Parshat Ekev; Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25: By Rabbi Denise L. Eger

In this week’s portion, Ekev, Moses reviews the difficulties in the relationship between the desert generation and God. Moses reminds the people about several occasions when their actions placed their relationship with the Eternal in jeopardy. In particular, Moses recounts the actions of the people at Mt. Sinai (or Horeb as it is referred to here in this section) when they built and worshipped the golden calf. Moses describes in great detail the events of that day and of his anger and disappointment and God’s anger and disappointment.

Moses also talks about several other occasions when the Israelites disappointed God and provoked God by their actions and by their lack of faith. “As long as I have known you, you have been defiant toward the Eternal,” says Moses (Deut. 9:24).

Each of the incidents Moses describes is a way to explain why the Israelites are called “a stiff-necked people.” Their stubbornness and their lack of faith are recurring themes in the desert generation.

In truth however, this is a theme that plagues the Jewish people throughout their history. There have been times throughout our history when we as a people have forgotten to put our faith and trust in God. In fact, the traditional explanations for the destruction of both the first and second temple directly link to our lack of faith in God and our faith in our fellow Jews.

All too often we as a people think we know what God wants or in fact, ignore what God wants. We are quick when trouble abounds to cling to God and Judaism and to bind together as a people when the attack comes from outside. But too often we as the Jewish people lapse in our commitment to Klal Yisrael—the entire Jewish people. We fail to respect one another’s commitments to Jewish life. All too often we seek answers outside of our tradition rather than come back to the basics of Jewish life. And yet this portion urges us and Moses’ voice calls to us in this portion to be faithful to the ways of the Torah and God because that idolatry and stubbornness of the desert wanderings almost was our end. Yet, Moses interceded on our behalf. So Moses’ reminds us: “You must revere Adonai you God; Only God shall you worship and God you shall hold fast and by God’s name you shall swear. Adonai is your glory and your God who wrought for you those marvelous, awesome deeds that you saw with your own eyes (Deut. 10:20-21).”

We must imagine the miracles of that time as miracles in our time. Our faithfulness at all times will keep us and uplift us. The promise of that faithfulness will be a “land flowing with milk and honey.” (Deut. 11:9).

Parsaht V’etchanan; Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11 By: Rabbi Denise L. Eger

Once again, this week the children of Israel hear the Ten Commandments. The first version is recorded in the book of Exodus chapter 20. God speaks from Mt. Sinai to the people. But here in this week’s portion, V’etchanan in Deuteronomy, Moses reiterates the words. He tells the people in this portion the importance of observing the covenant once they have crossed over the Jordan. And although he won’t be with them he strongly urges their faithfulness to the tradition. Moses tells us “The Eternal our God made a covenant with us at Horeb, It was not with our ancestors that the Eternal made this covenant, but with us, the living every one of us who is here today. (Deut. 5:2-3).” This emphasizes for the Children of Israel the notion that this amazing revelation of the Torah and all its laws and teachings was not just something that happened previously—but is ongoing. This is a very special theological point. In essence time is suspended. Although the generation of Israelites that stood at the base of Mt. Sinai and had that direct experience is not the generation poised to enter the Promised Land nevertheless this is revelation is supposed to be as real to this generation as it was to their parents. This is a tall order. The revelation and the special nature of the revelation is ongoing. It doesn’t stop. This revelation at Sinai is in essence an Eternal Revelation for the Jewish people.

And so Moses once again recounts the sacred words that bind God to Israel and Israel to God. Moses says, “Hear O Israel, the laws and rules that I proclaim to you this day! Study them and observe them faithfully, (Deut. 5:1).” Thus the eternal revelation must be “owned” by each generation through the study and ultimately the inculcation of the covenant in our children. We cannot have the voice of God or even Moses intone the Ten Commandments in our day. But we can imagine ourselves standing at Sinai and if we can imagine ourselves there, we can place ourselves in that direct line of receiving the Torah and placing it in our midst.

This portion reminds us of this very point. In the words of the V’ahavta prayer the opening paragraph which is found in this week’s portion, says to “Teach these to your children!” This covenant, this promise, this Torah is indeed not just for the desert generation, or the generation who left Egypt but for every generation. This is Moses’ emphasis and ours today. It is the gift that keeps on giving. We must place the Torah in our midst. We must study it and pass it on to the next generation. No one will do this for us. But it now rests upon our shoulders to do.

May we rise to the occasion.

Parshat Devarim; Deuteronomy 1:1 -3:22 By: Rabbi Denise L. Eger

We begin the final book of the Pentateuch, Deuteronomy with this week’s portion. Called “Devarim”, the portion shares its name in Hebrew with the entire book. Devarim means words or things in Hebrew. And this book is filled with Moses’ words and many teachings. His final words are directed to the People Israel before his soul his taken by God and he dies on Mt. Nebo looking over the Promised Land. Moses’ words are reminders to the Children of Israel not just of their journey to the edge of Israel but of the covenantal promises God made to them and they made to God. According to the text Moses’ begins his discourse in the eleventh month which would be Shevat counting biblically with Nisan as the first of the year. This is just a month before Moses’ own death which is traditionally marked as Adar 7.

Moses makes this grand final speech and teaching to the people as they are encamped on the steppes of Moab on the eastern side of the Jordan River. We might understand this book of Torah as his ethical will. (An ethical will is a document that shares values, stories, family history and missives from one generation to the next –rather than leaving property or dividing an estate among beneficiaries.) Moshe wants to make sure that the people of Israel and its future leadership does not miss the subtleties of the covenant. He reiterates, restates, and recalls these last forty years. He reminds them of his unique role. He teaches them their history and tries to cajole them to live up to their responsibilities.
Remember those that he is speaking to are not the generation that came out of Egypt. They have died on the journey, in the wilderness. This is a younger generation that will conquer the Promised Land. They did not directly experience many of the miracle of the journey—the fateful night in Egypt when God came down to slay the first born of the Egyptians, the parting of the Red Sea, even the smoke and fire and the voice of God at Mt. Sinai. Thus in the book of Deuteronomy we find the second version of the Ten Commandments, the Shma, the recounting of the people’s infidelities in regards to their relationship with God. He reminds them of the past problems as a way to perhaps avoid future problems! Perhaps they would learn from their parent’s mistakes since it was their parent’s faithlessness that caused the journey of 11 days to turn into a sojourn of forty years. As the opening verses of this portion states, “It is eleven days from Horeb to Kadesh- Barnea by the Mount Seir route,” (Deut.1:2). Horeb is another name for Mt. Sinai and Kadesh-Barnea is where the Children of Israel encamped for most of the forty years in the wilderness. Moses hopes that his final words and final teaching will be heard by this generation that grew up in the wilderness and will become a people in their own land.
The generational gap is real. Each generation has to work out for itself the difficulties and problems that come its way. Even though the generation before experienced many difficulties and perhaps gained tremendous wisdom along the way, youth’s invincible attitudes and sometimes its arrogance often keeps the younger generations from understanding the wisdom gained from its elders. Yes, conditions are different for each generation but general themes of love and faith, friendship and work, war and peace are timeless and belong to no single age or era. Moses’ words try to impart that wisdom to this “wilderness generation”. Like any parent he hopes they are listening!

Up Date From Jerusalem

"What A Difference A Year Makes"

Dear Kol Ami members and friends,

As many of you know I am on sabbatical in Ir HaKodesh, the holy city of Jerusalem! Shalom u'vracha-- Greetings of Peace and Blessing! I have been studying once again at the Shalom Hartman Institute at the Rabbinic Training Seminar. This year more than 130 rabbis from across the denominational spectrum and from the world over are studying the topic of Tikkun Olam: Globalism and Judaism. There are Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative and Orthodox rabbis from North America, South America, Europe, Israel and even as far away as Hong Kong! We have been delving into the topic of Tikkun Olam, repair of the world, from many different angles. While this is an important concept that Reform Judaism long ago embraced flowing from the justice and compassion and challenges of our ancient prophets, the many texts we have looked at have brought me a deepened sense of this ideal as a spiritual practice and as a religious imperative of the Jew. We have explored whether or not this ideal is rooted in only the particularism of Judaism or in the voice of universalism or some combination of the two. We have studied texts as varied as Genesis, Isaiah, the Talmud, Maimonides, Abraham Joshua Heschel and the chief Sephardic rabbi of Israel, Ovadiah Yosef!

Last year I wrote to you from Jerusalem as from a country in panic as war broke out in Lebanon. This year it is a very different reality here. Last summer as the war broke out the city of Jerusalem emptied overnight. This summer Jews from all over the world crowd this sacred city filling it with a special bustle. Hotels and restaurants are filled to overflowing and traffic is a challenge! People are still remembering and praying fervently for the return of Israel's soldiers, Gilad Shalit, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev captured during last summers conflicts. The citizens of the city of S'derot near the Gaza strip live with the constant threat and bombardment of rockets from Hamas. But mostly Israel is at peace this summer, even as the changing events in the West Bank and Gaza keep everyone guessing.

One sign that life is moving toward the every day is the advent of Israeli Major League Baseball (www.israelbaseballleague.com)! Six teams playing on three fields brings America's favorite past time to Israel. The Modiin Miracle, the Petach Tikvah Pioneers, the Tel Aviv Lightening, Ra'annana Express, the Netanyah Tigers and the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox have initiated a wonderful new experience here. It truly is like the1989 movie "Field of Dreams." You remember the movie and short story "Shoeless Joe", where Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella hears a voice in his corn field tell him, "If you build it, he will come." Ray gets a prophetic vision to build a baseball diamond in the middle of an Iowa corn field so the ghosts of the banned 1928 Chicago White Soxs can play to their hearts delight while Ray examines the meaning of his life.!

At Kibbutz Gezer halfway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem the Modiin Miracles and Bet Shemesh Blue Sox play in a ball park literally built amidst a sun flower field! Field of dreams indeed!

It is a wonderful metaphor however for the whole Israeli experience. This wonderful, complex Jewish place is a field of dreams where many people have made their home. Israel most recently has been dealing with an influx of refugees from the horrors of Sudan and Darfur, trying to welcome them and comfort them and figure out what to do for them. In an article in the Jerusalem Post several refugees noted their difficult and traumatic secret passage through the Sinai desert and illegally climbing the border fence from Egypt to Israel while being shot at by the Egyptian border patrol. As Israeli soldiers met them, they brought them food and clothes and a kind word. Many are working now in the hotels of Eilat even as the Israeli government tries to figure out the next steps in their journey in this society.

Israel will celebrate next May its 60th anniversary of Independence. I hope that many of you will want to see the real Israel. Not just the conflicts and foreign policy concerns that nightly make their way to you via CNN. But the real, vibrant, complex, bittersweet Israel of people, history, and a vibrant future. Being here brings you more in touch with the Jewish self and the Jewish psyche and allow one the permission to imagine the fully realized Jewish neshamah! For some this will be only fulfilled by making aliyah, moving to Israel while for others of us, visiting here and building our connection to this magical place of our souls will uplift us even as we make our lives in Los Angeles. I hope you can experience the magic of Israel and this wonderful field of dreams!

Shalom from Jerusalem,

Rabbi Denise L. Eger

Shalom,

Denise L. Eger

Matot/Ma’asei; Numbers 30:2- 36:13 By: Rabbi Denise L. Eger

These two portions are combined to make one portion for this week. In a leap year these two are separated to account for the additional Sabbaths because of the addition of a leap month (Adar II). Matot/Ma’asei are the last two portions in the book of Numbers. The Children of Israel are in the steppes of Moab on the eastern side of the Jordan River almost ready to cross into the Promised Land. Moses is still in leadership along with Eleazar the High Priest who assumed the Priestly office upon his father, Aaron’s death.

Two of the tribes Gad and Reuben send their leaders to speak with Moses. They wish to stay on the eastern side of the Jordan River and stake out their claim to the land. Although it is clear from the text that the Promised Land lies across the River Jordan –the Torah tells us that since it is such good grazing land for cattle and that they are cattle herders they requested to settle there (Num. 32:4). “Do not move us across the Jordan.” (Num. 32:5), their leaders plead. The leaders of these tribes make the claim that God conquered the local tribes for the community Israel even though this is technically not the Promised Land.

Moses is afraid that granting their request will keep the Israelites from their divine task of conquering the Promised Land. Moses reminds them of the spies whose lies about the Promised Land caused the children of Israel a forty year delay before they could enter. And now the Children of Israel are about to finally cross over the Jordan and stake their claim to the sacred land of Israel promised to Abraham and the Israelites. But these tribes appear to want out of their responsibility to make the promise real!

The Gadites and Reubenites promise to still fulfill their obligations to the whole People of Israel by promising to participate in conquering and delivering the Promised Land to the People Israel. They agree to send their men forward to fight even as their children, wives and livestock will stay behind on the steppes of Moab. The leaders of the tribes of Gad and Reuben say “Whatever the Eternal has spoken concerning your servants that we will do. We ourselves will cross over as shock troops at the instance of the Eternal into the land of Canaan,” (Numb 32:32-32).

While Gad and Reuben seek what is best for their families and clans there is still the issue of responsibility to the Israelite nation. While they convince Moses and the other elders that they should be able to dwell east of the Jordan it comes with the obligation to help the other tribes fulfill God’s promise and eternal plan.

We must learn from this important example. Even as we all do what is best for ourselves and our own families—there is another family that we Jews are part of. We are a part of the People Israel. Our covenant with God is also a covenant with one another and we do have common obligations to help our people thrive. The personal decisions we make do not just impact our own small sphere of influence but does impact the Jewish world. Decisions made about who we marry—Jewish or not? How we raise our children, or whether we have children or not may seem like personal decisions. But they also affect greatly the Jewish people. If we choose to support non-Jewish tzedakah always over Jewish tzedakah opportunities do we diminish the Jewish world? In light of the story of the tribe of Gad and Reuben if we do not make Aliyah to Israel what ought to be our relationship to Israel and what is our obligation/responsibility/privilege to help our brother and sisters in Israel?

These questions of particularism and universalism, personal and national are part of the balance of what makes us a Jew in the 21st century, no less than it was for the Gadites and Reubenites so many centuries ago. The torah’s answer is clear—dwell nearby, even outside the Promised Land—but remember your responsibility. We would do well to honor our responsibilities in the same way by also taking into account our own responsibilities to help the Jewish people thrive and grow both in Israel and around the world through out actions, decisions and support!

Parshat Pinchas; Numbers 25:10- 27:23; By: Rabbi Dennise L. Eger

Parshat Pincas is named for the priest who was so devoted to God that he single handedly helped to return the people to the worship of God through his actions. One cannot read the opening verses of this Torah portion without the end of the previous week’s portion Balak for the story is a continuation.

As the Israelites moved toward the Promised Land they began to encounter many different nations. At the end of Parshat Balak we are told that the Israelite men were led astray by Moabite women. King Balak who could not conquer the Israelites by curses of the priest Baalam to give his army an edge, helped to invade and destroy the Israelites by sending the Moabite women to entrap the Israelite men. The Moabite women married the Israelite men and led them to worship Baal-peor, their local deity. The Israelites even brought them into the Israelite camp –bringing in essence a fifth column into the Israelites that might destroy them from within.

God tells Moses that this idolatry must stop and that those responsible must die. “God said to Moses, “Take all the ringleaders and have them publicly impaled before God, so the God’s wrath may turn away from Israel.” (Num. 24.4)”. Although Moses tells the leadership of the Israelites what must be done, they are clearly upset with the notion because they are noted in the text at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting weeping. They mourn in advance for what must be done to rid their community of those who profaned God’s name and the worship of Adonai and those who threaten the existence of this newly formed nation.

Pinchas observes one of these leaders bringing a Moabite woman before Moses and the whole community that has gathered. This man was named Zimri and he was the son of a leader of the tribe of Simeon and the woman he brought forth was Cozbi who was a daughter of a Midianite chieftain. So in essence you had the tribe of Simeon marrying into the Midianites who were allies of the Moabites. In no way was this pact authorized by the leadership of the Israelites nor certainly by God. And Zimri had the audacity to parade his wife before the community perhaps trying to challenge Moses and the leadership of the Israelites.

Pinchas, a priest—grandson of Aaron and whose father is now the High Priest following Aaron’s death and leader himself slays them both. He is hailed in the opening verses of this portion for his decisive action which in essence put down a rebellion from parts of the tribes! God grants to Pinchas a special covenant or pact of peace acknowledging his loyalty and devotion.

This is a difficult story for us today especially because we easily intermingle in our society with other people and we value diversity. Traditionalists of ten read this story that spans the two parshiot as sermon against intermarriage (and in truth it is a correct reading of the text). So what can we learn from this if we do value diversity? What can we learn from Pinchas’ action and devotion to God and the Israelite way of life?

I believe that Pinchas’ faith is the first and most important lesson. Throughout the book of Numbers and especially as the Israelites begin their final journey to the Promised Land faith plays an important role. When the Israelites’ faith is strong they succeed. When it is weak they are defeated. Pinchas showed tremendous faith and indeed courage to face down an open rebellion and challenge to leadership by the leaders of the tribe of Simeon. I think this story is a reminder to all of us to keep our faith strong in God who ultimately will show us the Promised Land. And indeed toward the end of the parasha—Moses is told to “Ascend the heights of Abarim and view the land that I have given to the Israelite people.” (Num. 27:12).” With faith the Promised Land will be seen. Without it doomed to wander in the wasteland of hopelessness. Pinchas’ action though seemingly for the modern reader impulsive and horrific, does teach us about undiluted faithfulness and strength of purpose as a priest of Israel. We want that in our leaders. We crave that in our selves. May Pinchas inspire us to a life of faithfulness and loyalty to our tradition and our God.