June 13, 2003 by Steven Jordan

This chapter of the Torah is dramatic, vivid, troubling, magnificent. I will outline the story, and then touch upon one recurring theme - the revelation of God to his people. Here are the sections -- for each item we can ask "what is this really saying," and "why" and "what does this mean for us?"

• The Lord has just given the priestly benediction to Moses
• The second Passover, and interesting laws
• The wondrous silver trumpets
• The sacred cloud of the Tabernacle lifts and the Israelites begin a splendid procession, but Hobab and his people do not go.
• In 10:35-36 we have the marching song of Moses, bracketed with inverted nuns -- this is a treat for esoteric scholarship.
• The people complain bitterly, and a fire of the Lord breaks forth at the camp.
• The riffraff in their midst feel a gluttonous craving, because they were tired of eating manna.
• Moses tells God he cannot bear the burden of the demands of the people.
• The Lord tells Moses to set up a leadership council of 70 elders.
• The spirit of the Lord visits the elders and then leaves them.
• Eldad and Medad, who are not elders, prophesy in ecstasy; Joshua objects, but Moses says, "Would that all the Lord's people were prophets."
• Because the people demand meat, the Lord gives the Children of Israel so much quail meat that they get sick. The language is terrifying and so is the thought.
• Miriam and Aaron chastise Moses for taking a Cushite wife; God speaks to them; Miriam is stricken, and Moses prays for her.

Why are the Israelites complaining again? Are they merely fickle, neurotic whiners? This is the stereotype. Is it because they are the generation of Egyptian slaves, only impressed by magic and not ready for freedom?

But why should the Israelites embrace the Lord? Because Moses is their leader? Where is their revelation? They see signs and wonders and the outstretched arm of the Lord. There are speeches and songs and miracles and rituals and adventures. Wonders and magic speak to their Egyptian roots. And signs are profoundly important for us all -- but the signs and symbols must echo our experience and reality. Moses and Aaron see an urgent reality behind the symbols. The Israelites do not see God face-to-face, nor hear his word directly. Their signs and symbols are transitory.

One theme of the book of Numbers is revelation. This is the blessing when the Lord shines his face upon us. How can a person see the way of the Lord? In Numbers there are a few suggestions -- the dedicated ascetic Nazirite (a route looked upon with caution by the Rabbi's), -- the way of ritual and service -- the path of righteousness, especially for the community -- the study of the word of God -- the praise and fear and delight in God.

There is a hierarchy of Jewish mysticism. First, experience with the world. Next, study, with the goal of maturity, and wisdom. The unexamined life is not worth living. Isn't it a blessing to have clear goals and priorities! We all relish meeting people who show us a clarity and dedication to the path to righteousness. But beyond ethical humanism, with the spirit of God comes revelation. Then, prophecy. That sounds like a word we hear when surfing the cable channels on Sunday. But it is a Jewish word that did not disappear with Daniel.

The Talmud shows that the most important revelation is not merely an awakening, but prophecy, when God tells a person in ecstasy what he or she must do. Prophecy is genuine in the Torah; a prophet does not have to prove himself.

The great Maimonides devotes 17 chapters to prophecy in the Guide to the Perplexed . He calls prophecy, "The highest degree and greatest perfection man can attain." As an Aristotelian philosopher, Maimonides searches for the First Cause of prophecy, which must be God or his agent, an angel. Sounding like the physician, Maimonides gives a fascinating diagnosis of 11 degrees of prophecy, including psychic, emotional, and religious aspects.

These prophetic dramas start within our experiences. Maimonides writes, "The first degree of prophecy consists in the divine assistance which is given to a person, and induces and encourages him to do something good and grand..This degree of divine influence is called 'the spirit of the Lord.'"

Revelation and prophecy seem so un-American, such quaint ideas -- so uncomfortable words for a well-read, Reform Jew. But let us put aside our modern prejudices, open our hearts and minds, and listen to the priestly blessing with less intellectual arrogance and more humility -- may we see God reveal his way as we walk down the path.

May Adonai bless us and keep us!
May Adonai shine his face upon us and deal graciously with us!
May Adonai lift up his face towards us and grant us peace!

D’Var Torah, February 12, 1999 Mishpatim, Ex: 21:1 - 24:18
Chanted: Ex: 21:22 – 32 (by Frances Peshkin)
Steven Jordan

The entire portion for this week consists of the rules for life that Moses passed on to us. It begins on page 566 of Plaut’s Torah Commentary - Exodus 21, and it runs through page 592. Here an enormous range of rules is laid out, from fundamental principles, to the most mundane items. Frances chose a very representative selection to chant.

To me, this week’s portion is unsettling at first reading, yet it is a majestic foundation for profound philosophy and theology. There are two aspects of the portion that trouble me:

• First, it is unsettling, because it seems jammed with harsh and cruel punishment. What comes around really goes around.
• Second problem: it is laced with trivia. What should we do with carcass of a gored ox? Where are our priorities? Why does the Bible dwell on bovine ethics?

Let’s concentrate on what Frances read (pages 568- 569, - verses 22 - 32.)

This portion is laced with harsh, cruel, and discriminatory punishment. That is the plain meaning, the Peshat. Biblical Judaism is not consistent, and there are periodic expressions of heartless inflexibility. On the other hand, in Rabbinic Judaism we may have no doubt - we must put this portion in the context of the whole Torah; it is a story of a patient God and a whining and errant people. Many chapters tell us how to set up cities of refuge, how careful we must be before we act on testimony, how we must protect the weak and the stranger. Over and over, the Rabbis have told us that the Torah and Judaism tells us not to be vindictive; and that vengeance is a path of religious peril. Our prophets have even often reminded God to follow the path of mercy. God reserves fierce punishment for situations that threaten the future of Israel as His people.

This portion is also crammed with trivia and technicalities. Look at the ox, page 569. The compensation or punishment is different for goring indentured servants, for goring children, for goring slaves, for goring another ox. Mohammad called us “The People of the Book.” Is this what we want for our Book? for our fundamental guide to life - a commandment about what to do with an aggressive ox and everything it affects?

Let us sharpen our focus on the verses for tonight, and see what our Rabbis said. Rabbinic Judaism develops an impressive theory of ox liability. Talmud, Seder Nezikin [Torts], Tractate Baba Kamma [The First Gate], goes through variations on the theme of the ox; it reads like debates over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. There is the innocent case, versus the muad - the ox that has shown a tendency to gore. How much tendency? Precisely, an ox that has gored for three days, and the owner has been warned. Since an ox can be a muad, then a person can be muad - a proven danger. Be careful - an established danger has twice the monetary liability. The Talmud says that there are five ways to become an official muad: damage by goring, and also by collision, by biting, by lying down, and by kicking. These are official categories - the horn, the tooth, etc. Each of these categories of damages has as its source a quotation from the Torah.

That was just damages by ox. The next few lines of our portion introduce the dangers of a pit. “When a man opens a pit, or digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or an ass falls into it, the one responsible for the pit must make restitution; he shall pay the price to the owner, but shall keep the dead animal.” Just as the Rabbis established the rules and regs that came from the ox that gores, they developed a whole scheme of responsibility and consequences from the open pit. And some people complain about OSHA!

This is truly trivia. Interesting, perhaps, but why is it in the Torah? Why not in some neurotic judge’s footnote?

It is because this week’s portion shows us how to find the path of holiness and righteousness.

What do we need to be a holy people?

• A certainty that God tells us the way to live
• The knowledge of right
• The intention to do the mitzvot
• Action

It is not possible to write down every rule for every situation. This week’s portion demonstrates that, if we are to follow the mitzvot, we must keep them before our eyes every waking moment, in every realm of life. For example, not only must we honor our parents, but also we must be careful for those things entrusted to us. (Exodus 22:6 explains the damages that I owe you, if you entrust me with your car and then the car is stolen.) Furthermore, we must consider conflicting principles and mitigating circumstances. A slave must be freed after six years; but what if the slave wants to stay, and what about the slave’s family? The poor have special rights, and privileges. Should we give deference to a poor man in a dispute? No. The Torah uses a wide variety of examples to show us how to search for understanding.

How can we know what God wants from us? Knowledge is comprised of two extremes - our sages have called them Understanding and Wisdom. The Hebrew word for Understanding is “Binah,” from the root Beyn, meaning “between.” The brother of understanding is Wisdom, or “Chakhmah.” The first, “Binah,” is detailed analysis, and the second, “Chakhmah,” is a full synthesis. The Kabbala puts this pair, Understanding and Wisdom, holding hands, right behind the Crown of God.

Understanding: The core of understanding is making distinctions. The difference between right and wrong, the separation between the holy and the secular. Making distinctions is central to Creation - separation of light from darkness, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. This is how we define our roles in our families, our roles as friends, our roles in the workplace - defining the boundary between what is acceptable, and what is not. How should we treat each other? We only find out by confronting ever-new situations, and by making distinctions. This is the content of this week’s portion - drawing the line again and again, with more and more subtle distinctions. Life is complicated.

Think about the decisions you had to make this week.

Can we actually make a right decision, and take into account the subtleties of this process? Can we determine the right path? Yes we can. Let me quote one of our favorite passages. Deut. 30:11. It is not only about doing mitzvot, but also about understanding, about making distinctions.

Surely, this Instruction which I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. It is not in the heavens that you should say, “Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and explain it to us that we may observe it?” Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who among us can cross to the other side of the sea and get it for us and explain it, that we may observe it?” No, the Word is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to observe it.”

In our own lives we create our own case law, drawing distinctions, our own personal Talmud that starts with one ox goring another. We can find our path of righteousness among the thousands of routes. Perhaps the Lord will be our Shepherd, and lead the way. Our Rabbi has taught us that sin is missing the mark, straying from the path.

Who has the obligation to follow the mitzvot? Whoever can understand. In Deut. 1:39, children who do not yet know good from bad, bear no responsibility. They shall enter the Promised Land.

Wisdom: What of undifferentiated wisdom, of Chakhmah, the other pole from Binah? We must be patient. There is a genuine temptation to rush to empty platitudes that sound like wisdom. There is no wisdom without knowing how to make the right decision, sorting out thousands of slightly different situations. We were so foolish as college students, when we put on the disguise of premature wisdom. Learn to say “hubris” and we were ready for the humanities courses.

Understanding is pointless without wisdom. Of course. As we make our decisions and draw distinctions, we should gain wisdom - what our priorities are, how we balance conflicting principles, where things lead.

Perhaps both the glory and the Devil are in the details. Nevertheless, I love that “Aha experience” when the details fall into place, when I know what to do, and a bit of wisdom emerges from understanding.

That is what this week’s portion tells me. God will show us the way if we study and listen. We must make our decisions carefully. In addition, we must remember what is really important, and how things fit together, for that is Wisdom.

This coming week, when we take our paths, and make our decisions, may God help us to understand the many implications of our actions, and may God help us to step back and grow in Wisdom.

 Exodus 10:1-13:16 Haftorah Jeremiah 46:13-28 
Chanted: 12:43-13:3

Steven Jordan, January 30, 1998

This week's portion is called Bo. The word Bo comes from the same root as entrance, or gate, and this is the entrance to our rite of passage.

The story begins centuries before in Genesis 15:13 when God made his covenant with Abram. "Know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not theirs, and they shall be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years; but ... in the end they shall go free with great wealth." The word for stranger is "GeR," spelled gimel resh. This the same word as is translated "sojourner" and "convert" and "proselyte." I will talk about the stranger, GeR, some more.

We go from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Joseph in Egypt. After Joseph is brought to Egypt, either 210 or 430 years pass, and the family of Jacob has grown to 600,000 men.

This is an Egyptian story. Sigmund Freud makes the strong case that Moses was a native Egyptian who took over the cause of Jews as his own. Even God seems Egyptian -- his displays of magic seem very natural.

One of the themes is the development of distinctions between Egyptian and Jew. This has started with the adoption of Moses, his slaying of the Egyptian, his realization that he belongs with the Jews and not the Egyptians, the escalating opposition of God and Moses to Pharaoh and the Egyptians; until they must face the overwhelming signs of God. Eventually, the consecration of the first-born to the Lord separates the Jewish sacrifice from Egyptian fate.

In the portion Bo, God tells the Israelites what unique things the Israelites must do to show God that they are different from the Egyptians, and we are told what rituals we must do for all generations to remember that God saved us from the Egyptians.

The passage Bo begins as Moses is concluding negotiations with the Pharaoh. It has begun with Moses asking Pharaoh for a religious holiday and retreat, and by now Pharaoh has acknowledged the existence and much of the power of God.

God says to Moses "Bo: Go [or enter] to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, in order that I may display these my signs among them."

Very interesting. Moses' job is to confront Pharaoh with a message. Again. For the eighth time.

Pharaoh is threatened with locusts that will devour everything. Pharaoh has already seen the magic staff, the plague of blood, the disgusting frogs, and the terrible power of the hailstorm. Pharaoh says to Moses, "Yes," you may go and take the men.

Moses negotiates in bad faith, refusing to take "yes" for an answer. We are waiting for a complete separation between Pharaoh and the Jews.

Moses says that he will take to the retreat the old and young, sons and daughters, flocks and herds. After all, they may need the children, cattle, and chickens in their service.

Pharaoh is, of course suspicious, and only agrees to the men. This by itself is a major economic and political concession, remember it is 600,000 laborers.

Immediately after Pharaoh says "no" to the children, flocks and herds, Moses stretches out his rod and the locusts come as threatened. The Torah says, "Never before had there been so many, nor will there ever be so many again."

Then there comes the awesome ninth plague -- imagine this: For three days there is darkness everywhere -- a darkness that can be touched. But all the Israelites enjoyed light in their dwellings. There are many echos of images of Creation in Bo.

Then the perpetual celebration of the Passover is institutionalized with strong and detailed instructions and injunctions. This voice to the future is heard repeatedly in Bo.

Israelites very carefully identify themselves with sacrificial blood on the doorposts of their houses. The GeR must observe the passover. This is very interesting -- the whole purpose is for the Israelites and mark themselves as unique -- and the GeR within their community should follow the same rules, and mark themselves the same way.

In the middle of the night the Lord struck down all the first-born in the land of Egypt. And all of Egypt lets out an uncontrolled wail of anguish. Pharaoh has gone from acceptance of the reality of God to personal confrontation with God's power.

We have heard this wail before. The first Pharaoh heard it from Joseph. Joseph's cathartic wail allowed him to reconcile with his family.

So Moses' Pharaoh tells the Israelites to go, with their flocks and herds. Pharaoh is reconciled (for the moment) to the supreme power of God, and he says to Moses and Aaron, "And may you bring a blessing upon me also."

Observance of the Passover is crucial not only here in Bo, where infraction is punishable by exile, but throughout the Torah. In fact, it is not completely clear what is the sign of the covenant -- here it seems to be the Passover. Elsewhere it is circumcision. Elsewhere the Sabbath. The Torah emphasizes rules for the GeR. The Cantor chanted some of the complexities, there is one over-riding principle: "There shall be the same law for the natural born citizen, and for the stranger that sojourneth among you." Or as restated in Deuteronomy 10: "What does the Lord your God demand of you? Only this: to revere the Lord your God, to walk only in His paths, to love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and soul. ...You too [like God] must befriend the stranger, for you were strangers in the Land of Egypt."

It is disturbing that one is still a stranger in the land after 210 years or 430 years -- 17 generations. Yet this is an ongoing odyssey of Judaism, with exile from Eden, with wanderings in the desert, with exile to Babylon, with the Diaspora, with exile from Spain, and exile from Germany. The Rabbis were explicit: Even when you are in exile, the spirit of God, Shekinah, will follow you.

The Rabbis addressed the treatment of citizenship. They distinguished between a convert to Judaism and resident alien. In balancing issues of assimilation and the special role of Jews, they urged inclusion of the GeR. Rashi even advocated re-instatement of a kohen who had disavowed Judaism under the Crusades, and then returned to Judaism.

In Bo we have a archetype for willful separation and emigration, leaving our roots. There is the confrontation and radicalization between Pharaoh, and God with his prophet and his chosen people. The episode of separation is a defining one.

The Exodus represents a usual human event. It is the continuing story of America -- the flight from the Czars and from Hitler and from Cuba and from Cambodia. Separation from our home and roots happens to many of us -- leaving one's parents or brother or sister with confrontation, divorce, the breakup of families when they cannot accept a marriage or a gay child; escaping from exploitation or abuse; quitting a job, or breaking up a partnership. The negotiations may begin as reasonable and end up traumatic with a wail. The rite of passage defines our future and we will always remember the drastic change we made in our life.

The story of Bo is more than leaving home to go to graduate school, or to take a job in a new city. It tells of a separation, a confrontation, and a flight for safety, taking only limited possessions, with a very brief preparation. When we leave we are confronted with a choice -- what really matters to us? What should we take? What will we need for our future survival economically, psychologically and spiritually? What a decision. We may break bonds that were invisible to us. We have both a sense of purpose, and a sense of uncertainty. The future may be quite different than we ever anticipated. We may be soon close to starvation, we may be grumbling in the wilderness, and we may receive an amazing gift from God. We will be strangers in a new land.

This is what the Jews take with them from Egypt: Their community: their families, herds, and flocks Their survival: money, clothes, and food -- all three specially prepared for the Their symbols: The bones of Joseph, to complete the Egyptian story.

As they leave, they are guided by Moses, and by God, who goes before them in a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. Their life is changing in ways they never expected. Now the Israelites have a fragile sense of nation, and are being given rituals and laws for all time. In their future travels, the Israelites will also take the Ark of the Covenant in the procession. But first they will wander for 40 years, shaking off their Egyptian connections. Again they are about to be strangers in the land. To be true to the Passover, we go with them.