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

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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!