Scrollers Preview - Parashat Miketz 2013

Dreaming and waking, forgetting and remembering, recognizing and hiding, “that we may live and not die.” These are the refrains, the poles of this week’s parasha.

Pharaoh dreams of skinny cows eating fat cows and skinny corn eating healthy corn, and when he awakens, he is anxious. The royal cupbearer who forgot Joseph at the end of last week’s parasha remembers Joseph now and recommends him to Pharaoh as a dream interpreter. Joseph is raised up from the dungeon to the heights of power, as Pharaoh entrusts the land and the storage and distribution of its produce to him during the famine. Joseph’s brothers come down to Egypt for food “that they may live and not die,” because of the famine in Canaan. Joseph recognizes them; they do not recognize him. As they bow in front of him, Joseph, who named his son “he who makes me forget my father’s house,” remembers the dreams he had while in his father’s house, of his brothers bowing down to him.

In this parasha, we are making our way towards Egypt, and toward nationhood. The brothers are now calling themselves by the collective, “we,” and we can envision the People forming. The themes of remembering and forgetting appear, themes which will dominate the Book of Exodus, in which the new Pharaoh does not know Joseph, God forgets us as we slave away for 400 years, and finally, God remembers the covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. “That we may live and not die.” Egypt –our collective dungeon - is the place where we thrive – where we survive famine and multiply into a nation.

The parasha ends with a cliff hanger. Joseph is testing his brothers to see if they have turned around – to see if they will take responsibility for their brothers Shimon, and then Benjamin, and above all, their father. Perhaps this is a test of whether nationhood is something we are capable of. Perhaps a test of whether we will get out of Egypt alive – of whether we are worth remembering.

Happy Thanksgiving and Chanukah!

Scrollers Preview - Parashat Vayeshev 2013

Unlike Jacob and Isaac, patriarchs whom we follow closely from birth through adulthood to death, Joseph steps into the foreground of our story when he is already seventeen years old.  We did read of his birth to Jacob’s favored wife Rachel, a few weeks back. And, as we have come to expect, he was only born after his mother struggled with barrenness. But the narrative in between Joseph’s birth and this week’s Torah portion has nothing to do with Joseph. It is as if his story really begins this week.

The Joseph cycle echoes many of the themes of the stories that preceded it – sibling rivalry, deception, exile. But now these themes are brought to an intensity we haven’t seen before. We do  not only have a pair of rival brothers here, vying for a blessing and a birthright. In this set of stories, we have a whole band of brothers who sell Joseph into slavery as an alternative to their initial impulse – to kill him in cold blood. The deception this time isn’t about who gets to receive a blessing. This time, the brothers trick their father into believing that Joseph has been torn apart by a wild beast. The protagonist in this story does not only leave home to sojourn with relatives out of fear of his brother. This time, Joseph is sold into captivity down to Egypt, the most foreign of foreign lands.  Whereas in previous stories, love has been prominent, here, hate takes center stage.

We also are not only following the story of one future patriarch in this parasha. Joseph is clearly at the center of the story. But we also have a whole chapter devoted to Judah, who develops from a person whose idea it is to sell his own brother into slavery, to a man whose own sons are dying and who is deceived by his daughter-in-law Tamar, to a man who by the end of the “cycle” or “novella,”  ultimately takes responsibility for his own brother and father.

I look forward to exploring this story with you tomorrow! 

Scrollers Preview - Parashat Vayishlach 2013

According to Everett Fox’s commentary, Jacob encounters God at crucial life junctures, and in this Torah portion, Jacob encounters God three times. In most instances, God speaks to Jacob, reassuring him that God will be with him, that Jacob will be the one to carry on the covenant, that he will give birth to a nation. Sometimes God comes to tell Jacob it’s time to move on to the next phase of the journey.

But in the beginning of this parasha, God comes to him in the form or a man or an angel who wrestles with him, cannot overcome him, injures him, blesses him, and changes his name. In this episode, Jacob encounters God “face to face.” And the next morning, Jacob encounters his brother’s face for the first time in over twenty years – for the first time since Jacob ran away from Esau who wanted to kill him for stealing the first-born’s blessing. One of the key words in this parasha is “face.” Depending on where and when it appears, the word “face” suggests intimacy, close encounter, love, fear, and conflict.

The parasha is full of fear, conflict, love, loss, blessing and violence. There are moments of grace, as when Esau runs to Jacob and kisses him, shedding tears and reconciling with his brother. And there are moments of failure – Jacob hears of the rape of his daughter and doesn’t seem to know what to do.

Fitting then that this parasha would open with a wrestling match and would feature the word “face”. Sometimes Jacob is on top, sometimes on the bottom. His story is close up. He can’t escape the pain of burying his beloved wife; he is caught in an unexpected, tight embrace with his estranged brother. Sometimes he appears to be pinned down, unable to move or act. Other times he prevails. This week, Jacob stares in the face the realities of a life on the road with God.

I look forward to encountering this text, face to face with you, tomorrow!

Scrollers Preview - Parashat Toldot 2013

This week we make the transition from the first patriarch, Avraham, to the man who will be the last patriarch, Ya’akov. Isaac forms a bridge between the two, and we don’t really have a whole “cycle” of stories devoted to him. This week’s parasha shows Isaac rooted in the land, and repeating some of his father’s story, but the focus quickly moves to Ya’akov. And Ya’akov does have a cycle of stories, the longest cycle in the book of Genesis.

With Ya’akov’s life, we enter a very sensual, physical human realm. Like his grandfather, Ya’akov does have visions of God. But Ya’akov more often lives on the often raw and ugly plane  of struggle, deception, confrontation, love, money, and terrible loss. In these opening stories of Ya’akov’s life, Ya’akov gains the birthright and the blessing of the first born, which should belong to his twin brother Esav. We have a scene of suspense and drama as he pretends to be his brother and steals the blessing. This scene is very much on that human plane, and touches all five senses. We watch the blind Yitzchak touch Ya’akov’s deceptively hairy arms, listen to the sound of his voice, smell his clothes, taste the food he prepares.

Some Hebrew words we will watch for this week are “blessing”, “first-born”, and “trickster/deception.”

And as we read, we will keep in mind the question of what it means for us that by the end of this Ya’akov/Yisrael cycle, we all become known as this man’s children. 

Yippee, Yippee Chayai Sarah: Tale of a Western...no, Eastern Girl and her Camel Genesis 23:1 – 25:18 October 26, 2013 - Linda Sherman

What is the role of Matriarchs in the Torah and in Jewish society today?  There are a number of matriarchs (some reluctantly, some happily, some almost but not quite yet) right here in this room today.  What is our role, in studying the torah, in raising our families, in contributing to our communities?  How does this compare to our historical role, and what can we learn from our history that helps us today?

As everyone probably knows, this section begins with the death of Sarah.    Genesis 23:1 states, “And the life of Sarah was a hundred and seven and twenty years;/ these were the years of the life of Sarah”.  In Genesis 23:2, Sarah dies in Kiriatharba, apart from her husband Abraham, who came to mourn for her.  This sets off a very specific chain of events:

1.       Sarah’s death leads Abraham to purchase burial land.

2.       Abraham finds an appropriate wife for Isaac.

3.       All of Abrahams begats, his descendants are described, and the Abraham dies and is buried by two of his sons, Isaac and Ishmael.

At first glance, it seems to be very little about Sarah, and mostly about Abraham and the end of his life.  But it appears to actually be more about securing the covenant and ensuring it’s continuity thought the generations.  For example:

1.       Sarah’s grave is the first permanent legal presence in the land promised to Abraham and to their descendants.

a.      Is this why it is important that Abraham pay full price for it????

2.       Abraham ensures the covenant’s continuity by getting Isaac a wife, Rebecca, from his birthplace.

a.      What would have happened if Isaacs wife came from somewhere else???

3.       Abraham took a 2^nd wife – Keturah – and had many more sons with her, but gave all that he owned to Isaac when he died and sent these other sons “east”.

a.      What was the point in the story of having another wife and more kids if they weren’t going to have any significance to the story or our future???

4.       Isaac and Ishmael (son from Hagar) buried Abraham

a.      Why only these two sons?  Is there any significance to the fact that Isaac settles in the same place (Beer-lahai-roi) that Hagar took Ishmael to when she was wandering in the desert, and where she finally found water?

There is also a certain duality to this section.  Not unlike a piece of music where you have melody and harmony woven together, or point and counterpoint, there are a couple of different threads running through this section.  For example, there is are the very open and blatant actions of Abraham, the patriarch, in setting events in motion versus the more subtle, but equally important development of the matriarch, and the passing of the flame from Sarah to Rebecca.   The women in Abraham’s life appear to be subservient and subject to the whims of the men, but then they are also their own characters and they each play a significant role in ensuring the continuity of the covenant.  What do we know about each of them?

            SARAH           Abrahams partner for life, barren, gives slave to Abraham,

talks to God, LAUGHS at God.

            HAGAR           Slave, given to Abraham and first to give him offspring, fertile,

                                    banished by Sarah, but looked after by God, who shows her the well.

            REBECCA       Abraham’s hand chosen wife for his favorite son, or chosen by God,

                                    heroine, strong, playgirl image from 3,000 years ago, too good to be true, but

                                    falls off camel when sees Isaac for first time.

            KETURAH      Abraham’s last (3^rd) wife, fertile, but not important?  Why is she here?

Questions:

What is the role of women in a matriarchal society, and/or in our society today?  How is it the same/different?

Rebecca speaks only one word:  ELECH – I will go.  Abraham speaks the same word when he leaves his homeland on his journey.  What does this tell us about Rebecca’s character and about her journey?  How important is her role in perpetuating the covenant?

Were Sarah and Rebecca barren so they could only conceive through a miracle?

Isaac and Ishmael bury Abraham.  Both had their issues with him – one was almost sacrificed and one was banished to possibly die in the desert.  How does this bring their journey full circle?

Scrollers Preview - Parashat Vayera 2013

This week, the Torah adds new dimensions to our patriarch, Avraham. Up until now he has shown himself as a man of faith, ready to go where God asks him to go. He has given us a hint of his ability to question and challenge God as well. When God promises that he will be the father of a huge nation, Avraham laughs and wonders aloud how this will even be possible, given that he has not children and that Sarah, his wife, is barren.

This week, we see that Avraham is not only a  man of faith, but one of compassion and outrage as well. God shares with Avraham that God is about to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Avraham speaks up, outraged that God would destroy an entire city even if there might be some righteous people living there. God seems to be testing Avraham here, to see if justice is important to him. In fact, two of our key words for this parasha are “Justice” and “right.”

This week we also encounter the troubling passage of the “Akedah,” the near-sacrifice of Isaac by his father Avraham. The word “love” appears for the first time in the Torah, as God asks Avraham to take his son, his only one, whom he loves, and sacrifice him. Whereas last week, God tells Avraham to walk away from his past and leave his father’s house, this week God asks Avraham to erase his future by wiping out his own son. The three-fold poetry this week of “take your son, your only one, whom you love” closely parallels last week’s poetry, “Go forth from your land, from your kindred, from your father’s house.”

The opening and closing passages of the parasha ask us to wrestle with some big words and some big questions: justice and love. And in between those passages, we have the story of Lot, one in which justice and love are twisted. Avraham – the ever-ready man of faith, and the man who cries out against in justice – is held up in contrast to his nephew Lot, who offers his daughters up to be raped, and who lingers and procrastinates rather than fleeing the city that God is about to destroy.

What does it really mean to bring a child into the world and to love that child? What does it mean to be one who does what is just and right? Avraham will give us his answers to those questions this week. Come and study!

Scrollers Preview - Lech L'cha 2013

This week we move from the universal stories of Creation and Noah to the particularistic story of our Patriarchs and Matriarchs. God calls Avraham, the first father or patriarch to leave his ancestral house and go the land that God will show him. In what will become familiar to us as Avraham’s M.O. – Avraham is unflinching in his response – he goes ahead and goes.

But Avraham is not always so sure of himself or God. Through this parasha and in the ones to follow, we see how he questions and doubts. We catch him, for example, wondering aloud, and even laughing out loud at how God will possibly be able to deliver on the promise to him to be the father of a great nation, when he and his wife are in their nineties, and Sarah is barren.

As we read together, I want us to think about who this man is, whom God singles out to bear the covenantal blessing. Let’s think about what it means to be a patriarch, in our tradition.

You may remember that as we neared the end of Deuteronomy, I was looking to you for suggestions for new approaches to our study. Thanks to some great responses, I’ve decided that this week, and throughout the year, we’ll be looking at Everett Fox’s translation, alongside our Etz Hayyim commentaries, to give us a new perspective on the text. Fox’s translation brings out the rhythm and sounds of the Hebrew language, and his translation tends to be more literal than literary.

Here is an example of Fox’s work, from the opening of our parasha, Genesis 12:1-2:

“YHWH said to Avram:

Go-you-forth

from your land,

from your kindred,

from your father’s house,

to the land that I will let you see.

I will make a great nation of you

and will give-you-blessing

and will make your name great.

Be a blessing!

I also will be pulling out a couple key Hebrew words or roots that appear in the text to give us some focus and to add to your vocabulary. This week’s roots are:

Ra-ah (to see)

Zera (seed)

Eretz (land)

Looking forward to studying with you tomorrow!

Scroller Preview - Shabbat Chol HaMoed Sukkot

We will meet in the Sukkah for Scrollers tomorrow. Please wear weather-appropriate clothing!

For the Shabbat of the intermediate days (Chol HaMoed) of Sukkot, we have a special Torah portion, a selection from Parashat Ki Tissa in the Book of Exodus (33:12-34:26). In this section we read of Moses’ dialogue with God on Mount Sinai after the Israelites have betrayed God and the covenant through worshipping the Golden Calf. God forgives the people (after many are killed by a plague and by Levites with swords, but God doesn’t want to lead the people forward any longer.

Moses ultimately persuades God to stick with the People, but Moses needs some reassurance of God’s Presence. God agrees to reveal Godself to Moses in a more intimate way than ever before. God then places Moses in the cleft of the rock and passing by, proclaims the name YHVH and God’s attributes of mercy. You are probably familiar with God’s proclamation, as we chant part of it at the Ark before taking out the Torah on Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, and all 3 Pilgrimage festivals (Sukkot, Passover, and Shavuot: “Adonai, Adonai, el rachum v’chanun, erech apayim v’rav chesed v’emet, etc.” “Adonai, Adonai, a God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and faithfulness, etc.”

This language appears here in Exodus, for the first time, but it returns with variations in other parts of the Tanach (Hebrew Bible). We find it in the book of Numbers, in Jonah, and Psalms. Each time the language is slightly different, and each time, the context frames how we understand the message of these attributes of God. Tomorrow, we’ll look at the various places where these words appear, and we’ll explore how our tradition understands God’s attributes of mercy.

Scrollers Preview: Parshiot Nitzavim/Vayelech 5773

This week's double portion begins with a communal affirmation of God's covenant with Israel, a type of chatima (seal) on the proceeding laws and commandments binding Israel and God. It goes out of its way to affirm the covenant's bond no matter the status of the individual (including wives, children, strangers, wood choppers and water drawers), no matter their current inclination (including secret idolaters), and no matter their generation (those standing here and those not).

Unlike a ketubah, this covenant creates no structure for dissolving the bond. Rather, what follows the chatima is a series of structures for repairing and maintaining the relationship.

T'shuva: Commentators note that after the description of destruction and exile at the end of chapter 29, though the people begin the repentance starting in chapter 30, God appears to take an extra step toward the people in repairing the relationship. God will "circumcise (open) your heart" whereas the earlier injunction in chapter Deut. 10:16 is for the people to open their own hearts.

Leadership: Vayelech begins with Moses publicly stepping down and giving over leadership to Joshua, ensuring that a new generation of leaders will maintain the covenant. The Etz Hayim commentary notes several times Moses' care in affirming God's true leadership even as Joshua take on the mantle.

Torah: The text lays out a ritual structure for hearing Torah read aloud in the Sabbatical year in front of the entire community as well as a structure for placing Torah at the heart of the mysterious rituals around the Ark by placing a copy of the scroll inside it. Finally, bits of Torah will live in every Israelite through their memorizing the following parasha, Ha-azinu, Moses' long poem.

Scrollers Preview - Parashat Ki Tavo 2013

If you’ve ever heard the end to Beethoven’s 5^th Symphony, you have experienced something similar to the end of Deuteronomy. Beethoven just doesn’t seem to want it to end, and he can’t seem to choose just one ending. It goes on and on and on!

This week’s Torah portion begins the ending of the Torah, which will take another several weeks to actually complete. We have the last law of the Moab covenant, instructing the Israelites about a ritual of bringing their first fruits to the priest, once they are in the Land. And then the ending begins! We are told to erect pillars on a mountain and build an altar, and then the tribes divide up between two mountains to pronounce a series of blessings and curses. The blessings will come about if we stick to the covenant, and the curses will come about if we stray from God’s path.

This ritual of pronouncing blessings and curses serves as a seal on the covenantal promises the people and God make with each other. But this “sealing” is just one ending among many yet to come. We still have many pronouncements and warnings, poetry and blessings awaiting us. It seems that this parasha as well as the ones in the weeks ahead are here to command our attention and to sustain that attention. Moses even has to tell us to be quiet this week. “Silence! Hear O Israel!,” Moses says in 27:9,  “Today you have become the people of the Lord your God: Heed the Lord your God. . . .”

So my question for us then is – what does it take for us to pay attention? Does an ancient text have the power to leave a lasting enough impression that we can sustain our loyalty and devotion to its words? Do all of these endings, with their warnings of curses and promises of blessings do the trick?

Scrollers Preview - Parashat Ki Tetzei 2103

Holy Scrollers Preview

Parashat Ki Tetzei: Deuteronomy 21:10-25:19

August 16, 2013

Rabbi Rachel Goldenberg

This week’s parasha mostly consists of issues between people, whether between neighbors,  within a family, between the underprivileged and other members of society,  or even between people and animals.

A theme running through many of these laws is that of dignity. Even if we need to take the only garment a person has as a pledge for a loan, we need to return it to that person every night so that her or she may sleep in it. We are not allowed to take someone’s upper millstone in pawn, because that is akin to taking their life (their means of grinding grain for bread or olives for oil.)  We must leave the overlooked sheafs and grapes in our fields for the poor and the stranger. These and many other laws in the parasha emphasize people’s humanity and aim for a sense of equality and fair treatment within society.

In addition to these laws, issues pertaining to women are very prominent in this Torah portion. Here, it becomes more challenging to see the theme of dignity and humanity in the laws. We read that if a woman is found not to be a virgin when she marries, she is stoned to death on her father’s doorstep; that a virgin who is raped is then forced to marry her rapist; that a wife who ceases to please her husband can be given a bill of divorce; and that a woman who is widowed before she has children must marry her husband’s brother.

Most of these laws seek to ensure that women get married and stay married. In the context of a traditional society, adult unmarried women are unprotected and do not have independent means to sustain themselves. And so these laws are meant to protect women. But it is challenging to know how to approach these laws as a modern person and a feminist.

The parashah ends with the reminder to blot out the name and memory of Amalek, the nation that attacked the Israelites just as they were departing Egypt. We are to blot out their memory because they attacked the weak, and the stragglers. Here again we return to the theme of how we are to treat the weak in our midst.

As we study together, we’ll explore this concept of dignity. I want to hear your thoughts on whether these particular examples of dignity and fair treatment still apply today, what barriers do we encounter in ourselves and in our society when we try to create a world that reflects this value of dignity?

Scrollers Preview - Shoftim 2013

This week’s parasha, continues Moses’ second discourse, comprised of the laws given at Moab. Our parasha can be divided into two sections.

First, we have laws pertaining to civil and religious authorities such as judges, prophets, kings, and priests. This includes laws regarding those who are outside the communal structure that God commands us to create – apostates, sorcerers, and people who consult with ghosts. In this section, according to the Etz Hayyim commentary, “The Torah establishes limits to the powers of judges, priests and prophets. By making these limitations known to the public, the Torah lays the ground for public supervision and criticism of human authorities, thus preventing them from gaining absolute domination and prestige.”

The second section of our parasha deals with judicial and military matters such as the cities of refuge for the manslayer, what to do with an unsolved murder, and laws about warfare.

Parts of this Torah portion express values that are surprisingly progressive. Our civil and religious authorities are accountable to the law and to the people. Bribery and other types of corruption of public officials are prohibited. The Torah steps in to stop the traditional cycle of revenge killings in the case of manslaughter. The Torah here seems to be dealing with communal issues that we are still struggling with today – how to deal with an unsolved killing, how to keep our public officials honest, how to know when we can trust a religious authority.

My overarching question this week is whether we see these values as being a natural outgrowth of the worldview and theology of the book of Deuteronomy. How might monotheism and centralization of worship be consistent with these types of rules limiting the power of human authorities? Why are these laws and limitations important to the God of Deuteronomy?

Scrollers Preview - Parashat Re'eh

Parashat Re’eh covers a wide-ranging set of laws and rules for the Israelites once they enter the land. First, the people are commanded to pronounce words of blessing and of curses from the top of two mountains when they cross over the Jordan river into the land. Then we have laws that reflect main principles of Deuteronomy – strict monotheism and the centralization of worship in one location where God will cause God’s name to dwell.

We are told to destroy all sites where idolators used to worship (those idolators whom we have already conquered and dispossessed). According to Deuteronomy, our people up until now have worshiped God at various places. When they enter the Land they are only allowed to worship God at one central location where God will choose to “establish His name.” Because many people will live a significant distance away from this place, the laws about slaughtering for meat are being amended. You no longer have to bring every domestic animal you want to eat to the sanctuary first for slaughter. But you must not eat the blood – pour it out on the ground like water. Because “the blood is the life.”

We are warned to protect ourselves from seduction into worshiping other gods by false prophets, dream-interpreters, and even our own family members. God is testing our loyalty through them. They must be put to death. If a town has turned away from God, we need to kill all the inhabitants and destroy the town.

Along the same theme of setting ourselves apart from other peoples, we then have laws of mourning and of kashrut. We are told not to follow the ways of the other peoples, because we are a consecrated people “am kadosh.”

The next section of laws deals more with how we are to treat the poor in our midst. Every seventh year all debts are remitted. We are commanded to help our needy kinsman by giving and loaning to him readily. Included here are laws of indentured servitude and slavery. A postscript tells us to sacrifice all male firstlings. But if it has a defect, you do not sacrifice it but eat it in your settlement – but remember again to pour out the blood first.

Lastly, we have the laws of the Passover sacrifice, of Shavuot and Sukkot, the three pilgrimage festivals, and we are commanded to rejoice!

Lots of food for thought here: What overarching connecting themes do we detect through this wide-ranging parashah? How do we make sense of this intense crackdown on idolatry, idolatrous worship sites, and on the impulse to worship God wherever one is moved to do so? How do we respond to the commandment to rejoice? Is it possible to rejoice on command?

Looking forward to a rich discussion with you tomorrow!

Scrollers Preview - Parashat Vaetchanan

“I pleaded with the LORD at that time, saying, ‘ O Lord GOD, You who let Your servant see the first works of Your greatness and Your mighty hand, You whose powerful deeds no god in heaven or on earth can equal! Let me, I pray, cross over and see the good land on the other side of the Jordan. . . .”

The parasha opens with these painful and personal words from Moses. And then it launches into Moses’ exhortations to the people to follow God’s laws and rules when they go into the land without him. The text becomes liturgical, poetic and philosophical. It is here that we find the Sh’ma “Hear, Oh Israel, YHVH is our God. YHVH alone. You shall love Adonai your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might. . . .” And here too, Moses repeats the Ten Commandments.

The words we see repeated most are various forms of the following verbs: “sh’ma” or “listen,” “r’eh, or “look,” “chayyim” or “life,” and “shamor,” or “guard/keep.” These words occur in connection to constant reminders to follow God’s ways and not to stray.

Moses is so sad and so worried. He made one misstep, and now he can’t even enter the land. How much the more so are the people in danger of straying from God’s laws and being exiled. Moses pleads with God at the beginning, but the entire portion is a plea. Moses is pleading with the people to not make the same mistakes he did; to treasure the opportunity to live in the holy land and create a holy community in covenant with God.

As we read this parasha, are we worried, as Moses is? Do we have hope – not only in the generation of Israelites whom Moses is addressing, but in our own generations of living Jews? Are we able to see and listen, guard and keep, and live?

Scrollers Preview - Parashat Dvarim 2013

Moses, the man who pleaded with God that he was not an “ish d’varim,” a “man of words” is now about to speak to us for the entire book of Deuteronomy, which we begin this week. When God first commissioned Moses, he tried to get out of the job, saying that he was slow of tongue. But now he seems to have plenty to say!

Moses begins by giving a brief summary of the Israelites’ travels up to this point. He lingers on the retelling of two events – the delegation of his leadership to chiefs of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and so forth; and the devastating spy mission that ended with the older generation being barred from entering the land. Both of these incidents come across differently in Moses’ retelling than they do when we first read them in the books of Exodus and Numbers.

Moses also reviews the various military campaigns the Israelites pursued on the eastern side of the Jordan River. All of this sets up the new generation, to whom Moses is speaking, to cross the Jordan and conquer the peoples there without fear.

A strong theme in this parasha is that of fear and faith. Moses reminds the new Israelites of the fear of the older generation to face the challenges of the giants and fortified cities of the land of Israel. They are told not to fear the other peoples whom they will encounter, and they are told that the other peoples do fear them.

I see some parallels between the fear operating in this parasha and the fear that was operating in the interaction between George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin that may have led to Trayvon’s death. I also wonder about how fear has been operating in Egypt lately.

I look forward this week to examining the dynamics of fear and faith as the Israelites turn and face the Promised Land and hear Moses retell the story of their parents’ failure to hold on to faith as they faced their fears.

Scrollers Preview - Parashat Matot-Masei 2013

This week’s double parasha concludes the Book of Numbers, and with it, the journey of the Israelites through the wilderness. The new generation has taken over, for the most part, and Moses is about to die. The people will pause here on the steppes of Moab, listening to Moses speak for the whole book of Deuteronomy, before they finally cross over, in the Book of Joshua. As we conclude this book, we will encounter many questions: about the autonomy of women and what it means to make a vow; regarding what we think about the fact that Moses is instructed to conduct a holy war as his last act; and what we and the Israelites see as we reflect on the journey and look ahead to conquering and settling the land.

Below, you’ll see a summary. I look forward to engaging with these questions, and with yours, tomorrow morning!

As we near the end of the Book of Numbers, we receive some additional laws, Moses receives his last task from God, and we begin to focus on the settlement of the Promised Land. The three main sections of the first parasha of Matot are:

1.) Laws regarding vows – Specifically, we learn about who is responsible for the vows or oaths of a woman, depending on her personal status (living in her father’s house, married, divorced, widowed.) A vow or oath is a powerful use of words, made binding by the use of God’s name.

2.) God asks one last thing of Moses before his death – to go to war against the Midianites. This war is meant to redress past wrongs, specifically the Midianites’ seduction of the Israelite men in last week’s parashah. Balaam reappears here as the mastermind behind that mass-seduction. Moses is unhappy when the Israelite armies only kill the men and not the women. So he sends them back to slay all male children and all women who have known men carnally.

3.) The tribes of Reuben and Gad claim the land on the East side of the Jordan as their inheritance and want to settle it because it is good cattle country. Moses is not happy; he is concerned that they won’t help the Israelites conquer the land. A compromise is reached in which the Reubenite and Gadite men will serve as “shock-troops” and will conquer the land before returning to their lands on the East side of the river.

Then, in the second parasha, Mas’ei, we review the marches and stopping points through the wilderness, 42 in all. We also get the boundaries of the land, more details on the cities of refuge and the other cities of the Levites,

At the very end of the parasha, the daughters of Zelophechad return, the laws of inheritance changed once again to insure that heiresses will marry within their tribes, therefore keeping land in its original tribal holding.