Mosaic is a unique Jewish Community - in that we offer at least three weekly and festival services from the Liberal, Masorti and Reform traditions. After our services we get together for joint kiddushim, and offer study sessions before or after some of our services.
This first chapter of Bereshit contains two stories of creation. The first focuses on God creating the world and concludes with the sweeping statement that all of creation was “very good”. The primary focus of the second is human beings, and it concludes with the emphatic, “it is not good for man to be alone; I will make a fitting helper (ezer kenegdo) for him”.
The message in this second aliyah is that for man to be complete, he needs a partner. The phrase “ezer kenegdo,” literally translated, means, “a helper opposing him”. Therefore, many commentators have noted that the ideal marriage is not necessarily one of agreement in all matters; a healthy marriage includes acts of questioning, criticising, examining, discussing for a common purpose.
The Rashbam, R. Shemuel Ben Meir, lived in France in the 12th century. He was one of Rashi’s brilliant grandsons and is known for his Talmud and Bible commentaries. He explains that on Sukkot:
“the people leave houses filled with goods at the harvest season and they dwell in sukkot as a reminder that they had no property in the desert nor homes to inhabit. This is why God designated Sukkot at the harvest season, so that a person’s heart should not grow haughty because of houses filled with everything good, lest they say: “Our hands made all of this wealth for us.”
In simple English, the Rashbam is saying: The sukkah is a lesson in humility; it comes to prevent a swelled head. God commanded us to sit in the sukkah precisely at the harvest season when we are congratulating ourselves for our successful harvest and our fancy homes. (Collected from the writings of Rabbi David Golinkin, Schechter Institute.)
Moses’ final words to us are poetry — the great poem that makes up most of this week’s parsha, Ha’azinu.. These words are so important that ordinary prose just won’t work: God’s words must “fall upon us like rain, touch us like dew.”
I can understand the comparison with rain. Rain is absolutely crucial for life. But always, whenever it rains, even a light drizzle, and no matter the spirit in which we accept it, we can’t help but notice it. Whatever Moses will say in the verses that follow will be like rain–an attention grabbing teaching that we cannot and must not ignore.
But why does Moses say that his words are like the dew? Rashi explains that everyone rejoices in the dew but rain, though vital, can be annoying to someone on a journey, for example, or to a winemaker into whose vat the rain falls as he is pressing his grapes and spoils his yield.
Rain, like Torah, keeps us alive but — does not always fall. The dew, smaller and less obvious, is more constant. Both rain and dew are signs of God’s mercy, which is at times obvious, at times less so. As we wrap up these days of teshuvah (repentance) I find it comforting to think of God’s mercy like the gentle morning dew.
The commandment for Hakhel (Assembly) is found in Parsha Vayelech: “Hakhel, Assemble the people – the men and the women and the infants, and your convert who is in your town – in order for them to hear and in order for them to learn to fear God, and they will make sure to fulfill all the statements of this Torah”.
Medieval commentator Rashi, asks why the children also came to Hakhel and answers with a quote from the Talmud (in Masechet Chagiga 3a): “The children bring merit to those who brought them”. Modern rabbi, Natan Adler, rhetorically asks, why bother bringing the children if they will disturb the adults ? That is why, he answers, the Talmud explains that by bringing our children we will receive “merit” – which outweighs the loss of the adults being disturbed and not hearing every word perfectly.
In other words, sometimes you have to be a little bit less rigid in order to educate the children. This message especially rings true during the High Holidays. When a child is brought to shul and has the opportunity to listen to the Torah reading and hear the Shofar blowing – a tremendous impression is made which can bring them closer to serving God and being part of the Jewish community.
Parsha Nitzavim is full of the message of teshuvah (repentance). Teshuvah is most often associated with our return to God. This portion also speaks of a different form of teshuvah—the return “with” God.
We are told, God “ve-shav” ( God “will return with”) your captivity. The message according to the Midrash is clear. When we are in captivity God is in exile with us. (Rashi, Deuteronomy 30:3) Thus, when we return, God returns with us as He, too, has been exiled.
Similarly, God first appears to Moshe in a burning bush telling him to lead the Jewish people out of Egypt. (Exodus 3:2) The Midrash points out that God purposely appears in the lowly bush to teach that He felt the pain of the Jewish people enslaved in Egypt. As we were lowly, so did God feel that lowliness. God is one in our suffering, empathizing with our despair.
God is like a parent who suffers when the child suffers. When we sin or do wrong, we are not expelled from God’s grace, God, is still with us. It’s an important message for the week before the High Holidays.
Sometimes it’s surprising how many changes have gone on in our prayers and services. For example, Israelite farmers, when they brought their first fruits to the Temple, were supposed to recite a brief sketch of Israelite history which begins “my father was a wandering Aramean.”
The declaration is an acknowledgment that the farmers have entered the land that God promised the Israelites’ ancestors, and a recollection of the people’s landless beginnings and their settlement in Egypt.
During second Temple times, the Bikkurim ceremony was expanded and underwent several changes. Mishnah Bikkurim 3:7 states, “When people began to refrain from bringing their fruits out of embarrassment that they could not memorize the formula (‘My father was a wandering Aramean . . .’), it was enacted that everyone, even those who could recite the words on their own, would repeat the words after the kohein.”
This change in law reflects the rabbinic statement, “Derech erets kadma la’torah” that sensitivity must guide the Torah’s prescriptions. In other words, we must continually strive to make our services approachable, understandable and “user-friendly” for our community.
Parsha Ki Tetze is one of my favourites in the Torah. The laws and categories may seem outdated but the idea is clear, we are required to limit anger, vengeance and cruelty and we should emphasise increasing kindness in the world.
Consideration for others included how we administered justice ; corporal punishment, for example, was not to exceed forty strokes, while the corpse of a criminal was to be buried the same day and not left hanging from a tree overnight as a deterrent to others. Forty strokes of a whip already seems like a lot to me, but remember this was limiting the amount of punishment, whereas in other cultures it was not limited.
Mercy was to be shown to the foreign slave who, having escaped, sought refuge among the Israelites, and a helping hand was to be given to one’s neighbour who had lost property.
Loans to fellow Israelites were to be made without interest, and while pledges were permitted, certain objects were unacceptable (such as clothes or working tools) since their loss would cause severe hardship to the debtor.
The stranger, the orphan and the widow were to be provided with relief and protection and were to be allowed to collect the remains of the harvest from the fields. Nor was the workman to be kept waiting for his wages.
Animals were to be afforded kindness: A mother bird was not to be taken from her nest, nor animals of unequal strength be yoked together.
Corporal punishment and slavery are not the most current of issues, although poverty, human rights and animal rights issues are still very real in our society. Remember that the Torah is moving us in the direction of compassion for all living creatures.
Shabbat comes in at 7.57 pm; goes out at 9.00 pm _______________________________________________________________________________
Parsha Shoftim ends with an introduction to the laws of warfare, specifically, the role of the priest and other civilian officials. The priest must remind the troops of God’s presence and encourage them not to fear by declaring before they go to battle.
“Hear, O Israel! You are about to join battle with your enemy. Let not your courage falter. Do not be in fear, or in panic, or in dread of them. For it is the Lord your God who marches with you to do battle for you against your enemy, to bring you victory” (Deut. 20:3-4).
This section serves two purposes. Obviously, declaring that God is with you is about the psychological benefits of believing you can succeed (in addition to the help that God would give). But I also think it is a reminder to act humanely and ethically. Even in battle God watches and judges our actions.
The final section of Parasha Re’eh describes the responsibility Jews had to congregate in Jerusalem on the three festivals and to give donations to the Temple: “everyone shall give as he/she is able, according to the blessing that Adonai your God has bestowed upon you” (16:17).
Although the specific topic is donations to the Temple, I often think about this quote “everyone shall give as he/she is able” in relation to tzedakah in general.
I think that one of the most challenging mitzvot to uphold is tzedakah. I always struggle with how much tzedakah to give and to whom I am required to give. The sheer amount of need in the world is overwhelming. I often feel that my dollar/shekel/pound won’t help. I often feel that my dollar is not going to mean the difference between that person getting off the streets and staying homeless.
This sense of despair is foreseen in the preceding chapter in the Torah, where we are taught “For there will never cease to be needy people in your land, which is why I command you; open your hand to the poor and needy” (15:7-8).
The way this mitzvah is phrased acknowledges the feeling of futility that we must overcome when giving tzedakah. We must fight the voice inside ourselves that says, “If there will always be poverty, why should I try to stem it? I am powerless. I cannot fix this problem in a lasting way.” We are challenged by God to force ourselves to give in defiance of the fact that we will never be able to end poverty once and for all.
Shabbat comes in at 8.24 pm; goes out at 9.31 pm _____________________________________________________
With the trouble and turmoil going on in Israel these days, I am reminded that in Parshat Ekev we read: “Not because of your righteousness and the uprightness of your heart are you coming to inherit their land. Rather, because of the wickedness of these nations is G-D expelling them before you, and in order to fulfill the matter that G-D swore to your forefathers- to Avraham, to Yitzchak and to Yaakov.”
Indeed, when B’nai Yisrael entered Israel with Joshua they were far from perfect. They were a stubborn people that defied G-D. They worshipped the golden calf and “forgot” that G-D took them out of Egypt with an outstretched arm.
This week I read an article day by a woman who lives in the United States who said that she will never make Aliyah because she doesn’t like the way that Israel’s politicians are running the country. She made it sound like a done deal that Israel and Israelis only act immorally. Perhaps if she were to move to Israel, she could, in her own small way, be able to make an impact and improve society there.
Israel was not given to the Jewish people because they “deserve it” because they are so good. Rather it was because we agreed to work hard to perfect the world in the image of G-D. And there is a lot of work to be done.
