Withholding testimony and keeping silent

 Vayikra

Lev. 1:1 - 5:26

 

Précis: The title of the Third Book of the Torah, Vayikra (“And He called”) is usually translated as “Leviticus” in English, from its Septuagint (Greek) name, which in turn is based on the fact that much of the Book concerns ritual sacrifices performed under the auspices of the Levites. Many traditional commentators note that the Book is found in the center of the first Five Books and intuit from its positioning the “centrality” of its teachings to Jewish tradition. 

            The introduction to this Book in Etz Hayim reminds us that the “central concern” of the ancient Israelites was “how they were to express their loyalty” to Adonai. The answer from Vayikra: they were “to be holy, for I Adonai Your God, am holy.”  They expressed their loyalty to God and their commitment to be holy through a system of sacrifices, while for 2,000 years that loyalty and commitment have been through prayer, study, and acts of righteousness.

 

Lev.5:1 “And should a person offend when he has heard a voice in adjuration, he being a witness, or has seen or known, if he does not tell, he shall bear his punishment.”

Through commentary, we learn that this text teaches that if one is a witness to wrong-doing, and has been told not to withhold testimony about it, that a failure to provide the testimony incurs guilt, and the individual is to be punished.

In recent weeks, we have seen officials of the current U.S. administration appear before Congressional committees to explain a variety of instances in which they not only witnessed improprieties, but in fact participated in them. For example, the recent revelations about the use of unofficial messaging systems and Gmail containing items of national security has been shrugged off as “nothing important, a glitch.” In 2016, the phrase “lock her up” may well have resulted in the close loss of the presidential election by Hillary Clinton. Do you remember why this phrase was chanted?  It was because of her alleged breach of security by her use of unofficial emails! The hypocrisy is palpable.

Getting back to the verse in question this week. A failure to withhold testimony incurs guilt. The obverse is also true: keeping silent in the face of transgressions is similarly prohibited. When we are daily faced daily with barrages of “executive orders” that are on their face either illegal or unconstitutional, it is easy to look away. We must not. 

Science & Faith

 Bereshit

Gen. 1:1 - 6:8

 

Précis: The first Book of the Torah, Bereshit (Genesis, literally “in the beginning” or “When God began to create”) begins with the familiar story of creation. The world is created in six days and God rests on the seventh. The stories of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden are included, as is the story of Cain and Abel.

            We begin the annual reading of the Five Books of Moses immediately upon its conclusion. Why? Perhaps it is because with each passing year, our experiences allow us to understand more of what life has to offer, and what the text has to offer. Yohanan Ben Bag Bag said (Pirke Avot 5:25), “Turn it, and turn it, for everything is in it. Reflect on it and grow old and gray with it. Don't turn from it, for you have no better standard of conduct.”

 

Gen. 1:1 – “When God began to create heaven and earth, and the earth then was welter and waste and darkness over the deep and God’s breath hovering over the waters, God said ‘Let there be light.’” (Translation by Robert Alter, The Five Books of Moses.)

 

We read this parasha on both Simchat Torah and this coming Shabbat. This parasha, with its focus on creation, reminds us what Prof. Erica Brown has written about the ongoing (eternal?) dispute between science and faith [Weekly Jewish Wisdom, (8/25/11)].

            This dichotomy is with us in our daily Ma’ariv liturgy, when we acknowledge that God, in God’s wisdom, has replaced day with night. This is not a negation of science, but a wonderful conjunction with faith: we celebrate religiously the miracle of astronomy, and we observe the Divine which creates it. In Jewish tradition, the study of science has often been closely linked with scholarship, as many of the Sages were deeply interested in the skies, in medicine, and in other natural sciences.

            Our “modern” society seems to have come to the conclusion that science/faith is either/or. Indeed, some scientific developments (evolution, physics, etc.) have been perceived as attacks on faith (just think about Copernicus, Galileo, Darwin or Scopes). In today’s environment, even history itself is being debated as heresy, while others oppose inclusion of religious-oriented “explanations” for scientific truths in the classroom.

            Jewish tradition understands that both science and faith are parts of the human experience. As any count of Nobel Prizes will show, Jews have excelled in the study of science as a notable addition to the traditional learning which make us the People of the Book. As Brown and Rabbi Sacks have bother noted, faith and science need to coexist. In Brown's words, “Science is about explanation. Religion is about meaning.”  As Jews, we must treasure both.