Shoftim: The Justice(s)

The parsha instructs the establishment of several systems of government: civil judges and police, a royalty, priests and prophets.  All of these entities are sources of law, certified by the Divine imprimatur.  But the type of law that emanates from these sundry entities is expected to vary greatly. 

The Torah recognizes a pre-Sinai civil law. When the Israelites traveled to Midian after the Exodus, Jethro noted that Moshe judged them, alone, all day. In the context of this story, the Torah served the function of   a text that could be used by the people and lesser judges.  The text of the  law came into the public domain.  The individual judge could not make and arbitrary decision, he had to conform to the publicly available law.  The written  law could seem arbitrary, but it was the same for all.

Royalty presents a new authority with the right to issue laws.  The Torah presents  this king as an elected official, someone chosen from the ranks.  Historically, we understand that the royal house was chosen, not each individual king.  But it is clear that certain egregious behaviors could lose the kingdom because of their unpopularity.

The priests, the administrators of Ecclesiastical law, the laws of the temple service, ritual purity, maintaining a status that is pleasing to Gd, represents another  type of law.  This is a law that has limited human input.  It is a challenge to human understanding.

The prophet, ethical leader of the people, provides the ladder for the individual and the people as a whole, to ascend.  Her law is guidance toward the better.

These various approaches could come into conflict.  In our day we live under a variety of sources of law; federal, state, local, IRS, homeland security, etc The contradictions resolve

Now we know which law transcends.  It is the law of the trained conscience. 

Re'eh: seeing the dream

This week's parsha, named after its first word, Re'eh: see!, is set in the wilderness, at the threshold of the Promised Land - Moses speaking to the nation.  Moses presents his vision.  How can the people see it?  They have not been to the promised land, they do not know the place that the Lrd will choose,  they do not know how this land and labor based economy will work. 

Actually, the immediate object of Re'eh (see!) is the reward and punishment.  The reward is stated as: that you will follow the commandments.  Following the commandments is its own reward. This is something that a person can see in her life, but it  cannot be seen in advance.  How could I have  known the pleasure of Shabbath before I kept its statutes?  Who knew that Succah was so romantic? (It was where the  courtship of my wife flourished). 

Re'eh must not mean "see something in front  you"; it must mean " you will eventually see" It is a mixture of dream and command.  It is a request for  extreme trust: do it an you will see. 

This dream took root.  It sustained the dream of Zion  through all of the exiles. It continues to support the vision that doing good is its own reward. 

Eikev: the crux

The parsha continues to repeat the contingency: if you do the commandments, you will succeed. You will conquer your enemies, live in peace and prosperity.  This is the fulfillment of the covenent made with the ancestors. 

Two kinds of documents that are written this way: contracts and instruction manuals.  

In a contract, each party to the agreement is obligated to uphold her part. The buyer and the payer, the borrower and the lender, the boss and the worker.  Failure to fulfill the obligations leads to either specified consequencs or nullification of the reciprocal obligation.   If this is a contract, we know that we are in the weaker, more dependent position

Who enforces a contract with Gd? Who can arbitrate the fairness?  This is a pact that is born to fail.  The conditions are too hard, the enforcement too strict.  It is only by the grace  of Gd that a remnant of the covenent continues.  

There is an aspect of instruction manual here.  At least that is the way I think  Jews interpret it.  

I have a patient who was a Seventh Day Adventist preacher.  He told me that he has great fondness for the wise laws of the "Old Testament." He loves that Sabbath as a day to meet with the Lrd and do the Lrd's work, instead of your own.

It was an awakening to hear this Protestant interpretation of the Sabbath.  To them, it all makes sense.  Consequently, one should do what makes sense: drive to church; do work that is for the needy and the community.  This is not my Orthodox Jewish view.  I do not presume to  understand the meaning of the Sabbath (or any other mitzvah). A commandment is an instruction that has been worked out previously, the steps are followed, as they are written.  The experiment, if done as prescribed, will give the desired result. The  benefit is a surprise.   I can feel the relief of giving up most technology. And that was certainly not the intention of the ancients,and  not something I would do out of pure reason.  The mitzvah is the instruction, a guaranteed methodology.  Any deviation - I am on my own.

The parsha also repeats the obligation to teach the next generation about the glory of Gd.  It says that the children have not seen the miracles and wonders done in Egypt and the desert.  But the Torah is talking to me. I have not seen Egypt or the desert wonders.  But I did see the pit in which my parents dwelled and I did get into and complete medical school.  I know that these were miracles. These are the acts of Gd... for ill and good

Ve'ethchanan: Battle of the Senses

Hearing and seeing  are contrasted in this weeks parsha. 

Moshe reports that he besought  Gd to reconsider and let him enter the Promised Land.  Gd heard Moshe's request to experience the land, to smell and feel and taste the fulfillment of the Promise-  and he was rejected.  Gd did not want to listen to these pleadings anymore.  Moshe was allowed to see the Land from a distance, get an overview. 

Moshe then tells the people to listen to the laws he is conveying , and keep the commandments of the Gd that they have never seen.  It is very important to remember that the laws were given by an invisible entity.  When the core of the law, the ten commandments, were given, the people had an opportunity to see the process, but they recognized the danger and asked for an intermediary.  To look directly at the  sun is blinding, to look at Gd is death...or worse.

Seeing is believing.  To every thing we see, we bring an interpretation from within our own minds.  And if we cannot see something, it  remains vague, ill defined, doubtful.  There is a strong commandment to imagine the Gd who brought us out of Egypt, and gave us the Law at Sinai, and remained silent in the Holocaust, in this way.   There can be no image of Gd, not even a mental one.   Yet, one can pray to Gd...

Gd has spoken to people: both directly at Sinai and through the intermediary, Moshe. The speech of Gd is a broadcast, an utterance available to all and heeded by the wise.  The meaning of the broadcast is open to the interpretation of the listener.  Some concentrate on the particulars, deriving details from traditions that often combine text analysis with historical local superstitions and discarded beliefs.  Others  try to fulfill what they perceive is the purpose for the rule; an interpretation that incorporates contemporary fashions and beliefs that will eventually be discarded.  I reply with a whispered prayer, but whispers to Gd are broadcast