Parshath Hachodesh

The first Rashi, on the first verse in the Torah makes the argument that the Torah should have started with the special reading we do on Parshat Hachodesh: 

בראשית. אָמַר רַבִּי יִצְחָק לֹֹֹֹֹא הָיָה צָרִיךְ לְהַתְחִיל אֶת הַתּוֹרָה אֶלָּא מֵהַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה לָכֶם, שֶׁהִיא מִצְוָה רִאשׁוֹנָה שֶׁנִּצְטַוּוּ בָּהּ יִשׂרָאֵל,

 Rabbi Isaac said: The Torah  should have commenced with the verse (Exodus 12:2) “This month shall be unto you the first of the months” which is the first commandment given to Israel.

This Rashi raises the significance of this reading. 

 A problem arises. Some mitzvoth are mentioned prior to the instructions for the first (special) Pesach. The Mizrachi deals with that question: 

שנצטוו בה ישראל. פי' מה שאין כן מילה וגיד הנשה, שאף על פי שהמילה נצטוה בה אברהם אבינו בעדו ובעד כל ישראל, וכן גיד הנשה נצטוה בו יעקב אבינו בעדו ובעד כל ישראל ,אליבא דרבי יהודה ,דפליג עלייהו דרבנן ,דאמר בסיני נאמרה אלא שנכתב שם להודיע טעם איסורו, כדאיתא בפרק גיד הנשה .מכל מקום כיון שלא היו צוויין אלא ליחיד, אינן נחשבות מכלל מצותיה כל זמן שלא נצטוו בם כל ישראל

That Israel was commanded: With the exception of  circumcision and the forbidden sinew. Although circumcision was  commanded to our father Abraham for himself and all Israel; Similarly the forbidden sinew was commanded to Jacob and for all Israel. We are interpreting the situation according to Rabbi Yehuda, with whom the Rabbis disagree, who says that  all the commandments ( including these) were said at Sinai.  The stories surrounding them are written  to inform us of the reason for the prohibition  as is stated in chapter Gid Hanashe. Regardless, since they were commanded to individuals are are not considered in the category of mitzvoth unless thay are commanded to all of Israel. 

The Mizrachi emphasizes the significance of a commandment to all Israel, and this would seem to be the first. 

הַחֹ֧דֶשׁ הַזֶּ֛ה לָכֶ֖ם רֹ֣אשׁ חֳדָשִׁ֑ים רִאשׁ֥וֹן הוּא֙ לָכֶ֔ם לְחׇדְשֵׁ֖י הַשָּׁנָֽה׃ 

דַּבְּר֗וּ אֶֽל־כׇּל־עֲדַ֤ת יִשְׂרָאֵל֙

This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you. 

Speak to the  entire community  of Israel

Making Nisan the first month, setting the calendar, is the first move toward creating a unified nation that differentiated itself from its oppressors.  

The Mizrachi's comments emphasize the unifying aspect of the calendar. It is important for the community to have free and ritual time together. When the Soviets attempted to stagger days off so that the factories could run 7 days per week, it did not work.  It was too disheartening. People need free time together. 

This first mitzvah frees each individual. At the same time it gives the nation of Israel its own calendar, its own holidays, its identity.  The result of having a calendar of our own is that we spend free time together, strengthening the Lachem, the unity of the people. 

I imagine that long bondage estranged people. The first instruction, before Sinai, had to be one that unified the people and alienated them from their oppressors,  The ritual described was a protection against terrible plague and a celebration of victory over the oppressor.  The protection from the scourge came by the family  publicly, perhaps dangerously, identifying with the Israelites, not the Egyptians. 

 Soforno  emphasizes that time now belonged to the former slaves, to do as they wish: 

החדש הזה לכם ראש חדשים. מכאן ואילך יהיו החדשים שלכם, לעשות בהם כרצונכם, אבל בימי השעבוד לא היו ימיכם שלכם, אבל היו לעבודת אחרים ורצונם, לפיכך ראשון הוא לכם לחדשי השנה. כי בו התחיל מציאותכם הבחיריי:

, from now on these months will be yours, to do with as you like.  This is by way of contrast to the years when you were enslaved when you had no control over your time or timetable at all. While you were enslaved, your days, hours, minutes even, were always at the beck and call of your taskmasters.

Now, as I face the possibility of retirement, I am very afraid of the free time that is in store.  I am afraid of this real freedom. I understand a part of the reason  why people remain enslaved.

Pesach and the preparations that go into it re-unify the people  annually. It strengthens the family, the community and the Nation. And I derive strength from that. 

Pikudei:  the core meaning

I learned a new word this week: Polysemy.  It refers to a word with multiple related meanings. Such words are challenging. They must be interpreted in context. I want to explore the polysemic title of this week's parsha, pikudei. 

Pakad, פָּקַד, the root  of the the title word of this week's parsha can mean to attend to, number,  reckon,  visit,  punish,  appoint,  look after,  care for, etc.  Based upon this week's parsha it would seem to mean "accounting."

אֵ֣לֶּה פְקוּדֵ֤י הַמִּשְׁכָּן֙ מִשְׁכַּ֣ן הָעֵדֻ֔ת אֲשֶׁ֥ר פֻּקַּ֖ד עַל־פִּ֣י מֹשֶׁ֑ה ׃

These are the accountings of the Tabernacle, the Tabernacle of the Pact, which were  accounted at Moses’ bidding

Rashi confirms this interpretation here. 

אלה פקודי. בְּפָרָשָׁה זוֹ נִמְנוּ כָל מִשְׁקְלֵי נִדְבַת הַמִּשְׁכָּן, לַכֶּסֶף וְלַזָּהָב וְלַנְּחֹשֶׁת, וְנִמְנוּ כָל כֵּלָיו לְכָל עֲבוֹדָתוֹ:

 In this section are enumerated all the weights of the metals given as a contribution for the Tabernacle, of silver, gold and copper, and also there are enumerated the vessels used for every kind of service in it.

The 117, 730 shekels of gold were worth  approximately $116 million dollars and the 301,775 shekels of silver  were worth  $3.3 million dollars. The product, the mishkan, the point of connection between Gd and Israel, was worth much more. 

On this same verse, Rashi quotes the Midrash: 

משכן העדת. עֵדוּת לְיִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁוִּתֵּר לָהֶם הַקָּבָּ"ה עַל מַעֲשֵׂה הָעֵגֶל, שֶׁהֲרֵי הִשְׁרָה שְׁכִינָתוֹ בֵּינֵיהֶם:

The Tabernacle was a testimony to Israel that God had shown Himself indulgent to them in respect to the incident of the golden calf, for through the Temple He made His Shechinah dwell amongst them (Midrash Tanchuma, Pekudei 6).

Although Rashi bases the connection between the mishkan (tabernacle)  and the Golden calf on the word ayduth, pakod, the accounting, also connects the mishkan to the Golden calf. 

Perhaps the most frightening usage of pokad occurs when Gd  announces forgiveness for the sin of the Golden calf. 

 וּבְי֣וֹם פָּקְדִ֔י וּפָקַדְתִּ֥י עֲלֵיהֶ֖ם חַטָּאתָֽם׃

when I make an accounting, I will bring them to account for their sins.” 

A cost had been calculated, a price had been exacted, for the sin of the Golden calf  and the day would come when it would be  exacted. 

This accounting is mentioned in today's daf Yomi  ( Sanhedrin 102a) 

 אָמַר רַבִּי יִצְחָק: אֵין לָךְ כׇּל פּוּרְעָנוּת וּפוּרְעָנוּת שֶׁבָּאָה לְעוֹלָם שֶׁאֵין בָּהּ אֶחָד מֵעֶשְׂרִים וְאַרְבָּעָה בְּהֶכְרֵעַ לִיטְרָא שֶׁל עֵגֶל הָרִאשׁוֹן, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״וּבְיוֹם פׇּקְדִי וּפָקַדְתִּי עֲלֵהֶם חַטֹּאתָם״.

 Rabbi Yitzḥak says: You have no punishment that comes to the world in which there is not one twenty-fourth of the surplus of a litra of the first calf.

 as it is stated: “On the day when I punish (pokad, account for) , I will punish ( pokad)  their sin upon them” (Exodus 32:34)

On some level, the mishkan (Tabernacle) that  Moshe is  appraising   deflects the punishment that  was due. 

The  collection of the silver for the construction of the mishkan  is tied to Pokad.   In this week's parsha we are told that the half shekel silver poll tax, collected from every male over the age of 20, was used to make the pedestals for the sanctuary.  

When the collection is described:

 כִּ֣י תִשָּׂ֞א אֶת־רֹ֥אשׁ בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל֮ לִפְקֻדֵיהֶם֒ וְנָ֨תְנ֜וּ אִ֣ישׁ כֹּ֧פֶר נַפְשׁ֛וֹ לַי

בִּפְקֹ֣ד אֹתָ֑ם וְלֹא־יִהְיֶ֥ה בָהֶ֛ם נֶ֖גֶף בִּפְקֹ֥ד אֹתָֽם׃

When you take the sum of the children of Yisra᾽el after their number (pikudayhem), then they shall give, every man a ransom for his soul to the Lrd, when you number (pakod)  them;  so that there be no plague among them, when you number them.

 

 Pakod is mentioned in every sentence that involves this 301,775  shekels of silver. The accounting is important. The half shekel is  a partial payment of the debt. Pokad ties the mishkan to forgiveness. 

The polysemy of pakod allows it to take on another meaning in this sentence: assignment.  I could read this sentence as meaning: when you count the children of Israel, as individuals, and  you are thus reminded of their assignments, פְקֻדֵיהֶם֒, a ransom will be required.  An accounting is required for failing to live up to one's potential; and the contribution to the mishkan can deflect some of that cost. 

 

The usage of Pakod to mean assignment is seen when the imprisoned Joseph is assigned to supervise the high profile fellow prisoners: Pharaoh's demoted wine steward and baker .

וַ֠יִּפְקֹד שַׂ֣ר הַטַּבָּחִ֧ים אֶת־יוֹסֵ֛ף אִתָּ֖ם וַיְשָׁ֣רֶת אֹתָ֑ם

The prefect assigned Joseph to them, and he attended them. 

I can see the mathematical relationship between the assignment and accounting. Accounting is the assignment of valuation. An assignment subjects the designee to account for her actions. 

The first use of pakod in the Torah refers to Gd  considering  Sarah. פָּקַ֥ד אֶת־שָׂרָ֖ה כַּאֲשֶׁ֣ר אָמָ֑ר 

The LRD took note of Sarah as promised,

Sarah had accompanied Abraham on the dangerous journeys and had cooperated with him in misleading their hosts about their relationship.  She had sacrificed her pride by giving her maidservant to Abraham so that  he could have a son.  Now it was time for Sarah's compensation, she had acquired enough of the capital of the downtrodden to rate Divine consideration which meant the fulfillment of her dream. 

The promise of redemption from Egypt is announced with a similar usage pf Pokad. When Gd reveals the plan for the redemption of the Israelites to  Moses at the burning bush, Moses is  instructed to say: 

פָּקֹ֤ד פָּקַ֨דְתִּי֙ אֶתְכֶ֔ם [poked pokaditi]

Gd had taken notice, taken account., considered, remembered...

 the Israelites in their plight. There was an accounting of the centuries of bondage, compensation would be given.

The first book of the Torah, Bereshith,  ends with two verses (before announcing the death of Joseph) that repeat

פָּקֹ֧ד יִפְקֹ֣ד [pokad yifkod]

[Gd will] …take notice of you (JPS), take account of you (Evertte Fox), visit you (Koren), consider you (Metzudah), remember you (S.Silverstein).

These are Joseph’s final words of encouragement, and they are charged with hidden meaning. Remembering can only take place in that which is forgotten. Only the overlooked can be reconsidered.

When Gd takes account both the good and the bad are considered. Joseph is telling the brother who was sold him into slavery that an accounting will occur. And he implies that despite all of the guilt, they will be redeemed.

Pakod is simultaneously a very frightening word and a very comforting word. It conveys the strict justice  of the audit and the mercy  of empathy. 

The Shabbath and Holiday shachrith service have a hidden pakod. 

Shochen  Ad contains 

בְּפִי יְשָׁרִים תִּתְהַלָּל. 

 וּבְדִבְרֵי צַדִּיקִים תִּתְבָּרַךְ. 

 וּבִלְשׁון חֲסִידִים תִּתְרומָם. 

 וּבְקֶרֶב קְדושִׁים תִּתְקַדָּשׁ:

Gd will be...

praised in the mouths of the upright

and blessed in the words of the righeous

and exalted in the tongues of the pious

ans sanctified in the midst of the holy ones

The acrostic of the middle words is Yitzchok, Isaac. 

On the High Holidays, Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur , Ashekenazim rearrange the the words that mean praise, the last word of each verse, so that the acrostic is Isaac's wife, Rivka.  (Sefardim use that arrangement every Shabbath) .  The rearrangement made me wonder if the first words of each line could also be rearranged as an acrostic. Yes, it spells Lifkod, to account for. 

Perhaps it is best not to be reminded that we are subject to audit and must account for ourselves every Shabbath. Perhaps that is best hidden. But I think it is there. 

There is nothing like a Jewish accountant.

 

Vayakheil: What is inside

 

The book of Exodus( Shemoth) ends with 5 chapters. The fourth chapter, Vayakheil, which we read this week,  and the fifth (Pikudei) repeat the material in the first and second ( Terumah,Titzaveh).  Between them, Ki Thisa, the parsha we read last week, describes the drama that surrounded the Sinai experience. The Israelites gather at Mount Sinai, they witness the awesome voice of Gd, when they tire of waiting for the return of Moses, they ask that  a formed  symbol be made. The golden calf is constructed. The violation incurs the wrath of Moses. He shatters the tablets.  Gd is prepared to abandon the nation. Moses mollifies the anger.  The text returns to the details of building the sanctuary.

This embedding of the golden calf within the description of the sanctuary is eerie. The sanctuary, Gd's guest house, surrounds the golden calf, the symbol of misplaced faith. The millenia that have passed in the absence of a Temple and the rites performed therein, make the sandwich stranger. The Temple and its ceremonies, have become foreign to Jews. The sculptured cherubim and the  representational  tapestries seem idolatrous to the modern Jew. The animal sacrifices seem pre-Jewish.

This week's parsha opens with וַיַּקְהֵ֣ל, and Moses congregated, assembled. Moses gathered the people. The golden calf had demonstrated the risk of  the assembled people. The golden calf experience had shown that there is a populist spirit. The assembled poeple have hidden needs and they do not know how to direct them. Let to their own devices, they will probably make a mistake. Moses is here to provide direction; but he cannot clarify the ineffable core issues.

The golden calf was the product of a desire that emerged from the situation at Sinai. A  large population was expecting revelation. It was not coming from the promised source, so they created a substitute.  They satisfied the desire for an object. The distortion was the crime more heinous than denial. 

The sanctuary serves some of the same needs. It is a central point for the populace to focus upon.  It is the site of the ritual and the mystery. Its deepest secrets are inaccessible. They are the depths of the heart. 

Moses assembled the people to tell them Gd's commandments. He conveys the prohibition of  melacha, "work" on the Sabbath. Rabbi Hanina bar Hama, in the Talmud, relates the specific activities forbidden on the Sabbath  to those that were done in the sanctuary. The prohibited actions are exactly those that are done in the construction of the sanctuary. Despite the enthusiasm, construction of the mishkan was limited to six days  and was not continued on the Sabbath. 

Once the rites of the sanctuary were established, they were continued, even on the Sabbath. The prohibitions of slaughtering an animal, of using fire, etc were all set aside for the service. The lambs were slaughtered, their flesh was burned. The forbidden is commanded; worship is mixed with prohibition. 

There is an elusive, inaccessible depth  that is the source of good and evil. The feelings and motives that necessitate the Temple are those that created the golden calf. There is  internal uncertainty about which actions are positive and which are prohibited and a drive to do something. Is this  the source of battling for a cause, knowing that the goals and the methods are flawed?

I like the word confused. It comes to mean lost, bewildered, disoriented.  But at core it means  mingled together. It is the core  that can never be untangled. A path must be chosen. The second law of thermodynamics predicts that most roads lead to dead ends (or worse). The tradition has much to offer. 

 

 Ki Thisa and Purim: the Beloved Petitioner

This year, in most of the world, Purim is celebrated the day before parshath Ki Thisa is read. On the day before Purim, the  Fast of Esther , we read the a special Torah portion for public fact days: a selection from KiThisa. Purim and Ki Thisa are tied together. 

Purim is the celebration of rescue from annihilations.  Its text, the Megillah of Esther, does not mention Gd, The evil advisor, Haman, presents a plan to the foolish Emperor to destroy the Jews. ( The Megillah identifies the Jews, יהודים , as opposed to Hebrews or Israelites).  Mordechai, a Jewish minister to the Emperor gets wind of the plot. Esther, Mordechai's former ward (or wife) is now the Emperor's favorite in his harem. Mordechai convinces Esther to use her erotic wiles to  convey the  information that will upend Haman's evil plot.  

Ki Thisa  contains the story of the golden calf. Moses is on Mount Sinai, receiving the Divine Law. His absence allows the emergence of ritual by popular demand - which is a deep offence to Gd. The breach of the covenant  is great enough to raise the possibility that  Gd  will abandon this people, destroy them ( or let them be destroyed)  and create a replacement nation. Moses pleads for the people. Moses uses his intimacy with Gd as a fulcrum to plead with the Master of the Universe, the King of Kings. The plea of Moses, like the plea of Esther, is successful and the nation is spared... albeit with a debt to be repaid .  The call and response of forgiveness to the prodigal nation  is a paradigm.  We repeat it as a mantra in Yom Kippur. These words, which encompass the thirteen faces of Divine mercy, are a source of hope. The golden calf experience proves that Gd can forgive.  And we hope that the recitation will induce amnesty. 

Both stories are difficult. The golden calf is a rejection of Gd and the principles that underlie the faith. Ignoring Gd is  less of a problem than creating an idol. The idol implies that Gd's functions can be replaced by a fantasy. Once the uniqueness of the Universal creator has been deeply denied, it is very hard to return. The Israelites had moved into a realm that would make acceptance of the yoke of the law very difficult and unlikely. Forgiveness for this offense was a big ask. But it was granted. 

Gd seems absent from the Megilla.  The community that read Ki Thisa the day before, and will read it again tomorrow, considers a godless world that hates the Jews. Doesn't this harsh persecution require a crime? The humans, who are planning to carry out the destruction, have almost certainly identified the requisite capital offenses: usury, poisoning wells, replacing natives, excessive wealth, etc.

The Talmud (Megilla 12a) says that the reason was that the Jews:  partook of the feast of that wicked one, Ahasuerus, 

מִפְּנֵי שֶׁנֶּהֱנוּ מִסְּעוּדָתוֹ שֶׁל אוֹתוֹ רָשָׁע 

and Steinsalz  adds: ואכלו בה דברים אסורים 

they ate forbidden things.

I do not want to believe that the a single indulgence of the Shushan Jews in  food and wine that was questionably kosher brought the wrath of Gd through Haman.  Rather, I think that there was a general attempt at assimilation. The Megillah hints at that as well. Mordechai is connected to the Royal government.  Esther is able to hide her nationality. The planned destruction of the Jews is more ironic if  it occurs through the hands of the people they want to assimilate into. If assimilation was the sin, it also brings the story closer to the golden calf. The Jews want to be like everyone else

But how do the Jews justify Gd's silence?  This is not a problem with Purim - the destruction was averted. It is a big problem later. 

The Megillah and Ki Thisa are disaster aversion stories and the the close relationship between the pleader and the power is crucial.  This system seems to works...up to a point. 

 Titzaveh: the Origin of Science

 

This week’s parsha adds the human aspect to the sanctuary.  The Israelites are commanded to bring clear olive oil.   Aaron and his sons are to arrange it, to burn through the night.  Presumably, this was to illuminate the area so that humans could see. The lighting of the menorah begins the interaction between the priests, the specially designated humans, and the sanctuary, the access point to the never seen Gd.

The chapter goes on to describe the very special clothing of the high priest and his assistants, his sons,  and the ceremony of induction into the priesthood.  The daily sacrifice of a lamb in the morning and a lamb in the afternoon are described. This sacrificial rite, performed by the properly dressed priest, is a prerequisite to having Gd remain in the sanctuary. Finally, the incense offering on the golden, internal altar is described.  This is a description of the preparations needed for the confrontation with Gd.

This week, after President Trump’s harsh rejection of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president was criticized for his clothing.  He wore his t-shirt with the Ukrainian trident.  He did not wear a collared shirt, rayon tie and suit. He appeared before the king in the wrong garb. His sartorial choice became part of the basis for his rejection.

Many of the premises for his rejection involved errors in the formalism of approaching a greater power. He did not say thank you enough. He was not sufficiently appreciative of the largess the great power had shown him.  Would the priest enter the temple in a t- shirt and neglect to offer the lambs?

After all the priest did to prevent rejection: the seven garments, the diadem, the lambs and the incense…  what was the priest going to experience? What was the point?

I cannot imagine the world view of the ancients. There are too many quantum leaps of understanding between us.  I cannot imagine a world before DNA was understood to contain the instructions of heredity, with all its wonders of molecular literacy and manufacture. I cannot put my mind into a world before Newton’s laws and the mathematics it spawned.  I certainly cannot approach the pre-numeric world, the world of Roman numerals and impossible multiplication.  The gaps in viewpoint blind me to the experience of the priest and the people in the sanctuary. The Torah says that they experienced communication with Gd. My conception of that idea is probably far from theirs.

Nevertheless, there is a connection.  The foundational idea of the sacred experience is that the reality we experience in everyday life is not all there is -  it is not enough. There is something beyond the way we now see the world.  For us, there is something beyond DNA, physics and arithmetic; for them,there is something beyond spirits and sprites and the phases of the moon. Concepts outside of experienced reality are significant, perhaps guiding.

I believe that I live on a nearly spherical, rocky planet with a malleable, hot, central core, that orbits a sun that is a star contained within a galaxy. That  galaxy, with its millions of stars and planets, rotates around a black hole. And that galaxy is one of millions of galaxies. And they all originated from a very ancient explosion that continues to propel the galaxies away from each other.  That is a lot of beliefs, and it is only a small part of the huge belief system I accept. This is the Scientific Faith, which, I am told, is based on organizing observations with mathematical precision. It is all predicated on the belief that ordinary life is a convenient illusion that may preserve some fundamentals but is often misleading and wrong. They are certainly less valid than the spectrophotometer!

The entry of the priest into the sanctuary was also a search for the deeper, truer meaning.  That experience seems to have evolved. Moses had immediate contact with the source of all. By the time of Samuel, the pre-Davidic prophet, the oracular breast plate was subject to misinterpretation: the high priest read the vowel-less letters of proper (kosher) as drunken (shikur). Later, the ark of the second temple was empty. The sacrificial rite was all that was left, a relic of the previous encounters. The spectacle of the search unified the nation even if the source was now an empty box.  (The space program?). Now all we have are words that recall the rite.

The contents of the ark had never been the source of truth. The contents, the tablets, were always inaccessible. It was the knowledge of what was in the box, and then the knowledge of what had once been in the box, that was, and remains, the source.

The priest suited up for the sanctuary.  It was a clean room. No dust of ritual impurity could be tolerated. The priest wore a space suit. He was entering a rarified place.  I do not understand what wisdom came from the inner sanctum, I do not deny  its validity.

 

 Terumah: Cherubim

I think that I was 8 or 9 years old the first time I learned Terumah.  I was shocked to hear about the cherubim that sat atop the aron, the ark . How could graven images be part of the holy of holies? Even though I now realize that the prohibition of idolatry is a complex subject, explicated in its own tractate of the Talmud , and the cherubim do not fall into that category, I still find the idea of statues placed over tablets that say:

לֹֽ֣א־תַֽעֲשֶׂ֨ה־לְךָ֥֣ פֶ֣֙סֶל֙ ׀ וְכׇל־תְּמוּנָ֔֡ה אֲשֶׁ֤֣ר בַּשָּׁמַ֣֙יִם֙ ׀ מִמַּ֔֡עַל וַֽאֲשֶׁ֥ר֩ בָּאָ֖֨רֶץ מִתָּ֑͏ַ֜חַת וַאֲשֶׁ֥ר בַּמַּ֖֣יִם ׀ מִתַּ֥֣חַת לָאָֽ֗רֶץ׃

You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image, or any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth.

 This would seem to be a prohibition on all representational art. The words that follow:

לֹֽא־תִשְׁתַּחֲוֶ֥֣ה לָהֶ֖ם֮ וְלֹ֣א תׇעׇבְדֵ֑ם֒

You shall not bow down to them or serve them.

Could come to restrict the prohibited representations mainly   to objects that are worshiped. That would allow for the creation of art objects, subject to the restriction that they not be fetishized.  That would certainly exempt the representation of the cherubim. Since they were commanded by Gd through Moshe, they were certainly not forbidden idols.

I am not certain that the cherubim on the ark were only a representation.  Although they were fashioned by a human, the tradition confers on them the ability to turn their gazes. 

 

כיצד הן עומדין רבי יוחנן ורבי אלעזר חד אמר פניהם איש אל אחיו וחד אמר פניהם לבית ולמאן דאמר פניהם איש אל אחיו הא כתיב ופניהם לבית לא קשיא כאן בזמן שישראל עושין רצונו של מקום כאן בזמן שאין ישראל עושין רצונו של מקום

Translation:

"How did they [the cherubim] stand? Rabbi Yochanan and Rabbi Elazar [disagreed]. One said: Their faces were toward each other. And one said: Their faces were toward the Sanctuary. But according to the one who said their faces were toward each other, isn't it written: 'And their faces were toward the Sanctuary'? This is not difficult: Here [when they faced each other] was when Israel was fulfilling Gd's will; here [when they faced the Sanctuary] was when Israel was not fulfilling Gd's will."

In some sense these were the actual cherubim.  But that is hardly enlightening. What are cherubim? Prior to the instructions given here, in Terumah, the cherubim are mentioned once.  They seem to be the guards that prevent a return to Eden and the Tree of Life

וַיְגָ֖רֶשׁ אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֑ם וַיַּשְׁכֵּן֩ מִקֶּ֨דֶם לְגַן־עֵ֜דֶן אֶת־הַכְּרֻבִ֗ים וְאֵ֨ת לַ֤הַט הַחֶ֙רֶב֙ הַמִּתְהַפֶּ֔כֶת לִשְׁמֹ֕ר אֶת־דֶּ֖רֶךְ עֵ֥ץ הַֽחַיִּֽים׃ (ס)

So He drove out the man; and He placed the keruvim at the east of the garden of ῾Eden, and the bright blade of a revolving sword to guard the way to the tree of life.

The Talmud ( daf Yomi last week, Sanhedrin 67) discusses the the וְאֵ֨ת לַ֤הַט הַחֶ֙רֶב֙ הַמִּתְהַפֶּ֔כֶת  the bright blade of a revolving sword. It uses these words to explicate the nature of the magic performed by the Egyptian magicians.  The mention of the sword, as an autonomous  object, turning by itself, liberates the cherubim from the role of deflectors.  It was the sword, not the cherubim that blocked the way to the tree of Life.  The cherubim that stand outside Eden do not block the re-entry; they signal the arrival.

Similarly, the cherubim signify the  arrival at the eitz chaim, the tree of life that we carry with us, the Torah

The Cherubim are on the kaporeth, the cover of the ark. ( they are also on the anagramic perocheth, the curtain that separates the ark from everything else in the mishkan)  The cherubim stand over the cover that blocks access to the contents of the ark, the tablets. Like the cherubim of Eden, they are a reminder that return is blocked, As long as the tshuva, the repentance is incomplete, it is a cover.

Holiness is demanding.  Its greatest heights are beyond human achievement. Even Moshe’s ascent was partial. We do our best. 

 

Mishpatim:  Interpretation

The spectacle of the giving of the law spans two chapters, Yithro and MIshpatim. Yithro, the outsider, offers a suggestion for the re-organization of the government. He recommends the decentralization of adjudication into a hierarchy. Let there be many judges and let the nature of the case determine the final judge. Moses will decide only those cases that are too difficult for the lesser judges.

 

A corollary to this system is that the people should have a clear set of laws to obey; personal sense of justice should be replaced by commandments. These brilliant suggestions of Yithro, accepted by Gd, are followed by a description of  Divine power  erupting from  a mountain, and Moses delivering the ten commandments.

 

Jethro, the symbol of the enlightened Gentile, had left for his own people before the spectacle, emphasizing that the Sinai/Ten commandment experience was uniquely Israelite, the moment of their bonding with Gd and with each other. The ten commandments, nevertheless, became widely accepted (catholic). The messages on the tablets: Do Not Murder, Do Not Steal, etc.  became the great gift from the (Gd of the ) Hebrews to the world.

 

 Mishpatim, this week’s chapter, deals with laws that did not make it into the top ten. To Jews, these subsequent laws, power sprayed in this chapter, have validity  and valence  equal to the ten commandments.

 

The end of Psalm 147  is part of the daily morning service:

 

גִּ֣יד דְּבָרָ֣ו לְיַעֲקֹ֑ב חֻקָּ֥יו וּ֝מִשְׁפָּטָ֗יו לְיִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ מַ

He issued His commands to Jacob,

His statutes and rules to Israel.

לֹ֘א עָ֤שָׂה כֵ֨ן ׀ לְכׇל־גּ֗וֹי וּמִשְׁפָּטִ֥ים בַּל־יְדָע֗וּם

He did not do so for any other nation;

of such rules they know nothing.

 

The laws, including the mishpatim, the rules, that are the title and subject of this week’s sedra, are issued exclusively to the Israelites. These rules are particular to the progeny of Jacob.  They are parochial.

 

The laws stated in this week’s parsha are the grist for the (most popular parts of the) Talmud.  

 

וְכִֽי־יִגֹּ֧ף שֽׁוֹר־אִ֛ישׁ אֶת־שׁ֥וֹר רֵעֵ֖הוּ וָמֵ֑ת וּמָ֨כְר֜וּ אֶת־הַשּׁ֤וֹר הַחַי֙ וְחָצ֣וּ אֶת־כַּסְפּ֔וֹ וְגַ֥ם אֶת־הַמֵּ֖ת יֶֽחֱצֽוּן׃

When any party’s ox injures a neighbor’s ox and it dies, they shall sell the live ox and divide its price; they shall also divide the dead animal.

א֣וֹ נוֹדַ֗ע כִּ֠י שׁ֣וֹר נַגָּ֥ח הוּא֙ מִתְּמ֣וֹל שִׁלְשֹׁ֔ם וְלֹ֥א יִשְׁמְרֶ֖נּוּ בְּעָלָ֑יו שַׁלֵּ֨ם יְשַׁלֵּ֥ם שׁוֹר֙ תַּ֣חַת הַשּׁ֔וֹר וְהַמֵּ֖ת יִֽהְיֶה־לּֽוֹ׃ {ס}        

If, however, it is known that the ox was in the habit of goring, and its owner has failed to guard it, that person must restore ox for ox, but shall keep the dead animal.

 

The Talmudic interpretations of this passage has been the beginning of Talmud study for generations. The principles of approximating justice in a world that is beyond human control are flushed out in the discussion of the ancient sages and the commentators. Recognizing the loss of the malefactor, as well as the vanquished, is a revolutionary  idea. Uniquely Hebrew ideas of responsibility and fair compensation emerge from this text and its analysis.

 

 The laws stated in the text are not ready for application. The tradition is very explicit about the need for interpretation. Elements of the Code of Hammurabi are quoted verbatim.  All the commentators pounce with the warning that THEY ARE NOT TO BE TAKEN LITERALLY.  Monetary compensation is not justice, but it is the better approximation to objectivity  in the Jewish world view.

 

I grew up in the USA. The principle that all people were created equal was heavily reinforced in me; and I accept(ed) it. The ideas of democracy, equality, respect for all  - were more appealing than the notion of being special and sharing an esoteric knowledge.  As I grew up, I realized that the practical application of those words of equality needed interpretation.  When the veneer was peeled back, the stated fairness hid a system that empowered the privileged and maintained the servitude of the masses. On the surface, the American idea stated in the Declaration of Independence is appealing, after editing out the sexism and the implied racism ( slaves were excluded). The prejudice and self-service were  really never shed The true intentions were in the implementations.  Now the membership in the people of the book, the whole book, not only the ten commandments, became a haven. The less public books, the Talmud, and its interpreters, deepens the appeal of this alternative.

 

I now live in a country and a world where the interpretation of the law is rapidly changing and has become unfamiliar. Greed has emerged as a positive value. The question is always: “what’s in it for me?”  It may have always been so, but the façade of kindness as a value was comforting.  If I was fooled, I liked being fooled. That world was demolished one month ago. Justice means something I did not conceive of previously.  It is a good time to have an alternative.

 

The devil is in the details, but the devil is not alone there.

 

 

 

 Yithro: the Law as a Unifier

 

The climax of this week’s parsha is the Sinai experience. Mount Sinai is portrayed as the great collective experience of the Israelites. It is the event that attested to a direct interaction between Gd and Israel. The stone tablets with the ten commandments are the certificate of that experience.  The law itself is the lasting authentication of the experience.

Witnessing the incredible is no longer convincing. The entertainment industry has made impossible experiences commonplace and increasingly intimate. The glasses and gloves and haptic vests of virtual reality make any implausible experience visible and palpable. Rock concerts are Sinai re-enactments. These inventions impugn the significance of the event. Did humans really land on the moon, or was it all staged?

The tablets of testimony were made unavailable.  The story in this week’s parsha is disturbed by the details that are described later. These tablets are shattered. The physical evidence is destroyed. The replacement tablets are immediately entombed in the ark, not available for public or private viewing. Only the narrative survives.

The law itself, what was inscribed on the tablets, is what survives. By virtue of the sanctification of that law the story of the awesome collective experience endures. The law evokes the memory of the unification of the Israelites and their interaction with the Divine. The law is the central principle that creates the nation, and the giving of the law is the foundational story.

Attendance at Sinai becomes the defining experience. The tribes of Israel are those that beheld the spectacle and respected this law. The sentence that preceded the arrival at Sinai reports:  (18;27)

Moshe sent his father-in-law off,

 and he went home to his land.

Yithro’s absence means that he and his people are separate. Although  it was Yithro who suggested the principle of a public declaration of the law, he absented himself, and presumably his people, from the great declaration . This sequence of events is somewhat related to the topic of the current daf yomi  ( Sanhedrin 59). The current topic in the Talmud Page of the Day is the Rabbinic understanding of the distinction between the law as it applies to Israelites and Gentiles. This section of Talmud is an origin of the idea that  there are seven universal laws, six that were understood by Adam and a seventh ( the prohibition of eating the flesh of an animal while it is still alive)  was proscribed to Noah and his descendants. Israelites were given 613: the Torah ( by gematria, the  Torah's value of 611} combined with the two commandments heard directly from God at Sinai. The Torah, our unique law, defines the Israelite.  (12;49)

תּוֹרָ֣ה אַחַ֔ת יִהְיֶ֖ה לָֽאֶזְרָ֑ח וְלַגֵּ֖ר הַגָּ֥ר בְּתוֹכְכֶֽם׃

There shall be one law for the citizen and for the stranger who dwells among you.

 

The law conveys history forward. The judgments of the past are brought forward as rules. The sanctification of the ten commandments imbues them with the privilege of analysis.  They are studied until they make sense. They are hallowed and repeated as the basis of rationality and wisdom. At core, they are sacred.

The sanctity of the law, the laws that apply to all, devolves from its acceptance. Now we see that agreement threatened by populism. The impulse of the moment, the prejudice conjured by politicians, ineffectual greed, eclipses the consistency that makes the law meaningful. When the application of the law is distorted, it no longer unifies; it is weaponized.

 If the law is not flexible, it is not just.   When the starving serf "steals" the grain he has produced by his labor from the lord of the manner it is not the same as a crypto fraud. But the law cannot be so fluid that the lawyers for the rich and powerful can circumvent necessary justice by creating technical delays and brokering political deals.

 

I hope that the law is not a nice idea whose time has passed. The torah still binds me to my Gd and my people

no AI