Parshat VaYigash – What’s up with Joseph

Is Joseph in touch with his feelings? Was he Pharoah’s iron hammer with a soft chewy center? In last week’s parshah he meets and recognizes his brothers, who have no idea who he is. He treats them harshly, but when he takes his brother Simon as a hostage to be held, he turns away and weeps When the brothers return to Joseph with Benjamin, he runs from the chamber in haste so that he may weep again in private. In these two instances, there is no mention in the Torah of anyone overhearing Joseph crying. Finally, Joseph reveals himself to the brothers, and now he is so overcome with emotion that he is unable to move. He sends everyone – except his brothers – out of the chamber, and reveals himself to them. His weeping is heard and becomes known to all of Pharoah’s household.

Commentators ancient and modern have had a field day analyzing this story and finding in it a tale of Joseph’s maturation as an adult and a theologian.  He is magnanimous, forgiving his brothers. He is spiritual or religiously aware, crediting HaShem with arranging the entire trajectory of his life in order to prepare the ground for his extended family to find food and safety – but later slavery – in Egypt. But the text also tells us a story of profound loneliness and rejection. With the Torah’s customary carefulness in choice and use of wording, the text mirrors Judah’s approach with Joseph’s reaction.  When Judah approaches Joseph to make his final plea the text says וַיִּגַּשׁ אֵלָיו יְהוּדָה – Judah came close to Joseph.  When Joseph finally breaks down and responds, the text quotes him to say  גְּשׁוּ-נָא אֵלַי, וַיִּגָּשׁוּ – come close to me, and they came close.  It’s as simple as brothers seeking brothers.

VaYigash – Judah approaches and Joseph responds

Our Parshah comes back from commercial, as it were, with Judah once again approaching Pharoah’s #1 man in all of Egypt. To Judah, it is as if he were speaking directly to Pharoah. Judah must in this moment be terrified, not only for his youngest brother, but for all the brothers, and for himself. Before we conclude our reading, Judah will offer himself up as a hostage in order to redeem the captivity of his brother Shimon, and to protect his brother Benjamin.How does Judah approach his as of yet unrecognized brother? The Midrash offer several interpretations. R. Yehudah, perhaps going with the pshat of the verse, says that Judah expects an argument. R. Yehuda reads the opening of our parshah as a debate that Judah wins by convincing Pharoah’s governor that he (Joseph) has acted unjustly. He quotes Shmuel 2,10:13, where Joab and his army approach the Arameans prepared for battle.R. Nehemiah reads Judah’s approach to be for a reconciliation. He cites a story in Joshuah 14:6ff where Caleb approaches Joshua to defend a request that Hebron be part of his inheritance. Caleb refers to his own experience of his “heart melting”. In return Joshua blesses Caleb and gives him Hebron.The Rabbis interpret Judah’s approach as tefilah. They rely on Elijah’s approach to HaShem In Kings 1, 18:36 where Elijah offers a prayer that he has done everything he has been commanded. At the end of his prayer, it is answered, and all the people fall on their faces when they see it, and proclaim YHVH is God, YHVH is God.”

What is Judah’s state of mind? He either does not remember, or chooses to misrepresent, the sequence of events as they transpired one parshah earlier. Joseph did not inquire of the brothers as Judah here describes it; he only accused them of being spies. It was their group answer that gave Joseph the apparent pretext for imprisoning Simon and sending the brothers back to fetch Benjamin.Ultimately, Judah tries everything, first arguing as if it were Joseph’s fault for the entire situation. Then he tells a sob story about how his father will perish if the brothers return home without Benjamin. Finally he makes this request; that Joseph take him (Judah) in exchange for Benjamin.In the opening of the 2nd traditional aliyah, Joseph is unable to contain his emotions, and weeps for the third time, this time openly. Perhaps all the aspects of Judah’s approach have combined to break through to Joseph. Although the facts of the earlier episode are not as Judah described them, there is an underlying truth because Joseph knew darn well who the brothers were, and surely he manipulated them into their “confession” about the brother at home and the brother who was lost. Joseph must be lonely and miss his father who favored him, so the references to his father’s pain must prepare him for Judah’s final tactic.When Judah offers himself up in exchange for Benjamin Joseph must see that finally Judah has learned to “man up” and not only take responsibility for his actions, but to behave in a proactive and positive way to protect his youngest brother, who now hold the position of favorite child that once belonged to Joseph. Joseph cries out -  אֲנִי יוֹסֵף, הַעוֹד אָבִי חָי – I am Joseph, does my father still live?  All the emotions have been laid  bare, and now a true reconciliation among brothers can begin.

Parshat Shemot – From 7 to 70 (#Torah)

A full count of our founding ancestors numbers seven: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, along with Sarah, Rebecca, Leah and Rachel. Our parshah opens with a naming and a counting. Eleven sons are named, not twelve, because Joseph is already in Egypt and our text is naming the sons who came to Egypt with Jacob. Then we are told that – in total – all the descendants of Jacob number 70. This is the news of the first five verses of the parshah. In verse six Joseph dies, along with everyone of his generation. In verse seven the Hebrew people observe the original commandment of the Torah – they reproduce. Fruitfully to where it seems as if they are filling the land and growing strong. These first seven verses are a bit of a recap and a prologue, for it is in verse eight that the story of Shemot really begins. וַיָּקָם מֶלֶךְ-חָדָשׁ, עַל-מִצְרָיִם, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-יָדַע, אֶת-יוֹסֵף Then arose a new king over Egypt who knew not Joseph. This is a verse that will repeat throughout Jewish history. What does it mean to say that a new king rose over Egypt? What does it mean to say that he knew not Joseph? Could it be as simple as a new king took over who had no knowledge or memory of Joseph? Who did not know that the Hebrews living in Goshen, whom he perceived as a threat, were there at the invitation of a prevous Pharoah? Was there no institutional memory in Egypt?

It seems much more likely that the new king deliberately chose to not know Joseph – and his contributions to a prior Pharoah. What one Pharoah gives, another Pharoah takes away. Yet also, one Pharoah benefits greatly from a Jew (yes, deliberately anachronistic usage), another ends up suffering greatly. A version of this pattern will repeat itself through Jewish history. Jews will be welcomed into a community – or a country – by a patron or a ruler, but eventually their welcome will be worn out, and they will become unwelcome. Unique to this situation until the terrible events of the twentieth century is that Pharoah does not want the Jews to leave Egypt. The wording of the verse puts the emphasis on the Jewish people getting out of Egypt, allying with an enemy is only a means to this end. My own family experienced this pattern in Russia.  We were invited into a town outside the pale of settlement because of a shortage of roofers.  We lived there and worked, until the patron died.  Then we were told to get out of town because we were no longer needed. If only the entire Jewish people had been kicked out of Europe before 1939!

Parshat Miketz – Time for a Wakeup Call

Commenting on Pharoah’s first dream, where he stands over the river to see the healthy and then the unhealthy cattle come up out of it, R. Yochanon contrasts Pharoah’s dream-position with Jacob’s.  Referring to the verse, he says “the wicked stand over their gods.” As for the righteous, their G-d stands over them, as it says in Breshit 28, 13, “Behold, the Lord stood over him.” He refers, of course, to Jacob’s dream of the ladder which extends to the heavens.  Reading the opening scene of our parshah, I find myself thinking of the Akedah.  In our parshah, the word הִנֵּה  (henei) occurs six times in the first seven verses.  It is as if the dreams – and their message – are being shoved in Pharoah’s face so that he must pay attention to them.  Contrast that to the opening of the Akedah, where HaShem simply calls out to Abrahan by his name, and he answers   הִנֵּנִי   (henai-ni or “Here I am”). Is makes for a delightful story that all of Pharoah’s magicians and all of Pharoah’s wise men cannot decipher these dreams.  It sets up nicely for Joseph to emerge from jail, give credit to HaShem, interpret Pharoah’s dreams and cleverly suggest that somebody really, really smart should be appointed over all of Egypt and navigate the ship of state through the seven years of plenty and the seven years of famine that will follow.   But really! Are Pharoah’s dreams that difficult to understand? Seems pretty clear that something bad is coming.  Sick cattle eating healthy cattle?  When cows (notwithstanding commercial agribusiness practices) do not normally eat cows, or any kind of animal at all?  When sheaves, that have no mouths, eat other sheaves?  Could not any reasonably awake person infer that good times will be followed by bad.  (Take a time out and listen to Led Zeppelin sing Good Times Bad Times you know I had my share if you wish.)

Further on in the Midrash R. Joshua of Siknin says in the name of R. Levi: “There were indeed interpreters of the dream, but their interpretations were unacceptable to him.”  R. Levi reads verse seven to say that the magicians and wise men were able to interpret the dreams, but incorrectly.  He gives some examples.  The seven good cows mean that Pharoah will have seven daughters, but the seven lean cows mean they will all die, and he will bury them.  The seven good ears mean that Pharoah will conquer seven countries, but the seven sick ears mean that the seven countries will successfully revolt against Pharoah.  He continues by quoting Proverbs 14, 6, which reads “A scorner seeks wisdom but does not find it, but knowledge is easy to one who has discernment.” Borrowing from the modern political world (but not making a political comment) it would appear that Pharoah cannot bring himself to face an inconvenient truth; he is not all-powerful, he cannot control the agricultural environment, he cannot prevent bad times that are coming to him and his country.  At best he can prepare.  And some would argue that he (or shall we blame Joseph) uses the opportunity to exploit his own countrymen by taking their own output from them in good times and returning it – at a price – in bad times.  (Note verse 56 where Joseph sells – not gives – the stored up food to the Egyptians. As we read this parshah and wrestle as always with the question “what is the Torah telling us” perhaps we should think about our own inconvenient truths, whether they are personal or have implications for our communities and our country.  (OK, now I’m getting close to a political comment, or you can make your own).  Are we like Abraham, who answers “Here I am” at a single, one-word call?  Or are we like Pharoah, who really, really needs a wake-up call, and who uses a national crisis to exploit his own people. You be the decider (so to speak).

Parshat Vayeshev – Nothing But Trouble?

According to the Gemara (Sanhedrin 106A) the use of the word Vayeshev indicates trouble  or anguish (Tza-ar or in the Hebrew צער  ) about to happen.  “R. Johanan said “Every place where it is said “vayeshev” it means there is trouble.”  (He quotes several places in the Torah where the usage occurs, and sure enough, bad things happen to Israel).  In Numbers 25 “Israel settled (vayeshev) in Shittim and the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab”.  In Genesis 37 (our parshah) it begins “Jacob dwelled (vayeshev) in the land of his father’s wandering” and continues (the end of verse 2) “and Joseph brought evil report of them (his brothers) to their father”.  In Genesis 47:27 we read “Israel settled in the land of Egypt”.  We know what happened there on a grand scale, but two verses later we read “The time approached when Israel (Jacob, that is) would die.”What is it about settling in a place that causes problems? In these three verses we see different kinds of trouble/anguish.  It can be anguish on the personal level; the death of a parent, or any loved one.  It can be familial trouble as in our parshah, envy and conflict among siblings.  It can sexual misbehavior stemming from the loss of the moral compass, whether individually, in a community, or in an entire nation. R. Johanon is surely not just making an interesting comment on the use of language in the Tanach; he must be going for something deeper and more signficant.  The next part of our opening verse tells us that Jacob settled in the land where his fathers (Abraham and Isaac) lived on a temporary basis (b’aretz m’gurei aviv), or wandered to and fro.  They were in movement, he lived at rest (albeit after a lot of temporary living after fleeing his brother’s wrath).  While Jacob lived temporarily – with Lavan – his life was constantly changing, and – according to the story – he grew both materially and spiritually.  Materially he left Canaan with nothing, and he returned with a full family and what seems like a great amount of wealth. Spirtually – he becomes Israel and he learns to recognize the moments in which he is graced with the divine presence.

But when Jacob settles down, things begin to come apart.  He is too obvious in his love and favoritism to his favored child. He makes a poor decision to send Joseph spying on the brothers who resent him for his dreams of dominance, and most likely for his father’s favoritism as well.   By the end of the chapter his favored son is lost and he mourns his reported death.Rabbi Eliezer Kwass, writing about the Tower of Babel story, observes the following about living in tranquility. “Even the righteous should not expect tranquility and peace of mind in this world, but should focus on action and work.  Ironically, teaches the Midrash, the moment one settles into a comfortable, unconfronted placed…something unsettling will inevitably occur.” R. Yochanon lived and worked during the early period of the second exile, when the nation of Israel had lost its permanent home.  Arguably, this period is the most dynamic and creative in all of Jewish history.  Religious practice is reinvented, the Mishnah and two Talmuds are created and the basic framework of two millenia (and counting) of Jewish life is brought into being.  He, along with other of our great teachers, is saying that being ‘settled’ is not the way Jewish life is meant to be lived.  Jewish life, on an individual, communal and national level, is meant to be dynamic, active, in movement, in other words un-settled, in order for us to grow. Although it will take a few more parshiot, we will see Joseph – and his brothers – grow in spirit and understanding, and resolve their familial conflicts, setting the stage for the growth of one Jewish family into an entire nation. We are living in an unsettled time. There are very few in our community and in our nation – and in our ancient and modern homeland – that are untouched by trouble and anguish.  According to our tradition, this is the natural condition of life, so that we can strive, grow and become what we are meant to be. Shabbat Shalom

Israel Bike Ride 2010 – Shabbat at Mitzpeh Ramon (Guest Post by Carol)

The ride is an amazing event on every level – physical, emotional and spiritual. The first time Art did the ride, I was unenthusiastic about Shabbat in Mitzpeh Ramon. After all, it is just a very small development town in the middle of nowhere, with one main asset – the machtesh. The machtesh is spectacular, and pictures just don’t do it justice – a huge multi-colored hole formed by erosion surrounded by steep sides.  I learned not to pre-judge a place. Shabbat in Mitzpeh Ramon turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip.

First the services – riders led, including a number of wonderful rabbis – they were spirited and spiritual. Second is Shabbas dinner – unlimited quantities of fabulously delicious food. Next the Shabbas afternoon panel with students and alumni. They are an impressive bunch – thoughtful, concerned and willing to take the path not taken to make this a better world. It’s not easy to engage in challenging studies and even more challenging dialogue, but AIES provides a place for both.

Lastly Havdala by the machtesh.  We are two for two in regard to engagements – two riders announced their engagement in 2008, and a lovely young couple associated with AIES announced their engagement this year at Havdala. You can only imagine the joyous singing and dancing in response to their announcement. Seeing the stunning full moon visible in the light and watching the sky darken and the stars shine, culminated by the beautiful Havdala ceremony, was something we won’t forget.

Ki Tetze – What’s it all about (#Torah)

Needless to say, Ki Tetze has a lot of mitzvot. For some, the meaning and purpose is clear, easy to understand, and goes down easy with the “modern” reader. For example, the obligation to return a lost object to its owner, and the companion obligation to not pretend we don’t see the lost object that needs returning to its owner. Some of the mitzvot have both obvious (the pshat) and more subtle meanings, like not to put a stumbling-block before the blind. To do literally that would be so cruel. How about leaving valuables in plain sight in your parked car? That is also putting a stumbling-block before the blind. Some of the mitzvot read like they made sense “back then” but don’t make sense now. Women wearing men’s clothing, and the reverse. In a society wear women wear slacks, jeans and shorts, who is to say if those are men or women’s clothing. If you’re Jewish and a rookie professional athlete and your team’s hazing ritual is to make the (male) rookies wear dresses, will you be able to say “I don’t do that” and make it stick. A couple of the mitzvot derived from this parsha are anachronistic at best and downright troubling at worst; I made a brief explanation of that in a prior post.

At first blush the mitzvot of Ki Tetze seem to be all over the map, simply a compendium of all sorts of different obligations applicable at different times and circumstances. At closer examination, most – if not all – of the mitzvot have to do with relationships between individuals and the construction of a just and fair society. A couple should not be intimate – in the biblical sense – except in a sanctified relationship. A warrior who captures an attractive woman must subdue his impulse to take her. A person in a dispute with his neighbor must still return lost possessions and help with fallen burdens. Day laborers should be paid promptly. A hired worker should be fed by his employer, but shouldn’t eat on his employer’s time when he is suppoed to be working. Foreigners and aliens should be integrated into our society (OK, after a couple of generations!). Debtors should be treated with dignity, and if they need a pawned object or collateral for life’s basic necessities, these things should not be withheld. When we make a promise, we should not be late in fulfilling it. When we harvest the fruits of our labor, whether agriculturally or commercially, we should think about and leave something for those in need. Even animals should be treated properly and with compassion. Animals of unequal strength should not be yoked together. An animal – a kind of employee – should not be muzzled when working in the crop fields. Perhaps the Haftorah this Shabbat provides the theme for our Torah reading. The Rockies may crumble, Gilbralter may fall (the Gershwin brothers by way of Rabbi Mark Hurvitz), but HaShem’s kindness, covenant of peace and compassion will never be removed from us. And we should never remove it from each other. Shabbat Shalom

Ki Tetze – the Mitzvot (#Torah)

Ki Tetze contains 27 “positive” and 47 “negative” mitzvot. #532: the law of how to treat a captured (in war) beautiful woman #533: not to sell a captured beautiful woman #534: not to make a captured beautiful woman into a slave after conjugal intimacy #535: to hang persons who have been sentenced to hang by the bet din #536: not to leave someone hung overnight on the gallows #537: to bury those executed by court order #538: to return a lost object to its owner #539: not to turn a blind eye to a lost object #540: not to leave the beast of one’s neighbor lying under its burden #541: to help lift up a load for an Israelite #542: that a woman should not wear the clothing or accoutrements of a man #543: that a man should not wear the clothing or accoutrements of a woman #544: not to take a mother-bird when the young is in the nest #545: to send the mother-bird away from the nest before taking the young #546: to build a parapet on one’s roof #547: not to put a stumbling-block before the blind #548: not to sow mixed seeds in a vineyard in Israel #549: not to eat the produce of mixed sees in a vineyard in Israel #550: not to do work with two kinds of animals together #551: not to wear cloth of wool and linen #552: to acquire a wife #553: that the wife about whom her husband spread an evil report should live with him permanently #554: that the husband who spreads an evil report about his wife may never divorce her #555: that the bet din should sentence to stoning anyone who merits that punishment #556: not to punish anyone for a transgression committed under compulsion #557: that a rapist should take his victim as a wife* #558: that a rapist must never divorce his victim* #559: that an emasculated man should not marry an Israelite woman #560: that a bastard should not marry an Israelite woman #561: that no Ammonite or Moabite may marry an Israelite woman #562: to never offer peace to Ammon or Moab #563: not to reject the descendants of Esau two generations after they convert #564: not to reject an Egyptian two generations after they convert #565: that a ritually unclean person should not enter the camp of the Levites #566: to prepare an “easement” in a camp when troops go out to war #567: to prepare a tool or spade for making an “easement” in the camp #568: not to return a slave who has fled from his master into the land of Israel

#569: not to oppress the slave who fled from his master into the land of Israel #570: that there should be no conjugal intimacy without a ketubah and a wedding #571: not to bring the wage of a harlot as a holy offering #572: not to borrow at interest from an Israelite #573: to lend to a non-Israelite at interest, but not to lend to an Israelite at interest #574: not to be late with a vowed or voluntary offering #575: to fulfill all vows #576: to allow a hired worker to eat certain things while (on break) working for hire #577: that a hired worker should not take out more than what he ate while working #578: that a hired worker should not eat from his employer’s crops while working #579: that one who wants to divorce his wife should do so with a proper document #580: that a divorced man should not take back his ex-wife after she has remarried #581: that a groom should not be out of his house for long periods during the first year of marriage #582: that a groom should rejoice with his wife in their first year #583: not to take as collateral anything that is required for preparing life sustaining food #584: not to take out the signs of tzara’ath affliction #585: not to take any collateral by a debtor by force #586: not to withold a pawned object from its owner when he needs it #587: to return a pledged object to its owner when he needs it #588: to pay a day laborer on the day he has worked and earned his pay #589: not to accept the testimony of close relatives in a court trial #590: not to pervert justice regarding a convert or an orphan #591: not to require a pledge from a widow #592: to leave forgotten sheaves in the field #593: not to harvest a forgotten sheaf or fruit #594: that the bet din should issue sentences of flogging for certain transgressions #595: not to add to whiplashes or to flog anyone more than he can bear #596: not to muzzle an animal during its work #597: not to be conjugally intimate with a woman awaiting levirate marriage #598: to perform levirate marriage when circumstances dictate #599: to perform halitzah to release a childless widow from the obligation of levirate marriage #600: to save a person being pursued by a killer #601: not to have mercy on a pursuer intending to kill #602: not to keep unfair scales or weights in our possession even absent intent to use them in trading #603: to remember what Amalek did to Israel when we came out of Egypt #604: to eradicate the progeny of Amalek #605: to not forget what Amalek did to Israel when we came out of Egypt. * The idea that a rapist should marry and never divorce his victim is undoubtedly repugnant to the modern reader, as well it should be. The two mitzvot in question come from a time and a society where marriage could be consummated by sexual intercourse, and where a woman who had lost her virginity was considered dishonored, and therefore unlikely to ever get married. Strange as it may seem (and remember that the notion of ‘romantic love’ may be an invention of recent times), these mitzvot were designed to protect and provide sustenance for the woman who had been raped.

Parashat Re’eh – 55 Mitzvot – but who’s counting? (#Torah)

Except for Sefer Breshit, in which there are few of the 613 mitzvot, I always like to start studying the Parshah by reviewing the mitzvot that are associated with it according to Sefer HaHinuch - the Book of Education.  Once I’ve look at the list, I like to ask some questions: How many of these mitzvot apply to our time and place? How many apply to both men and women? How many can only be observed in Israel? How many might require ‘adjustment’ because of changed sensibilities? The list in Parshat Re’eh is: #436:  to destroy an idol and all that serves it #437: not to erase holy writings, the written name of the Kadosh Baruch Hu, or the Temple #438: to bring all obligatory or voluntary offerings at the next pilgrimage festival #439: not to sacrifice holy offerings outside the Temple #440: to sacrifice all offerings at the Temple, an not anywhere outside of it #441: to redeem animals consecrated for offerings which have subsequently become blemished #442: not to eat the second tithe of grain outside Jerusalem #443: not to consume the second tithe of wine outside Jerusalem #444: not to consume the second tithe of oil outside Jerusalem #445: not to eat an unblemished firstborn animal outside Jerusalem #446: not to eat a hattat or asham offering outside the Temple #447: not to eat the flesh of an olah (burnt offering) #448: not to eat offerings of lesser holiness before their blood is sprinkled on the altar #449: kohanim should not eat bikkurim until they are set down on the Temple grounds #450: not to neglect the Levites by failing to give them their gifts #451: to observe shihitah (ritual slaying) #452: not to eat a limb torn from a living animal #453: to attend to bringing an animal offering from another land to the Temple #454: not to add to the precepts of the Torah in any way #455: not to diminish the precepts of the Torah in any way #456: to ignore anyone prophesying in the name of an idol – or idolatry #457: to have no affection for an enticer to idolatry #458: not to relinquish hatred for an enticer to idolatry #459: not to rescue from death an enticer to idol-worship #460: that someone enticed to idolatry should not speak in favor of the enticer #461: that someone enticed to idolatry should not refrain from speaking out against the enticer #462: not to entice an Israelite toward idol-worship #463: to examine witnesses thoroughly and completely

#464: to burn a city gone astray into idolatry #465: not to rebuild to its former condition a city gone astray into idolatry #466: to derive no benefit from the wealth of a city gone astray into idolatry #467: not to gash oneself as idol-worshippers do #468: not to cause baldness, tearing the hair in grief over the dead #469: not to eat holy animal offerings that became disqualified #470: to examine the marks of a fowl to see if it may be eaten #471: to eat no unclean, non-kosher locusts, nor any winged insects #472: not to eat the flesh of any kosher animal that died of itself #473: to observe the second tithe #474: to tithe for the poor in the second and sixty years of the seven year cycle #475: not to demand payment for a loan after the shmitah year has passed #476: to exact a loan rigorously from a heathen #477: to relinquish debts in the shmitah year #478: not to refrain from sustaining a poor person and providing what is needed #479: the mitzvah of tzedakah #480: not to avoid lending money to the poor because of the onset of the shmitah year #481: not send away empty handed a hebrew manservant when he goes free #482: to give a bonus to a hebrew manservant as his discharge #483: to do no work with animals that have been consecrated for offerings #484: not to shear animals consecrated for offerings #485: not to eat hametz after noon the day before pesach #486: not to leave over to the third day any meat of the pesach offering at pesach #487: not to offer the pesach offering on an individual’s altar #488: to be happy on the pilgrimage festivals #489: to appear on the pilgrimage festivals at the Temple #490: not to go on the pilgrimage festival without an animal offering And there you have it, fifty five mitzvot, primarily about idol worship and Temple sacrifices. These are not mitzvot that sit easily in the progressive mind. The Temple is no more, and although some prayerbooks call for its restoration, I doubt that I have ever davened with anyone who really wants to see sacrificial rites restored. The mitzvot about idolatry, in their pshat form, pose difficult questions living in a time when more, not less tolerance, for the religions of other people is so desperately needed. Here and there we see a mitzvah that we can easily and eagerly embrace, especially those mandating tzedakah. We also see a mitzvah that has – in the past couple of decades – been caught up in political fights in Europe, and most recently, New Zealand, where prohibitions against ritual slaughter have been enacted into law under the guise of prohibiting cruelty to or maltreatment of animals in the moments before they are killed for food. Much to ponder, much to wrestle with.

Parshat Ekev – The 2nd Haftorah of Consolation (#Torah)

This Shabbat we are on the second rung of the seven step ladder leading us up from the depths of Tisha B’Av to the heights of the Holy Days. In this haftorah the prophet oscillates between the themes of abandonment, desolation and the sense of being forgotten on the one hand, and the consoling thought or remembrance and deliverance on the other hand. The haftorah opens with this startling declaration: וַתֹּאמֶר צִיּוֹן, עֲזָבַנִי יְהוָה; וַאדֹנָי, שְׁכֵחָנִי. Zion said ‘ HaShem has forsake me, HaShem has forgotten me Yet the prophet himself responds to this outcry, saying on behalf of the creator הֲתִשְׁכַּח אִשָּׁה עוּלָהּ, מֵרַחֵם בֶּן-בִּטְנָהּ; גַּם-אֵלֶּה תִשְׁכַּחְנָה, וְאָנֹכִי לֹא אֶשְׁכָּחֵךְ Can a mother forget the child suckling at her breast, would she not have compassion for her very own child? Even if these could be forgotten I will not forget you!

Much of the haftorah continues in this vein; a dialogue between the voice of despair and the voice of hope. At the end Isaiah concludes with an unequivocal message of comfort and consolation. HaShem has comforted Zion, HaShem has turned the wilderness into the garden of Eden and the desert into his very own garden. We are left with this declaration, that we will hear – and give voice to -שָׂשׂוֹן וְשִׂמְחָה (sasson and simchah – joy and celebration) thanks-giving and the sound of melody. In our time when we know too many people who have reason to despair on both the personal and economic front, and about the increasing degree to which Zion our homeland is under attack, it is easy to remain “stuck at Tisha B’Av”. The wavering back and forth between the feelings of despair and the sound of joy is all to easy to understand. The haftorah is a powerful reminder that we can hope for hope, and hope to see hope fulfilled speedily and in our day. Shabbat Shalom