Parshat Re’eh: Deuteronomy 11:26 -16:17: Rabbi Denise L. Eger

This week’s portion, Re’eh covers many different areas of concern that the Israelites will face as they enter and settle in the Promised Land, the land of Israel. The opening sections of the portion once again remind the Israelites of the temptations of idolatry. As they enter the land they will be tempted to worship God imitating the ways of the local people. But the Torah is very clear, “Do not worship Adonai your God in like manner” (Deut. 12:4). The Israelites are not to worship or practice the religion of other peoples and will bring their own sacrifices only to the “Place which Adonai will choose in one of your tribal territories” (Deut. 12:14). God will eventually pick the place of worship—and the Israelite religion will be centralized.

Israel did cross over the Jordan under the leadership of Joshua. They did conquer the land and began to settle. But the Children of Israel did not have a central place to worship for many years to come. In the early years of settlement the tribes were not so organized and there were many centers of worship of Adonai, from Gilgal to Shechem, Shiloh and Bet-El. But only later when King David arose, and the ark came to Jerusalem that is when the promise made in this week’s portion began to come true.

The portion re-iterates the special dietary rules which have become known as keeping kosher. We have read them before in Leviticus Chapter 11. These become important especially because as they enter a new land, they will come into contact with many local customs, foods and people. These rules for eating and for elevating the most basic human act of nourishment to the Holy One of Blessing will help to define not only the Israelites but the Jewish people throughout all time even until today. By refraining from pork and shellfish, the Jewish people have made even a meal a sacred act.

The rules of Kashrut have developed throughout the centuries from that which we read about this week. The basic foods that are permitted and forbidden have remained the same. Yet other rules and guidelines have been expanded. For example from the verse in here in Deut. 14:21 “You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk,” the rules for separating meat from milk products has grown more stringent.

In recent months we have learned of quite a scandal in the Kosher food business.
The largest kosher meat manufacturer, AgriProcessors in Pottsville, Iowa has been accused of many violations of U.S. law. These include accusations of breaking child labor laws, hiring and harboring illegal aliens, physical and mental abuse by supervisors, altering work records and underpaying workers. According to news reports, AgriProcessors produces 60 percent of all kosher meat and 40 percent of all kosher poultry in the United States. Owned by the Rubashkin family, they have consistently denied these accusations. But the U.S. government raided the plant back in May and arrested more than 300 illegal workers. There are multiple investigations by the Department of Justice, the Iowa Department of Labor, the Federal Department of Labor and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Bureau.

There are many people in the Jewish community that have raised serious questions about the standard for keeping kosher. Should this company that produces so much kosher meat be considered kosher if it can’t keep basic Jewish ethical principals and obey the civil law? The laws of kashrut try to help us as a people keep our distinct and special covenant with our God. But that covenant also calls for treating workers with honor, dignity and respect. And our Jewish tradition calls upon us to obey the law of the land that we live in. AgriProcessors have violated both of these important Jewish legal ideals. What a sad day when the Orthodox –Rabbinical Council of America, defends the Rubashkin family and wants to separate the ethical from the laws of kashrut. There is no defense of their position.

This is a serious matter one that calls for all of us in the Jewish community to respond to and urge that the Rubashkin family and those supervisors in the plant be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and that organizations who certify what is kosher and not withdraw the kosher certification from this plant until these violations can be rectified (even if that means we don’t eat much meat for awhile!).

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

The last book of the Torah begins with this week’s Torah portion-Deuteronomy. This entire book of Torah is Moses’ last address to the Children of Israel before they will cross over the Jordan River and into the Promised Land and before he is gathered to God on Mt. Nebo. We know that Moses will not enter the Promised Land and the leadership of the people has passed to Joshua ben Nun, Moses assistant all of these years. Moses will climb Mt. Nebo on the plains of Moab and only glimpse across the valley toward Eretz Yisrael.

The opening words of this portion tell us that this took place in the fortieth year on the first day of the eleventh month. This would be the month of Shevat, since biblically the beginning of the year happened in Nisan, the time of the Exodus. But scholars tell us the book of Deuteronomy is a late book and its “discovery” is described in the book of Kings during the reign of King Josiah. Biblical scholars debate whether or not this book of Torah is something of an earlier time or perhaps the great reformation that took place in Josiah’s time demanded an authoritative book that spoke with the authority of Moses but was conveniently found in the Temple!
The book of Deuteronomy begins with Moses addressing the group of Israelites that were born during this generation in the desert. Their parents and grandparents who came out of Egypt were not to reach the Promised Land because of their sins 38 years ago. They believed the scouts who were sent to explore the land and instead of reporting their findings truthfully lied about the inhabitants and concluded that the Israelites would never be able to capture the land. (See Parshat Shelach –Lecha in the book of Numbers). They showed a distinct lack of faith in the covenantal promise made by God to Moses and to the Israelites and the Children of Israel were whipped into a frenzy of disbelief by them. All but two of the scouts—Joshua and Caleb fabricated tales about the inhabitants of the land of Canaan and they came to the conclusion that they could not engage them in battle and win. God realized that this group that came out of slavery could not be the ones who would lead the way. They had been enslaved too long. Their mindset of oppression was too ingrained. And so God declared that the generation who left Egypt, because of their lack of faith would not enter into the Promised Land and not settle it.
This history is now recounted by Moses to descendants of those who came out of Egypt in the opening chapters of this week’s parasha. But Moses doesn’t make the distinction between this new generation and the one that was to have perished in the desert. He speaks to this group as if they were the ones who stood at Sinai themselves and as if they were the ones who had believed the scouts. “Yet you refused to go up and flouted the command of Adonai your God.” (Deut. 1:26) This is not the group that refused but their children. But Moses has to find the link for them so that the covenantal promise is not something that is abstract to this generation who did know slavery. They need to understand that the covenantal promise is real and applies to them!
They will soon be asked to cross over the Jordan and begin the march and trek to creating a new society in the land of Canaan. This group—descended from slaves—must create a new land built with hard work and faith. Thus Moses’ oration recounts the past and helps them to identify with it. It is not just their parents’ story but it is their story now. And they will need faith in the covenant and in God to achieve their goal of conquering the Promised Land and settling there.
Moses’ words in this week’s portion places their future story in a context of the immediate past and I think that he hopes the Children of Israel will learn from the past so they don’t commit the same errors as their parents. When Moses says: “I spoke to you, but you would not listen; you flouted Adonai’s command and willfully marched into the hill country. (Deut. 1:43), he is retelling what happened to their parents. But he is also teaching them that they must listen to their leaders and most importantly listen to God. They can’t just go off on their own to make their own plans because inevitably those plans will fail—just as once before they tried to go off into the hill country only to be routed by the Amorites.
So Moses will throughout Deuteronomy recount and restate many of the episodes of the desert wanderings and many of the laws that have been revealed to the people. This group born since Egypt will learn at Moses’ feet their mission and their history and make it their own.
It is no different for us today. We need to learn and know our past and affirm it to our present and our future. We need to trust in God and trust in ourselves. We need to learn from our people’s successes and failures and our own. When we see ourselves in this story in Deuteronomy and we build our own faith then we too will receive the blessing of Moses as he states in this week’s portion—“May Adonai the God of your ancestors increase your numbers a thousand fold, and bless you as God promised you! (Deut. 1:11).

Seven Ate Nine - By: Rabbi Denise L. Eger

Shabbat Shalom
Tonight we begin with a riddle—why is six afraid of seven?
Because seven "ate" nine! An old joke popular with the under ten set-but the numbers seven eight and nine play a special role tonight on this Shabbat.

Let us begin with Seven: Of course the most obvious is that Shabbat is the seventh day of the week. Made holy by God’s rest and renewal during the first week of creation and made holy by God’s commandment to us to Observe and keep the Sabbath day, Shabbat is an opportunity, a gift to us to have eternity be present in our world. But how many of you take off and rest? How many of you make a conscious effort to create a different spiritual space on the Sabbath? I don’t just mean this hour of worship time—but throughout the day on Saturday—this too is Shabbat until Sundown. Try it tomorrow –no errands, or laundry, come to Torah study, read a book at home. The quality of the day will change if you have Shabbat in your life.

But we have other sevens in Jewish tradition—for seven is a special number, there are seven wedding blessing the Sheva Brachot—again tied to creation but also tied to the promise of redemption. There are Biblically seven days of Pesach and Sukkot—a full week of rejoicing. Joshua marched around the walls of Jericho seven times. The sabbatical year is the seventh year according to the Torah. The number seven indicates completeness and wholeness in our tradition.

Eight in Jewish tradition is associated with human activity—because it is a week plus one and shows human work is needed to bring about redemption. Eight is the number of days from birth to a brit milah, entering the child into the covenant. And eight is associated with the days of the Chanukah—the triumph of religious freedom and rededication to the ideals of monotheism by the Maccabees.

The number eight is important today of course because it is 8/8/08. For the Chinese the number is 8 has special magical and lucky meaning-which is one reason the Chinese chose this day for the Olympics to begin.

According to and article written by Amlan Chakraborty in PTI “For the Chinese, eight in Mandarin is 'ba', which sounds like 'fa' or prosperity, thus triggering a craze to get that lucky date on marriage certificates. According to estimates, nearly 16,500 couple tied the knot in the capital only while the administration has been flooded with requests from Shanghai, Guanzhou, Qinhuangdao and Zhengzhou as well to get married”

Often in its foreign policy—China will sign eight documents or agreements with others and Confucius left 8 virtues for his follwers in Ancient China.

But tonight as the Olympics begin in China amid the beauty of the opening ceremonies—we would do well not to forget the complex nature of China and its policies of abuse and human rights violations. China no longer the “sleeping giant” has roared awake on the global scene with its huge economic engine and people power. But their tremendous violations of human rights continue.

China could make a difference in Darfur and help to stop the genocide that is taking place there. As the largest consumer of Sudanese oil, China has been asked to speak to the government in Khartoum to stop the systematic extermination of the people of Darfur—but the Chinese government has resisted and instead is the largest supplier of arms to the Sudanese. There efforts there have enabled hundreds of thousand to be murdered and millions exiled.

China is also the biggest supporter of the oppressive regime in Myanmar. Formerly known as Burma—this is a government that went after the Buddhist priests in their peaceful protests and a government so oppressive that after the recent typhoon—they even refused aid from the American government though their people were suffering. China is also the biggest supporter of Kim Jong –IL’s repressive regime in North Korea.

And of course China’s now long record of oppression in Tibet is well-known. The Dali Lama travels the world seeking freedom for Tibet and freedom of religion while the Chinese government cracks down more tightly on the Tibetan people and resettling other Chinese ethnic groups to Tibet while making these other groups the beneficiaries of economic development in Tibet. As recently as March, the Chinese police imprisoned hundreds of protesters in Tibet in a crackdown on journalists and religious leaders.

And China especially during these Olympics has censored the press and tied its hands. The internet in China is limited access for everyone but even to foreign press and peace activists have already been expelled this week.

Even the Catholic Church cannot escape the hands of the Chinese government who wants to control who is appointed bishop and if they don’t like Rome’s choice –simply appoints it own.

Who can forget the pictures 19 years ago of a lonely Chinese protester in Tiananmen Square facing down that tank?
Even as the Olympics begin with its emphasis on athleticism, peace, and sportsmanship—China’s violation of human rights must not and cannot be ignored on this day of lucky Chinese 8’s.
And the number nine is important because tomorrow evening at the end of the Sabbath day—the Jewish community will observe Tisha b’Av the ninth of Av. This is our national day of mourning. Both the first Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians and the second temple was destroyed by the Romans in the year 70. On the ninth of Av we also mourn the expulsion from Spain and other tragedies of our people through fasting, and all of the same prohibitions that one observes on Yom Kippur.

We read from the book of Lamentations—Eicha- on this day. But this year we add to it and are reminded that the suffering we experienced at the hands of the Babylonians and the Romans and the Spaniards is no different than the suffering of human rights that are going on in plain sight of the world in Darfur, Myanmar and yes, China.
So even as we prepare to observe this sad day among our own people—let us dedicate this light of memorial to the people of Darfur who have died needlessly, and for the people of Tibet who have had their spirits crushed and for the people of Myanmar and North Korea who suffer and for those around the world whose human dignity and human rights are violated by oppressive governments and cruel rulers and dictators—whether in China, or Africa or S. America, Asia or any place in our world.

As Rabbi Andy Korn writes: “Oppressed people need more than our good intentions. They also need us to be involved. In the immortal words of Hillel the Elder: “If not now, when?” “If not now, when?” So this week call the Chinese consulate here in Los Angeles even as you watch the Olympics to ask about Freedom for Tibet and why they continue to support the oppressive regimes in Khartoum and Myanmar and hold them accountable for their actions.

“May it be our prayer that blessing should come to those who should not be forgotten. As athletes gather for competition, may we also work on behalf of those denied the rights we sometimes take for granted. May the abuses of the powerful soon and speedily give way to freedom, justice, and understanding for all.” (Korn)