Ki Teitzei

Deuteronomy 21:10–25:19

We Are What We Remember

D'var Torah By: Rabbi Shira Milgrom for ReformJudaism.org

The last paragraph of Ki Teitzei is the maftir reading in non-Reform congregations on the Shabbat before Purim. Its opening word, zachor, "remember," names that Shabbat.

"Zachor, Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey, after you left Egypt—how, undeterred by fear of God, he surprised you on the march, when you were famished and weary, and cut down all the stragglers in your rear. Therefore, when the Eternal your God grants you safety from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Eternal your God is giving you as a hereditary portion, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!" (Deuteronomy 25:17–19).

I was present on a Yom Kippur morning many years ago when Rabbi Harold Schulweis asked his congregation if they could name members of Hitler's SS. And the names came pouring out from all corners of the sanctuary: Himmler, Eichmann, Goering, and on. And then Rabbi Schulweis asked the community to name the people who tried to save Anne Frank and her family. Silence.

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Shof'tim

Deuteronomy 16:18–21:9

D'var Torah By: Audrey R. Korotkin for ReformJudaism.org

It Takes Two, Me and You

In many Jewish weddings I have officiated at over the years, the bride and groom have chosen to add to the traditional vows these words from the prophet Hosea: V’eirastich Li b’tzedek uv’mishpat uv’chesed uv’rachamim, “I will betroth you to Me in righteousness, and in justice, and in loving-kindness, and in mercy” (Hosea 2:21). While the traditional vows reflect the view of Jewish marriage as a legal institution, Hosea’s words reflect marriage as a sacred partnership born of mutual love and respect. Hosea, of course, was using the language of marriage as a description for the relationship between God and Israel, challenging Israel to be faithful and chastising her when she strayed. - See more at: http://www.reformjudaism.org/learning/torah-study/shoftim/it-takes-two-me-and-you#sthash.vkl5RNaF.dpuf

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R'eih - Rosh Chodesh 1

Deuteronomy 11:26–16:17

Looking on the Bright Side

D'var Torah By: Audrey R. Korotkin for ReformJudaism.org
Sometimes, I feel that a lot of people—including some Jews themselves—see Jews as a collective Eeyore. Take this quotation from A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh:

    "Eeyore," said Owl, "Christopher Robin is giving a party." "Very interesting," said Eeyore. "I suppose they will be sending me down the odd bits which got trodden on. Kind and Thoughtful. Not at all, don't mention it."

That’s us: trodden on, perpetually melancholy, laden with thousands of years of oppression, exile, pogroms, and genocide. Always letting out a big sigh. This year at Passover, supposedly our season of celebration at redemption, comedian Jon Stewart pointed out on The Daily Show that the scene-setter for our seder meal includes dips of salt water, bitter lettuce, horseradish, and matzah—not exactly a boffo sales pitch for the Tribe.

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Eikev

Deuteronomy 7:12–11:25

Getting What We Deserve

D'var Torah By: Audrey R. Korotkin for ReformJudaism.org
A baby boy born with a defective heart has multiple surgeries before his first birthday and will suffer from physical and cognitive impairments for as long as he lives. An aging matriarch, who thrives on mentoring young people and challenging them to push the boundaries of their abilities, is suddenly enfeebled by a stroke. A young mother often incapacitated by pain, is, after years of inconclusive tests, finally diagnosed with a genetic disease—but not before she passes it on to two children.

And that's just in my congregation, just this year.

We all struggle with "why bad things happen to good people," a question for which there is no answer. Is God not all-powerful? Or all-good? Or is God—if you believe in God's existence—removed from the world? More than three decades ago, Rabbi Harold S. Kushner deliberately titled his book about theodicy When Bad Things Happen To Good People, not why, because, he came to believe, pain and tragedy are simply part of the world as God created it. Kushner wrote:

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Shabbat Nachamu

Va-et'chanan Deuteronomy 3:23–7:11

Do Not Make Yourself a Pesel, Lest Torah Become an Idol

D'var Torah By: Shira Milgrom for ReformJudaism.org

In the next parashah, Moses will tell the Israelite people: "Thereupon the Eternal One said to me, 'Carve out two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to Me on the mountain; and make an ark of wood. I will inscribe on the tablets the commandments that were on the first tablets that you smashed, and you shall deposit them in the ark.' . . . . After inscribing on the tablets the same text as on the first—the Ten Commandments that the Eternal addressed to you on the mountain out of the fire on the day of the Assembly—the Eternal gave them to me" (Deuteronomy 10:1-4).

Our parashah, Va-et'chanan, contains this second text of the Ten Commandments. One would expect a perfect replica of the first set, an exact repetition, as Moses and God both promise. It is startling and wonderful to see that the texts are not identical. Traditional commentary,1 encoded in L'cha Dodi, tells us that both versions of the commandment to observe the Shabbat are uttered in the same instant by God (shamor v'zachor b'dibur echad); the single Divine word shatters into countless sparks as when a hammer strikes the anvil. Biblical criticism 2 teaches that the (edited) text we have before us is made up of different versions of our sacred narratives. Either way, the Torah pushes back against the notion that there could ever be a singular version of Divine truth. Divine truth is always beyond human grasp; the pure light of the Divine is necessarily refracted by human experience into countless colors.

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Shabbat Chazon

Devarim, Deuteronomy 1:1–3:22

Tishah B'Av: Words and Visions

By Rabbi Lisa Edwards for ReformJudaism.org
Rabbi Oren Hayon teaches: "Reading Deuteronomy is a very different experience from reading the rest of Torah. Here, the omniscient narrator of the earlier books has vanished, replaced abruptly by Moses's subjective voice. Deuteronomy, as its Greek name indicates, is a second telling: Moses's own reiteration of earlier events. In this book, we experience the Jewish past only through Moses's narrow perspective, which frustrates and disorients us at times. And yet it is this particular characteristic of Deuteronomy that makes it deeply relevant and meaningful for the formation of spirituality in a postbiblical diaspora."

Rabbi Hayon reminds us that Moses narrates the Book of Deuteronomy. Here at the end of the forty years in the wilderness, just before his own death, Moses gives his "own reiteration of earlier events." Also important is that in Deuteronomy, Moses speaks not to the generation that came with him out of Egypt but to the children of those people (and to us). If you've ever eagerly (or sleepily) listened to your grandparents reminisce about their lives, you get the picture.

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Matot-Mas'ei

Numbers 30:2-36:13

The Heart of the Matter

D'var Torah By: Rabbi Philip “Flip” Rice for ReformJudaism.org

    "Moses spoke to the heads of the Israelite tribes, saying: This is what the Eternal has commanded . . . " (Numbers 30:2)

As the Jewish people worldwide make our way toward the conclusion of the fourth book of the Torah, B'midbar, we approach with the Israelites the end of our time together "in the wilderness." Unfortunately, the material and agenda of the final two portions of the Book of Numbers are difficult to reconcile given our modern sensibilities. This week in Parashat Matot, not only are we taught to commit genocide in the name of vengeance (Numbers 31:14–18), but also our text reflects a society that is misogynist and considers women not fit to govern themselves. The beginning of our Torah portion relates that it is fathers and husbands who will decide which vows their wives and daughters enact that will stand and which are to be revoked (Numbers 30:3–17). A woman's word is not their word. How do we reconcile the power and purpose of Torah here with our modern understandings of Judaism today? What might we learn from this portion of the Torah?

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