Parshat Ve’etchanan, Deuteronomy 3:23 – 7:11

Our portion opens with a continuation of Moses’ anger and hurt at not being able to cross over to the Promised Land. He has just ordained Joshua ben Nun as his successor in front of the people. But Moses is bitter. He blames the people for his not being able to cross over with them. “God was wrathful with me on your account and would not listen to me” (Deut 3:26). Instead of seeing that the future required perhaps a different set of skills to bring the people into the next phase of their journey. Moses is 120 years old at this time according to our Sages. He is tired and his faith though strong in God –his faith in the people has been tried. The leader must have hope in the people that they lead. And Moses feels betrayed now by the people. It is definitely time for his farewell speech.

And this is what we begin with parshat Ve’etchanan. Moses begins the first of his addresses to the people. He stresses in this portion loyalty to covenant of God and particularly stresses to them that idolatry will pollute the Promised Land and their own souls and cause havoc. Moses reminds them of recent events when the Moabite women enticed Israelite men to worship pagan fertility gods and goddess and the consequences that befell the Children of Israel. Moses reminds the Children of Israel that the system of laws and rules and faith that has guided them through the desert will continue to keep them in the Holy Land. Moses says:

Observe them faithfully for that will be proof of your wisdom and discernment to other peoples who on hearing of all these laws will say, “Surely, that great nation is a wise and discerning people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so close at hand as is Adonai our God, whenever we call upon Adonia? Or what great nation ahs laws and rules as perfect as all this Teaching that I set before you this day? (Deut 4: 6-8).

The inheritance of Children of Israel is not in things. Not in spoils of wars so recently fought with the Midianites, the Moabites and the Edomites. The riches of the Children of Israel are the covenant with God and the relationship with God. Moses tries to stress this throughout his words in Deuteronomy. The riches of the Children of Israel are in following faithfully the words of the Commandments, which are given again in this portion. Moses recounts the Ten Commandments to this fledgling nation, perhaps remembering that this group before him did not physically stand at Sinai but were the children of those who did. Now they must hear the story of revelation and understand their link in this covenantal chain.

Do we understand our link in this same covenantal chain?

As the Jewish people tradition teaches we too were at Sinai. We maybe had a Bar or Bat Mitzvah ceremony. Some of us were confirmed. But as adults have we said—this is my covenant. This is my relationship with God and the Jewish people. This is my inheritance? Jews by Choice have a wonderful luxury over Jews by birth. They must consciously accept and acknowledge this covenantal gift and relationship. As a result they are often more zealous and scrupulous in their observances and in building their relationship with the Holy One of Blessing.

There are many occasions in a cradle Jew’s life to affirm this covenant. Certainly the brit/bris ceremony (which means Covenant) is one. The Bar and Bat Mitzvah is two. Confirmation is a third opportunity to accept the covenant. And each year at Shavuot is a re-affirmation of the moment at Mt. Sinai.

But each holy day observance is a chance to re-affirm and opt in. The High Holy Days are only a few short weeks away. This is a season of reflection and preparation not just personally but communally. Perhaps this year in your examinations you might also consider your affirmation of your place among the Jewish people and your acceptance of the covenantal promise made so long ago at Sinai.

Parshat Devarim, Deuteronomy 1:1 -3:22

The fifth and final book of the Torah begins with this week’s portion Devarim. This book of the Torah is also known in tradition as Mishneh Torah. Traditionally, this book of the Torah is attributed almost fully as the authorship of Moses except perhaps the last eight lines that Joshua is said to have written following Moses’ death overlooking the Promised Land. Deuteronomy is Moses’ farewell sermons to the People Israel. He urges their faithfulness and observance in following God’s eternal covenant made with them (even though they were not the generation that stood at Sinai, having been born in the desert). The theology of Deuteronomy is clear with the repetition of the Ten Commandments and the Shema and V’ahavta that appears in Chapter 6. God is One and the people have an obligation to love and honor God with all their being.

According however to some scholars this book of the Bible was written not by Moses but represents a much later time in Jewish history-specifically during the 7th century BCE during the reign of King Josiah. Josiah is prominently mentioned in the Book of Kings and Chronicles. King Josiah was known as a reformer. He rid the Temple practice of great idolatry during his reign. And he reinstated many customs including the celebration of Passover in Jerusalem which had been ignored for many centuries.

If we turn to Kings II in chapter 22 and 23 all of his reforms were based on the discovery of a “Book of Teaching. Hilkiah the High Priest found it during a time of renovation and repair of the Temple. This book is said to have been the Book of Deuteronomy! “And Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan, (the scribe), who read it. The scribe Shaphan then went to the king and reported to the king…the high priest Hilkiah has given me a scroll. And Shaphan read it to the king” (Kings II 23: 8-10).

“When the king heard the words of the scroll of the Teaching, he rent his clothes, And the king gave orders to the priest Hilkiah….go inquire of God on my behalf and on behalf of the people and on behalf of all Judah concerning the words of this scroll that has been found” (Kings II 22:11-13). “So the priest Hilkiah and Ahikam, Achbor, shaphan and Asaiah went to the prophetess Huldah who was living in Jerusalem in Mishneh and they spoke to her” (Kings II 22:14).

Huldah proceeded to consult God and prophesy that though God was upset with all of the idolatry that had crept into Jewish practice, and that Jerusalem would be destroyed because of it, King Josiah would not be victim. Hulda predicts “Your eyes shall not see al the disaster which I will bring upon this place” (Kings II 22:20).

Josiah would be saved. But he did something very important—He made sure that all the people understood the text of this new scroll and had the people affirm this covenant as part of the Torah. “ The king went up to the House of Adonai together with all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests and prophets—all the people young and old. And he read to them the entire text of the covenant scroll which had been found in the House of Adonai. The king stood by the pillar and solemnized the covenant before God: That they would follow Adonai and observe God’s commandments. God injunctions and God’s laws with all their heart and soul ; that they would fulfill all the terms of this covenant as inscribed upon the scroll and All the people entered into the covenant” (Kings II 23: 2-3).

This new book of the Bible or shall I say re-discovered book that had been lost for generations was only included because King Josiah understood that the people had to affirm its content. If it was merely imposed –the people would never own it as their own. It would forever be that book of the Torah that wasn’t authentic. That always brought them doubts. But because the people affirmed it themselves—it further made it their own.

Today we post-modern Jews, perhaps ought to affirm the Torah as our own. This is certainly part of the Bar and Bat Mitzvah ceremony and most definitely what the ceremony of Confirmation is all about. But perhaps as adults we ought to find the moment when we too can affirm our own place in the covenant and make it real for ourselves. Then we might feel a greater sense of ownership, a greater sense of the spirituality of Torah and our Tradition and the great link and chain that every adult Jew is for the fabric of our common people hood.

May we learn to affirm our covenant each and every day.

Parshat Mattot-Maasei, Numbers 30:2 -36:13

Another double portion, Mattot-Maasey is this week’s Torah reading. This is the end of the book of Numbers. And it is the last military campaign of Moses before his death on the heights overlooking the Promised Land. The campaign is against the Midianites and not only do they slay the five kings of Midian but they also put Balaam son of Beor to death. This is the Balaam who blessed the people Israel rather than curse them doing God’s work even as he was called by the Midianite King, Balak.

Our text teaches us that 1000 from each tribe became the army and Eleazar the High Priest’s son, Pinchas served as the priest to the army. And they were very successful in their military campaign. They collected the spoils of war and took the women and children of the Midianites as captive. Why such a vicious battle against the Midianites. After all Moses’ own father-in-law Jethro and his wife Tzipora were from Midian?

If we look back to the end of parshat Balak, the Israelites as they make their way north come into contact with the different peoples, Moab and Midian. Their contact with these people brings temptations to worship their local gods and goddesses. In fact the Moabites specifically sent their women to tempt the Israelite men sexually and through their contact with either the Moabites or Midianites the Israelites were infected with some sort of plague.

God recognized that they tempted the Israelites with pagan sexual rituals and wanted to ensure that the Israelites no longer faced temptation but also that Moabites and Midianites use of such tactics to turn Israel away from their God were abhorrent to Israel.

Interestingly enough, Moses is very angry with the warriors upon their successful return. He gets angry because they didn’t exactly follow the instructions which were to slaughter everyone except female children or virginal young women. But the Israelite soldiers brought back to camp every woman and child both male and female. Their compassion was greater than Moses.

Today the rules of war are so complex. We don’t like to think of them except when and if we are part of the military and need them. But war is still a part of our lives. America fights two wars at the same time –we are still in Iraq and still in Afghanistan. Israel continues to be surrounded by hostile nations and territories. We as citizens must demand to know what are they ways in which our militaries may conduct themselves-for they represent us. That is why there are rules of engagement, rules for how we treat prisoners and rules for helping a country back on its feet following a war.

And as citizens we should demand that our armies follow the highest ethical road possible. Even though war is always morally complex. That is what has made Guantanamo Bay detention for “enemy combatants” so suspect. It falls outside the acceptable ways to treat prisoners of war and why the revelations that the United States used torture on many of these prisoners is such an anathema to us. Because they violate our own rules of engagement and violates our value system.

Yes, I wish there was no need for war—ever. But as long as there are despots in the world –my guess is there will always be war. It is our task as citizens to ensure that we conduct our battles as ethically and morally as possible.

Parshat Pinchas, Numbers 25:10-30:1

In this week’s portion Pinchas, Moses learns that he will not be able to cross over into the Promised Land. After being a faithful servant of God, one who dedicated his life work to shepherding this difficult people from slavery to the steppes of Moab at the edge of the Holy Land, he will not be able to enter. Instead God tells him that he will ascend the heights and there be taken to his kin. In other words he will die on the mountain overlooking the Promised Land –only to see it –never to experience it.

Moses who talked with God regularly and argued with God on behalf of the people, who pleaded with God to heal his sister Miriam, remains silent in the face of this sentence. Moses doesn’t say a word. One might think that Moses would challenge God, attempt to sway God and yet the silence is deafening. Moses perhaps is tired of shepherding the Israelites. His brother Aaron, his partner in leadership is dead. His beloved sister, prophetess and singer who rescued him and brought him to leadership is dead. And the world of the Israelites is about to change dramatically. Perhaps Moses is ready to turn it all over to someone else. Couldn’t he just have retired? Been named Leader Emeritus?

The midrash teaches a very different arc to this story. In this portion Moses pleaded before God the case of the Daughters of Zelophechad. Zelophechad died without male heirs. The daughters asked why they shouldn’t be able to inherit their father’s property and Moses inquires of God. God rules in their favor with certain limitations that the property should remain within their tribe and thus they had to marry within their tribe if they married at all. The midrash teaches that Moses then thought that if they were able to inherit why not his own sons who might succeed with the mantle of leadership of the people too. Just as Aaron’s sons, Eleazar and Itamar inherited the mantle of leadership of the priesthood. Moses prays and implores God in our Torah text: “Let the Eternal One, Source of the breath of all flesh, appoint a leader for the community who shall go out before then and come in before them and who shall take them out and bring them in so that the Eternal’s community may not be like sheep that have no shepherd” (Num. 27:16-17).

The rabbis comments on this saying:

Moses argued: The time is opportune for me to demand my own needs. If daughters inherit, it is surely right that my sons should inherit my glory. The Holy One, blessed Be, said to him, “Whoso keeps the fig-tree shall eat the fruit thereof and he that waits on his master shall be honored (Prov. 27:18). Your sons sat idly by and did not study the Torah. Joshua served you much and he showed you great honor. It was he who rose early in the morning and remained late at night at your House of Assembly; he used to arrange the benches and he used to spread the mats. Seeing that he has served you with all his might, he is worthy to serve Israel for he shall not lose his reward.
Midrash Rabbah, Numbers II , Soncino Press, third edition 1983, Numbers 21:14, p 840-841

This is the rabbis’ way of understanding why Joshua was appointed to succeed Moses. And God says this, “And the Eternal One answered Moses, Single out Joshua son of Nun an inspired leader and lay your hand upon him” (Num 27:18).

Joshua who had been at Moses side and served so ablely will now inherit the mantle of leadership.

Moses represented the old generation and the rabbis continue to paint the picture that Moses’ own ego has been getting in the way, a continuation of the understanding of why he struck the Rock at Meribah rather than speak to it and why he must now turn the reigns of leadership for the next phase over to Joshua.

There comes a time when all who lead must give way to a new generation. And Moses has lead with honor and distinction—but soon it will be Joshua’s turn to lead the people.
And Moses who will ordain him –will pass on the responsibility and ordain him and invest him before the whole people!

May we learn to check our own egos and always be a servant of God.