These commentaries have been getting to you late due to difficulties in Jerusalem so this e mail contains last week’s commentary on Parshat Shoftim as well as this weeks commentary on Ki Tetze.
The commentary for Shoftim is very moving and has significance beyond just being a weekly commentary. It contains a Midrash that you may be familiar with and Rabbi Mordechai (Mitchell) Silverstein places it in context of our existence as Jews.
We are now in the month of Elul which is a time of repentance in preparation for the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Tradition teaches that the month of Elul is a particularly propitious time for repentance. This mood of repentance builds through the month of Elul to the period of Selichot, to Rosh Hashanah, and finally to Yom Kippur.
Parshat Ki Tetze
(Isaiah 54:1-10)
September 2, 2006
The interrelationship between tribulation and redemption has played a critical role in the history of the people of Israel and the formulation of the Jewish outlook on the significance of life. Many of the commandments found in the Torah presuppose an awareness of our past tribulations or the fact that God redeemed us from past tragedy. Whatever the didactic value of these life experiences has been on our people (and one can easily say that these experiences have molded the people of Israel into a unique religious community), the constant cycle of tragedy and redemption is bound to have become wearisome. Still, even during Biblical times, constantly having to contend with the onslaught of conquering nations, destruction, exile, redemption, return, rebuilding, and the reformulation of religious and national identity were monumental barriers to national wellbeing. They were more often than not a source of pain and shame, as this week's Haftorah, the fifth of the seven special haftarot which follow Tisha b'Av (shiva d'nehamta – seven of consolation) indicates: "Fear not, you shall not be ashamed; Do not cringe, you shall not be disgraced; For you shall forget the reproach of your youth and remember no more the shame of your widowhood." (54:10)
This prophecy seems to contain the promise that those who return from exile after the destruction of the First Temple will no longer be vanquished, exiled, and insulted by their enemies. (A. Hacham, Isaiah, Daat Mikra, p. 579) This idea is elaborated in the following midrash: "The children of Israel say to the Holy One blessed be He: 'Master of the Universe, whenever we are enslaved, we are shamed and embarrassed, so You, God, redeem us and we will no longer be embarrassed, since when You redeem us, it will be forever'… The children of Israel retorted: 'Didn't you long ago redeem us by the hands of Moses, and by the hands of Joshua, and by the hands of judges and kings? Yet we are again in slavery and shame, as though we had never been redeemed.' God responded: 'Since these previous redemptions were carried out by flesh and blood, and you were led by mortals, here today and tomorrow in the grave, that is why your redemption was only temporary, but in the future when I (God) redeem you, your redemption will stand forever… God added: In the past you were able to suffer embarrassment and shame because you were young, but now that have grown old, you no longer have the strength to withstand the shame of exile. Therefore, 'Fear not, you shall not be ashamed… For you shall forget the reproach of your youth...'" (Adapted and abridged from Midrash Tehillim 31:2 Buber ed. p. 237)
This midrash expresses the idea that human patience can also wear thin and urges upon God to help us bring about the ultimate redemption – one that will be eternal, so that we may build God's kingdom on earth.
Parshat Shoftim
(Isaiah 51:11-52:12)
August 26, 2006
The earliest evidence in our hands of fixed haftarot for certain Shabbatot comes to us from a collection of midrash known as Pesikta de Rav Kahana. This midrashic compilation, from the Talmudic period in Eretz Yisrael (4-5th century), differs from other midrashim in that it is not organized as an interpretation of a particular book of the Bible. Its chapters are, instead, organized around special Torah and Haftorah reading on the liturgical calendar. Among these special readings are found the haftarot for the three weeks preceding Tisha b'Av and the seven weeks after this tragic day. This makes these haftarot the oldest recorded haftarot still a part of the liturgical calendar.
We are used to studying selections from the midrashic tradition – midrash reflecting certain ideas or interpretations of particular pieces of Scripture which interest us, but it is worth noting that midrashic compilations like Pesikta de Rav Kahanah were not just arbitrary collections of all of the material available at the time on a given verse or even anthologies on given books of the Bible, rather they are literary works which were actually composed. This means that chapters of any given midrash have a literary structure and that the parts of each chapter have literary purpose. I present you with this brief introduction because the following midrash is found in the chapter of the Pesikta for this week's Haftorah even though there does not seem to be any direct textual linkage.
I bring it to you because it beautifully captures an important aspect of Jewish existence and the compiler of the Pesikta apparently thought it to be thematically linked to this week's Haftorah: "Rabbi Aba bar Kahana in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: 'This can be compared to the case of a king who betrothed a noble lady and wrote for her in her ketuba a sizable pledge: 'So and so many marriage canopies I shall prepare for you, so and so many ornaments I shall provide for you, and many treasures I will give to you.' The king then left the woman and she waited there for many years. Her friends continually made fun of her, saying, 'How long are you going to sit? Get yourself a husband while you are still young and vigorous. [What did she do?] She went into the house and took out her ketubah and read it and found comfort. After a long while, the king finally returned from overseas. He said to her: 'My daughter, I am amazed at how you have had faith in me all these years.' She said to him: 'My lord, king, were it not for the substantial ketubah that you wrote out for me, my friends would have made you lose me.'
So too, since in this world, the nations of the world mock Israel, saying to them: How long will you be put to death for the sake of your God and give your lives for Him? How much pain does He bring on you? How much embarrassment and pain does He bring on you? Come, become like us and we will make you dukes and governors and generals. When the Israelites hear these things, they go into their synagogues and study houses and take out their Torahs and read: 'And I [God] shall walk in your midst, and I shall make you prosper, and I shall make you numerous, and I shall carry out my covenant with you.' (Lev. 26:9) and they are comforted.
When the end will come, God will say to Israel: 'I am surprised at how you waited for Me all these years.' And Israel will reply: 'Master of the world, if it were not for Your Torah, that You wrote for us, the nations would have drawn us away from You', as it is written: 'I recall to mind therefore I have hope.' (Lam. 3:21) David also said: 'If your Torah had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.' (Psalm 119:92) (Adapted from Pesikta de Rav Kahana 19:4 Mandelbaum ed. pp. 305-6)
I think this Midrash speaks for itself!
This study piece is offered as a service of the United Synagogue Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem. It is prepared by Rabbi Mordechai (Mitchell) Silverstein, senior lecturer in Talmud and Midrash at the Conservative Yeshiva. He is a graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
With the permission of The United Synagogue Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem, Rabbi Edward S. Romm - Director of Education
© 2005
Henry Ray Wengrow
Ritual Chair
Beth Shalom
No comments:
Post a Comment