The Hebrew Scriptures are not readily or easily understood by native English speakers, we post a weekly addition to regular Torah commentary. "Cutting to the Root" is intended to promote an understanding of the complexity of the Hebrew language and thereby gain a richer and deeper understanding of the Scriptures. It is our goal that these notes will teach tolerance and understanding.Please visit our web site at www.shefaisrael.com

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Parashat Terumah - the Haftara

Parashat Terumah – the Haftara
1Kings 5:26 – (4:29) – 6:13
Reading date: 28th February 2009 – 4th Adar 5769

Our highlighted Haftara text
Then the word of the Eternal came to Solomon: Concerning this Temple that you have been building [I tell you this]: If you obey My statutes and carry out My rules of justice and take care to keep all My commandments, I will fulfill my promise, the one I made to your father David, and I will dwell among the people of Israel, and never forsake My people Israel. I Kings 6:11-13

As long as we have Torah, we still have a way back to the Garden.

Our Parasha now turns its attention to the construction of a portable sanctuary, the Mishkan, and the detailed description will take up most of the remainder of the book of Exodus. The Haftara parallels the Torah portion with a description of the construction of Solomon's Temple. In addition to this thematic link,, some of the technical terms used ‘tzela’ are identical. Most significant, is the ending of the Haftara which parallels the beginning of our Torah portion, where YHVH promises to 'dwell' (from the same root as Mishkan) among the people of Israel.
Solomon succeeded his father David (around 970 BCE). Solomon allied himself with Hiram of Tyre, and commissioned an enormous work force to provide the labor to cut the stones and the trees necessary for the construction of the Temple.

Our parasha begins with the famous, if slightly ungrammatical verse: "You shall make [for] Me a sanctuary and I will dwell in them" (Ex. 25:8) (Shouldn't we expect it to say, 'dwell in it' not 'in them'?). Our Haftara uses similar language: "If you follow my laws, I will dwell among the people of Israel." It is as if, notwithstanding its excruciating detailed description of the physical structure, the Torah is already hinting that YHVH doesn't dwell in sanctuaries. YHVH dwells in the hearts and minds of people. Alice Walker expresses a similar sentiment in The Color Purple,
"Have you ever found God in church? I never did. I just found a bunch of folks hoping for Him to show. Any God I ever felt in church I brought in with me. And I think all the other folks did too. They come to church to share God, not find God."

But in Parashat Terumah, YHVH can be found in the sanctuary. The Mishkan was a portable sanctuary that served as the locus of YHVH's presence, and the Torah goes into a lot of descriptive detail about how to build the Mishkan: the lavers, the curtains, and the altars. But even with all the architectural detail and precise instructions, (notwithstanding attempts to visualize, or even reconstruct it) much remains unclear. (Too bad the Torah didn't come with illustrations.) There is a model of the Mishkan at Park Timna in the South of Israel made to the largest cubit. It is worthwhile going to see it on your next visit to Israel.

Certainly one of the features that has captured the imagination of artists were two golden 'keruvim' inside the Holy of Holies. The image of ‘keruvim’ was also woven into the fabric of the curtains surrounding the entire structure. What were they and what did they look like? ‘Keruvim’ transliterated became the English 'cherub' and portrayed by Renaissance artists as winged, chubby babies. (This may be based on an Aramaic play on words that interprets ‘Keruv’ to mean ‘ke-ravia’, like a child.) According to Rashi, they had the faces of a boy and a girl; his grandson, the Rashbam thought they were more like birdlike creatures. According to the visions of Ezekiel, they were fantastic creatures with wheels, (!) wings and hands and four faces: eagle, lion, ox and human. Although they may have taken numerous forms, they probably resembled the Near Eastern deities such as the Egyptian sphinx or the winged bulls of Babylonia that guarded temples and palaces. (Even today, outside important buildings we often can find lions). ‘Keruvim’ may have been winged lions with human (child?) faces. The rampant lions (usually identified as Lions of Judah) holding the two tablets that adorn many Arks in synagogues may more likely be symbolic replacements for the cherubim.

Whatever their appearance, the ‘keruvim’ in the Mishkan are guarding the engraved stone tablets. Now just last week we read about prohibited graven images, and now we learn that, surprisingly, inside the Holy of Holies, just above the tablets (where that very prohibition is found) are two very graven gold figures. What are they doing there? But there is one more surprise: there is another (often overlooked) instance where we encounter the image of ‘keruvim’ guarding. Remember back in Genesis, when we were expelled from the Garden of Eden, YHVH stations ‘keruvim’ at the entrance and surprisingly uses the same root (vayashken) of Mishkan (and Shechinah). How are the ‘keruvim’ of the Garden of Eden and the Mishkan connected?

After we were expelled from the Garden how would we find our way back? In Learn Torah With... (ed. Grishaver & Kelman, Torah Aura, 5756), Rabbi Mordecai Finley suggests that the presence of ‘keruvim’ in both texts makes it obvious! The way back to the gate of the Garden of Eden, was right in front of us; wherever you find ‘keruvim’ you find the gate that leads to Eden. But now what? The physical portable sanctuary no longer remains. The Temple has been destroyed. The beautiful work of art filled with crimson and purple wool, gold and acacia wood are gone. Where is the spiced oil and the sweet incense? The golden ‘keruvim’ no longer exist.
But the journey into YHVH's presence, back to the Garden, guarded by the ‘keruvim’ is still available. They were guarding the contents of the Ark, YHVH's word-- the Torah. After all, we even call the Torah ‘etz ha-hayyim’, the Tree of Life! As long as we make space for Torah in our lives, we still have a way back to the Garden and back to YHVH's presence.

Shabbat Shalom

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Parashat Yitro - the Haftara

Parashat Yitro – the Haftara
Isaiah 6:1 -7-6; 9:5 - 7
Reading date: 14th February 2009 – 20th Shvat 5769

Our highlighted Haftara text
“And YHVH said, 'Go, say to that people: Hear indeed, but do not understand; See indeed, but do not grasp. Dull that people's mind, Stop its ears, and seal its eyes -- Lest, seeing with its eyes and hearing with its ears it also grasp with its mind, and repent and save itself.”
Isaiah 6:9-10

Is YHVH not speaking, or are we not listening?

Last week's triumphant crossing at the sea now brings the Israelites to the foot of Mt. Sinai. In this week's parasha, the Israelites encounter YHVH and hear the Ten Commandments. The Rabbis selected a portion from Isaiah that has similar language and imagery: wings, holy, smoke. (Ashkenazim read Is. 6:1-7:6; 9:5,6; Sephardim read a shorter selection: Is. 6:1-13). This week's text includes the famous verse: ‘kadosh, kadosh, kadosh’ (holy, holy, holy) that is recited during the sanctification prayer (Kedushah) found in the Amidah.

Like the appearance of YHVH at Sinai, Isaiah also describes a vision of YHVH. Isaiah deliberately evokes the image of Moses by describing himself as a man of impure lips. (As an aside, a few week's ago we encountered the language of 'kvad peh' 'heavy of speech,' and the image of 'uncircumcised lips' and the famous Midrash of the burning coals. Few people realize that this image already appears in this week's haftara text: Then one of the seraphs [angelic beings] flew over to me with a live coal, which he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. He touched it to my lips and declared, 'Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt shall depart and your sin be purged away.' (Is. 6:6))

Isaiah lived in the southern kingdom of Judah in the latter half of the 8th century B.C.E. During this turbulent period, the larger, Northern Kingdom (called Israel) hoped to conquer the southern kingdom of Judah. After Isaiah's description of the futile attempts of the Northern Kingdom, the Rabbis append a two verse epilogue of a messianic vision from Isaiah: the throne of King David will be established.

YHVH's revelation at Sinai is the central event of the Torah; YHVH took the Israelites out of Egypt in order to meet them at Sinai. The dramatic imagery of the giving of the Ten Commandments is described with smoke and thunder and lightning: a spectacular sound and light show! The text seems to be saying: 'If you were there, you couldn't miss it!' But the late philosopher Emil Fackenheim has suggested that if an agnostic had been present at Mount Sinai, he would have heard all the thunder and seen all the lightning and wondered what all the fuss was about.

We know that Israel is on the Syrian-African rift and no stranger to seismic activity, so a rational approach would understand this as the description of an earthquake. Earthquakes are occasionally accompanied by combustible gases that escape the earth's crust and ignite. Clearly this event was literally and metaphorically 'earth-shattering.' But then again who pushed the button for the earthquake?

According to Exodus, it was 'all of Israel' who witnessed the thunder and the lightning. In the Haftara, Isaiah also describes a vision of YHVH and even though his lips have been purified, this time his message is not heard. Like Pharaoh's hardened heart, their ears will be stopped up; their eyes dulled. Today, it seems that YHVH no longer speaks like the Torah describes. If we hear YHVH's voice, most of us do not feel the earth move.

The Torah text says that the Israelites did not hear YHVH. They saw the thunder (the Hebrew ‘kolot’ can also mean 'voices'), (Ex. 20:15) and YHVH says, "You yourselves saw that I spoke with you from the very heavens." Saw? Shouldn't the text in both places say, 'hear'? This should strikes us as unusual, since in Hebrew, the central verb is 'Shema' to listen (and to understand). The use of the verb 'ra'ah' (literally, to see) for audible phenomenon suggests to the Rabbis that the Israelites 'saw the sounds' and 'heard the visions.' In other words, the experience of Revelation was so unique and overwhelmingly intense, the normal boundaries of our senses were not observed. Arthur Green writes that seeing YHVH's voice means 'that each one uniquely experienced the divine voice speaking within his or her own soul. To this all the rest of religion -- indeed, perhaps all the rest of life-- is merely commentary.' (The Language of Truth, pg. 106)

The Midrash (which connects the giving of the Torah and Isaiah's 'Holy, Holy, Holy' found in the Haftara) suggests that what was unique about Sinai, was not that YHVH spoke, but that the world was silent:
R. Abbahu said in the name of R. Yohanan: When the Holy One gave the Torah, no bird chirped, no fowl flew, no ox lowed, not one of the ‘ofannim’ [angelic beings] stirred a wing, not one of the seraphim said, 'Holy, Holy, Holy.' The sea did not roar, creatures did not speak -- the whole world was hushed into breathless silence; it was then that the voice went forth: "I am YHVH your God."

Lawrence Kushner has called this: God’s Dolby Noise-Reduction System. Kushner asks us to imagine turning off the sound of the television and watching. And to play with the contrast/brightness till there is no picture. Now- "You see nothing. You hear nothing. But you continue staring at the black soundless glass rectangle. For something is there. Someone is speaking and looking. Only you can't see them. From within a darkened space a message issues." (Honey from the Rock, pg. 33)

What was it that the Israelites saw or heard? What was it about Sinai that was so transformative for those present? If we were there would we have experienced more than thunder and lightning? Perhaps only when we turn off all the noise and distractions around us, can we start hearing. Perhaps when we are ready to acknowledge that our lives have meaning, we will start seeing. The question we must ask ourselves is, is YHVH not speaking, or are we not listening?

Shabbat Shalom

Parashat Mishpatim - the Haftara

Parashat Mishpatim – the Haftara
2Kings 12:1 – 2:17
Reading date: 21st February 2009 – 27th Shvat 5769


Our highlighted Haftara text
The word which came to Jeremiah from Adonai after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim liberty [dror] among them -- that everyone should set free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female, and that no one should keep his fellow Judean enslaved. Everyone, officials and people, who had entered into the covenant agreed to set their male and female slaves free and not keep them enslaved any longer; they complied and let them go. But afterward they turned about and brought back the men and women they had set free, and forced them into slavery again.
Jeremiah 34: 8-11

Whether or not we are slaves is dependent on whether we believe YHVH is One.
Parashat Mishpatim begins with a collection of laws scholars call the 'Book of the Covenant.' The Rabbis identify 53 different mitzvot in this parasha. The first set of rules, or laws, (in Hebrew mishpatim) that immediately follows the giving of the Ten Commandments concerns the treatment of slaves. It is difficult for us today to understand the position of the 'eved,' as the term can refer to slaves, household help, or even an expression of modesty or submission (as in Adonai's servant). The Torah distinguishes between a gentile slave, usually captured in wartime and whose slave status was permanent, and a Hebrew slave, who was temporarily indentured, usually to pay off a debt, and who retained more rights.

Jeremiah lived during the reign of King Josiah who restored the Temple order and instituted religious reforms after finding an ancient scroll believed to be the book of Deuteronomy. Some scholars identify Jeremiah as the author of the book of Deuteronomy. The Kingdom of Judah was caught in the crossfire between the superpowers of Egypt to the south and the Babylonians in the North. The Northern Kingdom of Israel had already been destroyed by the Assyrians in 721 BCE. Egypt marched through the land of Israel to attack Babylonia, and enroute battled with the Israelites at Megiddo, killing Josiah. The Egyptians however were defeated by Nebuchadnezzar in 605 BCE, and Jerusalem came under Nebuchadnezzar's rule. In 586 BCE Jerusalem was razed and the Temple destroyed. The religious and political elite were exiled to Babylonia, but a remnant of the Jewish population fled to Egypt and took Jeremiah with them.
It seems a little surprising that after the lofty pronouncements at Mount Sinai, the Torah turns its attention to the mundane and prosaic matter of judicial and civil legislation. Being 'religious' isn't about theological and philosophical contemplation, but the actual application of how we treat one another. Still, of all the laws that the Torah could begin with, it strikes the commentators as odd that the Torah would choose to spell out the obligations to having slaves! It would have been more logical to begin with the establishment of the judicial system and the appointment of judges.

The Ramban suggests that our Parasha parallels the opening of the Decalogue: "I am Adonai your God who took you out of slavery..." (Ex. 20:2) Others suggest that YHVH begins with this law as the Israelites would relate to it- as they themselves knew what it was like to be slaves. But having been slaves can backfire; it is also possible that the Israelites would be cruel slave masters, as a psychological release against their own oppression. (Otherwise everyone who has been oppressed or mistreated would be a kinder, gentler individual- something we know isn't true). But this is, of course, what makes the law so surprising: why wouldn't the Torah prohibit slavery outright?

We all like to think that we are free, but in reality, we are enslaved to many things. The Hebrew root of eved is used in the Torah to mean to 'work' or to 'serve.' In David Moss’ magnificent Haggada for Pesach, he begins with an illuminated papercut page. On the first side, we see a series of illustrations of the Israelites in Egypt: mixing the mud and straw, forming the bricks, and baking them in the oven. Surrounding the papercut in micrography (tiny Hebrew lettering) are several verses with the root eved (describing the slavery of the Israelites). But when you turn the page, the same outlines (remember, this is a papercut!) now illustrate the Israelites getting ready for Passover, grinding the wheat into flour, mixing the dough and baking the matzvah. Now, around this page are again a series of verses with the root eved, but this time with the meaning of 'worship' and serving YHVH. It is a brilliant midrash; in the turn of a page, the Israelites' bondage is transformed into the service of YHVH.

The medieval commentator Alshich would agree with Moss in contrasting human servitude with serving YHVH. He points out that the text says, "If you acquire a Hebrew eved..." but isn't the person an eved only after he has been acquired? Why then is he already referred to as an eved? Alshich answers his own question: that this is a subtle reminder to the owner that the person is already a servant to another master, i.e. to the Master of the World.

The word avadim (slaves) is almost identical to ivrim (Hebrews). The only difference is the tiniest stroke that differentiates the Hebrew letters 'dalet' and 'reish.' In the Shema, the 'dalet' of the word 'echad' is enlarged precisely to avoid confusion of this same difference between 'echad' (one) and 'acher' (other). The question of whether YHVH is one or not seems unrelated to our discussion of slavery. Whether we see ourselves in a relationship with YHVH or not seems irrelevant. But this slightest distinction determines the fundamental and essential quality to our freedom.

Shabbat Shalom

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Parashat Beshalach - the Haftara

Parashat Beshalach – the Haftara
Judges 4:4 – 5:31
Reading date: 7th February 2009 – 13th Shvat

Our highlighted Haftara text
“Deborah, woman of Lappidoth, was a prophetess; she led Israel at that time. She used to sit under the Palm of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites would come to her for decisions.”
Judges 4:4

We see women can be role models in a community.
The military victory and Israel's redemption at the splitting of the Sea of Reeds (not the Red Sea) is the climax of the Exodus narrative. It is followed by celebratory rejoicing 'Shirat HaYam', with the women singing and drumming, led by Miriam the prophetess. The Rabbis choose a fitting parallel text: The Song of Deborah. Like Miriam, Deborah is also identified as a woman prophet. Deborah is a judge and enlists the reticent general Barak to wage war with the Canaanite tribes under King Jabin and his commander, Sisera. Deborah sings a triumphant song at the conclusion of the battle.

Both Exodus and Judges include the story in prose and poetry/song (the Hebrew ‘shirah’ can mean both). Ashkenazim read both, making the Haftara the longest portion of the year; Sephardim read only the poem portion - Judges 5:1-31). Both poems are considered the oldest portions of the Torah, and use archaic language; certain poetic imagery and words are difficult to translate. Also, the two songs (the Torah song is written in a distinctive alternating brick-like pattern- likened to the waves of the sea) give this Shabbat a special name: Shabbat Shirah. Many congregations have special musical programs. (It is also a tradition to put out left over Challah bread crumbs for the birds who sing). This Shabbat also always coincides with the week of Tu B'Shevat.

In the twelfth and eleventh centuries BCE, the Israelites saw themselves joined in a loose tribal confederacy with a shared historical memory and a common religious tradition. From the death of Joshua until the prophet Samuel and the appointment of the first king of Israel, Saul, the Israelites lived in a turbulent period of warfare with their neighbors. They struggled with the Canaanites and Philistines and in the frequent external or internal crises, appointed a military/judicial leader called a judge (shofet). This period of the judges is recorded in Shoftim, the second book of the Nevi'im (Prophets). The book describes 13 of these leaders; the last judge, Samson, read the week of Parashat Naso, is probably the most famous.

What is the role of women? The Bible often portrays women as minor characters and in relation to husbands, fathers, or sons. Unlike today, the birth of daughters was not celebrated publicly; the birth of Dinah, for example is missing the etymology of her name that the Torah includes for each of her 12 brothers. Many stories from a patriarchal point of view neglect and ignore the rich experiences of women. For example, Sarah is totally ignored in the Binding of Isaac narrative. Women characters are rarely well developed. Even Miriam, who appears throughout the Torah at pivotal moments in the Israelite's history, and the first person to be identified as a prophet, seems overshadowed by the roles played by her two brothers Aaron and Moses. (Although the Torah identifies Miriam as a prophet, there is no prophecy attributed to her recorded in Scripture; of course the Rabbis fill in the gap).

Three women are prominently featured in our Haftara: Deborah, and two non-Jewish women, Yael, and Sisera's mother. Sisera's mother, (unnamed) is described as sitting by the window. This classic image, a woman's head encased in a window looking outside, is prevalent in the arts and many ancient literary texts. The wicked Jezebel is also portrayed at the window as a woman with beautiful hair with painted face. This may be a figurative representative of goddess worship. There are also sexual/cultic connotations to openings.

While one can feel sympathy for the old woman, fretting over the absence of her son, Deborah's portrayal is harsher. The final verses (often glossed over in translations) graphically and crudely describe Sisera's booty as a 'womb or two for each soldier', reducing women to their sexual body parts. In addition to objectifying women, the woman at the window is being cast as a bystander, passively looking on to the man's world. The woman is 'inside the house'; the Rabbis like to quote Proverbs "Kvod bat hamelech pnimah - The beauty of the King's daughter is within" as the 'proof text' that the role of women should be inside the home. Sisera's mother characterizes the domesticity of women, while the men are represented by iron chariots, both symbols of war, mobility and the freedom of outdoors.

The second woman is the Kenite woman, Yael. Yael straddles her roles as domestic homemaker and political activist. Yael is described as both motherly (covering Sisera with a blanket and giving him milk) but also implicitly sexually, luring him into her tent. Even though there are no explicit sexual references there is an erotic tension to the story. He asks for water; she gives him milk. Milk and water have long been associated with women. (In Egyptian hieroglyphics a jar of water is the symbol of femininity). When Sisera dies, 'he falls between her legs' (again many translations miss the sexual overtones by rendering this instead as: 'he fell at her feet').

Finally, we encounter Deborah, the hero of the story. Unlike Sisera's mother behind the window, or Yael in her tent, Deborah is a woman with great power: judicial, religious, and social authority. Deborah is described judging the people under the palm tree, in the open countryside. It would be unusual, and therefore noteworthy, for a woman to be able to travel freely from place to place. Deborah was a true public leader, yet she describes herself as 'mother.' This maternal role may be more of a description of her relationship with the Israelites than it is of actual motherhood.

The Rabbis were uncomfortable with these powerful and unconventional women and their treatment of Miriam and Deborah ranges from attempts to minimize their stature or to assign them the qualities of arrogance or slander and gossip. But we should recognize Miriam and Deborah as the outstanding leaders that they were, and encourage young men and women to recognize these leaders as role models for their communities.

Shabbat Shalom