Scrollers Preview - Pinchas 2013

One of the best insights I’ve ever heard about what motivates a religious zealot or extremist is that the zealot believes that he or she is defending God’s honor. Last week’s parasha concluded with Pinchas, zealous for God, taking the law into his own hands. Without following any due process of law or justice, Pinchas kills an Israelite man and a Midianite woman who were about to engage in a prohibited sexual and idolatrous act. In this week’s parasha, Pinchas is rewarded with inheriting the line of the priesthood. And as part of this, God extends to him a “brit shalom,” a covenant of peace.

The sages seem to find Pinchas’ actions problematic, and they so some fancy footwork to try to justify why the Torah seems to reward him. They see the reward as God’s way of saying that Pinchas’ intentions were pure. The haftarah this week also has an example of zealotry, in the prophet Elijah. He too was a controversial figure. As we study this parasha I want us to ask ourselves whether zealotry is ever justified or necessary. Does God’s honor need to be defended by human beings? Or is this just an excuse for humans to act with violence and passion?

Although the parasha is named after Pinchas, there are a number of other folks who get the spotlight: Moses invests Joshua with his authority and leadership so that he can take over after Moses dies. The daughters of Zelophchad bring a complaint to God through Moses, asking why they can’t inherit their father’s portion of the Land, since he had no sons. We see here represented by Pinchas, Joshua and the daughters of Zelophchad, the next generation of Israelites taking the mantle of leadership and making their voices heard. A second census is taken at this point, to count those of this next generation who will make up the army that will conquer the Land.

I wonder what it was like to be Moses and the others of the older generation, watching this new generation take over. Did they see them in a favorable light? Is this new generation being celebrated in our text?

Looking forward to exploring together tomorrow!

Shabbat Shalom

Scrollers Preview - Balak 2013

A blind prophet, an angel with a sword, and a talking donkey walk into a bar…

I look forward to reading the Parasha with you this week, just to read it and enjoy the story. For once we have a comedy!

This week, our Torah takes on a completely new voice and perspective; it tells a story from the point of view of a non-Israelite nation, the Moabites. A Moabite King, Balak, sees our people encamped on his land, and he has heard of our military victory against the Amorites, and he is afraid. So he sends for a prophet, Balaam, to curse the Israelites. The curse turns into a blessing, to the great disappointment of King Balak. Along the way, Balaam tries to make his way to curse us, his donkey seems to understand things and see things more clearly than he can. In fact, his donkey can even speak.

The Parasha also includes poetry, as Balaam attempts to curse us three times, and instead, beautiful blessings flow in poetic form, expressing assurance that the Israelites will be fertile and secure in their future.

At the same time that the Torah seems to parody our enemies, it brings a serious message. According to Etz Chayyim, that message is that “God continues to watch over Israel and extend Divine protection to them, despite their recalcitrant behavior and lack of appreciation.” (p. 894)

The contrast with the previous few Torah portions is striking. For weeks, we’ve read about nothing but the Israelites’ rebellious behavior and God’s punishments. Here, when an outsider looks at us, we seem to be doing well, our tents are “goodly,” and there is even a sense of peace and respose in the poetry.

As we read this text together I’ll look forward to exploring some questions –

What is the role of vision and seeing in this story and why does Balak seem to think that if Balaam only sees a smaller portion of the people, he’ll be more likely to curse them?

Why is this story in our Torah? And why at this point in the book of Bamidbar?

Scrollers Preview - Korach 2013

After last week’s disastrous events, culminating in God’s declaration that none of the generation who left Egypt will be allowed to enter the Promised Land, the rebellions continue. This time, Korach and a band of chieftains rise up against Moses and Aaron, saying that they have gone too far, that all the community is holy, and that they have inappropriately raised themselves up above God’s congregation. The result is another disaster. After a test, involving incense and fire pans, God causes the earth to swallow up Korach, Datan and Aviram and their entire families. And then a fire consumes the remaining 250 followers. But this only causes the people to cry out louder against Moses and Aaron and a plague ends up killing off over 14,000 more Israelites as a result.

The parasha continues with a symbolic affirmation that Aaron and his ancestral house are indeed chosen by God. When each tribal chief brings a staff to be placed in the Holy of Holies, only Aaron’s staff sprouts, blossoms, and bears almonds. The last chapter of the parasha then goes on to outline how Aaron’s priestly household and the Levites who guard the Tabernacle will be sustained through the donations and tithes that the Israelites bring.

As we read this dramatic story together this week, with folklorist and storyteller Peninnah Schram in our midst, I think we’ll become aware of the dynamics of folktales. Most old stories have many versions, and the storyteller has to choose which version or combination of versions to tell at a given moment. The Torah is very similar. And in this story, we’ll see how at least two traditions seem to be woven together: one of Datan and Aviram who are swallowed by the earth and one of Korach who is consumed by fire. We’ll also see a feature of much folklore and myth. The “bad guys” are set up against the “good guys” in a battle, and the ending is meant to teach a moral lesson.

The commentaries have a field day with Korach, filling in the blank parts of the story with colorful descriptions of what made him such a bad guy. Most focus on the aspect of Korach of divisiveness – that he divides the people, and that even within his followers, there are divisions. They also focus on ego and the danger of leaders pursuing their own personal agendas for power.

A key verb in the parasha is “vayikach,” which translates as “ to take.” This is the word that opens the parasha, in fact. Korach “takes” or “betook himself” to rise up against Moses. Later during the plague, we see Aaron “take” his fire pan with incense and run out into the midst of the people to stand between the dead and the living, stopping the plague.  One of the questions I’d like to explore is what is an appropriate grasping or “taking” of power, and what makes Korach’s “taking” so problematic in God’s eyes.

Looking forward to celebrating Shabbat with you tonight through tomorrow evening, with Peninnah Schram and with each other, through stories and prayer, meals and study!

Scrollers Preview - Shlach-L'cha 2013

 Spoiler alert! This week’s Parasha is a huge turning point in the Torah. God instructs Moses to send 12 scouts over the border into the Promised Land to check it out and bring back a report.

Their report strays from the facts and turns into what commentator Nechama Leibowitz calls propaganda. All because of a tiny little word… “but.”  “We came to the land you sent us to; it does indeed flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. BUT the people who inhabit the country are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the Anakites (giants) there. . . .” (Numbers 13:27-28)

This report raises the anxiety of the Israelites to such a level that Caleb and Joshua, two of the scouts, has to quiet them down, reassuring them that they can “surely overcome it.” But it is too late. The remaining scouts feed on the negativity and fear and begin to blow things out of proportion to the point that the Israelites are ready to turn around and head back to Egypt.

God’s initial response is similar to that following the Golden Calf incident. God wants to destroy the people and start all over with Moses. Moses intervenes and persuades God to pardon the sin of the people. But God does this only on condition that all Israelite adults will be barred from entering the Land. They will be forced to wander in the wilderness for 40 years until the entire generation that knew Egyptian slavery dies off.

What struck me this year was the sense of futility. We began the Book of Numbers with a census of all adults from the age of twenty years and older, as the Israelites prepare to enter and conquer the Land. And now, God instructs Moses to go back through that census and take note that none of those recorded, except for Caleb and Joshua, will enter the land. Only their children will be allowed to enter.

So many questions – There have been failures of faith before, but why now is the punishment so thorough and devastating? Why is there no forgiveness for this generation? Do we see in our own lives the potency of negative messages and information over and above optimism? Can there be times when a positive message overrides negativity and doubt?

Scrollers Preview - Parashat B'ha-alotecha 2013

Pull up a chair! This week’s Parasha is full of good stories.

First, we have a number of sections with instructions for various tasks related to the Tabernacle and the Israelites’ march through the desert. We have instructions for the installation of the Levites for their tasks in the Tabernacle.  Then we learn about Pesach sheini – the second Pesach designated for folks who happened to be in a state of ritual impurity for the Pesach at its regularly scheduled time. Lastly,  we have God’s instructions to Moses to make two silver trumpets to direct the Israelites to assemble or to break camp and march.

And then we get a series of episodes. The first tells of the riffraff who crave meat, which leads all of the Israelites to whine and complain about how they miss the delicious food in Egypt. God and Moses are fed up with the people at this point. God sends enough meat to make a person nauseous, and then kills many people with a plague.

Then we have a story about the delegation and spreading around of Moses’ power. Similar to an episode in the book of Exodus, here, God draws from the spirit that is upon Moses and puts it upon 70 elders.

Lastly, we have the story of Aaron and Miriam questioning Moses’ marriage to a Cushite woman and questioning the primacy of his leadership. Miriam is punished with tzara-at (white scaly skin…)

At least regarding the last three episodes, this parasha focuses a lot on Moses and his style of leadership. In the last episode, the narrator of the Torah comments that Moses Moses was “a very humble man, more so than any other man on earth.” Perhaps we can spend some time thinking about what humility means to us and what role humility plays in good leadership.

Scrollers Preview - Parashat Tazria-Metzora 2013

 Ah yes, laws about skin diseases, menstruation,  irregular bleeding and discharge…lovely stuff!

Now that I have your attention, don’t forget that after Scrollers tomorrow we have our 2^nd Saturday Shabbat service and pot-luck Kiddush lunch. We’ll be honoring Phyllis Ross, and our Torah readers are three Scrollers – Kevin Fox, David Tilles and Rita Christopher!

Okay - back to the preview. This week’s double Torah portion deals mostly with the issue of ritual purity and impurity. As we have already explored in our discussions on Leviticus, in order to be able to come close to God and offer a sacrifice through the priests at the Tabernacle, the individual had to be in a state of ritual purity. Things that would make a person impure were things like touching a dead body, having sex, giving birth, and having the skin disease called “tzara-at.”

As I have emphasized in previous sessions, being impure didn’t mean that you did anything bad or wrong or that you were somehow dirty. You became impure by doing things necessary for life, and often joyful. Being impure meant that you had been in contact with the intensity of life through birth, burial of the dead, or certain kinds of illness. In fact, the ways in which you became impure probably brought you into close contact with God as well. But in order to come close to God through the specific ritual of sacrifice, you had to go through a ritual that got rid of your impurity and made you ritually pure again.

This week’s Torah portions focus on various sources of impurity, how to manage the period of impurity, and how to return to a state of purity again. One of the potentially troubling ways a person becomes impure is through childbirth. The first parasha, Tazria, opens by stating that a woman who gives birth to a male child is impure for seven days and then must remain in a state of “blood purification” for 33 days. If she bears a female, these time periods of impurity double in length. As part of returning to  a state of purity, the woman has to bring a chattat offering, usually understood as a sin offering, and a burnt offering.

Commentators spill a lot of ink explaining why it is that the woman who just gave birth must bring a “sin” offering and why the birth of a girl increases the period of impurity. We will study some of these texts together and explore whether we think the Torah is being sexist here, or if there may be a deeper spiritual message behind these rules, or if we think that the deeper spiritual reasons are merely apologetics so that we can more easily swallow these regulations.

Looking forward to studying  with you tomorrow morning!

 

Scrollers Preview - Parashat Shemini 2013

This week’s Parasha can be divided into two sections.

In the first section, Aaron offers his very first sacrifices, and everything works beautifully. At the end of Chapter 9, The Presence of God appears to the people, and fire comes forth from before God and consumes the sacrifices on the altar.

But then, in Chapter 10, everything goes wrong. Two of Aaron’s sons, Nadav and Abihu, offer “alien” or “strange” fire to God. Fire again comes forth from before God, but this time it consumes these two men and kills them.

Then, in Chapter 11, we find the laws explaining which animals we are allowed to eat and which are prohibited.

One theme that runs through the parasha is that of coming close to God. How do we come close, but not too close? What are the boundaries we need to draw around ourselves in order to live as a holy community, close to God? Why do we need these boundaries?

In Exodus, the encounter with God at Mount Sinai was a one-time intense experience of being in the Presence of God. There too we had boundaries around the mountain, we had to be pure to come close, there were limitations on who could get closest, and there was danger in coming too close. Here in Leviticus we’re talking more about a normative experience of living in community with God on a daily basis.

The Haftarah picks up on this theme of boundaries and danger involved in having God in our midst. There we read about the transport of the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. And there too, there is a tension between wanting God to have a permanent dwelling place among the people and the sense that God “moves about” in a portable shrine. Again, we confront the questions of what it means to have God in our midst. Is it better to have a permanent temple to which people must make pilgrimage, or a traveling Tent that comes to the people where they live? Here too, we have danger associated with having God’s Presence so near. Uzzah, who is guiding the ox cart which conveys the Ark, reaches out to steady it as one of the oxen stumbles. God strikes him down on the spot.

Looking forward to exploring this with you tomorrow!