in his final three speeches to them. The common theme is clear – follow the rules and God will take care of you. As the people are inspired to comply so should we be.

Stay safe.

Torah Comments for SHABBAT HAZON – DEVARIM July 25, 2020

It’s over! We’ve trudged through four books of the Torah, all the way from “let there be light” to the banks of the Jordan River. We heard about the Garden of Eden, the Tower of Babel, Noah, pillars of salt, the matriarchs and the patriarchs and 40 years in the wilderness. Now we’re just about ready to enter the Promised Land. The only thing left is a few final lectures and reminders by Moses. It’s just like your parents telling you how to act on that first date.

The Torah portion begins with the statement that it is only eleven days’ journey from Mt. Sinai to the Jordan River. It is obvious that the journey took 38 years instead which begins the theme that there is a significant punishment for not trusting in God. Moses reminds the people of his burden in caring for them. He tells them of the decision to pick wise men to head each of the tribes to reduce his need to make all the decisions himself. He points out that justice, in his system of government, shows no favoritism and that he has always remained the final human arbiter.

Next Moses recounts the journey from Mt. Sinai, starting with the mission of the twelve spies. He tells the people that their refusal to follow him into the Promised Land resulted in the 38-year extension of the Exodus and significant military battles. Of course, only the youngest of the people had survived this penalty and were now ready to enter the Promised Land so they needed this reminder of what happens when one fails to follow the Commandments of the Lord. Moses goes on to blame the people for God’s refusal to allow him to enter the Promised Land.

Moses continues with his review of the wanderings through the wilderness with the encounter with the Edomites and the Moabites, both of which went well. He continues with the less happy encounter with King Sihon where the Israelites first flexed their military muscle with success. Moses continues with the story of King Og of Bashan who also made the mistake of underestimating the people. Moses reminds the people of the bargain he made with Reuben and Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh to take land on the east side of the Jordan but to provide the shock troops for the battles to come. He concludes this portion of his speech and of this parasha by reminding the people that Joshua would lead them to victory in Israel.

Tisha B’Av is almost upon us and we now endure the third Haftorah of rebuke. This one is the beginning of Isaiah’s writings. He begins railing against the people –

“An ox knows its owner, an ass its master’s crib: Israel does not know, My people takes no thought.”

Isaiah points out that forsaking the Lord has produced consequences –

“Every head is ailing, and every heart is sick.”

Isaiah wants to know what is wrong with us that we can’t get it through our heads that we are suffering because we refuse to listen to God’s words. He tells the people that God will not listen to them anymore. Their sins are too great and they do not repent. If they would repent and sincerely turn a new leaf, God will relent but that has not happened and suffering will continue.

Both Moses and Isaiah remind us that no bad deed goes unpunished and good deeds will be rewarded. In this climate of discord and discrimination we have the opportunity to stand for what is right and good. If we do so, we will light the way to a better world, one in which every individual has an equal opportunity to succeed and no one is left behind because of the color of his or her skin, their ethnic background or their religion. We have a role to play by not staying silent when we see discrimination and by encouraging good deeds and safe conduct. Be careful out there this week.

Torah Comments for SHABBAT MATTOT SHABBAT MAS’E July 18, 2020

There’s an ad on CNN where the commentator says of Donald Trump, “just tell the truth.” Well, telling the truth is in part the subject of this Torah portion. It deals with oaths and vows and a double standard. Men who take an oath or make vows to God are required to carry them out. However, women get a break, at least if they are not on their own. If they still live at home and if their father finds out about the vow, he can annul it the day he finds out about it. If the woman is married, her husband can annul the oath the day he finds out about it. If the woman is living at home and is betrothed, either her father or her husband can annul the oath the day that he finds out about it. If the oath is not annulled, it is to be carried out. A widow or a divorcee living on her own is required to carry out her obligations and presumably so is a single woman living on her own. The principles espoused here are based on the circumstances of the times when there were not a lot of independent women – those who were independent were treated like the men were; others had the safety net of the person responsible to care for them.

The Torah deals with revenge. The Midianites had encouraged their women to use their sexual wiles to entice the Israelites into idol worship. God tells Moses to send 12,000 soldiers to attack the Midianites. Balaam, of the failed attempt to curse the Israelites, is among those killed, along with all the men. The soldiers bring back the women and children along with the herds of the Midianites. Moses insists that all the male children and all the women who had been sexually active were to be killed and the army was then purified after the fighting. Next came the division of the spoils of war. Everything was divided in half. The soldiers got half and were required to give 1/500th to the priest. The rest of the community got the other half and were required to give 1/50th to the Levites. The officers then made a gift of part of their war trophies to the Lord.

The time to settle in the Promised Land was at hand. The tribes of Gad and Reuben decided that they would like to stay on the side across from the Jordan River which had now been conquered. Moses becomes enraged. After all, the rest of what is now the land of Israel had yet to be conquered. There would be hard fighting ahead. There was no way that the members of these two tribes were going to stop short of the goals set by God. The tribal leaders had to interrupt Moses as he was about to curse them for their cowardice. That wasn’t the plan, they said. They would set up the land for their families and would then become the shock troops for the battles of Israel. Moses instructed Joshua and the other leaders of the Israelites to enforce the deal and approved it. He also gave a portion of the land to Manasseh but that tribe had to conquer its land from Og.

What follows seems out of place in the chronology of our history. The Torah goes back and describes the places that the Israelites traveled to during the 40 years in the wilderness. Between the starting point at Rameses and the final camp at the Jordan River there were 42 stops, some for a few days at a time, others for longer periods. Commentators say this is a logical time for a summary since everything is now in readiness for the entry into the Promised Land. There are only a few more things left to do. Moses has to reallocate the land being allocated to each tribe. After all, two and a half tribes won’t be getting land. In addition, several tribes have changed in size and their needs are now different from when the original division took place.

God instructs Moses to make sure that the people understand that they are to destroy all the worship sites and idols they find. God sets the boundaries for Israel and instructs them to assign 48 towns for the Levites. Six of those cities are designated as cities of refuge. Those people who unintentionally killed someone would be permitted to live safely in a city of refuge. A national tribunal would adjudicate their intent and intentional murderers would be put to death. It would take two witnesses to convict someone of intentional murder. A murderer could not be pardoned. The unintentional killers would be permitted to stay safely in a city of refuge until the death of the high priest, at which time they would be freed to resume their lives. If they attempted to leave the city before that time, they were subject to being caught and killed by the relatives of the deceased.

The final instruction of the book of Numbers is that the land of each tribe is to remain within the tribe. Women could inherit from their fathers, but only if there were no sons. Thus, women were to marry within their own tribe if they owned land in order to keep it in the “family,” so to speak.

The Haftorah is from Jeremiah. The Lord complains,

“What wrong did your fathers find in Me that they abandoned Me?”

After all, who was it that brought the people from slavery to freedom, who brought them through the wilderness, who brought them to the land of Israel? The punishment is clear – exile, loss of freedom, death. The Lord sounds like a parent – how can you treat me like this after all I’ve done for you? I raised you and taught you right from wrong but you ignored me and deliberately sinned. Then, of course, when the going got tough, you expected me to drop everything and save you. That sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

The connection here, from the Torah to the Haftorah to today is to forgo the pleasures of sin and walk in God’s ways. In that way, we will be rewarded. Today, we can follow the proper path by wearing a mask, social distancing and being careful.

Stay safe.

Torah Comments for PINCHAS July 11, 2020

It’s Pinchas! Last year I observed Pinchas at the World Scout Jamboree in West Virginia with Jewish Scouts from around the world. It was an experience to participate in a Shabbat observance with a group of French Scouts – the service was the same but the tunes and the enthusiasm were different.

Pinchas (Phinehas) is the hero Phinehas from last week who killed a Midianite princess and an important Israelite who were being somewhat less than sexually discreet in front of the community. God makes Pinchas, the grandson of Aaron, and his heirs the future priesthood of Israel as a reward for his zeal.  They are later known as the Zadokites. There are some scholars who believe that this story has its origin in a dispute over the priesthood during the reign of Solomon between Zadok, a descendant of Pinchas, and Abiathar, a descendant of Pinchas’ uncle. Zadok was the winner.

This story presents an interesting contrast. In the earlier incident, Moses killed an Egyptian taskmaster who was mistreating a Hebrew slave and was forced to flee for his life. Pinchas, however, receives a reward for having killed an Israelite chieftain and a Midianite princess. Both incidents were extrajudicial killings to redress wrongs. Moses, the great liberator, was punished. Pinchas, the religious zealot, was rewarded.

God orders Moses to go to war with the Midianites as punishment for their role in trying to seduce the Israelites. This order was the basis for a new military census. This one was for all Israelites over the age of 20 who were able to bear arms. The census in the second year of the wandering in the wilderness resulted in a total of 603,550. This census in year forty resulted in a slight decrease down to 601,730. However, there was a significant shift in the distribution of the people. The tribe of Simeon decreased by over 37,000 while Manasseh increased by 20,000 and Asher by almost 12,000, Benjamin by over 10,000 and Issachar by almost 10,000.

Jeremiah became a prophet in 626 BCE and continued until his death in Egypt in 570 BCE. His book begins with a discussion with the Lord reminiscent of the beginning of Moses’ mission. Jeremiah is about 24 at the time God calls on him to begin his mission. He says

“I don’t know how to speak for I am still a boy.”

God instructs Jeremiah to go where he is sent and speak what he is commanded. Jeremiah has a vision of a steaming pot tipped away from the North. God informs him that this vision is of an impending disaster for Israel that will come from the North. God commands Jeremiah to go to Jerusalem and to preach that the disaster will occur because of the wickedness of the people who have sacrificed to other gods. Sure enough, the Babylonians attack Israel and destroy the Temple in 598 BCE. The leaders are exiled to Babylon.

The connection between Pinchas and Jeremiah is that backsliding will be punished (a plague among the Israelites and invasion of Israel) but that adherence to God’s commandments will lead to salvation (Pinchas succeeds to the priesthood and the exiles in Babylon are returned to Israel.)

One thing to keep in mind in this year of the census is that the second census in year forty of the time in the wilderness became the basis for the division of the Promised Land. If you have not yet responded to the 2020 census, you need to do so since the results of the census will be used to divide the benefits that our states can receive from the federal government over the next ten years and will also be used to determine our representation in government.

Another point is to remember that we all have a duty to speak out when we observe wrongdoing in order to protect our futures.

 

Torah Comments for HUKKAT AND BALAK July 4, 2020

This week we talk about purity. The story of the Red Cow demonstrates how central purity was to our religion in Biblical times. The Red Cow was to be pure; it was slaughtered outside the camp in the presence of the High Priest. The entire cow was burned unlike normal sacrifices. The ashes were safeguarded for use during the year. The ritual of purification is also discussed as it relates to corpses which required people who came in contact with them and their surroundings to be purified.

The wanderings in the wilderness continue. Miriam dies and is buried. She only rates one sentence. Then the people get thirsty again at Kadesh and, surprise, surprise, they start complaining about having been brought forth out of Egypt. Better to have died there or in last week’s rebellion, they say. God instructs Moses and Aaron to take a rod, assemble the community before a rock and order it to produce water. Instead, Moses takes the rod and strikes the rock twice. The water comes but not the way God wanted it to. Moses and Aaron are punished for this by being told they cannot enter the Promised Land. The incident is memorialized in the psalms as the waters at Meribah.

Moses doesn’t quit his leadership. He sends messengers to Edom asking permission to pass through the kingdom but the Edomites refused passage. They travel to Mount Hor where Aaron is stripped of his holy garments and dies. Unlike Miriam, Aaron is mourned for thirty days.

The Israelites have a battle with the king of Arad and defeat Arad of Canaan.

Then guess what? The people get upset as they continue through the wilderness. Sound familiar? They complain about having had to leave Egypt and they hate the food. That one reminds me of being in the Army. The people get God good and mad and He sends poisonous serpents to attack the Israelites. Moses saves the people by creating a copper serpent for them to gaze on.

The people move from place to place until they come to the Amorites. They ask for passage through the country but Sihon, the king, refuses, attacks and is defeated. They traveled on to a spot opposite the Jordan River from Jericho.

Now comes the story of Balak of Moab. Balak becomes alarmed when he sees the Israelites defeating everyone around him and calls on Balaam the seer to curse the Israelites. Balaam balks at the idea of cursing the Israelites if God doesn’t want that to happen but is persuaded to come to Balak for a lot of money and because of a dream in which God tells him to go ahead. Balaam has an argument with his ass about traveling (he doesn’t see an angel blocking the road) – that reminds me of the story of Francis, the talking mule in the movies. Both the ass and the mule are smarter than their masters.

Balaam tries to curse the Israelites but ends up praising them instead. Balaam goes home, apparently unpaid, and Balak gives up on the cursing project.

Of course, the people are never satisfied. A number of them get into sexual trouble with Midianite women. God brings on a plague which kills 24,000 people and Aaron’s grandson Phinehas kills an Israelite and a Midianite woman with a spear, ending the plague. Tradition has it that Phinehas is eventually punished for this act because he took the law into his own hands instead of following normal procedures. This is a lesson for all of us as well in these troubled times.

Micah concludes the day’s study. He predicts that the Jewish people will be scattered among the nations but will become many and be like a lion among sheep. And when that happens, God will wreak havoc on the people for their sins of worshipping idols, but in the end the Lord will redeem them:

“And what the Lord requires of you:
Only to do justice
And to love goodness,
And to walk modestly with your God;”

The two stories are read together because Micah recites a poem in which he recalls the story of Balak and Balaam. But in both cases, the important feature is purity and cleansing those who have become impure, whether in body or spirit. In these difficult days, we must remain careful and clean.

This story is especially relevant on July 4, Independence Day. For us to remain strong and healthy as a country we need to return to the ideals of our Founding Fathers for a better union.

Stay safe.

Torah Comments for KORACH June 27, 2020

Thomas Jefferson said “A little rebellion now and then is a good thing.” That may be, but what about four rebellions at once? Here we go. Fasten your seat belts because this is complicated and the full story is not there.

  1. Korah challenges Moses. Moses wins.
  2. Korah, along with Dathan, Abiram and Om, rise up against Moses. After all, they are all Levites. Why not them instead of Moses and Aaron? Moses and Aaron face them in front of their families and they are swallowed up by an earthquake.
  3. 250 chieftains rise up against Moses and Aaron. This one is pretty complete although there is ambiguity with respect to Korah. The challenge is that Moses and Aaron have gone too far and why do they get to lead instead of the chieftains? Moses takes this rebellion on but deflects it as a rebellion against Aaron as the priest. He arranges the test of the fire pans, getting the rebels to contend against Aaron and his fire pan. The result is that the usurpers are consumed by fire. Their fire pans are used to make plating for the altar as a warning to others not to challenge the status of the priests.
  4. Everybody against Moses and Aaron. God decides to get rid of everybody through a plague and Moses has to intercede to save them. 14,700 die in this rebellion.

Of course, Moses prevails. But what happens to Korah? Some versions say he is killed in the earthquake. Others say he was burned up. Others say he survived. The one thing we can be sure of is that Moses continues to be the leader of the people with God’s support.

Historically, these rebellions may have happened at different times and in different places. Speculation is that the story is really a compilation of different tales lumped together to teach the lesson of fealty to the winners.

The first rebellion would seem to have been very early on and placing it at the time of the Exodus makes sense. Both Korah and Moses had the same lineage. Why should one have been the leader and not the other? Of course, the ultimate answer is that God chose Moses as the leader while he was still in exile. He led the people through the process of ending slavery and becoming free. Why should somebody like Korah, a bystander be the one to benefit from this?

The second rebellion could logically have occurred early on in our history. Dathan and Abiram are from the tribe of Reuben, the oldest son. They are being supplanted by Joseph and then by Judah in the time of King David. This rebellion is likely to have occurred either while still in Sinai or shortly afterward.

The third rebellion ends up as a rebellion against the priesthood – the 250 against Aaron. Initially, the tribe of Levi is one of twelve and the leaders perform sacrifices. However, at some point, God appoints the Levites as the ones to serve in the Temple for the priests:

“I hereby take your fellow Levites from among the Israelites; they are assigned to you [Aaron] in dedication to the Lord, to do the work of the Tent of Meeting.”

It is easy to posit a struggle between the old order of priests and the new one. This would likely have been a struggle at the time of the First Temple since the proper officiants would have had to be established then.

The fourth rebellion, well, that could have been any time or many times. We see it reflected in the cries of the people from day one of the Exodus all the way through to the end of the 40 years.

One thing that this parasha demonstrates is the remaining humility of Moses while he consolidates his power and that of the priesthood against all comers. He does not command the deaths of the rebels. He asks God to determine their punishment. When God goes all out, it is Moses who intercedes and protects the people.

Just as the parasha inaugurates the civil and religious leadership structure of the people at the beginning, the haftorah inaugurates the new civil structure of the monarchy. Samuel, the spiritual leader, gathers the people together at Gilgal and there the people declare Saul as their king. Samuel makes it clear to both Saul and the people that a mortal king is not absolute, the Lord is our true king. He tells us that so long as both the king and the people obey the Lord, all will be well.

The significance of our study this week is twofold. While we owe a duty of obedience to our civil authority, that authority is subject to the will of God. We owe a higher duty to what is right and just and everyone, especially our leaders must always strive to achieve this.

Stay safe.

Torah Comments for SHELAH LEKHA June 20, 2020
This parasha is one of my favorites – the spies. The portion relates: “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Send you men, that they scout the Land of Canaan… every one of them a chieftain.”

There is a lot to be unpacked here. First of all, God is telling Moses to send the spies. It’s not God who sends the spies but Moses. Commentary is that God really didn’t need to have spies. He had already picked the land out and knew it was good. So the spies were really a human idea. The Israelites were nervous about going into the land, still with their slave mentality. They needed reassurances from their leaders. Moses is to send chieftains, men of great reputation, on the mission. The speculation is that these men were not the leaders of the twelve tribes, nobody would send the head men out on a mission that could be dangerous, but they were high ranking, nonetheless.

Moses, being a good strategic leader, tells his twelve spies where to go and gives them specific directions on what to check on. The keys are the quality of the land and the military situation. The spies are gone for 40 days – sound familiar? They report back and give a detailed report to the entire community.  The land is fertile, flowing with milk and honey. They bring back grapes, two men carrying a large bunch of grapes suspended from poles between them – a modern symbol of wine. And then ten of them go on to say that the land is filled with large, fortified cities and is inhabited by giants, the Nephilim.

Those of us who are familiar with Greek and Roman mythology can readily recall the stories of some of these giant creatures – the Titans, the children of the gods or unions between the gods and humans. Those stories talk about the struggles that humans had against the giants and how they were imprisoned below the earth. We have the modern films about the gods and their offspring in the Thor movies. Of course, anyone who has read the second book that my daughter, Tanya, and I wrote, The Pirate Skeleton, knows that these giants were real. They were the race known as the Neandros and have always lived on the edge of homo sapiens societies. Today we all know of some of the survivors as yetis, the abominable snowmen.

Well, Caleb and Joshua didn’t buy into the giant story. They said there were no giants. Caleb said, “We will surely go up and take hold of it, for we will surely prevail over it.” But of course, Caleb and Joshua were talking to the Israelites. You remember them – they got upset about food, water, meat, the desert. Time and again, they said, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt… Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt.” And this time was no exception. The result was God getting ready to bring a plague on the people and Moses interceding by reminding Him that “the Lord is slow to anger and abounding in kindness…” Then comes a line that we remember from our Yom Kippur martyrology – He does not wholly acquit, reckoning the crime of fathers with sons, with the third generation and the fourth.” This line comes back to haunt the rabbis during the Roman persecution.

So, God takes the side of Caleb and Joshua and decides that they can enter the land but that everyone else who was a slave of at least 20 years in age will die before the Israelites enter the promised land. God postpones the conquest of Canaan for forty years, one year for each day of the spy mission. The people, of course, are obstinate and now want to go into Canaan. Moses prohibits this. The parasha concludes with the instruction to wear garments with fringes so “you shall see it and be mindful of all the Lord’s commandments and you shall do them and you shall not stray after your heart and after your eyes.”

The haftorah is the corollary to the parasha. Joshua is ready to enter the promised land. He sends out two spies, not twelve, to reconnoiter Jericho. They spend the night in the home of Rahab who hides them and misdirects the king’s men. This time, the report is accurate and Joshua is able to begin the invasion. For her part in protecting the spies, Rahab and her family are saved from destruction.

The traditional lesson to be learned here is that a false report will lead to ultimate punishment. Failure to rely upon God’s promises has consequences. We need to strive to remain faithful and follow God’s commandments. Stay safe.

Torah Comments for BEHA’ALOT EKHA June 13, 2020

This week’s Torah portion begins with the consecration of the Levites to the service of God. They become the substitute for the first fruits of the children of Israel and enter into the service of the Lord at the direction of the priests. I have always taken my place as a Levite to heart. When I was growing up in Appleton, we practiced Duchaning and I was the one who washed the hands of the Cohen. I typically straighten out the building in preparation for our services in North Port. I have always been a member of the ritual committee in our synagogues and in Appleton always assisted with High Holiday services. I see from the parasha that I could have retired from this at 50 but I can pretend that I am just assisting my brother Levites by standing guard as permitted in our passage.

There is a discussion of the establishment of Passover. It did not begin until the second year of the journey. The Torah then goes on to describe the presence of the Lord above the Tabernacle and God’s leadership whenever the Israelites moved to a new location. Communication methods and signals were established – trumpets, not cell phones. The order of march was a military formation – there was danger for the people in the wilderness. Moses would say:

Advance, O Lord!
May Your enemies be scattered
And may Your foes flee before You!

Of course, the second year of the journey through the wilderness provided a great opportunity for the Israelites to complain – what else was new? They wanted meat to eat, manna wasn’t enough for them. Time for rebellion – and who should lead the rebellion? None other than Aaron and Miriam. They were jealous of Moses’ authority and wanted some for themselves. God, of course, came to the rescue, punishing Miriam, but not Aaron. Moses eventually got that straightened out.

Zechariah concludes this week’s study. “For lo, I come; and I will dwell in your midst.” Joshua (for the Jewish people) is judged by the Lord. “If you walk in My paths and keep My charge, you in turn will rule My house and guard my courts.” And he concludes, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit.”

We too need to remember that God is always with us and we need to walk in His ways, be kind and show understanding to others. Stay safe as our country slowly reopens.

 

Torah Comments NASO for June 6, 2020

More numbers. This week they relate to the nature of the society which was mobile. How would the Israelites move the Tabernacle? Service for the Tabernacle was limited to men between the ages of 30 and 50. 2750 were responsible to carry the sacred objects; 2630 to carry the coverings of the structure and 3200 had to carry the poles and other items.

Once a group was designated to assist the priests in transporting the Tabernacle when necessary, the next step was to deal with purity in the camp. Those who were impure had to leave the camp while impure. Those who remained had to contribute to a civil society. People who committed wrongs were expected to confess and make restitution, both to the person wronged and also to God. After all, breaking civil law was an affront to Judaism and to the Lord. Marital purity was an important facet of society and the test for faithfulness was described. Unfortunately, the test applied to women only, not men. It was considered a mitzvah for either a man or a woman to dedicate themselves to the service of the Lord for a limited period of time.

Sandwiched in between arrangements for society is the ancient priestly blessing:

The Lord bless you and protect you!

The Lord deal kindly and graciously with you!

The Lord bestow His favor upon you and grant you peace.

In one form or another, this blessing has been given for thousands of years. It becomes a part of our daily worship and we conclude our services with it. We use it for special occasions and for regular ones – for strangers and for family.

The Torah portion of the week now returns to the narrative. The sacred objects are consecrated, and practical arrangements are made for their transportation. Twelve days elapse during which the leaders of the twelve tribes each present the same offering.

Tradition then goes on to relate that Moses would enter the Tabernacle to speak with God. God would speak to Moses from above the Ark, almost as a person in conversation.

The Haftorah relates the story of Samson’s origin. The Israelites are subjected to rule by the Philistines for a period of 40 years. An angel appears to the wife of Manoah of the tribe of Dan and tells her that she will bear a son who will be dedicated to the Lord. The angel appears a second time and instructs both Manoah and his wife on how to act and how to raise the boy.

The story of Samson is especially significant to our society today. Recently, I posted this commentary as part of my role as the chairman of the National Jewish Committee on Scouting for the Boy Scouts:

For too long we have all lived in different Americas. There is one America for the rich and one for the poor; there is one for whites and one for non-whites; there is one for mainstream Christians and one for everyone else – Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and more; there is one for bigots and one for everyone else; there is one for us and there is one for them.

The time has come for all of us to recognize again that living in different Americas leads to lack of respect for others and ultimately to mistreatment and murder of those who are not like us.

The Torah teaches us that everyone deserves equal treatment under law, respect and dignity. Scouting teaches the same by telling us that a Scout is helpful, friendly, courteous, kind and brave. We need to show that this climate of fear and hatred cannot continue and focus on our obligation to act as a rock of support for those others who are not us. We can live the Scout Oath and the Scout Law proudly and unafraid of others. We can support the downtrodden and those who are others. We need to remind ourselves daily of the words of Emma Lazarus:

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores. Send these, the homeless, tempest tossed to me. I lift my lamp before the golden door.”

And we need to remember these words as we paraphrase Abraham Lincoln:

“With malice toward none with charity for all with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation’s wounds” and create that shining city on a hill that our forefathers envisioned. 

We all know what is right. We need to make sure that everyone else learns the same from our example.

The story of Samson, the one destined to save our people, is an inspiration for what is happening here today. We all need to be Samsons and stand up for what is right and just in our society. Stay safe.

Torah Comments RE’EH SHAVUOT for May 30, 2020

This week is Shavuot. The Torah portion starts out with directions for tithing. Tithing is set at 10% of the produce during the year. The interesting thing is that the tithe is to be consumed by the tither in the presence of the Lord. Tithers are permitted to sell their tithe and bring the money if it is inconvenient to bring the produce and the money is to be spent in the presence of the Lord. Every third year, the tithe is to be given to the Levites, strangers, fatherless and widows. Actually, this provision of the Torah was a limiting one, not a tax. Many tithers prior to this requirement tithed 20% so this made it easier for people to live. Further, by providing that the tithe was to be consumed by the tither and not given to the religious authority other than every third year, reduced the tithe to an effective 3 1/3%, much smaller than the tithe of today which does go to the church in the Christian community.

The Torah goes on to provide for remission of debts every seven years. This remission is only for Jews. This is carried further for the poor – “You must open your hand and lend him (the needy person) sufficient for whatever he needs.” We are reminded to have no regrets for what we do in giving charity. This lesson is important to each and every one of us. Many times, we have given money to an individual or a particular charity and then had second thoughts when we saw what they did with it. That is not the proper approach – once we give money, it’s gone, and we should not expect to retain strings on its use. Remission applied to Jewish slaves as well. After seven years, they were to be set free with enough property to allow them to start life off anew. A process was established for those slaves who wanted to remain in their master’s household. That process was ignored as slavers brought people from Africa and sold them into slavery here in America in the 1600s to the 1800s. They talked to them in Africa and promised them freedom after seven years but it never happened.

The first born of the herd was also consecrated to the Lord. However, this too was misleading. Although the firstling was the Lord’s, it was to be consumed at the Temple by the owner.

The Torah portion went on to describe the holidays of Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot, our three harvest festivals.

The special section of the Torah goes on to describe the sacrifice at Shavuot.

The Haftorah comes from one of the lesser prophets – Habakkuk. God will come to us, great and terrible. God will drive out the peoples who have oppressed us and will deliver us. “My God is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s and lets me stride upon the heights.”

Shavuot is used to commemorate the giving of the law to us at Mt. Sinai. It is a time to focus on renewal and on our heritage as the People of the Book. Stay safe.

Torah Comments for SHABBAT MAHAR HODESH May 23, 2020

Numbers! Here we are in the midst of the 2020 Census in the U.S. and we start reading about the Biblical census. Ours is to find out how many people live here and where they are so we can properly allocate government resources and representation, including such vital issues as the number of U.S. Representatives per state and the make up of voting districts. The Biblical census was only for able-bodied males over 20. Among other things, it was designed to create an early form of the draft but was also later available for tithing and for land allocation. The end result was 603,550 able-bodied men over 20 plus the Levites. The Levites were not to be counted and were to be the last line of defense for the Tabernacle and the Ark with the Ten Commandments in it. This is interesting because today in Israel some of the Orthodox Jews take the position that they should be exempt from service in the IDF so they can study Torah all day. Biblically, there was no such exemption and, as a matter of fact, the Levites, the keepers of the holy site, were like the Roman Pretorian Guard, the final defense group.

One can see the military nature of the census by what came next – the Lord created the layout for the camp and for future travel with 186,400 men leading the way, a little over 151,000 guarding the flanks and 108,000 bringing up the rear.

The special status of the Levites was made clear. Ultimately, they were to have no tribal land in Israel. They were to take care of the holy precincts and to serve the priesthood in carrying out the needs of the religion. They were also the chosen ones of the Israelites. The Lord had recognized the significance of the first born at the time of the Tenth Plague, smiting all the first born of Egypt. Likewise, the Lord took the first born of all the Israelites, the first crops and so on, as His. This was in part to support the priesthood. As civil society was being formed, the Levites became a substitute for all the first born and the first born of the Levites were now dedicated to God. A Levite census of all first-born males over one month old was taken and there were 22,273. The redemption of the first born was established, a tradition which lasts to this day.

Future King David was living in the court of King Saul. His relationship was questionable, and he relied upon Saul’s son, Jonathan, to give him a proper heads up. The Haftorah tells the story. David was to skip a banquet and Jonathan was to gauge Saul’s reaction. They created a code where Jonathan would be able to convey to David whether he would be safe or not. Saul made it clear to Jonathan that he intended to get rid of David to protect the throne for Jonathan to succeed him. Jonathan warned David and saved his life.

This week’s parasha details the beginnings of civil society for a people that could expect to encounter hostile neighbors for some time to come. The military means to protect the people were determined – who could serve in the military, how the camp should be set up, who should protect the holy objects. This parasha serves as a basis for Israel’s society today. While civil life goes on, military needs must still be met to protect the people from hostile forces surrounding them. Stay safe yourself this week.

 

Torah Comments for Shabbat Behar and Behukkotav May 16, 2020

This week’s Torah portion deals with land. Biblical land ownership was based on a concept that is foreign to most of us today. The concept was, and still is in Israel today (at least in theory), that the land belongs to God, not to individuals. Right off the bat, this concept should present a whole different way of looking at things from what many people here in the United States see. Since the land ultimately belongs to the Lord, we are merely stewards of it. We have an obligation to protect the land and even enhance it since we are merely users of it. That concept is demonstrated by the requirement to let the land have a sabbath of rest every seventh year. This wasn’t exactly crop rotation, but it was the next best thing. In the meantime, the theory was that in the sixth year, there would be enough produced to last for three years, until the next crop came in.

There were a few competing factors here. Since just about everyone was a farmer of one kind or another, borrowing was common. People borrowed to pay for seed for the fields, to obtain a plow or an ox, to pay for farm workers or to tide themselves over until the harvest. When the crops failed and the money had to be repaid, at times there was no money to pay and some people found themselves becoming indentured to those who had financed them. Ultimately, the farm could be sold to pay for the debt. However, the old theory was that land could not be alienated from the tribe. In this newer code of land laws, the land had to revert to the original owner. After 49 years, the land would be returned to that owner. Now of course, we have land leases in our country as well. Typically, they are for 99 years and the property then reverts to the original owner. Just think how this affects the purchase price when the original owner or someone who bought from him wants to sell. If there are 49 years left before the next Jubilee the price will be what we would generally expect when selling land. But, if there are only two years left, the land wouldn’t bring a lot since in effect this would be a two-year sale. It’s almost like selling Chamitz, although that’s only for 8 days.

Family welfare was important in Biblical times. If one had to sell land, his kinsman was required to redeem it for him if possible. If one had sold his land and came into enough money to redeem it (winning the Israeli lottery?), he was to redeem sooner rather than later. The cost of redemption would take into account the number of years left until the Jubilee. What this amounted to was close to the equivalent of leasing land instead of buying and selling it. There were special rules for selling homes. In a walled city, if one sold a home and did not redeem it within a year, the sale was final. Unless, of course, one was a Levite in which case redemption was forever. Homes in villages were treated like farms; redemption was until the Jubilee.

There were rules for those people who had to sell their land and became indentured. They were not to be considered to be slaves. God specifically pointed out that He had freed our people from slavery in Egypt and they were not permitted to again become slaves. One could be redeemed from indentured status and the price of redemption was adjusted based on the time left until the Jubilee.

God makes promises to the people if they follow His laws. “I will grant your rains in their seasons… I will grant peace in the land, and you shall lie down untroubled by anyone; I will give the land respite from vicious beasts, and no sword shall cross your land.”

“I will be ever present in your midst: I will be your God, and you shall be My people.”

The rest of Leviticus deals with consequences for not following the laws, tithing and other subjects.

Jeremiah is his normal scary self – “You will forfeit, by your own act, the inheritance I have given you; I will make you a slave to your enemies in a land you have never known.” He ends with the plea “Save me, and let me be saved; For You are my glory.”

So, what have we learned? We are mere stewards of all we have been given. We need to protect it and care for it so it will be there for all time and we need to trust in and follow the Laws that God has commanded of us. Be careful out there and stay safe as our country reopens.

Torah Comments for Shabbat EMOR  May 9, 2020

Ahh. Emor and more rules for the priesthood and us. But first, let’s take a little detour. Thursday was Pesach Sheni, the rainout day for Passover proper. Biblically, this gave Jews who were traveling outside of their home areas the opportunity to observe the seder even if they couldn’t do so on the proper day. This year, many of us were able to make use of technology so everyone could be home for the seder so we were able to avoid the necessity of having to use our rain checks. Thanks, Zoom.

So, Leviticus is all about holiness and cleanliness. This makes sense since Biblical Jews lived in a much less clean environment that we have available to us today. The Tabernacle had to be pure and its utensils and the altar had to be pure so they could properly convey the sacrifices to God. The priests had to live a pure life as much as possible so they could make those sacrifices. This week, we learn that the priests had to avoid dead people to remain pure although they could become unclean for certain relatives and then undergo a cleansing process. They had to be pure in their actions and their relationships. The priests who officiated also had to be whole, no blind, injured or handicapped priests could offer sacrifices. The Torah did make sure that these priests were not forgotten; they were entitled to share in the sacrificial food but they had to perform other duties.

The Torah continued to provide a system for becoming clean again after being contaminated. The people were instructed that sacrifices had to be without blemish or defect – don’t offer imperfect food for God or for the priests who would eat the sacrifice.

The parasha ends with the famous penalty section – “If anyone kills any human being, he shall be put to death. One who kills a beast shall make restitution for it: life for life. If anyone maims his fellow, as he has done so shall it be done to him: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The injury he inflicted on another shall be inflicted on him.” This passage has been interpreted to mean not that you break someone’s leg, put out the eye of the offender or get the dentist to pull his tooth, but instead that if you find someone guilty of a maiming, that person becomes responsible to provide compensation – to make the other whole to the extent possible. This system has survived to the present and forms the basis for compensation in personal injury and other tort cases in our legal system.

Ezekiel now steps in and assures the priests that if they follow the rules and remain pure they will be approved by the Lord and will share in the first fruits and other offerings of the people.

As we approach the end of Leviticus, we can all appreciate the lengths to which the primitive society of Biblical times went to maintain the purity of its leaders, the priests, and thereby preserve its existence through purification rituals and prayer. Wash your hands and remain careful and safe.

 

Torah Comments for AHAREY MOT AND KDOSHIM May 2, 2020

Many people celebrate Christmas in July. Here we are, celebrating Yom Kippur in May. The exception is that we don’t have to fast this week. We’re right in the middle of Leviticus and we’ve been dealing with cleanliness and purity. Now that we’ve done that for the community, homes and utensils, it’s time to deal with cleanliness in our relationship with God. First of all, the parasha directs the priests to avoid the mistake that Aaron’s sons made when they came too close. Only the High Priest, Aaron, is to enter the Holy of Holies on permitted occasions. He is first to bring his sacrifice to atone for his sins and those of his household to the Sanctuary. Then he performs the ritual of the scapegoat which everyone is familiar with. He makes his sin offering and he then purges the Sanctuary from the sins of the people. Once everyone and everything are purified and freed from their sins, Aaron makes the burnt offering. From the beginning, the tradition has been that there will be an annual confession of sins, expiation and a chance to do better the next year. Catholicism has adapted this ritual in the confession process, although it is to happen much more frequently than the Jewish model.

God then formalizes the sacrificial process and limits it to the Sanctuary. This is a practical means of seeing to it that the priesthood will have exclusive control of the religion and will have a source of support.

Out of respect for the belief that blood is the source of life, we are now prohibited from drinking blood. That is the basis for the practice of draining the blood from the meat that we eat. It is also the foundation the horror we experience when we read Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

The next part of the parasha, which we don’t read this week, is the juicy sex part. God tells us who we can and cannot have sex with but we have to wait ‘til next year to find out. So, either read ahead or be careful!

Farther along, we get the statement, “You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.” God then instructs us to revere our parents, keep Shabbat and stay away from idols. We are instructed to leave the produce on the edges of our fields for the poor and to leave any fallen fruit from our vineyards for them. We are told to be honorable in our lives and respect those who are not as well off as we are. As a mark of respect, we are to stand when the elderly enter a room. We are to treat strangers in the same fair way that we treat our loved ones and acquaintances. All these requirements are obligations because “I the Lord am your God who freed you from the land of Egypt.”

Finally, we must be circumspect and we have to suspend our belief in Harry Potter and Hogwart’s  – “A man or a woman who has seen a ghost or a familiar spirit shall be put to death.”

We transition to the conclusion of the book of Amos. Amos preached around 755 BCE and predicted that God would bring the House of Jacob down for its sins. But once that has been done, God will restore the people –

“They shall rebuild ruined cities and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and drink their wine; They shall till gardens and eat their fruits. And I will plant them upon their soil, Nevermore to be uprooted from the soil I have given them.”

In the overall context of the two readings for this Shabbat we learn that if we remain true to God’s instructions we will prosper and live good lives. The coronavirus will pass and we will return to our lives and have another opportunity to act fairly and respectfully with our fellow humans. Stay safe.

Torah Comments for SHABBAT TAZRIA – METSORA  April 25, 2020

At first glance, one might think that the Torah portion for this Shabbat has no relevance to today. After all, most of us are either not about to give birth or father a child anymore. The start of the portion deals with the after-effects of child birth. But what we have here is the first maternity leave plan, unpaid though it may have been. A woman is protected from having to go to work probably as well as to the sanctuary for a week, two weeks if she has a girl. After that time, she gets 33 days for a boy and 66 days for a girl. Then she has to make a sacrifice to become clean again. It’s interesting that the time period of uncleanliness for a mother is double if she has a girl. That could either mean that girls were considered to be more delicate or more precious than boys. Or, it could mean that the couple was being punished for having a girl instead of a boy.

There is a one-liner here which indicates that circumcision takes place on the eighth day after birth of a boy. By then the mother is presumably strong enough to watch and the baby is strong enough to endure.

Skin diseases come next. There were no doctors in the Israelite camp, so the priests were in charge of skin disease. Quarantine was the remedy of choice – examination leading to 7 days of isolation; then re-examination leading to 7 more days of isolation. At that point the health insurance ran out and people were either back to normal or permanently exiled from the camp. Isolation was also the remedy for clothing – 7 days like everything else. The whole thing sounds like today’s social distancing and isolation for coronavirus.

Leprosy was as contagious as coronavirus in those days so lepers were isolated. There were other categories of impurity for people, their clothing and their bedding and homes. The key points were isolation – the only method of social distancing at the time – and cleansing. We clean our homes, we remove mold. We clean our packages and our groceries at this time. The only thing we don’t do that they did then is make the sacrifices at the end of the cleansing period.

The other Torah portion deals with the sacrifices for Shabbat and for the New Moon. The Shabbat provision is familiar since it can be found within the Musof service. The sacrifices were not very onerous since they were for the entire community – Shabbat was 2 extra lambs and some flour (I know how precious this is – I can’t find bread flour anywhere) and the new month was 2 bulls, a ram, seven lambs, a goat and some more flour. That’s a total of 24 or 26 bulls, 12 or 13 rams and 96 or 104 lambs a year, not too bad for a few million people.

The Haftorah is the Rosh Hodesh one. One of the few good things about the temple being closed right now is that I don’t have to fight with our fellow congregants that have the same bar mitzvah Haftorah that I do. It comes from Isaiah and is both a promise and a threat. God will punish those who “take pleasure in their abominations, So will I choose to mock them, To bring on them the very thing they dread…” But God will reward the others: “You shall find comfort in Jerusalem. You shall see and your heart shall rejoice…” Everyone will learn the power of God and our brothers will be gathered together in Jerusalem.

The optimism of the Haftorah combines neatly with the rules of community safety in the Torah. We need to follow the concepts of the Torah and practice safe distancing and cleanliness in this hour of peril. Stay safe.

 

Torah Comments for SHABBAT SHEMINI April 18, 2020

The whole book of Leviticus has been leading up to today. This is the big day – the first sacrifice. We got the Ten Commandments. We got the Tabernacle. We made our way through the golden calf. We got our manna and our grouse and our water. We endured our rebellions. We had the priesthood set up and sewed the uniforms. We installed them and here we go. Aaron brings a calf (sin offering) and a ram (burnt offering) and the people bring a goat (sin offering), a calf and a lamb (burnt offering), an ox and a second ram (well-being) and a meal offering of grain and oil. The first step, as always, was the sacrifice and purification of the priests. Then came the sacrifice for the people. The people were blessed, and all was well.

Well, you know how this has to end. No good can just end with that original sacrifice. Somebody always has to be just a little bit better than everybody else and the priests were no exception. Up come Nadab and Abihu and set up their own extra sacrifice. Naturally, they die. Then what’s a father to do? Can he mourn them? No. Moses tells him to buck it up and that is that.

What follows are the rules for the priests’ conduct – no drinking on the job, what parts of the sacrifices they can eat and who they can share them with and when. And then it follows as the night follows the day, rules for the Israelites. And what rules do we come up with now that Passover has ended? Kashrut, of course. Now that everyone is ready to relax and get back to baking bread with yeast and all that other good stuff, the Lord reminds Moses and Aaron of what we can and cannot eat, how to prepare it and what we can put it in. So, read on and see what we’re supposed to do.

The Haftorah comes from II Samuel. King David goes to the house of Abinadab where the Ark had been kept along with 30,000 of his most loyal men and off they go. They reach Perez-uzzah and one of Abinadab’s sons, Uzzah, reaches out to steady the Ark on its cart when one of the oxen pulling it stumbles. Uzzah is struck down, just like Aaron’s sons had been when they decided to add to the sacrifices. Now, who knows what would have happened to the Ark if Uzzah hadn’t tried to protect it? Regardless, the Lord makes the point crystal clear – don’t change things around on your own.

The next point that the Haftorah makes is that you can’t really make a fool of yourself when celebrating our traditions. As David finally brings the Ark into the city, he dances and sings like a whirling dervish. His wife, Michal, Saul’s daughter, ridicules him for his actions and for her pains she is stricken with barrenness for the rest of her life. Finally, David decides that he is going to build a temple for the Ark. God tells Nathan, the prophet, to let him know that it’s not David’s decision on when and where to build a temple; that’s up to God and God isn’t ready.

The point of all of these stories is to emphasize the role of humility in our lives. From the very beginning of the parasha, God makes it clear that mere mortals don’t get to decide the rules by themselves, even the priests. God sets the rules and we follow. We cannot presume to know better. When we get to be too big for our britches, we will be brought down to earth. Nadab and Abihu find out that you don’t add rituals that are not approved. Aaron learns that even with his position as High Priest, he cannot give his family immunity from punishment. Later, he endures admonishment for not properly making use of the sacrifices. Uzzah is punished for presuming to carry his father’s hospitality too far by touching the Ark. Michal learns that haughtiness does not pay and even David is censured for being presumptuous in his attempt to add a new home for God. We can all learn from these examples of people who are much more important than we are in the lives of our communities to remain humble and to not presume that we know more than anyone about what others should be doing. Stay safe as we all protect each other from Covid-19 by our collective actions.

 

Torah Comments for  SHABBAT HOL HAMO’ED April 11, 2020

This week is the special Shabbat, Hol Hamo’ed Pesach. Special readings for this Shabbat include a re-reading of a Torah portion of a few weeks ago. A frustrated Moses and a chastened Israelite people have just been confronted with God’s patience with them running out – again. Moses continues to deal with dissent and rebellion by the people and expresses his concerns about following an unknown quality in God. He has been talking with God in the Tabernacle but now he wants to see God. The Lord shows mercy and agrees to show Moses his goodness and his presence but no more. The Lord tells Moses that he cannot look upon God (penetrate the mystery of God’s ultimate being) and survive but he can observe the afterglow of God’s presence.

God then agrees to redo the Ten Commandments. He instructs Moses to take two new tablets of stone to the summit of Mt. Sinai and agrees to write the commandments on them. Now the 13 Attributes of God are revealed:

The Lord! The Lod! A God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and faithfulness, extending kindness to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; yet He does not remit all punishment, but visits the iniquity of parents upon children and children’s children, upon the third and fourth generations.

God then promises to drive out the enemies of the Israelites and demands that the religious practices of the peoples they encounter must be eradicated. We are reminded to observe Passover and the Sabbath and are also instructed – You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.

The second reading for this Shabbat recounts the special sacrifices for Passover.

Ezekiel recounts the vision of the dry bones. He comes upon a valley of bones. When asked by God if the bones can live again, he responds that only God can know. As Ezekiel prophesies over the bones, they come together, and they come to life. God tells Ezekiel that the bones represent the House of Israel. On the Day of Judgment, the Lord will bring all of us and our ancestors to the land of Israel and we shall live again.

The special readings for this day include the Song of Songs:

Ah, you are fair, my darling,

Ah, you are fair,

With your dove-like eyes!

And you, my beloved, are handsome,

Beautiful indeed!

Our stories come together for Passover. The common theme, the power of God and the need to recognize and celebrate it come through. God’s presence begins the story. God insists upon continuity through the renewal of the Ten Commandments and the renewal of the covenant with the people. God’s power. A reminder of the appropriate sacrifices for Passover is one of how to show respect for God and God’s power. The Haftorah demonstrates God’s ability to do anything and again God’s love for our people in the promise of redemption. God’s love is juxtaposed with people’s mutual love in the Song of Songs but it all comes together with a promise of hope for the future. If we live by the Ten Commandments and the covenant that is renewed with Moses, if we respect and honor God, God will remember us and the future we can hope to achieve is contained in the Song of Songs. Remain safe and careful in the coming weeks as we fulfill the promises of Passover.

Torah Comments for SHABBAT TSAV   SHABBAT HAGADOL
April 4, 2020

Animal sacrifices, these sound barbaric today, don’t they? The weekly parasha discusses sacrifices and how they are performed. First comes the altar. It always burns, day and night.

The discussion of specific sacrifices starts with the most important public sacrifices. The olah, the burnt offering, was the first and last offering each day. Before offering it in the morning the ashes from yesterday were removed. Once the olah had been offered, the meal offering was prepared. A small portion was thrown onto the fire and the rest was eaten by the priests. The exception to this rule was the offering for when a priest was ordained. That offering was entirely burned on the altar. It had to come from the priest himself.

Sin offerings were private offerings by those who had inadvertently violated a rule. They were also eaten by the priests. The guilt offering was treated in the same fashion as the sin offering. At least in this portion of the Torah, there is no explanation of the different eligibility for being a sin offering as opposed to a guilt offering. The process was exactly the same except that the description of the guilt offering makes it clear that the priest was allowed to keep the animal hide and sell it if he wished. All of these sacrifices were considered holy and sacred.

There were other sacrifices which were not considered as significant as the first ones. There was the gift of greeting or sacrifice of well-being. The theory was that the sacrifice was given to the Lord who then granted the priests the right to eat it and in some cases profit from it. But this was the method used to support the priesthood in Biblical times.

It was important that since the sacrifices were being offered to the Lord, they had to be pure. They had to be alive at the time of the sacrifice and the priest would examine them to make sure they were acceptable. Israelites were also prohibited from eating the fat or the blood from a sacrifice.

This Shabbat is Shabbat Hagadol. It signifies the coming of the day of Judgment. Malachi tells us that the Lord is sending us his messenger who will purify my family at least as descendants of Levi. At that time the offerings at the Temple will become pleasing to the Lord again. However, the Lord will dispose of those who have no fear of him – those who commit adultery or perform sorcery, swear falsely and cheat laborers and those who interfere with the widow, orphan and the stranger. The Lord is making a list of those who were good and those who were not and will act appropriately toward them. Elijah will come to us to alert us to the time of judgment and the Lord will then reconcile parents and children with each other.

The Torah begins with the proposition that we need to carry out the proper sacrifices to please God and to support the priesthood. We have evolved to the point where we believe that we can please God with prayer and good deeds rather than sacrifice and we support our religious leaders in more modern and flexible means than giving them food and animal hides. The point, however, is that we need to respect God and the structural components of Judaism as well as acting properly. In this manner, we will ultimately reap the benefits of God’s “chosen people” as we recognize that we and God both benefit from our good works as do those we help. Remember to stay safe – it gets harder each day to “social distance,” but we need to remain strong and positive.

 

Saturday, March 28, 2020, Nisan , 5780
Torah comments for Shabbat YAYIKRA

Vayikra, Leviticus. The priestly guidebook. We start out with the basics of sacrifices. Today we deal with the burnt offering or olah, the grain offering, minhah, and the gift of greeting, zevah shelamim. Most sacrifices followed the same basics – the sacrifice was presented at the entrance of the Tabernacle, the donor laid his hands on the sacrifice to designate it for the Lord and blood from it was dashed on the altar. The olah was an animal or bird. This sacrifice was totally consumed on the altar. The minhah was generally offered in the evening. It consisted of grains such as wheat and first fruits. Only part of it was burned; the rest was for the priests to eat. These offerings were unleavened – Passover is coming! The third sacrifice, zevah shelamim, was generally an animal sacrifice. Parts of the animal, after being cooked on the altar, were distributed to the invited guests to eat. Parts were eaten by the priests. Fat would go to God; meat to the priests and guests. These were all regular sacrifices and they were on-going for the purpose of honoring God. The next set of sacrifices were the expiatory sacrifices. They were meant to atone for unwitting offenses, inadvertent violations of the rules or failure to carry out legal obligations. There were no sacrifices that would expiate a deliberate sin.

The Haftorah, from Isaiah, emphasizes that God formed our people for the purpose of declaring His praise. God complains through Isaiah that the people have not honored God through the appropriate sacrifices, even though they were not a great burden. Instead, the people have burdened God with their sins. God speaks of the sins of our earliest ancestor. It almost sounds like Catholicism’s concept of the Original Sin. But God says His punishments of the people are over and there is a bright future ahead. God has remained steadfast in His predictions of the future and reminds us that He is the only God.

God castigates the makers of idols – “They have no wit or judgment: Their eyes are besmeared and they see not; Their minds, and they cannot think. They do not give thought.” He concludes: “I wipe away your sins like a cloud, Your transgressions like mist – Come back to Me, for I redeem you.”

There is an obvious connection between the Torah and the Haftorah. The practice of sacrifice in order to please a god was the recognized method of relating to the unknown in the ancient world. Isaiah points out that the sacrifices were not a huge burden and failing to carry them out had resulted in dire consequences for the Israelites. But the Jewish sacrifices were pretty practical. Most of them were of portions of animals that were not healthy to consume anyhow. The bulk of the sacrifices were used to feed the priests who needed a source of support since they were unable to engage in normal agricultural activities in the community.

But what of today and tomorrow? Do we have to bring the sacrifices back to properly please God? Animal sacrifice is no longer condoned in our religious life. It has been condemned for over 1500 years in the Abrahamic religions. There is still animal sacrifice in today’s world, however. It is common on certain holidays in Nepal and other areas by Hindus. We know that the strictest Orthodox tradition is that we should remove the El Aksa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock and rebuild the Temple. They have prepared the instruments for the restoration of sacrifices when that happens. But our tradition, for the last 2000 years, is that prayer and good deeds have replaced sacrifice. We have evolved. As Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai said at the time of the destruction of the Temple, “There is another equally meritorious way of gaining atonement even though the Temple is destroyed. We can still gain atonement through deeds of lovingkindness.” As Isaiah says, the burden of pleasing God is not to be an onerous one. We can continue to perform deeds of lovingkindness and please God at the same time. In this time of personal challenge, it is a deed of lovingkindness to check on your family and friends and keep in touch, even if you have no ability to do more. Remember to stay safe and keep your loved ones safe.

 

Saturday, March 21, 2020, Adar 25, 5780
Torah comments for Shabbat Va Yakhel, Pekudey and Hahodesh

The story of the Exodus is chock full of highlights – the story begins with the phrase “A new king rose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. We encounter the enslavement of our people, the burning bush, the Ten Plagues, the departure of the people, the parting of the Reed Sea, the giving of the Ten Commandments (twice), the Golden Calf, rebellion and complaints. Now we come to another highlight – Moses convenes the people, reminds them of the law of Shabbat and orders the construction of the Tabernacle. The people came as their hearts moved them and donated the materials to build the building. The skilled artisans came forth to perform the work. Bazalel and Oholiab took charge and brought the project to fruition. Bezalel made the Ark. He did a better job of it than my friend Harvey and I did a few weeks ago but he was skilled and had better materials to work with. They built the Tabernacle, the Ark, the altars and other sacred objects and made the priestly clothing. They brought everything to Moses for his approval and Moses blessed them.

Two weeks before the first anniversary of the Exodus and nine months after the arrival at Sinai, the Tabernacle is erected and the sacred objects are placed into the proper positions. Moses put the Tabernacle together on New Year’s Day, placed the Ten Commandments into the Ark and got everything ready. The presence of the Lord covered the Tabernacle in a cloud. It remained there until it was time to break camp and then led the way on the journeys of the Israelites to the Promised Land. And thus ends the Book of Exodus.

We turn back in Exodus for a moment because this is Shabbat Hahodesh and read again the instructions for the first seder together with the requirement to observe Passover thereafter.

Ezekiel provides the haftorah for this day. God orders that the Temple be purified on the first day of the new year – the anniversary of the erection of the Tabernacle. Two weeks later Passover begins. Instructions for worship at the Temple are given including one that when the common people come to worship, whoever enters by the South gate leaves by the North gate and whoever enters by the North gate leaves by the South gate. This becomes the tradition that many synagogues have of parading the Torah one way when it is removed from the Ark during the service and then going the other way when it is returned to the Ark.

Finally, Ezekiel repeats God’s instruction – “The prince shall not take property away from any of the people and rob them of their holdings … My people may not be dispossessed of their holdings.”

The common theme of this week is purification – the Tabernacle and all the holy objects were purified before they were put to use. The Temple was purified each year. The time of the purification was now and this is the prelude to Passover when we purify our own homes. Take care of yourselves while we are on hiatus. I look forward to seeing all of you just as soon as we can safely reopen the Temple.

Seventh Day – April 6, 2018

God leads the newly free Israelites from Egypt – by day in a pillar of cloud, and by night as a pillar of fire. Pharaoh regrets letting the Israelites go, and sends an elite chariot force after them. On God’s instruction, Moses divides the sea, and the Israelites pass through safely. When the Egyptians follow, the sea closes over them. In gratitude for the redemption, Moses composes the Song of the Sea.

Eighth Day – April 7, 2018

In reviewing the observances of the three Pilgrimage Festivals, Moses begins by placing Pesach in “the month of Aviv” (Spring). The Israelites will be required to offer a Paschal sacrifice, to eat unleavened bread (matzah), and to remember the Exodus from Egypt all the days of their lives.  Fifty days later, they will observe Shavuot – the Feast of Weeks. In the Fall, Sukkot will be celebrated. All three festivals were occasions for Jews to come with offerings to God’s Sanctuary.

March 24, 2018

The Torah
The priests are commanded to keep the fire on the altar burning properly. God commands Moses to prepare Aaron, the Tabernacle, and Aaron’s sons for the priesthood. This includes washing Aaron and his sons, dressing them in ritual garments, and anointing Aaron and the Tabernacle with oil. During this ordination ceremony, a sin offering and a burnt offering are brought, and a ram of ordination is slaughtered.  Some of the blood is put on the right ear, thumb, and big toe of Aaron and his sons. Then Moses dashes the blood against each side of the altar. Specified parts of the ram, along with one cake of unleavened bread, one cake of oil bread, and one wafer are placed in the palms of Aaron and his sons and then burned with the burnt offering. Moses takes anointing oil and some blood from the altar and sprinkles it upon Aaron and his sons. He then directs Aaron and his sons to boil the flesh of the ram and eat it with the unleavened bread at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. This procedure is repeated for seven days.

The Haftorah
The Shabbat immediately preceding Pesach is called “Shabbat Hagadol” (The Great Shabbat). The Haftarah is taken from the prophet Malachi and represents a word of caution to the Jewish people living in the 5th century B.C.E.  Like their ancestors, they have lacked faith in God, even spoken against the Holy One. But God promises the people that if they will give up some of what they have (a tithe), God will “open for [them] the windows of heaven and pour down for [them] blessing beyond [their] capacity.” It is an auspicious  time of the year for such an assurance, because it is so imperative for Jews to extend generous help to others at Pesach time (Maot Chitim). The Haftarah concludes with the assurance that Elijah the prophet will come to herald the time of Messianic redemption. Our expectations of such a time are thereby raised when we invite Elijah to our Seder tables. The Haftarah, with it’s reference to Elijah, is thus chosen to be read on the Shabbat immediately before Pesach.

March 10, 2018

Torah Portion:
Moses reminds the Israelites to observe the Sabbath as a day of rest. The seventh day is a holy day on which no fires are to be lit. Moses reviews God’s building instructions for the Tabernacle. He asks the people to bring gifts to use in its construction. The Israelites respond to Moses’ call. The skilled artisans make the cloth covering and the goat’s hair tent over the Tabernacle, as well as the curtain, and the screen for the entrance to the Tabernacle. The gold covered Ark of acacia wood and the cherubim on the Ark cover are constructed as are the table for the bread of display and the seven-branched menorah, the altars and the copper washbowl and stand. The appearance and construction of the vestments for officiating in the sanctuary are presented in great detail. Everything is brought before Moses for inspection. All work had been performed and completed as God had commanded. Moses blesses the Israelites. The tabernacle is finally set up on the first of Nisan in the second year of Israel’s freedom. When the Tabernacle has been erected, God’s presence fills it.

Haftorah Portion:
This is Shabbat Parah, the Shabbat on which we recall the use of a Red Heifer to purify those who had become ritually impure through contact with the dead. The special Maftir Torah portion focuses on becoming ritually fit to offer sacrifices – an important theme before the Festival of Passover. The Haftarah picks up on the idea of cleansing, and provides a lesson on becoming morally pure in order to fulfill the teachings of God. God tells the prophet Ezekiel that when the Children of Israel will sanctify God’s name, they will be allowed to inhabit the Land of Israel. God will give them a new heart and a new spirit, and they will be blessed with good crops and protected for the sake of God’s name. With their common theme of moral purification, the Haftarah and Maftir portions connect well with the lengthy and difficult process of preparing ourselves and our homes for the upcoming festival of Pesach.

This Torah reading concludes the Book of Exodus.  Exodus, which  began with the despair of the enslaved Israelites, now concludes on a note of hope and confidence as divine spirit hovers over and guides the Israelites in their journey home.

 

March 3, 2018

This week’s Torah
God commands Moses to take a census of the Israelites. God tells Moses to make articles for the Priests to use when entering the Tent of Meeting. Moses is told to remind the Israelites to keep the Sabbath as a sign of the covenant. God gives Moses two tablets on which are inscribed the laws, but the Israelites have grown impatient in the time that Moses was up on Mount Sinai. They demand that Aaron fashion for them a god. Under great duress, he relents and makes a Golden Calf. God tells Moses that the Israelites have turned away from the laws. God will destroy them and make Moses’ descendants a great nation. Moses pleads with God to spare the people. As the Israelites worship the calf, Moses descends the mountain. Angered, he smashes the tablets and destroys the calf. God tells Moses to carve two new tablets of stone for God to inscribe again with the words of the law.

This week’s Haftorah
Ahab, the King of Israel, and his wife Jezebel had introduced the worship of Baal – a foreign god – to the Jewish people.  Because of this sin, the land of Israel is experiencing a severe drought. God tells the prophet Elijah to speak with Ahab.  Ahab accuses Elijah of being a troublemaker but Elijah responds that it is the king who has brought misfortune to the people and the land. Elijah confronts the 450 prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel, and is thereby able to demonstrate to the Jewish people that the God of Israel is the only true God. The incidents described in the Torah portion and in the Haftarah join two moments of betrayal in Israelite history. In the Torah portion, we learn of the building of the golden calf; in the Haftarah, once again the Israelites turn their back on God, this time to worship the pagan

 

February 24, 2018

Shabbat Zachor This Week’s Torah Reading Exodus 28:31-29:18
Shabbat Zachor /  שבת זכור Moses is told to instruct the Israelites to bring olive oil to light the lamps of the Tabernacle. The lamps are to burn from evening until morning, and are to be the responsibility of Aaron and his sons. Moses is told to ordain Aaron and his sons as Kohanim (priests). The Kohanim are to be adorned in special clothes: linen breeches, tunics, sashes, and turbans. The Kohen Gadol (High Priest) is to wear a special robe of pure blue decorated at the hem with pomegranates and golden bells. Over this robe, an apron-like layer (the Ephod), woven of gold, blue, purple, and crimson yarns, is to be worn. Connected to the Ephod is “the breastplate of judgment” (choshen) – a square-shaped container decorated on the front with four rows of precious stones. The Kohen Gadol is also to wear a gold plate engraved “Holy to the Lord” to be tied with a blue cord to the front of his turban. The Kohanim are to be ordained in a special ceremony, which involved first washing, dressing, and anointing them with oil, and secondly, the offering of various sacrifices. These ceremonies are to be repeated for seven days. The Maftir reading for Shabbat Zachor, tells us to remember (zachor) the attack by the Amalakites upon the Israelites. The Amalakites attacked the Israelites ruthlessly from behind, killing the stragglers:  the old, the infirm, the very young and the women.

This Week’s Special Haftarah Reading  Samuel 15:2-34   In the Haftarah, Saul, recently crowned King of Israel, spared the life of the Amalekite king after defeating the Amalakites in a battle. The prophet Samuel had relayed God’s command that Saul destroy all of the Amalakites (even their animals) for the cruelties perpetrated against the Israelites. When Saul spares the life of the king and, instead takes him prisoner, Samuel chastises him for not adhering to God’s word, which is to eradicate the Amalakites entirely. This week’s Haftarah connects to the calendar rather than the weekly Torah portion. According to tradition, Haman, who plotted to kill the Jews of Persia in the Megillah of Esther, is considered to be a descendant of the Amalekite kings spared by Saul. This is why we read these portions just before Purim.

 

February 16, 2018 summary courtesy of Congregation Beth Shalom in Northbrook, Illinois

The Torah portion:

God instructs Moses to accept gifts from the Israelites to be used to construct a sanctuary for God. Acceptable gifts include precious metals and stones, tanned skins, blue, purple, and crimson yarns and linen, and special oils and spices. God shows Moses the design for the Tabernacle and its contents:  an Ark of acacia wood, overlaid both inside and out with gold. The Ark is to be fitted with gold rings and gold-covered poles to make it portable. The tablets of the law are to be kept inside. Two gold cherubim are to be placed facing each other over the cover of the Ark. The Ark is to be housed in the innermost chamber of the Tabernacle, called the Holy of Holies. God describes the construction of the Tabernacle to Moses in great detail. The entire structure is to be portable, with a wooden framework and walls of richly colored fabric. Next to the Holy of Holies is to be a room called the Holy place, with a table overlaid in gold with the bread of display (shewbread) set on it and the sevenbranched Menorah also made of gold. In the Tabernacle court, an altar is to be constructed with copper-covered horns at each corner. The courtyard itself is to be 100 cubits long by 50 cubits wide, surrounded by walls of acacia wood covered in gold and overlaid with fabric and animal hides.  During the forty years of wandering in the desert, the tabernacle was the site at which God spoke to Moses.

The Haftorah

King David’s strong desire was to build a Temple for God.  Although he would not live to see his dream realized, his son Solomon made the task a high priority during his reign. This week’s Haftarah contains many of the details related to building the Temple. About 180,000 workers were needed to complete the task and the building may have taken more than twenty years. The Temple proper was a rectangular hall 60 by 20 by 30 cubits. This week’s Torah portion describes the construction of the Tabernacle in the wilderness. The narrative is paralleled in the Haftarah, which describes the building of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem.

 

February 10, 2018 summary courtesy of Congregation Beth Shalom in Northbrook, Illinois

This Week’s Torah Portion

The name of this week’s parsha, Mishpatim, translates to social ordinances. This is the first Torah Portion after the Ten Commandments, and it deals with how we are to live together. Our tradition is telling us that we need rules to live together and we have to respect the dignity of every one. We follow up last week’s big ten with the small print: 53 more commandments. Among the list is the famous line about punishment being “eye for an eye” or what is known in fancy language as lex talionis – the law of retaliation. As Mahatma Gandhi (and Fiddler on the Roof) taught, this law would make the whole world blind. The Rabbis of the Talmud agree – they come up with ten different reasons why “eye for an eye” is just a metaphor. They believe it means that punishment should be just, but not physical nor savage. We all know that lessons are best learned in a way fitting for the situation.

This Week’s Haftorah

The special Maftir and Haftarah of Shabbat Shekalim discuss the monetary donations of the Children of Israel. Every adult Israelite was to offer a half-shekel as a sign of atonement. The half-shekels served as a census and were used to maintain the sacrificial worship in the Tabernacle. The Haftarah recalls a later period in Jewish history when monies were brought to the Temple in Jerusalem and used solely for repairing the Temple. The chest was set up by the Jewish King Yehoash, who began to rule the Kingdom of Judah at the age of seven. This week’s Haftarah connects to the calendar rather than the weekly Torah portion. Shabbat Shekalim is the first of 4 special Shabbatot leading up to the celebration of Pesach. This reading is set one month before the beginning of the month of Nissan, in which Pesach falls. The reciting of Parashat Shekalim was instituted in remembrance of the Temple and the sacrifices after the destruction of the Second Temple.

February 3, 2018 summary courtesy of Congregation Beth Shalom in Northbrook, Illinois

In the third month after the Exodus, the people enter the wilderness of Sinai and encamp by Mount Sinai. God tells the people through Moses that if they will obey God’s teachings, they will be for God a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” The people respond as one, saying, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” After the Israelites wait a period of three days for purification, God appears to them in a cloud of smoke and fire on the mountain and proclaims the Ten Commandments. The Children of Israel tremble at the sound of the thunder and the spectacle of the lightning as God speaks to them.  They ask Moses to act as God’s spokesman out of fear that they will die if they hear God speak directly to them. From that point until Moses’ death, God speaks to the people through Moses. God tells Moses to remind the Israelites that they themselves had heard God speak. Therefore, they are to hold fast in their resolve to worship no idols. Instead of praying to graven images, the Israelites are to offer sacrifices to God on altars built of earth.

Today’s Haftarah

Isaiah reports witnessing the angels who surround God’s throne and call out to one another: “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of God’s glory.” (This line appears in the Kedushah section of the Amidah.) Isaiah understands that God is the Supreme Being and has power over all. When God, through revelation, asks Isaiah to carry the message to the Jewish people, Isaiah, like Moses, declares himself to be unworthy. But God is able to convince Isaiah to speak to the people, and it is Isaiah who tells Ahaz, the king of Judah, that God does not want him to fear the rulers of Aram and Ephraim.

 

January 20, 2018 summary courtesy of Congregation Beth Shalom in Northbrook, Illinois

This Week’s Parashah – Bo

Pharaoh’s courtiers plead with him to obey God in order to stop the plagues and save Egypt. When Pharaoh ignores their advice, locusts, the 8th plague, come to destroy those parts of Egypt left unharmed by hail (7th plague). The plague ends when Pharaoh pleads with Moses and Aaron, but God, again, hardens Pharaoh’s heart. The plague of darkness falls without warning – only the Israelites have light where they live.  God tells Moses that the next plague, the slaying of the firstborn, will be the last. Moses and Aaron instruct the Israelites in the laws of Passover.  On the 10th day of the first month, they are to slaughter a lamb, smear its blood on their doorposts, and eat its roasted flesh hurriedly in remembrance of the 10th plague and their hasty Exodus from Egypt.  For seven days, they are to eat only unleavened bread. The Israelites apply lamb’s blood to their doorposts as instructed.  In the middle of the night, all the firstborn Egyptian males are struck down. Pharaoh summons Moses and Aaron and bids them to depart with the Israelites.  Because of their haste in leaving Egypt, the people take their dough with them before it rises. Exodus 13:8 says that “you shall tell your son the story of the exodus from Egypt.”  The rabbis derived from this verse that parents are obligated to relate the story to their children on the eve of Passover.  The story, found in the Haggadah, is told during the course of the Seder by Jewish families worldwide.  It is important to tell the story of the Exodus in a way that is understandable and accessible to the next generation. A variety of creative and engaging Haggadot have been published recently that help families fulfill this important obligation.

This Week’s Haftarah

Jeremiah had warned the people of Judea against alliances with Egypt.  His warnings prove to be necessary when Egypt surrenders to Babylon, paving the way for the conquest of the Southern Kingdom of Israel and the exile of the Judeans.  Jeremiah, who was jailed for his preaching, tells the Jewish people not to be afraid because God is with them, even in exile, and will one day return them to their homeland. The Haftarah this week, presents a counterpoint to the Israelites’ plight in Egypt.  Jeremiah’s prophecy of Egypt’s destruction references the 8th plague.  The numerous armies that will come upon Egypt “are more numerous than locusts and cannot be counted.”

 

Torah talk for May 27, 2017 Welcome to Numbers! Finally we’re done with the manual for the priests and now we get to some practical things. The first thing that happens is the census. Only males got counted and only after they reached 20. There were 603,550. The Levites were not counted so we don’t know how many of them there were. Their job was to take care of and protect the Tabernacle. But if you figure that the men over 20 were matched by women over 20 and by people under that age, there had to be almost 2 million people there. So why is it that they only counted males over 20? The reason is not that they had budget issues; the census was designed to determine how many people were available to serve in the army. This was a critical question at the time. It was the beginning of the second year after the exodus. By now of course, God had determined that the people would be remaining in the Sinai for another 39 years before coming to the Promised Land. It was necessary to have a means to defend the Hebrews from the hostile nations that inhabited the edges of the wilderness and from raiders in the wilderness. While the sight of a few million people might seem to be intimidating itself, that would not prevent raiders from attacking stragglers and outlying areas. So, once the census was taken, it became possible to create a defensive perimeter around the Tabernacle and the entire encampment. The Levites were in the middle, not because they needed protection but because they were the last line of defense. The other tribes were ranged around the Levites to protect the rest of the people. Today’s Haftorah is from Hosea. He lived during the time of the two kingdoms and encountered licentiousness among the people of the Northern Kingdom (not that there wasn’t any in Judah but that’s not where he lived. He predicted that the Israelites would number like the sands of the sea and would eventually become one nation again which God would receive again. He demanded that the people reform and reunite, largely to deaf ears. The two themes from today are unity and purity. We are told that strength may be found in numbers but those numbers must be matched by living a proper life. Only by coming together and living appropriately will we be able to find peace and serenity. Shabbat Shalom.

 

Torah remarks for May 13, 2017 Today’s Torah portion details the requirements that the priests have to remain pure. They must remain holy; they must remain pure and unblemished. In order to officiate they must follow all of the purification rituals. The Haftorah has similar demands. Why is this? Why do the priests have to be so perfect? And why do we find these rules in the Torah itself? Why aren’t they in some other book or a separate priestly manual? As with everything in the Torah, we need to put these rules into a historical context. Remember, we’ve just founded a new religion. It has some of the trappings that existed before in Egypt and in other ancient cultures – there is a priestly class, there are sacrifices, there are rules to follow. But the rules, the way sacrifices are performed and the obligations of the people toward the priests and the priests to the people have really turned what the former slaves were used to on its head. There is a requirement that all the people must be pure; they must worship one God; they must set themselves apart from all other ancient societies. So how can they do this? What is the glue that holds everything together? Before the monarchy is established the answer is the priests. They are the arbiters of what is right and wrong. They intercede for the people with God. They lead everyone in setting a standard for personal conduct. There is of course our covenant with God – we follow the rules and our people will be given a land flowing with milk and honey; the multitudes will be like grains of sand. But there is a second covenant; the covenant with the priests. We are to follow their guidance and they will see to it that we get what God promises us. If we are to follow them though, we need to be certain that they are leading us properly. That is the secret of the passages we have today. If the people are assured that their religious leaders are pure and promote true justice, they will follow their instruction and we will prosper. The priests need to be pure and the people will sustain them. This will lead to us all being sustained. This week, Nancy and I visited the Kennedy Space Center. The overarching themes of the center are the vastness of space and the desire to find and understand the unknown. Our religion is the same. We need to find and understand the unknown and to become comfortable with our place in creation. Study of the cosmos and study of the Torah will help us along his road. Shabbat Shalom.

 

Torah talk for May 6, 2017 Today there is another double portion for our Torah reading. This is pretty common at this time of year. Today’s first Torah portion is Acharey mot – after the death – and it details what happens after the deaths of Aaron’s two sons for not following the rules. The focus is on what must be done to purify the High Priest, the sanctuary and the people. The famous story of the scape goat is told, as is the instruction to observe Yom Kippur for all time. Significantly, the people cannot have their sins forgiven until after the purification of the site of worship. Ultimately, this becomes the basis for the story of Chanukah. After the portion that we read today there is a passage which is also read in the afternoon service at the conclusion of Yom Kippur – “You shall not copy the practices of the land of Egypt where you dwelt, or of the land of Canaan to which I am taking you; nor shall you follow their laws. My rules alone shall you observe, and faithfully follow My laws.” What follows are the rules of sexual conduct. In the next portion, Kedoshim, we find the requirement to be holy because God is holy, rules to honor your parents, to keep the Sabbath and be fair to the poor and your fellows. One of the rules I have followed carefully over the years in my dealings with workmen is “The wages of a laborer shall not remain with you until morning.” I have always made it a point to see that the people who worked for me were paid on time and in full. This rule is placed with others governing fairness and prohibiting fraud. It conveys the necessary rules of an agrarian society where people routinely performed daily labor and needed to be paid, literally for their daily bread, but the principle is the same – no one in a position of power should use that power to cause hardship for those who cannot match their status. Kedoshim carries our obligations to the poor further: “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not completely reap the corner of your field, and you shall not gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not pick the undeveloped twigs of your vineyard; and you shall not gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the proselyte – I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19:9-10) While we’re gleaning in the fields here, there are two principals we can glean from this passage – the first is that we have an affirmative duty to help the poor. The second is that we have to respect them by allowing them to gather the gleanings themselves rather than forcing them to come and ask for charity. Amos is a minor prophet who lived and prophesized in the Northern kingdom of Israel. In today’s Haftorah, he condemns those who are not following the rules that God has decreed. He predicts that God will destroy the northern kingdom due to the sinful conduct in the kingdom but then says that God will restore the people – “Nevermore to be uprooted from the soil I have given them.” Amos’ teachings can be found in Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech. King quotes, “we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream” alluding to Amos’ message of social justice. Using the same quote, Bernie Sanders referenced Amos’ in his campaign speech, rhetorically implying he stands for social justice. The overall theme today is purity. We must show respect to the center of our religious life, in the Torah – the Tabernacle, in the Prophets – the Temple and for all time, the place of worship. We need to make sure that the synagogue or the temple is treated with great care because it represents the ideals that we strive for. Then we must live lives that aspire to reach these same ideals. Shabbat Shalom.

 

Torah Comments for April 29, 2017 Today’s Torah portion has two parts to it – the first deals with women after childbirth and pronounces that the mother will be unclean. If she has a boy, she is unclean for seven days and then requires purification for 33 days. For girls, the time is doubled. During that time she cannot touch a consecrated object or enter the sanctuary. Then she is to produce a sin offering and a burnt offering to obtain purification. Biblically, her state of “uncleanness” was a recognition of a period of danger for both herself and the baby. She would be isolated so neither of them would become ill and die at a susceptible time. The second part of the Torah portion deals with diseases of the skin and emphasizes the role of the priest in determining the extent of a disease and its cure. Isolation is the first step in preparing for a cure. The Haftorah relates the story of four lepers who are isolated from the rest of the people. There is a siege and the Israelites are starving. The encircling army of Arameans is preparing to conquer them. The lepers, who are about to starve to death, decide that they might as well go to the Aramean camp and either receive food or be put to death. They arrive and discover that the Arameans have fled. They eat their fill and take the spoils of the first few Arameans before their consciences take hold and force them to go to the city and notify everyone that they are saved. The common theme here is isolation. But it is not just isolation. One must support the person who is isolated. The birth mother may not be burdened by duties and may be separated from others but someone needs to provide her with food and assistance. The person who is isolated while awaiting a diagnosis of her skin lesion must still be cared for. Even the lepers who cannot be cured are deserving of our compassion and support. They had little hesitation in bringing the good news of the Aramean rout to the city even though they had been isolated from the community. Clearly, they still felt an obligation to the city. Compassion must have been shown to them and they repaid it. Today’s lesson is to remember that, there but for the grace of God go I and to respect and support those who are not able to care for themselves. Shabbat shalom.

 

Torah Comments for April 11, 2017 Today’s main Torah portion recites the preparations for the 10th plague. Moses instructs the people to hold a Passover meal, inviting others to it if they cannot provide their own lamb for the dinner. He also instructs them to place the lamb’s blood on their doorposts to notify the Lord of their presence. Then he instructs them that they are to perform the Passover seder every year and to explain to their children that the ritual is in honor of the Lord who passed over our homes and smote the Egyptians. From this passage the seder as we know it originated. The second Torah portion details the special sacrifices made in the Temple for Passover. The Haftorah connects to Passover as well. We learn that no circumcisions had taken place in the wilderness during the 40 years of wandering. As Joshua prepares to lead the people over the Jordan River into the land flowing with milk and honey, he causes all of the males to be circumcised and God tells him that the disgrace of Egyptian slavery has now been completed erased. As the Israelites prepared for the conquest of the land of Israel they offer a Passover sacrifice. This also marks the end of the manna. From then on, the people would be fed by the crops they grew and the animals they raised. The study we make today is one of contrasts. We draw together for the Passover seder, remembering our past and preparing for the future. At the same time, we look ahead to a future in which we will equals as part of a larger world. We are told “There shall be one law for the citizen and for the stranger who dwells among you.” From this we learn to have pride in our heritage and compassion for all others. Yom Tov Shalom.

 

TORAH TALK FOR MARCH 25, 2017 There are a number of interesting points to consider in today’s Torah reading. Moses directs the construction of the Tabernacle. He asks the people to contribute to it of their own free will. He establishes the first gift registry in history, asking for precious metals, yarns, animal skins and other items. There is an interesting contrast between this request and the demand at the time of the census. Everyone is required to contribute the same basic amount to support the governing structure of the Israelites but no one is required to support the construction of the center of worship. We can spend lots of time some other time debating the significance of this distinction but I have something else to talk about today. Today’s Torah portion marks both a concession of sorts to paganism and a rejection of it. This is the story of the construction of the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle is a portable temple that will accompany the Israelites throughout their travels in the wilderness. It becomes the focus of the religion. All religious practices take place at the Tabernacle. God’s presence is said to be centered there. To that extent, the construction of the Tabernacle is a throwback to the pagan practices that the people had become familiar with as slaves in Egypt. A temple was the focus of the Egyptian religious life. The people who had recently left Egypt were still slaves in their mindsets and needed something familiar to ground them as they moved on to confront the unknown. But there was a significant change from the old practice – a step in the process of elevation to a new religion. There were no statues of our God in the Tabernacle. The focus inside was instead on a small box – the Ark. The Ark contained the words of the fundamental principles of our religion. But the Ark was hidden from public view. The purpose of this novel focus in our evolving religion was to wean the people away from the old practices and to give them the opportunity to learn to worship our unknowable omnipresent and omnipowerful God. As time went on, the Tabernacle was replaced by a permanent Temple and later the synagogue but the principle has been the same. We all need to have one foot on the ground while our minds and our souls are free to soar to religious heights. Shabbat shalom.

 

Dvar Torah for March 18, 2017 In today’s portion, God authorizes a census. Everyone over 20 is to be counted and to pay half a shekel for the privilege of being found eligible for military service.  The balance of what we read deals with the fabrication of a copper sink for the priests to wash in before officiating, the making of incense, instructions on the construction of the Tabernacle and the priestly garments and the requirement to observe the Sabbath. The special reading details the ritual of the red heifer. The Haftorah is Eziekiel’s prediction of the return of the Jewish people from the Babylonian exile. He explains that the cause of the exile was the failure of the people to follow the religious laws. He says that God will deliver the people from their uncleanness and restore them to Israel for His own sake, not that of the people but He promises to multiply the people like sheep. There is a connection among all three of these passages. The payment of the half shekel is for the purpose of redeeming the people from their sins. The laver is constructed and placed near the altar for the purpose of purifying the priests before they conduct the sacrifices there. The ritual of the red heifer was conducted to produce ashes for the purpose of purifying those Israelites who became unclean for one reason or another. Ezekiel declares that all of the Israelites who are in exile are unclean but that God will purify them when they return to Israel. So what is all this business about purification in our religion? Purification of the priests and priestesses was important to the pagan religions of the time but only the priests and priestesses. The significant difference for us was that everyone was to live a pure life. God is well aware of the foibles of human life and recognizes that people cannot maintain purity no matter how hard they try. Therefore, He sets up a process to purify everyone – the red heifer. After the red heifer is burned on the altar, its ashes are kept in a location where they can be mixed with purifying water. The water is symbolically sprinkled on people and objects that become unclean to make them pure. This whole concept, a new one in history at the time, sets the Jewish people apart from everyone else. It is continued with the repeated exhortations to ignore the temptations of Baal, idolaters, witches, soothsayers and others. We will be different and we will set an example to the rest of the world. Today, we no longer perform sacrifices and no one is ritually purified by sprinkling water on them in our religion although the Catholics have developed a version of this ritual beginning with baptism and continuing with fonts of holy water in their churches. We do follow ritual cleansing with the mikvah which is our closest throwback to the Biblical rituals but mostly today we purify ourselves with prayer and good deeds. Being Jewish carries with it the obligation to strive for goodness and purity. We need to remember this obligation in our daily lives and carry it out to the best of our ability. Shabbat Shalom.

 

Torah talk for March 11, 2017 This is Shabbat Zahor, the second of the 4 special Shabbats before Pesach. Today’s portion deals in detail with how to prepare the oil for the Menorah at the Tabernacle. It is to be clear oil from beaten olives. The menorah is to burn from evening to morning for all time. Aaron is appointed as the first High Priest and his descendants are to follow in his footsteps. The portion concludes with instructions on how to make priestly garments and talks about the Urim and Thummim which seem to have been used by the high priest in making oracles. No one really knows how they were used. They apparently went out of use before anyone such as Josephus recorded activities that occurred in the Temple. There is a second, very short Torah portion: Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey, after you left Egypt. How, undeterred by fear of God, he surprised you on the march, when you were famished and weary, and cut down all the stragglers in your rear. Therefore, when the Lord your God grants you safety from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a hereditary portion, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget! The Haftorah today tells the story of Samuel and Saul. Saul is the king. He is commanded to destroy the Amalekites. He wins the war, kills all the Amalekites except for the king and saves all the livestock, contrary to what God has ordered. Samuel the prophet tells Saul the king that he is out of a job for disobeying and kills the king of the Amalekites himself. A tradition which is relevant tomorrow is that because Saul didn’t kill the king of the Amalekites our people would be subjected to a scourge in every generation. Haman is the one in Shushan which leads to Purim. Here’s an interesting question. If we are supposed to blot out the memory of Amalek, why do we recite this passage every year? Why do we tell the story of the Amalekites in the Torah? I think the Haftorah answers the question. The blotting is to take place after we come to the promised land. Saul fails to follow instructions and the Amalekites are not blotted out at that time or any time in the future. We still have the duty to blot out the Amalekites we face in every generation. Tomorrow we help do it to Haman. The Hasmoneans did it to the Greeks of the time. Our parents helped do it to Hitler. In this and future generations we will have the same obligation and the Torah exhorts us to carry it out. We need to blot out the small Amalekites of today, the bullies, the racists and all those who do not respect human dignity by standing up to them when they attempt to persecute others. Shabbat shalom.

 

Torah Talk for February 18, 2017 Today’s Torah portion has two of the most significant events upon which our current civilization is based. One originates with God and the other with an outsider. The first event in the most likely chronology although it is the second in the Torah is God’s. God calls Moses up to Mount Sinai and recites what we usually call the Ten Commandments. The Hebrew is closer to the Ten Words and we now call it the Decalogue. As a matter of fact, some authorities have found as many as 13 Commandments there. The second event is the human event. Jethro arrives in the cam of the Israelites. He comes with Moses’ wife and children and spends some time with his son-in-law. Moses is like any guy who wants to make a good impression on his wife’s father. He first tells him about all the things that happened to him and the people – the meetings with the Pharaoh, the plagues, the liberation. He made it a point to tell Jethro how all of these things were instigated by the Lord but you can just bet that he didn’t omit his role. The next day Moses makes a point of showing off his power and his brilliance. He sits as the magistrate and pronounces judgments as the people come to him. He doesn’t quite get the reaction he expects though: Jethro says – The thing you are doing is not right; you will surely wear yourself out, and these people as well. Once Jethro takes Moses down a peg or two, he tells him the right way to do it. Seek out capable men who fear God, trustworthy men who spurn ill-gotten gain. These are the people who will decide the day to day affairs of the people and Moses will decide the major issues. What is the significance of the way that these events are presented in the Torah? The chronology is the first consideration. The human element comes first in the story; then comes the God part. The reason for this is the same one for the normal setup in synagogues today and also what happens next. We go up to God. In many synagogues, the bimah is raised so we can go up as we approach the Torah. The Decalogue is given on Mount Sinai. Moses goes up to receive it. The structure of law and order goes up. The human part, the judicial structure comes first with Jethro and we then go up to the law itself which is promulgated by God. Ours is the only ancient society in which the law originates with God as opposed to the ruler. This was not the case with the code of Hamurrabi, Akkadia or Sumeria. There the gods installed the ruler who made the laws. In our case, though, as we see this week and next, God is the source of the law. This philosophy forms the basis for our own country’s existence – We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. As we look at our history as a people, we the people through Moses created a judicial system to interpret the law. As we look at our history as Americans, we the people created a judicial system for the same reason. Just as Jethro instructed Moses, today our leaders need to search out capable people who fear God, trustworthy people who spurn ill-gotten gain to operate our courts and our government to maintain our freedoms.

 

Torah Talk for February 11, 2017 In today’s Torah portion we heard the story of the sea. God instructed Moses to stretch his arm out, an East wind blew and the sea parted. The Israelites marched across. The image of this crossing is astounding. Just think of 600,000 men plus women, children, livestock and hangers on, all crossing together. You get a sense of the magnitude of this by recalling the scene from The Ten Commandments, but it shows only a small sliver of what must have happened. Then Moses apparently also crosses over. God tells him to raise his arm again as the Egyptian chariots begin their own crossing, God sees to it that the wheels of the chariots become mired and causes panic among the Egyptian force and causes the waters to return, destroying the Egyptians. The story is related first in prose and then in a poem. Today’s haftorah provides a parallel story – the battle of Deborah against Sisera’s army. Sisera also brings chariots, 900 compared to Pharaoh’s 600, and drives them into the Wadi Kishon. God again causes panic, this time among Sisera’s army. The Israeli general, Barak, leads 10,000 soldiers in a charge down from Mount Tabor and defeats the invaders. Again, the story is told first in prose, then in poetry. There is a significant difference in these two stories. In both cases, victory is attributed to God’s efforts. However, in the first story, God does it all. He, or she, provides cover for the Israelites with a pillar of cloud and fire. God then splits the sea and permits the people to cross it. When the Egyptians follow, it is God who destroys the army. In Deborah’s situation, God helps but the Israeli army defeats Sisera. Why the difference? In the first case, at the Sea of Reeds, the Israelites still have a slave mentality. They have rebelled against Moses several times already and will again. The Israelites could still go back and resume their former status – “Let us be, and we will serve the Egyptians, for it is better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness?” By the time of the Judges things had changed. The people of Israel had become a nation. They were free and they thought like free people. Although Deborah had some difficulty in recruiting an army, she was able to raise it and the army acquitted itself well. The army charged Sisera and won the battle. Although they still needed the support of the Lord, they were able to effect change themselves. In the next few weeks we will follow the progress of the Israelites in the wilderness. This slave mindset will play itself out time and time again until the old generation dies out and a free generation takes its place. All of us were born free and have lived our lives as free people. We have an obligation, like the people of Israel in Deborah’s time, to act to carry out what is right at all times. Shabbat Shalom.

 

WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND February 4, 2017 Today’s Torah reading relates the story of the last three plagues – locusts, darkness and the slaying of the first born. Remember that Joseph made his mark in Egypt by saving the Egyptians from famine. Today, the locusts devour all the remaining crops in the land, putting the Egyptians in the position they would have been in but for Joseph. Darkness came upon Egypt without warning – no one could move except the Israelites. The masters, accustomed to freedom of movement became the slaves, unable to act on their own, while the slaves had total freedom of motion. Finally, there came the slaying of the first born of the Egyptians. This is reminiscent of the order from Pharaoh to kill the Israelite baby boys. Similarly, in today’s Haftorah, Jeremiah relates that Babylon will come to Egypt and will conquer the Pharaoh and all of his supporters. The clear moral of the two stories is that tyrants who ride roughshod over the powerless will one day get their just deserts. What goes around, comes around. In the last few years our political system has been poisoned by people more interested in retaining their jobs at all costs. They have jeremandered voting districts to minimize the chances that there will be competitive elections. They have done what they could to suppress voting by potential opponents, establishing onerous conditions on people who cannot meet them. They have flooded the media with huge amounts of money funding scandalous ads against their opponents. They have at every turn sought to sabotage their opponents’ attempts at governing and have characterized their opponents as criminals and un-American. Now that they have obtained power, these same individuals have sought to lead the government using people who had exactly the same faults as those they previously condemned. Things in America have begun to resemble the 9th plague – darkness has started to envelop us. But as I said at the outset, what goes around comes around. God has provided the examples in today’s parasha and in Jeremiah’s words. People in power need to remember that they are subject to the same consequences in the future and consider fairness and justice in their actions.

 

D’var Torah for January 28, 2017 There is an interesting dichotomy in today’s Torah portion. The portion begins with God giving Moses two instructions that God knows full well are going to lead to failure. The first is to tell the Israelites that God is going to free them from bondage. The second is to tell Pharaoh to let the people go. Moses knew he would fail at these tasks but he carried them out anyhow. He did protest the second task but he did it. What is the significance of this in the Torah and what is its significance for today? In the context of the Torah, God has an objective for the first directive. He wants the people to hear that their salvation is at hand. Even though things are getting worse God wants them to begin to assimilate the concept of freedom. God knows it will take a great deal more effort to convince a slave population that it should set out into the unknown and is preparing the Israelites for this little by little. For the second directive, God is setting up both Pharaoh and the Egyptian people for what is to come. He is going to make sure that Pharaoh’s human nature will force him to assert himself and even the escalating plagues will not change his natural rejection of anyone who tries to tell him what to do. God is also laying the groundwork for all of Egypt to understand that there are severe consequences for disobeying His will. In today’s context, what can we learn from this? It is important for us to understand that there are some things that we have to pursue even if we know we will fail. That quest that Don Quixote went on was bound to fail but he had to set an example that there are times when it is not only appropriate but necessary to strive with that last ounce of courage to reach the unreachable star. We may see unfairness and discrimination that exist around us, bullying and poor treatment of others. Each of us is only one individual but we need to assert ourselves, even in the light of certain failure, to do and to encourage what is just and right in our society, no matter what the result. Only by remaining true to our principles will we insure that the future will be better for everyone.

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