Category: Rabbi’s Dvrei Torah

The case could be made that the idea of slavery in Egypt begins in this week’s parashah, Vayigash, with the famine and Joseph’s ability to exploit the people’s hunger to enrich the Pharoah. Don’t feel bad: If it was not Joseph, it would have been someone else. Once the people had given all their money, then possessions, then livestock, then land to Pharoah just so they could eat and live another day, they found themselves on that next day beholden to Pharoah as serfs, slaving away for their existence.

Shalom Chaverim! At first glance, it seems impossible to put ourselves ‘in Jacob’s shoes’ and identify with the feelings he experiences in the face of extreme challenges. Thankfully, not many of us have 13 children, multiple spouses (simultaneously!), nor often find ourselves in the situation of having to ‘divide our camp’ as Jacob does after he crosses the river and hears his brother might be coming to attack him: almost like a ‘Sophie’s Choice’, Jacob has to make impossible decisions to save what we can when all is in danger…

The strong maternal longing for children is central to this week’s Torah portion, Vayetzei. Both Rachel and Leah endure infertility – Rachel for many years, Leah after having children but wanting more – experiencing anxiety, worry, and broken-heartedness, hopelessness and yet still hope for creating their family. They also suffer from the unfortunate and emotionally destructive rivalry between them…as well as additional complicated emotions arising from their unique circumstances, the involvement of concubines as surrogates, the fact that they are sisters married to the same man, their situation vis-à-vis their father who disadvantageously employs their husband Jacob, and more.

One of the ‘prayers’ we most associate with this season of teshuva is not really a prayer at all. During slichot – which is this coming Saturday evening [8:00pm desert, 8:30pm Slichot at Temple Sinai] – we recite ‘The 13 Attributes’…which is a slightly edited version of the Torah’s quoting God giving a self-description of the qualities God has and uses to manage the world. We then repeatedly recite ‘The 13 Attributes’ during our High Holiday services.

Here is a different suggestion for how we can understand the ‘blessings’ or the ‘curses’ which are presented as a choice for us to decide between in this week’s Torah portion. It’s either/or. We can choose blessing, or we can choose curse, says Parashat Ki Tavo. This is from a poem by Aaron Zeitlin (b. 1898, Russia – d. 1973, New York). It is seems very fitting for this month of Elul, our time for self-reflection in preparation for the approaching new year and the upcoming High Holidays:

According to the great 12th century philosopher and scholar Moses Maimonides, this week’s torah portion, Ki Tetze, contains 72 mitzvot, commandments — more than any other portion of the Torah. Yet now during the month of Elul when this portion is always read, we tend not to focus on the minutia of the law as we busily prepare ourselves for the new year by making Teshuva: considering the ‘bigger picture’, taking account of our life and our ways, turning our lives around and trying to repair the damage we’ve caused by the mistakes we’ve made in the past. So, why read all these myriad laws now?

There is a curious phenomenon: Many people on airplanes tend to cry, or even weep, while watching movies on long-haul flights. Various theories have been suggested as to why, from the psychological to the physiological. I once started sobbing during the “oompa-loompa” song in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and the tears didn’t stop for hours. In general though, and not just on airplanes, we all connect to a little heartbreak in the stories we read and the movies we see. This week’s Torah portion is, truly, heartbreaking. Moses tells how he pleaded to God to cross the Jordan and see the Promised Land, despite already having been told that he will die before reaching the Land. V’etchanan – “and I pleaded before God”, is the first word of our portion: tradition wants to draw our attention to this poignant episode, by naming our portion for Moses and his plea.

This Shabbat is the Shabbat just prior to Tisha B’Av. It is called Shabbat Chazon, the “Shabbat of Vision”. In the Torah we read Parashat Devarim, and the haftarah begins with the words חֲזוֹן יְשַׁעְיָהוּ, chazon Yishayahu, “the vision of Isaiah.” Maybe we need to dust off of this word חֲזוֹן, chazon – “vision”. We don’t speak of “vision” from day-to-day as we go about our busy lives. What is the long-term “vision” that guides us through the here-and-now? What are we aiming towards? Are we still oriented towards that goal? Is our path leading us there, even if circuitously? Is what we are going about doing in the meantime aligned with the values that our vision requires in order to be achieved ultimately? Does this “vision” continue to inspire and energize us?

We’ve all had the experience of having said or done something that reveals who we truly are. Sometimes those moments are heroic or profoundly kind, generous, or brave. Often, we find ourselves forced to admit we are not yet the person we aspire towards or think ourselves to be. The Torah in these week’s parasha, Mattot-Masei, records one of these moments of profound insight into one’s character. Maybe we can learn from it. The tribes of Israel are about to cross into the Promised Land, finally, after 40 years of preparation. It is clear that moving onto the Land will require war and all manner of difficulties. The tribes’ unity, morale, and faith will be essential.

Which seems more intriguing to you, more poetic and inviting: the idea of “Numbers” or “In the Wilderness”? Which is more likely to be in your weekend plans – playing Sudoku or going for a hike, watching a sunset, enjoying your garden’s beauty? For those of us who struggled with math in school, it might cross our minds that ‘numbers’ and [being lost] ‘in the wilderness’ are – more or less – synonyms! On the other hand, mathematicians – who see equations as beauty and understand the theories of how the entire universe appears to be founded on mathematical principles – might say that ‘numbers’ and ‘in the wilderness’ share an aesthetic, a thrilling limitlessness, and even a sense of spirituality.