Generations and Individuals (Haazinu)

A common term in the Torah is the word "dor," meaning generation. One often gets the sense that, from a Torah perspective, each generation is considered unique. Sometimes the difference between generations is great; sometimes it is subtle. It is also part of the Jewish perspective that each generation is “weaker” than the generation before in that they are one step farther from Matan Torah. This is emphasized in the verse in this week’s parsha: “Remember the days of old. Consider the years of ages past. Ask your father, he will inform you, your elders and they will tell you” (Deuteronomy 32:7).

The majority of parshat Ha’azinu contains the song that Moshe and Yehoshua were instructed by God to write in parshat Vayeilech (“And now write for yourselves this song and teach it to Bnei Yisrael to place it in their mouths; in order that this song will be for Me a witness against Bnei Yisrael” - 31:19). The song reiterates the message stressed in the previous parshiot that the Children of Israel would earn the wrath of God by turning to idolatry, the other nations would be given power over them, and eventually the Jewish people would be redeemed.

In Moshe’s song, it was made clear that the challenges the people would face would be a reflection of the generation: “Children unworthy of Him - That crooked, perverse generation - Their baseness has played Him false. Do you thus requite the Lord, O dull and witless people?” (32:5-6). What is not made clear in the Torah was that this would be a repetitive situation that would last for generations. Each generation, far too many, have been to Hashem “a treacherous generation, Children with no loyalty in them” (32:20).

The general message of the culpability of the generation(s) can be quite jarring since we live in a time when Hashem has fulfilled his declarations and hidden His face from us. Moshe understood that even as his song concluded with our reunion with the Divine, the triumph of Hashem, and the decimation of our enemies, it would be easy for Bnei Yisrael to feel as if their overarching goal of serving Hashem was unachievable. And so Moshe said to them: “Focus your thoughts on all of the statements that I am bringing to witness against you today, which you are to command your sons to guard and to fulfill all the statements of this Torah. For it is not a futile thing for you, for it is your life...” (32:47).

Living in a generation from which Hashem has hidden His presence is not easy. One can gain solace and faith by looking back at who we were and the holy level of our forefathers, but Judaism, while respecting and honoring those who came before, is a system of the here and now. Not one of us can know the impact of our actions and whether that will impact the path of the generation. Furthermore, the Torah constantly reminds us of the importance of teaching all of the Torah to the future generation, for none of us live in a vacuum and every generation carries on the mission of the ultimate triumph of acknowledgement of Hashem. Our actions are individually potent, and while we may not be living in our ideal state, the Torah remains the path of life.

Strength and Boldness (Vayeilech)

I am writing this week’s parsha post on an airplane. Among the inflight entertainment options on my screen is a movie titled “Birthmarked,” described as the story of two scientists who “attempt to prove the power of nurture over nature by raising three children contrary to their genetic predispositions.” I did not watch the movie, but the description caught my attention and made me chuckle. As a parent, I know how hard it is to try to bend the nature of a child. Then I read this week’s parsha, Parsha Vayeilech, and I was struck by how much insight one can gain when reading the Torah with child psychology in mind.

As we so frequently remind ourselves at this time of year, God is the ultimate Father, Avinu. Throughout the Torah (but particularly in the Book of Devarim), we are reminded that God knows us, His children, well and that He knows that we will go wrong and worship false gods. “The people will arise and stray after the gods of the others of the land that they are going there among them, and they will forsake Me and break My covenant that I made with them” (Deuteronomy 31:16). God is here informing Moshe and Yehoshua that this is the nature of the Children of Israel.

Perhaps you, like me, find it hard to understand the idea of worshipping idols. We so often think of idol worship as people bowing down or making sacrifices to statues or praying to multiple deities. We can’t fully understand it because the desire for idol worship has been removed from our people for many generations (since the Anshei Knesset Hagedola). But the desire for “false gods,” for following the ways of the others among whom we live, is still in our nature. The hypothesis is that the urge for avodah zara is deeply connected to self-esteem and the desire for a tangible object to blame for one's failures. Perhaps in the most recent era people seek to fulfill that need through celebrities and the desire for one's "five minutes in the spotlight." But really, we need to rely only on Hashem and trust that the path He set out for us is the way to go.  

Parshat Vayeilech features the transfer of leadership from Moshe to Yehoshua. In announcing this transfer, the use of the phrase “Be courageous and be bold!” occurs three times, which makes it significant and interesting. Moshe says it to the people and then he says it to Yehoshua directly, neither of which would have been particularly interesting if not for the fact that Hashem then used this language with Yehoshua, which adds a whole new level of significance.

Moshe’s words were meant to be encouragement, both to the Children of Israel and Yehoshua. Hashem saying it to Yehoshua is both a comfort and a forewarning. In telling Yehoshua to be strong and courageous, Hashem is informing him that his role to come will not be an easy one. This generation, raised in the wilderness, had all of Hashem’s nurturing. But when sent out on their own, human nature would quickly reassert itself and they would seek more tangible deities. This would not be Yehoshua’s fault; it would be the influence of nature over nurture. 

The challenge of the desire to follow after false gods, whatever they may be, remains a tremendous struggle. May we all have strength and boldness to overcome the natural inclination (perhaps to take the path of least resistance) and to nurture our connection with Hashem.

Choices for the Relationship (Nitzavim)

Most Torah discussions about the Jewish people accepting the Torah refer to the famous utterance of “na’aseh v’nishmah, we will do and we will listen” (Exodus 24:7), said by the Jewish people in the shadows of Mount Sinai. This was the great dedication of the Jewish people to serve Hashem. Yet it is here, in parshat Nitzavim, when the Jewish people are finally (38 years later) about to be permitted into the Promised Land, that Moshe states that the Jewish people are entering into the covenant of the Torah, as it says “You stand this day, all of you, before Hashem, your God...For your passage into the covenant of Hashem, your God...” (29:9, 11).

It is fascinating to look at the difference of who we were at Mount Sinai and who we were on the border of the Promised Land. When the Jewish people approached Mount Sinai, they were pumped with adrenaline. They had experienced miracles. They had faced decimation and survived. They were very much aware that they were on the verge of something awesome. Hashem looked at this beautiful nation and (symbolically speaking) got down on one knee and proposed a union. One can imagine the joy and the excitement. One can hear the echo of the Jewish people, full of emotion, shouting “We will do and we will hear!” But the energy of first love, the adrenaline of the moment, was unsustainable. A fact proven by the sin of the Golden Calf.

That the Jewish people betrayed their heartfelt promise does not mean that they hadn’t been earnest in their desire to dedicate themselves to Hashem. But it did demonstrate that raw emotion would not be enough to carry the Jewish people through the cycle of success and failure that would move the nation toward a fulfilled destiny.

In the Book of Devarim, Moshe lays out, rather bluntly, what God expects of the Jewish people. He also offers them an honest preview of what the future holds according to how they fulfill their side of the relationship. Here now, 38 years after Mount Sinai, the Jewish people are being offered the opportunity to enter the covenant with wisdom and understanding as to its significance, in addition to the passion of their inspiration.

One of the most beautiful parts of this week’s parsha is the language of encouragement. By telling Klal Yisrael that they will mess up, Moshe is telling them that it will be okay, that it is an expected part of the process. And Moshe also lets them know that after mess-ups and consequences, there is forgiveness and reunion - “You will return to Hashem, your God, and obey Him exactly as I am commanding you today...” (30:1).

The parsha concludes with a declaration of choice. Moshe says to the people, “I invoke as witness this day heaven and earth, life and death, and I have placed before you blessing and curse; Choose life in order that you will live, you and your descendants” (30:19).

This is where the Jewish nation becomes the “chosen people.” When we said na’aseh v’nishmah, that was reaction. But here, when all the facts and possibilities, the positives and negatives, have been laid out, that is when our ancestors chose life for themselves and for us.

“The chosen people” is a term for the Jewish people that has fallen out of common usage. In western society today it is a term that is almost an embarrassment, since it can be so easily twisted and misunderstood. It can be heard as language that smacks of inequality and judgement. (Indeed, many people do use the concept as a reason to hold the Jewish people above others - an attitude that breeds arrogance.) Rather, we are the people who made the active choice for ourselves and our children ever after to be in a relationship with the Divine through the Torah, and, in so doing, were chosen to find the inspiration of the emotions that fueled our ancestors to declare na’aseh v’nishmah.

Declarations To Keep You Honest (Ki Tavo)

Parsha Ki Tavo is a parsha of declarations. It opens with the instructions for bringing the offering of the first fruits and includes the famous (a large part of the text of the Haggadah) declaration made at that time:

My father was a fugitive Aramean. He went down to Egypt with meager numbers and sojourned there; but there he became a great and very populous nation. The Egyptians dealt harshly with us and oppressed us; they imposed heavy labor upon us. We cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our plea and saw our plight, our misery, and our oppression. The Lord freed us from Egypt by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm and awesome power, and by signs and portents. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Wherefore I now bring the first fruits of the soil which You, O Lord, have given me (Deuteronomy 26:5-10).

The second section of the parsha is the instructions for a far less well-known declaration, one to be made by a farmer after he has completed all of the required tithes - a process that covers a three year period. After all of the tithes have been distributed, you shall declare before the Lord your God: I have cleared out the consecrated portion from the house; and I have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, just as You commanded me; I have neither transgressed nor neglected any of Your commandments: I have not eaten of it while in mourning, I have not cleared out any of it while I was unclean, and I have not deposited any of it with the dead. I have obeyed the Lord my God; I have done just as You commanded me. Look down from Your holy abode, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel and the soil You have given us, a land flowing with milk and honey, as You swore to our fathers (26:13-15).

I found this particular declaration requirement to be fascinating. A religious farmer will make certain that all the tithes are covered, so why must there be a spoken declaration. Not only that, the declaration is strangely detailed, referring to the different types of tithes and affirming that it was all done properly. To me, this declaration rang of what the modern era likes to refer to as “mindfulness,” and it is a way of being that is absolutely necessary for the best fulfilment of Jewish law.

After a decade or two of farming, one could easily imagine a farmer falling into a more blasé routine with providing the tithes, far less meticulous than in his first years of fulfilling the mitzvah. Here the Torah provides something better than a checklist. A checklist can be run over in one’s head, “did it, did it, yup, and that...” leaving an easy opportunity for a detail to be missed or a leniency to be forgiven. But the declaration must be stated out loud. Stating something out loud is like passing something through a lie detector test. As one reads through the statement, a soft second voice within affirms whether each part of the task was truly completed.

In these last weeks of the old year, as we approach Rosh Hashana, the inclusion of this requirement to speak past deeds out loud as an affirmation of the proper completion seems particularly pertinent. The declaration at the end of the tithing period is a great lesson in the importance of the act of making a cheshbon hanefesh - an accounting of the soul. Imagine the great strides we might make if we took such an accounting of our “everyday mitzvot!”

Much as I may need it, I am not going to announce a commitment to a daily cheshbon hanefesh. (Cause that might not be very honest of me!) However, just being aware of this passage in the parsha reinforces for me how beautifully Hashem prepared to help each of us on our journey of spiritual growth.

Just Wait Until Your Father... (Eikev)

In classic, stereotypical parenting, the type that makes one think of Leave It To Beaver, a mother wishing to draw a line of discipline for her child would often say, “Just wait until your father gets home!” This threat left the role of disciplinarian to the father and thus was attached to dad the seemingly cliche line of “This is for your own good” (or, similarly, “This hurts me more than it hurts you”).

Until recently in history, this was considered normal parenting. In recent generations, however, we parent more gently. The father’s role is less severe and punishment is often considered detrimental. (Yes, this is a stark generalization.) Perhaps this "more gentle” idea of parenting is one of the reasons that those who disdain religion accuse God of being a hard and cruel deity, but Jews refer to God as Avinu, our father, because we see beyond the black-and-whiteness of the text and the rules and the punishments declared. We see fatherly love.

How does this connect to the parsha? Because in this week’s parsha, Moshe says to Bnei Yisrael: “And you shall consider in your heart that just as man chastises his son, so the Lord your God chastises you” (Devarim 8:5).

The Torah commentator Sforno (Rabbi Obadiah Sforno - Italy - 1475-1550) explains that “along with the commandments He has given you, He gives you a superior moral/ethical challenge to help you achieve perfection as seen from His perspective.” The disciplines - the challenges - that God gives to you are opportunities to rise above the situation.

There is a platitude that is often quote in response to challenging times and difficult situations: “God only gives you what you can handle.” That’s nice, and that’s true, but the difficult situation or emotional pain is still very real. So rather than speak about the many wonderful philosophies that could be derived from this verse, let’s look at it a bit differently.

It may seem odd to say, but in these verses it feels like a real parenting dynamic in which Moshe is the mother. Moshe’s monologue throughout the parsha shifts between warnings, reminders of the good God has done for Bnei Yisrael, recollections of the errors they have committed, and subtle appeals for them not to go astray. Taken all-together, his words reflect his love for this people he has led for 40 years. It’s a tone many of us take with our children.

Moshe is the mother figure because God is a father figure. I understand that too. My father was the final disciplinarian. In our household, he was the parent that I was afraid of crossing... He was also the parent I was most afraid of disappointing.

It is easy to read a verse like this and nod. But Moshe knew how easy it is to let this fundamental knowledge of the relationship of God and Bnei Yisrael become passé, just as a mother will push her child to go give daddy a kiss. It is easy to think that the disciplinarian is out to get you, but a fundamental belief in Jewish life is that everything God does serves a positive purpose, and we should love Him for it.

For Enquire Now (Va'eschanan)

There are no such things as “throw-away lines” or “filler text” in the Torah. The traditional perspective is that every word is from Hashem, and Hashem did not waste any words. This is important to remember when reviewing parshat Va’eschanan, because one could easily get caught up in the big items that this parsha holds. Not only are there the words of the Shema, the ultimate utterance of Jewish faith (Hear O’ Israel, Hashem is our God, Hashem is one!) and two of the paragraphs that are read with it, but this week’s parsha contains the second iteration of the Ten Commandments. The less famous bits, however, are also incredibly significant.

The fourth chapter of Devarim contains Moshe’s dire prediction that Bnei Yisrael will stray from their relationship with Hashem and will “serve man-made gods of wood and stone” (4:28), but also that they will once again seek out Hashem, Who would forgive them and be compassionate to them. It is followed by a reminder of how unique their experience at Sinai had been, how no other nation had (or has) ever experienced such events.

Within these verses one can find the essence of Jewish survival, the path of teshuva (repentance being its most common translation, but more accurately, return). God never expected perfection, because only God is perfect. Moshe reminds Bnei Yisrael that if they falter, they are not lost. “But if you search for Hashem your God, you will find Him, if only you seek Him with all your heart and soul” (4:29).

Moshe is speaking to the soul of Bnei Yisrael. Many years ago, I heard a Dvar Torah about the name Yisrael and how it can be translated into “he who wrestles with God.” This translation resonated with me deeply, perhaps because emunah has never come easily for me. To really be in a relationship with God requires work. It requires knowing how to answer those who question faith. It requires being willing to fight with oneself against one’s personal, physical desires if they are contrary to the Torah. It requires an active process.

Judaism is a life of questioning, and this week’s parsha contains what very well might be the oldest line of proof text useable to rabbis trying to prove that Judaism encourages questioning and searching: “For enquire now concerning the earliest times which were before you, since the day that God created man (Adam) upon the earth...” (Devarim 4:32).

Perhaps I was particularly effected by this line because my own journey toward observance was very much based in looking at the past. The March of the Living (1992) had a profound effect on me, such that I thought about all of the people who had come before me and had sacrificed so that I could still be a Jew in the 20th (now 21st) century. Every Jew today reflects generations of striving and sacrifice. In later days, in times when I wrestled with faith, one of the most solid proofs in my mind was history. There is no nation that has remained so steadfast since “the earliest times.” Between wars, persecution, and assimilationist tendencies, the probability of Jews maintaining their traditions today is astounding.

This verse is also a reflection of Judaism’s encouragement to acquire knowledge about... everything. For by learning and exploring, one is bound to strengthen their faith in God. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch concludes his comments on this verse by stating that “to obtain knowledge of nature and history which is open to our research within these limits [reflecting previous commentary about limiting study to that which is after Creation] is not only  permitted but something which is eminently desirable to the fullest possible extent, for only a mind armed with such a wide panoramic view on all matters can draw the right conclusions of the Jewish position in the world in the whole of its speciality.”

These Are The Words (Devarim)

Eilu Devarim - These are the words...starts the first verse of the fifth book of the Torah. Perhaps that is what I should title this project that I have chosen to create for myself. These are the words, for I am starting a commitment to myself to write a brief essay on the weekly parsha. The goal is threefold. I am making a commitment to have a writing schedule. I am making a commitment to review the parsha each week. I am making a commitment to find my own voice, to reignite the fire I once had for delving into sources and sifting through the holy word (after ten years of writing almost solely as the voice of JewishTreats.org).

Perhaps this is an auspicious week for my journey into unleashing my personal commentary, for it is specifically stated in Devarim that Moshe’s words contain “every detail that God commanded to them (Bnei Yisrael)” (Devarim 1:3). The presentation, now in the first person, presents the four-decade experience of the Israelites from Moshe’s perspective.

And now for some of that more personal commentary....

The parsha of Devarim is always read at the time of Tisha B’Av, when the Jewish people mourn the loss of the Holy Tempe (twice) because the tragic tone of the day was set when the nation cried out in response to the report of the scouts sent to the Land of Canaan. (For a full recount of this event, here’s the Jewish Treat I wrote: http://www.jewishtreats.org/2008/09/forty-years-and-forgiveness.html).

Reading through the narrative of the scouts as retold by Moshe in Devarim, I was particularly struck by the words Moshe states as part of the people’s outcry. “Our brothers have shattered our hopes...” (Devarim 1:28).

What struck me most about this verse was its possible connection to recent stories describing how young Jewish adults travelled across the world to visit Israel on Birthright trips and then left the trips to protest the State of Israel. Let’s not talk about the theft involved (whether that be legitimate or simply the spirit of the law) in their taking a free trip in order to leave and work against the very purpose of the trip. Let’s talk about the distorted vision of these young Jewish adults.

When the Israelite scouts returned from the Promised Land, their first words were: “We came to the land you sent us to; it does indeed flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who inhabit the country are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large...” (Numbers 13:27-28).

HOWEVER. What a terrible, poisonous word and it is a word that seems to capture the current relativism of public opinion about Israel. At the birth of the State of Israel, the Jewish people were rejoicing. Through long, hard years - interspersed with tragic, bloody wars - the Jewish people built a successful, vibrant, diverse Democracy in a land once desolate and corrupt (Ottoman era). And instead of saying that we have been blessed with a land flowing with milk and honey, a new voice has emerged decrying the fact that we are no longer the underdogs in the story. We were no longer weak, and somehow that is bad.

As the volume of the outrage against Israel grows louder, particularly from our own people, one can only wonder at how similar this is to the story of the scouts. Joshua and Caleb were the minority voices trying to remind the people of the promises made to them by God and of the magnificence of the Promised Land. Their voices were drowned out by the fear, the self-doubt, the lack of faith of the rest of the nation.

We today need to remember that God’s promises still hold true. That we are still a unique nation. And we need to stay strong when the cries of our people are overwhelming. Remember the words, “Good is the land that Hashem our God is giving us” (Devarim 1:25).