This week’s reading coincides with Labor Day in the United States, a time when we should all remember that it is because of laboring men and women in general, and the labor movement in particular, that we live in a society where ideas like minimum wages, health, safety and child labor laws are assumed to be there because they are the “right thing.” These, along with Social Security, the 40 hour work week, Medicare and (in great part) Civil Rights for all are the legacy of the labor movement.
Whether one maintains that labor unions are “no longer needed” or (as I maintain) essential for the economic security of all working people, one cannot reasonably deny the incredibly beneficial impact that the unions have had on American society.
As a segue, this week’s reading has something to say on the importance of protecting the rights of the powerless and unprotected.
Ki Tavo
Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8
Précis: The parasha continues, from the last reading, numerous religious concerns regarding the formation of a civil and moral community (including tithes of first fruits, and tithes to support the Levites). The People are promised that if they follow God’s instructions, they will be transformed into a holy people. They are further instructed that they have a choice in their own destiny: there are blessings and curses (The Admonition), and they must to choose between them, and bear the consequences. The parasha ends with Moses reminding the People about all that Adonai had done for them in bringing them from Egypt, providing sustenance, defeating their foes, and giving them the Land.
Deuteronomy 27:18-19 “Cursed be he who misdirects a blind man on his way, and the People shall say Amen. Cursed be he who subverts the right of the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and the People shall say Amen.”
The scene is set: the 12 tribes are to arrive in the Promised Land, and set themselves on two facing mountains: Gezeirim and Ebal. Then, the Levitical Priests pronounce a series of curses to which the People respond “Amen.”
As noted in Etz Hayim, the 11 specific sins listed among the curses are commonly committed in secret, or they are difficult for the victim to publicize the sin. The People say “Amen” as each sin is recited, as a way of saying, in effect “we agree” and also as a way of promising not to commit the error themselves.
In Biblical literature, the phrase “the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow” is often shorthand for those within society who lack a protector. In a nomadic society, or even in the early urban society of our ancestors, an individual without a protector was subject to attack and to harm from all comers (see, for example, Lot’s protection of the “travelers” in his home in Sodom before its destruction). It is our responsibility to avoid harming the powerless and the unprotected. Neither are we permitted to stand idly by when they suffer.
On Labor Day Weekend, we should remember that with union membership at historically low levels (because of the power of anti-union management to prevent organizing under existing labor laws, in my humble opinion) many employees in America are powerless and unprotected. The right to "protected activity" - the right of individual employees to join together to fight for security and improvements of their wages, hours, and conditions of employment – is exactly the kind of “protection” that our ancestors were urged to provide when they stood on Gezeirim and Ebal.
And the People shall say “Amen.”
Shabbat Shalom, and happy Labor Day
Friday, September 4, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
Friends, Enemies and Biblical Literalism
Ki Tetze
Deuteronomy 21:10 - 25:19
Précis: The parasha might be subtitled, “entering society” because it goes into great lengths to describe the creation of a just and moral society. It begins with the phrase “when you go forth” (ki tetze) to battle, and explains the rules for the treatment of captive women. This parasha, according to Maimonides, contains more commandments than any other - more than 70 of the 613 contained in the Torah. Laws concerning the rights of first-born and dealing with disobedient children follow. The next section concerns care for corpses, restoration of lost property, and kindness to animals. A mixed assortment of commands, the source of many rabbinic interpretations, include requirements that there be sex-distinct clothing; that mother birds not be separated from their eggs; that roof-tops have parapets; that seeds not be mixed in a field, and that “tzitzit” (fringes) be worn on garments. Laws related to marriage, adultery, maintaining the ritual purity of the camp, charging interest, vows, divorce, usury, and justice to the widow, orphan, and stranger are listed. The parasha concludes with commands for the kind treatment of animals and Levirate marriage.
Deuteronomy 23:8-9 “You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your kinsman.”
Deuteronomy 25:17-19 “Remember what Amalek did to you as you came out of Egypt; how he struck those in the rear when you were faint and weary. Therefore, when Adonai your God has given you rest from your enemies in the Land… you will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; you will not forget.”
The two verses cited above create something of a quandary for the modern reader. We are reminded in this parasha that war is coming – and war will be so terrible that many restrictions are placed on how that war is to be conducted.
And yet, in the midst of this preparation for war, a war in which we are to eradicate the Amonites and the Moabites from the land (23:8-9), we are reminded that we are not to hate our arch-enemies, the Edomites, because they are "kinsmen" ("brother" may be a more precise translation). After all, Edom is considered to be the decedents of Esau, twin brother of Jacob. (Adding to the confusion is the fact that the Sages, writing in times of Roman persecution, used Edom as a euphemism for Rome, ascribing all that was evil in the world to Edom.) So special consideration – even in time of war - is to be afforded to Edom.
But in the same parasha, we read again (as we do on Shabbat Zachor) of the need to blot out the remembrance of Amalek, which in our tradition is the embodiment of all things evil. Even Haman is a descendant of Amalek.
How does this relate to the current events of our world? We, as American Jews and as supporters of Israel, could ask whether we must consider the Palestinians our brothers, like the Edomites, and refuse to “abhor” them, or whether we should consider them like Amalek, who deserve no quarter and whose depravity takes them outside of any chance of reconciliation. Can Fatah be Edom, and Hamas be the modern Amalek?
We could ask that question, but if we do, we run a terrible risk of attempting to make a 21st century political decision based on conflicting Biblical verses. To do so is to fall into the same trap that literalists and fundamentalists fall when they find a position and then seek Biblical support for their conclusion.
I submit that the Torah offers lessons to guide our thinking, but that we cannot look at a single verse in isolation and base a complex political decision on a single verse. While it may be expediant to find Biblical support for a position we have already decided is the correct position, that is not the way to be guided by Torah.
We read here that there are at least some enemies who may not be hated, while there are others who are so depraved that even their memory must be erased. Perhaps decision makers need to remember that both verses appear in the same parasha, and that it is too facile to cite one verse and forget the other.
Deuteronomy 21:10 - 25:19
Précis: The parasha might be subtitled, “entering society” because it goes into great lengths to describe the creation of a just and moral society. It begins with the phrase “when you go forth” (ki tetze) to battle, and explains the rules for the treatment of captive women. This parasha, according to Maimonides, contains more commandments than any other - more than 70 of the 613 contained in the Torah. Laws concerning the rights of first-born and dealing with disobedient children follow. The next section concerns care for corpses, restoration of lost property, and kindness to animals. A mixed assortment of commands, the source of many rabbinic interpretations, include requirements that there be sex-distinct clothing; that mother birds not be separated from their eggs; that roof-tops have parapets; that seeds not be mixed in a field, and that “tzitzit” (fringes) be worn on garments. Laws related to marriage, adultery, maintaining the ritual purity of the camp, charging interest, vows, divorce, usury, and justice to the widow, orphan, and stranger are listed. The parasha concludes with commands for the kind treatment of animals and Levirate marriage.
Deuteronomy 23:8-9 “You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your kinsman.”
Deuteronomy 25:17-19 “Remember what Amalek did to you as you came out of Egypt; how he struck those in the rear when you were faint and weary. Therefore, when Adonai your God has given you rest from your enemies in the Land… you will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; you will not forget.”
The two verses cited above create something of a quandary for the modern reader. We are reminded in this parasha that war is coming – and war will be so terrible that many restrictions are placed on how that war is to be conducted.
And yet, in the midst of this preparation for war, a war in which we are to eradicate the Amonites and the Moabites from the land (23:8-9), we are reminded that we are not to hate our arch-enemies, the Edomites, because they are "kinsmen" ("brother" may be a more precise translation). After all, Edom is considered to be the decedents of Esau, twin brother of Jacob. (Adding to the confusion is the fact that the Sages, writing in times of Roman persecution, used Edom as a euphemism for Rome, ascribing all that was evil in the world to Edom.) So special consideration – even in time of war - is to be afforded to Edom.
But in the same parasha, we read again (as we do on Shabbat Zachor) of the need to blot out the remembrance of Amalek, which in our tradition is the embodiment of all things evil. Even Haman is a descendant of Amalek.
How does this relate to the current events of our world? We, as American Jews and as supporters of Israel, could ask whether we must consider the Palestinians our brothers, like the Edomites, and refuse to “abhor” them, or whether we should consider them like Amalek, who deserve no quarter and whose depravity takes them outside of any chance of reconciliation. Can Fatah be Edom, and Hamas be the modern Amalek?
We could ask that question, but if we do, we run a terrible risk of attempting to make a 21st century political decision based on conflicting Biblical verses. To do so is to fall into the same trap that literalists and fundamentalists fall when they find a position and then seek Biblical support for their conclusion.
I submit that the Torah offers lessons to guide our thinking, but that we cannot look at a single verse in isolation and base a complex political decision on a single verse. While it may be expediant to find Biblical support for a position we have already decided is the correct position, that is not the way to be guided by Torah.
We read here that there are at least some enemies who may not be hated, while there are others who are so depraved that even their memory must be erased. Perhaps decision makers need to remember that both verses appear in the same parasha, and that it is too facile to cite one verse and forget the other.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)