*Be the Change You Want to See In the World

Terumah 5774

 

וְעָשׂוּ לִי, מִקְדָּשׁ; וְשָׁכַנְתִּי, בְּתוֹכָם --And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.(Exodus25:8)

When Gd said to Moshe, let them make Me a sanctuary, Moshe said behold the heavens and beyond the heavens cannot contain You (I Kings 8:27) and you say let them make Me a sanctuary?! Gd responds, ‘Moshe, it is not the way you think it is….build the tabernacle and I will contract myself and descend amongst them as it says And there I will meet with thee, and I will speak with thee from above the ark-cover.’(Exodus 25:22) It is analogous to a king who has a daughter. While she is a minor, the king may see her in the marketplace or on the streets and speak with her. Once she maturesthe kings says, ‘now that she is a woman it does not honor her to speak to her in public, rather, make me a canopy under which I will speak with her.’ Similarly, while Israel was in its infancy, Gd appeared to it by the waters, at the sea, and on the mountain. After receiving the Torah, thus becoming a mature nation, Gd says that it no longer honors Israel to be spoken to in public, rather, let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. (MidrashYalkut Shimoni).

 

Mishpatim 5774

You shall not ill-treat any widow or orphan. If you do mistreat them, I will heed their outcry as soon as they cry out to Me, and My anger shall blaze forth and I will put you to the sword, and your own wives shall become widows and your children orphans. (Exodus 22:21-23)

By deduction/definition, after a man dies his wife and child are widow and orphan, respectively. Why does the text state explicitly that …your wives shall become widows and your children orphans? The tradition, by way of the Mechilta, explains that these added words inform the potential perpetrator that there will be no witnesses to his death and that, accordingly, his wife will never be permitted to remarry and his children will never receive inheritance from him – for without testimony of death the assumption is that the missing person may still be alive in captivity. May one also infer from these words that collective punishment is permissible – that is, one’s own family will justifiably suffer punishment from his criminal act? In this way, the punishment of his family is to serve as deterrent for his unlawful behavior – and his own death is only a part of the warranted penalty.  

 

 

Yitro 5774

 

וַיֹּאמֶר חֹתֵן מֹשֶׁה, אֵלָיו:  לֹא-טוֹב, הַדָּבָר, אֲשֶׁר אַתָּה, עֹשֶׂה... וַיִּשְׁמַע מֹשֶׁה, לְקוֹל חֹתְנוֹ; וַיַּעַשׂ, כֹּל אֲשֶׁר אָמָר. -- And Moses' father-in-law said to him: 'The thing that you are doing is not good'…And Moses hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he had said.(Exodus18:17-24)

Let's get our minds around what this text is telling us: the greatest of all teachers, Moshe Rabbeinu, gets and implements advice from a non-Israelite priest on how to best serve Gd and the people. What is the reason that Gd chooses to honor Yitro in such a manner – is it not enough that Yitro has a Torah portion named after him? Is Gd showing Yitro's greatness by pointing out Israel's own deficiency?! According to the Ohr HaChayim (18^th cent. Morocco), the reason for this episode is to show this and every following generation that the other nations of the world have giants of wisdom, intellect and understanding, and that Gd did not choose Israel to be a 'nation of priests' and Gd's 'treasured nation' because of Israel's intellect or wisdom. Gd chose Israel for 2 reasons: its peoples' capacity of acts of benevolence and out of Gd's love for the patriarchs/matriarchs who founded the nation. 

B'shalach 5774

 

וַיְהִי, בְּשַׁלַּח פַּרְעֹה אֶת-הָעָם, וְלֹא-נָחָם אֱ-לֹהִים דֶּרֶךְ אֶרֶץ פְּלִשְׁתִּים, כִּי קָרוֹב הוּא - And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that Gd led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines, for it was near (Exodus 13:17)

These opening words of the parasha explain the purpose of 40 years in the desert. Gd chooses not to take the Israelites to the Landof Israel by way of the most time efficient route. The reason mentioned is that this route would cause them to engage more quickly in the war necessary to conquer the inhabitants of the homeland, the Philistines – who resided up to the coastal plain of the Land, and the worry was that the Israelites would fear the war and return to Egypt. With the sheer number and magnitude of all of the miracles that Gd performs in order to execute the Israelite exodus from Egypt – plagues, splitting the sea, manna, water from rocks and more – why would Gd decide not to ensure their safety and just bring the Israelites home quickly? Perhaps the answer is found in a response to the question of why does evil exist in the world….were it not for evil, there would be no recognition and appreciation of good.

 

Does Judaism support (require?) Vegan diet?