TorahParsha

What to do first

 

for Parshat Vayeilech 

 

i

Before the people enter the Land,

God tells Moses that the people will ultimately desert Him.

For that is their nature.

And they will be expelled from the Land.

*

God tells Moses to write these facts down

and to speak them to the whole people.

Moses does this,

telling the people:

Guard this warning close—

it is your life;

it will keep you on the Land

for a long time.

 

ii

Why will this warning keep the people on the Land?

Perhaps because it will remind them that, in their nature, they want to turn God away.

Knowing this, they will fight against their nature. And they will remain good.

And they will stay on the Land.

 

iii

If you have been invited into God’s kingdom, you might think: I am one of the elect; I can do no wrong.

You might think you are flawless.

You will fail to see your own nature.

This leaves you in danger of yourself.

*

That is why

before you enter the Land of God,

first you must face who you are.

 

 

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Shabbat Shalom,

Abe

What is a religion of texts?

for Parshat Nitzavim-VaYeilech

i

God tells Moses:

there will be times

when the people wil stray from Me.

I, too,

will turn from the people then.

*

And God tells Moses:

write all this down

into a book,

a testimony to the people

who have left Me,

who have caused Me to leave.

 

ii

So that when the people do not turn to God

and God does not turn to the people

this writing,

this book

still speaks between them.

The conversation does not end.

 

iii

To say:

Our closeness to God can come

can go

but the book stays.

So that perhaps we can always find our way back

through the book

through the conversation in it

through the words

through the expression—

we back to God,

God back to us,

again together.

 

 

___

Shabbat Shalom,

Abe

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We take the role of God

for Parshat Nizavim / Vayelech

 

i

The people must gather

every fifty years—

the men, the women, the babies.

They gather to hear the king

read the Teaching,

the words of holiness.

 

ii

God made the Heavens and the Earth and all that is in them

beginning with the words: Let there be Light

and finishing with the words: Let us make Man.

God announced to the world to exist

and the world hearkened,

came to be.

*

The king—

a lone man—

announces the words of holiness

and all of the people gather to hear him,

to be filled with the words,

to be created as a people,

to be created as a world.

 

iii

See how it is a lone person’s role

to reenact Creation,

to create a world with the word of God.

A community is the universe he creates.

 

 

_________

Shabbat Shalom,

Abe

 

Please pray for Demitri ben Sarah, and for Ayelet Yakira bat Chaya Hinda Matel Nechama.

 

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For further reading, consider: Hirhurim – Jewish Ideas Daily - Rabbi Jonathan Sack’s writings –Pardes  - The Virtual Beit Midrash – Yeshiva University Online

 

Why we learn poems

(Parshat Nitzavim - VaYeilech)

 

i

Egypt has enslaved the people for generations.

God drowns Egypt in the Sea.

And the people saw Egypt dead upon the shore

and they believed in God and in Moses, his servant.

Then they sang a song

*
The people come upon the Well in the Desert.

They sang a song:

Arise, o Well; respond…

Well that the princes have dug

*

When the people see history in their very moment, they sing.

(And song in the language of Torah is poetry: they are the same word.)

 

ii

God tells Moses: When you die, the people will go astray.

Bad things will come.

Teach the people this song:

This song will say: Remember the days of old

 

iii

You stray from HaShem when you say: I am not tied down to the weight of history—my life is light.

You stray from HaShem when you refuse to think through poetry.

*
That is why the leader’s job is to teach poems.

To teach the people the weight of a given moment, the weight of life.

 

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Special thanks to Kathi for her help this week, and always.

Shabbat Shalom,

Abe

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If you enjoyed this thought, please share it with a friend.

Please continue to pray for Ahuvah Rachel bat Orah, and for Rachel Tovah bat Yehudit Esther.

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