Ki Theitze: the line

Ki Theitze: the line

The parsha seems to draw the lines that cannot be passed, even when the violation has occurred, there is a new line that cannot be crossed.  The parsha's name: "when you go out:, when you cross the boundary. 

The victorious soldier takes his captured woman.  A line ( or two) has been crossed.  But now she must be given rights.  She can mourn her family ( killed by the soldier's army, and nurse her hatred of the captor [ who has saved her life for his pleasure] )  And when her captor is done with her, when she pleases him no more, she cannot be treated as chattel,  she has not become a slave.  Even this captured, impressed  woman cannot be sold as a slave. She has rights.  There is still a line that cannot be crossed.

Fairness is an element of the line that cannot be crossed.  The favored child cannot be reassigned  in birth order.   The finder of an identifiable lost object cannot keep it.  One  might have thought otherwise.  The Torah is defining fairness.

The criminal may be punished, but not humiliated.  The criminal has the right to dignity.  The criminal crossed the line, he did not erase it for us.

The parsha ends with the crime that cannot be forgiven: Amalek.  perhaps the work Amalek is a contraction of Am: nation and malek: beheading? ISIS?  There  are situations that have only a final solution.  Even if we cannot identify Amalek and cannot carry out this mitzvah of the annihilation of Amalek, the presence of the mitzvah indicates  that there is a  limit to  the line of fairness and kindness.

Look for the line.
Don't cross it.
If you cross it
Look for the next line

Shoftim: credence

Judaism has evolved into a system of belief.  The Torah describes it  as a people one is born into, a tribal entity, with an associated culture and set of rules and beliefs.  The alternative to acceptance of the system was either severe punishment  ( possibly stoning to death) if one stayed inside the system, or exile. 

In my life. if you born into the Remnant of The People, accepting the system, what had become the religion, was optional. Rejection of the (failed) hocus-pocus ( Torah) was the norm.   Those who kept the Commandments were praised for their sacrifice  and laughed at for all they were missing to no purpose. Those who took the questions of Judaism seriously were the modern Luftmenschen, people who derived sustenance from air, people who need no substance. 

We are no longer locked into our people, culture, or belief system  It is all voluntary (whatever that means). But the system has rules, and our Jewish Orthodoxy demands a certain precision in observance. 

This week's parsha discusses the qualifications of reference sources: the judge, the prophet, and  the king. It is only the judge that survives into our day, in the form of the (community) Rabbi. We are told that the judge must shun all bribery, reason  logically ,  not deviate from the tradition (to the extent possible).  He must not be intimidated by the  powerful, nor let his sympathy for the downtrodden overwhelm his fairness.  These qualities describe our Av Beith Din in Seattle.

Prior to the proliferation of communication technology, Jewish practice had a local  character.  This local variation was a substrate for the  evolution of thought and practice.  It resulted in a degree of limited experimentation.  Technology has degraded the local character of custom.  It is replaced by an ever more stringent practice and ArtScroll guidebooks.

In our time, it is only a religious elite that can trace their practice to ancestors.  The rest of us need a source, a guide.  I will stick with the local guide.

Re'eh: the Capital

Re'eh: the Capital

The idea of a capital, the chosen place, is preeminent in this weeks parsha. The chosen place is the only place for the sacrificial rite; staging this spectacle in any other location is a form of rebellion.  The chosen place is a source of unity, an element of the specialness of the people for whom this place has been chosen, and a place to fight for. 

I was recently in Paris, the current capital of capitals. The economy of the city is founded on its special status.  Paris is a city that celebrates Napoleon, under whom it became  the the most important city in the world.  Paris unifies France and presents the French way ( gendered romance, style over substance. etc.)  to tourists who come from around the world, to all of France and the French speaking world, and to itself.

Rome was the quintessence of the capital.  The empire  is named for its capital city.  The city ruled most of the known world.  Subsequent empires ( the Holy Roman Empire [second reich]) are named after it, although their capitals are  located in other places ( Prague, Berlin).  Rome is set as a foil to Jerusalem, the Rabbis say it was founded on a transgression of Solomon.

We (Zionists?) understand the chosen city to be Jerusalem.  It, like Paris is  built on its reputation.  It is the capital of the modern state of Israel ( although not recognized as such by other nations).  It is Zion, from which comes Torah.  The three annual conventions ( pilgrimage festivals) are to be  held there, and nowhere else. Jerusalem's economy is to be supported by compulsory tourism.

Some years ago, I spent Passover in Jerusalem.  The eighth  day of that Passover (the day after Passover for native Israelis) was also Good Friday.  On that day I went to the Via Dolorosa  for some religious voyeurism, watching the pilgrims from  the Philippines and El Salvador carrying their crosses from station to station.  On the way, I saw Charedim lighting cigarettes and talking on their smart phones (it was not Yom Tov for them)

I looked over at the entrance to the Dome of the Rock ( the temple mount).  Huge green iron doors blocked the view.  But at the bottom of one of those doors, there was a normal, human sized door.  Through that door I could see boys, maybe 10 or 11 years old, playing soccer.

Everyone was doing his thing and no one was being molested

 And a bright light emanated from that door to the Dome of the Rock, to the Temple Mount, located  on the Via Dolorosa.  And I thought that was the light of Peace, Shalom, Yerushalayim.

Eikev: Contract

Eikev: Contract

The parsha is called Eikev.  The usual translation of eikev is heel, the lowest point of the erect human, the pivot point.  As a verb, heel is what the master tells his dog. It is the command to obey. 

Eikev is a contract between Gd and  the Israelites, expressed by Moshe. Obey the contract and get compensated:  with the land and all that is good in it.  Breech the contract and your on your own... or worse. It establishes  who is the boss and how we view ourselves in relationship to the master: we are the heel, the heeler, the dog. The tolerated pet. The modern pet, all we give the master is love. 

What do we learn from this contractual relationship?  The essence of the  bond between the employer and employee can not be captured by the document.  Details create a structure that surrounds the bond.  But  in this contract, breeches are forgiven ( with occasional consequences).

 The contract lets us stand erect, on two heels.  Not as a partner but as a contractor, like an Uber driver, dependent - but we can quit if we are willing to suffer the consequences: alone, falling, unprotected.

Who signed this agreement?   It is an ancient, far removed  generation  ( 11;2)
And know ye this day; for I speak not with your children that have not known, and that have not seen the chastisement of the LRD your Gd, His greatness, His mighty hand, and His outstretched arm,


The agreement was not made with me, not with my generation, not with any generation for which I have photographs, or letters.  A generation so far removed that it is only by choice that I can say that they are my ancestors.

But I sign on for my children.  I knew my parents and  there is evidence that satisfies me that they saw  the trials and wonders, the chastisements of the Lrd,  that brought them to their time.  And I have seen some trials and wonders in my own charmed life.

This is a contract no one can keep.  It has too much fine print and it gets ever finer. I will merely click
[/] I agree.