Shoftim: judging

Shoftim:  judging

It is Elul, the Hebrew month of reflection, preparation for the  coming days of judgement.  It is like studying for the test: the best thing you can do is write your own hard questions.

This weeks parsha speaks to many aspects of judging. It begins with the appointment of judges and the admonition against bribery.  When we judge our own behavior we need to be careful of bribery. misleading others for gain, misleading ourselves for momentary pleasure.

The parsha deals with judging leaders: the criteria for a king or a prophet  The king and prophet must be of the nation.  Their thoughts and language must be understood.  Their values must come form the same core.  When we decide upon how to conduct ourselves, the sources should be from our heritage, not advertising media.

The killer on the run is judged by the council of the refuge city.  He is judged on intention.  Things happen. But the Talmudic tradition on this is more complex.  Some things are pure accidents, and do no require escape to the refugee camp. The semi- imprisonment that protects from the Redeemer of Blood is required only if some element of care was ignored. The unintentional in shogayg  also means lack of attention to the details that would maintain the safety of others. The attachment of the ax to the handle should have been checked and secured.

The parsha ends with the eglah arufah, the stubborn calf, the calf that is killed in a manner to render it useless.  This is a ritual done by the elders to expiate the guilt of the community for allowing a murder in its jurisdiction. The talmud says that if the leadership does not adequately maintain the roads ( to the refugee camps), all of the spilled blood is on their hands.

Failure to be careful is negligence, the most banal of evils

Re'eh: Nationhood

One of the central themes of the parsha is nationhood, actions that unify tribes and people into a unit. A common capital, a common economic policy , common enemies

Israel is unified around the shared idea of miraculous liberation from the slavery of Egypt. Many times in the parsha we are told to remember how Gd redeemed us from the Egyptian slavery, often in the context of commandments involving feeding and supporting others ( the Levite, proselyte, impoverished, etc.)  It casts the idea of slavery as an evil from which the nation was rescued.

Slavery can be understood over a spectrum . It is the loss of what we now call human rights.

 There is a strong nationalistic component to slavery.  In thins weeks parsha, we are reminded of the limited term (7 years) that a salve serves. ( Elsewhere we are told to distinguish between the Israelite slave, whose term is ( generally) restricted and the Canaanite slave, who is never freed.)   In this weeks parsha, we are told to be generous with the slave at the end of his/her 7 year term .  The slavery of the Israelite national is limited and ends in kindness.  A nations does not enslave its own, captives are enslaved.

My father spent some time as a slave in Treblinka.  I heard the holocaust story of a man who who voluntarily went to a concentration camp so that he could be salve and thus eat. Slavery beats starvation.

The slavery of the Nazis was extreme. It was the fulfillment of the curse  ; וְהִתְמַכַּרְתֶּם שָׁם לְאֹיְבֶיךָ לַעֲבָדִים וְלִשְׁפָחוֹת, וְאֵין קֹנֶה   and there ye shall sell yourselves unto your enemies for bondmen and for bondwoman, and no man shall buy you. They enslaved Jews and others with an exaggerated sense of foreignness. The idea that the enslaved are a different people, a different species, allows the dehumanizing behavior of the masters

I am reading Capital in the Twenty First Century.by Thomas Picketty.  In that book there is a much about the stratification of society and the increasing inaccessibility of wealth and  the rewards of  capital to more and more people.  Is this a kind of bondage? (actually that is a pun: Government bonds are a method for the rich to lend money to the public and profit thereby, instead of paying taxes)  The shmita  is a respite from  the advantage of capital: land is useless and loans are forgiven. Elsewhere in the Torah, the durability of capital is reinforced through the return of lands in the Yovel.  But that is a different parsha...

Aikev: cause and effect

Aikev: cause and effect

More than a decade ago, there was a very religious man in our Jewish community, a rabbi.  His wife developed breast cancer.  He sought out the best breast surgeon.  She had an operation, radiation, chemo.  Nothing helped.  As she declined the surgeon told me: "He ( the rabbi) thinks that all he needs to do is pray and study and everything will be alright! The surgeon thought the rabbi was foolish.  I really did not know.  I still don't know (2)

Aikev is the heel, the lowest part of the body, the fist part of the foot to touch the ground, the pivot for the next step, the first part of the body to contact the next piece of earth as a person advances.  Aikev is the fulfillment  for  which the person and nation is rewarded by the Lrd's kept promise, it is the pivot of the agreement between  Gd and the descendants of Yaakov, the students of Akiva.

Every step is an act of faith and that faith is a pivot for the commitment that is  a move forward.  

 I pick the rabbi over the surgeon.

But I really do not believe that the agreement really works as stated.  I pray and study and I get what I need? I think that my efforts are rewarded by  an increased chance of success. But ultimate success is not in my power.  Nor is success  likely if I  ignore the task at hand, in favor of serving the Master of the Universe in prayer.

But the prayer helps. It cushions the failures; it is all I have when the situation seems hopeless. Prayer is the aikev, the first part of the step

The surgeon was also practicing a religion, but he would not call it that.  The surgeon was practicing the Medical Religion.  He believed that following a set of rules would lead to an optimal outcome. Just as following the Jewish rituals protects the rabbi from Divine retribution, following the Medical rules  protects the doctor from malpractice suits. The ritual is some combination of the original revelation, with an overlay of tradition, stringencies, superstitions and local customs,  It is so confused that no one really knows which details are important.  So are the medical rules some combination of biological models, random(ized) studies on patients who may or may not have had the same disease, traditions, prejudices and common law. 

The end of the parsha is a podiatry-fest. 

  כָּל-הַמָּקוֹם, אֲשֶׁר תִּדְרֹךְ כַּף-רַגְלְכֶם בּוֹ 

 Every place whereon the sole of your foot shall tread

The sole of the foot: that is commitment.  That is boots on the ground

 לֹא-יִתְיַצֵּב אִישׁ, בִּפְנֵיכֶם

There shall no man be able to stand against you

Clay feet. No legs

The first step in taking a stand is an act of faith. 

Notes Aikev: cause and effec

Notes 

Aikev: cause and effect 

developed there is no good verb for cancer: caught?  got? developed? smitten by?  Nothing really works

2. I also thought that a person who believes in the surgeon is foolish,  The surgeon is following a recipe that he knew would not save the patient.  I am not sure who was folish here.  I know that the surgeon was arrogant

 The surgeons wife went on to die from breast cancer

confused: fused together

model: not a constant truth, an idea of how something works that is subject to change and probably will change.

Our model of how cancer works in 2014 ( errors in signal transduction)  is only distantly related to our ideas in 1990 ( errors in DNA )


may or may not have the same disease The  definition of disease changes.
The definition of a cancer based upon its microscopic appearance is replaced by a definition based upon gene expression


prejudices: like "the more toxic the treatment, the more effective it is"

common law: what you can get sued for, regardless of science

Ve'ethchanan: relationship

Ve'ethchanan: relationship                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

  

In the book of Dvarim, Moshe acknowledges his mortality and deals with it.  Last week, Moshe    his  stamp on the real estate of the Promised Land. This week, he begins to define the relationship between humans and Gd.                   

First, we hear about Moshe's plea, his request for chain.  The plea is rejected: a familiar aspect                                                                   of our relationship with Gd. Obviously, Gd cannot grant all requests ( the desperation of the dying  octagenarian, the anguish  of the parent of a very sick child).  Human prayers imply  a misunderstanding of Divine Justice. Even Gd's BFF cannot be an exception. This is part of the integrity of the one Gd, Hashem echad. 

The pillars of faith are in this week's parsha: the Ten Commandments and the Shema. In the ten commandments, after stating that Gd brought you out of Egypt,  they proceed to tell us about Gd's jealousy. The last commandment forbids human envy; subtle distinction. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

                      

I feel that I have a claim because of the suffering of my parents and ancestors and I appreciate the extent to which the debt is paid in the gifts that Gd has bestowed upon me.  Our brothers and sisters continue to accumulate credits, even those with strong claims.

Dvarim: This land

Dvarim: This land

From my children, I have learned the concept of narrative.  I understand this to mean how one side of a conflict justifies its position, how one side views history.  The idea of narrative testifies to the subjectivity of history. 

Dvarim is a narrative. It is:... the words that Moshe spoke to all Israel... It is Moshe's version of history and it reflects his worldview.  Note that we are also told the place of this communication and given information about the circumstances. The narrative changes with the place and the circumstances.  The narrative is influenced by its purpose. 

The parsha talks about Israel, bent on conquest, respecting the borders of the lands of Esau and Lot. In that context, it talks about how theses peoples acquired their lands from their predecessors: the Enim  were dispossessed by the Lotean Moabites, the Chori were driven out by Esau's descendants, the Amori ( the other Lot tribe) replaced the aboriginal Zumzums.  Displacement of one people by another is part of this world order.  The Israelites moving in,  with their conquest of Sichon and Og,  is merely another step in this process. 

The Torah makes the the innocent Jewish narrative difficult.  Conquest and genocide are mitzvoth.  These ideas are tempered by time.  We just don't do that . Even Joshua could not bring himself to do that. So why aren't they erased? Perhaps, so that we never think ourselves too kind.