Mishpatim
Exodus 21:1 - 24:18
Précis: Having received, in the previous parasha, the Ten Commandments, Moses now reveals ordinances (mishpatim) needed to flesh out the legal system. The first group relate to the rights of servants (slaves), followed by rules about murder, crimes against parents, personal injury law, injury caused by animals, offenses against property, and bailment. A list of moral offenses follows, including seduction, witchcraft, sexual perversion, polytheism, and oppression of the “widow, the orphan, and the stranger among you.” The parasha includes the command to observe a sabbatical year, the Shabbat, and then lists the requirements for the observance of the pilgrimage festivals (Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot). The command not to boil a kid in its mothers’ milk is mentioned, and at the conclusion of the parasha, we find a ceremony where the People, represented by Moses and 70 elders, have an encounter with the Divine Presence and accept the laws and the Covenant.
Exodus 21:1 - “Now these are the rules you shall set before them…”
This parasha is also known as the Book of the Covenant, because of its length and because of the great number of mitzvot contained in the reading. It begins with a relatively simple and straightforward statement of intent: “These are the rules that you shall set . . .” What follows is the lengthy list of specific “dos and don’ts” of a code of law by which we are to order our lives. Let’s be presumptuous and ask the question “why” we observe mitzvot.
For some, the question of “why” we observe mitzvot is simply answered, “Because God has commanded us to do so.” For others, a more nuanced answer can be found in a traditional Jewish concept of “shleimut” which can be translated as “wholeness” or “completeness.”
Our tradition acknowledges that there is a difference between what is holy (kadosh) and what is mundane (chol). The tradition instructs us that to attain wholeness – shleimut – we have to take both aspects of existence into account. A “whole” life cannot be lived by ignoring the day-to-day mundane, nor can a “complete” life be lived without an appreciation of the holy.
Many of the mitzvot of this parasha deal with the daily requirements of a civil society, while others seem to have no rational basis, and seem aimed at some unknowable element of the holy. I maintain that we can achieve real completeness only by recognizing that the holy and the ordinary, the spiritual and the physical, the knowable and the unknowable are all part of a single existence we inhabit. The search for shleimut is the subtext for the mitzvot of this parasha.
There is no doubt that day to day life is a challenge: our families, our jobs, what the singer Bob Seger called “deadlines and commitments, what to leave in, what to leave out.” Finding “life balance” is a serious matter for many of us. We may be too “busy” to see to the needs of those we love and care about, or to those to whom we owe a duty. We can even overlook those aspects of our own well-being (be it eating, exercise, study, or worship) that are important parts of shleimut. Hillel famously said, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me?” This was not a selfish declaration. Rather, it means that “If I am not for myself, I cannot be able to help others.” By seeking shleimut, we try to find a completeness that gives us the ability to help and love others.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Religious Tolerance
Yitro
Exodus 18:1 - 20:23
Précis: Following last week’s trip through the Red Sea, Moses is reunited with his father-in-law Jethro (“Yitro”), his wife Zipporah, and with his two sons. Yitro acknowledges God, gives sage advice to Moses about delegating responsibility, and Moses appoints assistants (judges). The Israelites come to the foot of Mount Sinai where, in the definitive transcendental experience, we read the story of Revelation, as the “Ten Utterances” (Commandments) are spoken to the People by the very Voice of God.
Exodus 18:12 “Moses went out to meet his father-in-law; he bowed low and kissed him; each asked after the other's welfare... ‘Blessed be the Eternal,' Yitro said. . . ‘Now I know that the Eternal is greater than all gods’. . . .And Yitro brought a burnt offering and sacrifices for God.”
Many would argue that this parasha is the “most important” part of Torah, containing as it does the Ten Commandments. From this perspective, it is interesting that the parasha is named after a non-Jewish “priest” of a foreign nation. Upon learning about the Exodus and defeat of the Egyptians at the Red Sea, Yitro comes to greet Moses in the verse cited above. Yitro acknowledges the supremacy of the Israelite God and offers a sacrifice to the same God. This incident has much to teach us about how Jews should interact with those of other faiths.
First, we learn that belief in God is not the exclusive possession of the Jewish People. Second, we observe that you don’t have to be Jewish to pray to God. Third, Jews can learn important lessons from others: after all, Yitro teaches Moses important lessons in leadership and delegation of authority. Finally, by separating the beginning of this parasha (with Yitro’s important role) from the conclusion of last week’s reading (about the evil Amalek), we learn that we need to judge non-Jews by what they do, and not by what they are.
Jews have persistently absorbed much from the culture and thought of the societies in which we have lived. For example, one can point to so-called “Hellenist” practices (the use of logic, symposia, “schools” of thought, etc.) as critical in the development of rabbinic Judaism. Later, one can clearly see elements of Greek and Muslim thought in Maimonides’ works. More recently, one can look to American religious denominationalism in the 19th century to help explain the adoption of Jewish American sectarianism.
To borrow a currently popular word from American political punditry, there is nevertheless a certain Jewish “exceptionalism.” We have been “chosen” for (and we have accepted) a covenant relationship with God with unique duties and responsibilities not required of others. All humans all equal in the sight of God, but we are not the same.
To demonstrate this last point, the text tells us that despite their mutual acceptance of the same God, Yitro and Moses go their separate ways. Differences between peoples and religious groups are real and cannot be ignored. Our tradition tells us that the righteous of all faiths share a place in the world to come. Jews have the ability to learn from and interact with others from different faith traditions, and we must treat others with respect and dignity. At a time of rising religious intolerance around the world, it's a lesson we can't afford to ignore.
Exodus 18:1 - 20:23
Précis: Following last week’s trip through the Red Sea, Moses is reunited with his father-in-law Jethro (“Yitro”), his wife Zipporah, and with his two sons. Yitro acknowledges God, gives sage advice to Moses about delegating responsibility, and Moses appoints assistants (judges). The Israelites come to the foot of Mount Sinai where, in the definitive transcendental experience, we read the story of Revelation, as the “Ten Utterances” (Commandments) are spoken to the People by the very Voice of God.
Exodus 18:12 “Moses went out to meet his father-in-law; he bowed low and kissed him; each asked after the other's welfare... ‘Blessed be the Eternal,' Yitro said. . . ‘Now I know that the Eternal is greater than all gods’. . . .And Yitro brought a burnt offering and sacrifices for God.”
Many would argue that this parasha is the “most important” part of Torah, containing as it does the Ten Commandments. From this perspective, it is interesting that the parasha is named after a non-Jewish “priest” of a foreign nation. Upon learning about the Exodus and defeat of the Egyptians at the Red Sea, Yitro comes to greet Moses in the verse cited above. Yitro acknowledges the supremacy of the Israelite God and offers a sacrifice to the same God. This incident has much to teach us about how Jews should interact with those of other faiths.
First, we learn that belief in God is not the exclusive possession of the Jewish People. Second, we observe that you don’t have to be Jewish to pray to God. Third, Jews can learn important lessons from others: after all, Yitro teaches Moses important lessons in leadership and delegation of authority. Finally, by separating the beginning of this parasha (with Yitro’s important role) from the conclusion of last week’s reading (about the evil Amalek), we learn that we need to judge non-Jews by what they do, and not by what they are.
Jews have persistently absorbed much from the culture and thought of the societies in which we have lived. For example, one can point to so-called “Hellenist” practices (the use of logic, symposia, “schools” of thought, etc.) as critical in the development of rabbinic Judaism. Later, one can clearly see elements of Greek and Muslim thought in Maimonides’ works. More recently, one can look to American religious denominationalism in the 19th century to help explain the adoption of Jewish American sectarianism.
To borrow a currently popular word from American political punditry, there is nevertheless a certain Jewish “exceptionalism.” We have been “chosen” for (and we have accepted) a covenant relationship with God with unique duties and responsibilities not required of others. All humans all equal in the sight of God, but we are not the same.
To demonstrate this last point, the text tells us that despite their mutual acceptance of the same God, Yitro and Moses go their separate ways. Differences between peoples and religious groups are real and cannot be ignored. Our tradition tells us that the righteous of all faiths share a place in the world to come. Jews have the ability to learn from and interact with others from different faith traditions, and we must treat others with respect and dignity. At a time of rising religious intolerance around the world, it's a lesson we can't afford to ignore.
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