Ve'ethchanan: re-membering

 
Ve'ethchanan: re-membering

 

Ve'ethchanan: and I sought grace. THe grace that Moshe sought was to be included in the people chosen to enter te Promised Land.  Moshe was the leader of the generation excluded from that entry.  Moshe's generation had the taint of the confusion that surrounded the spies, and the associated loss of confidence in Gd and in themselves.  Neither he nor they - that entire generation - could enter the Land-- they had fallen too far.  That generation had recieved (the original) 10 commandments.   They had heard the disembodied voice out of the fire.  Don't you remember?

 

The conversation that Moshe now has, asking the people ( most of whom were not there) to recall the seminal events of Sinai ... who is Moshe talking to?  Are we reading about  an interaction with that unique generation that was born in the wilderness. or is this parsha instructions for all future generations, for us? .... or both? 

 

I cannot recall Sinai.  The disembodied voice I heard was at Woodstock!

 

But I can recall the voice of my father, at the Higaditha levincha event, the Seder, telling his children about his redemption from slavery in Treblinka and his personal miraculous crossing of the Bug ( Red [with Jew blood] sea ) river.

 

This week 2 more holocaust (former) survivors in our Seattle community  were buried. ( Joe Vos and Cecilia  Etkin).    What happens to their memories? We cannot remember the holocaust and its aftermath for them, but their stories need to be transmitted ( albeit imperfectly) .

 

It is all the mem.  Remember so that you can be a member.

Mayim, mother, ema

 

Gd's voice from Sinai never stops, it reverberates forever for those who will listen for it.  To remember those 10 commandments, even with a few modifications ( shamor/zachor) is  to reassert membership in that people.  A memory? a pseudo-memory?was it all a dream? could it have been anything else? There is no way to escape the dream, one can only correct it - when you go to sleep and when you wake up.

Devarim: Moshe's side of the story

Devarim: Moshe's side of the story

 

The book of Devarim is introduced as Moshe's words of recollection and instruction. It is Moshe's perspective.  The first verse identifies the author (Moshe, the audience (All if the Bnei Yisroel), and the place (across the Jordan). 

 

They are on edges, mixtures- in the wilderness: in a place nobody belongs and belongs to no one; where you talk to yourself ( midbar- daber)

 

In the Arava: the mixture, like evening  ( ayrev) is the mixture of light and dark, like the ayrev rav, the great mixture that leads the people astray

Mol sof: the shore of the end, the final deperate beach (D-Day), the shore of the Red sea; people who cannot get past the greatest of miracles

Between Paran ( their glory) and Tofel ( the extraneous, the worthless)

and LAvan: selling yourself to make a living

and Chatzeroth: settling down ( in the suburbs) in a house with a yard ( chatzer)

and Di Zahav: enough gold, economic security, which is an absurdity in the Midbar  where there is nothing to buy.

 

 

Then the conquest is described and its limits are laid out. Not here: given ( by Gd to Esau), not here: given by Gd to Moav, Ammon.  The limited territorial goals are very modern

 

Prior years: http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AXfHEywWA3ieZDRobXc5N18yNDVnM2txemhkNA&hl=en

 

 

Mattoth Massaei:the conclusion of the Torah

Mattoth Massaei: the conclusion of the Torah

 

 

Where does the Bamidbar, hence the story of the Torah, end?  [Devarim is a recapitulation]  The last issue taken up by the Torah is the re-establishment of  patriarchy.  A correction is made to the original solution to the inheritance problems of the daughter of Zelofchad for the expressed purpose of making inheritance, in general, patriarchal ( 36:9). 

 

What are the implications of patriarchy?  The immediate consequence is that paternity - who is the father- becomes extremely important.  As a consequence, the man becomes the protector of the mother of HIS child. ( the mother almost always knows which child is hers [ note the exception - the child that Shlomo threatened to divide between the claimant mothers- the women were zonoth {inn keepers?})

 

This is merely an apology for the social system that the Torah seems to support, not a justification for the persecution or disenfranchisement of women ( that may devolve from the system) [see Maureen Dowd in the NY Times July 15, 2009].

 

The end of the Torah story echoes to the earlier stories.  The daughters of Zelafchad are the descendants of Gilad.  Gilad is the symbol of the treaty between Lavan ( the father of our matriarchs) and Yaakov (our ultimate patriarch).  And what is the essence of their treaty?  That the man ( YAakov) will not abuse his wives ( daughters of Lavan) nor compromise the inheritance of the women by taking additional wives (Breshith 31:50).   Note that Yaakov swear by the Pachad of Yitzchok ( his monogamous father).

 

The name Zelofchad also echoes back to an ever earlier story.  Chava is made from the tzelah of Adam. This is the tzel ( shadow) ayin ( that one looks into) .  Sometimes it is appropriate to be afraid of one's own shadow.

Pinchas: Anniversary

 Pinchas: succession

 Pinchas deals with succession.  What is inherited: the Promised land, divided according to the ancestors that ascended from Egypt.  It is the foreign Yichus that determines status.  And surprise, surprise .. women COUNT! The daughters of Zelafchad stand up for their rights and get a share. 

 

What is earned? leadership.  Pinchas is let into the Kahuna by the back door of merit.  Joshua is the surprise choice to succeed Moshe ( usurping  Moshe's son and Elazar and Pinchas)  

 

Moshe asks that the Aydah of Gd not be like sheep without a shepherd. What does that mean?  Sheep without a shepherd don't know where to graze.  They graze wherever there is grass.  They borrow from any  culture  that is around them.  The shepherd keeps the sheep within the confines of the law, he does not let them steal from other cultures ( unless the necessity is dire, life or death)

 

The parsha ends with the daily, weekly, monthly and annual cycle of animal sacrifices.  There is constancy: the seasons remain the same, the species of the sacrificed animals remain the same; and there is change, the individuals ( animals, people), the years, the circumstances are all different.

 

 The more things change...  

 

 

last years Pinchas DT:http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=d4hmw97_234df6tqvc5&hl=en

Cukath Balak: koof the monkey

Cukath Balak: koof the monkey

The three parshioth - Korach, Chukath and Balak all contain the letter  koof,  the letter that means monkey, something close to human but  without the wisdom.

I think that a subtext of these parshioth is defining the role of the human in a world ruled by Gd.
Korach represents trying to turn ordinary human achievement- wealth and power- into a meaningful legacy,  Korach is also about populism and the power of the people to ( fail to) alter history.

Chukath is about the subjugation of the most powerful, Gd's (former ) favorites, to  Gd's "will." Miriam and Aharon die.  Moshe is banished from the promised land because he did not do it right.

Subsequently, when nobody is doing it right, Moshe is made the hero again by resurecting the serpent as healer. He also assumes the role of courageuous leader against Sichon and Og.

In Balak, Bilaam recognizes he has no choice but to do the will of Gd, but he tries to twist his role ( like the monkey on a stick) but it will never go the way he wants it to go.   Bilaam becomes the unwilling instrument of Gd's blessing to Israel. 

In the end, Bilaam provides useful advice to the enemies of Israel ...sex sells - Israel will buy and pay for their purchase dearly.