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.
