Shmini - Weekly Torah Portion

Between Passover and Shavuot (the Festival of Weeks) it is customary to study the Jewish ethics of Pirkei Avot (Aboth Tractate). It begins with the words, “Moses received the Torah at Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets to the Men of the Great Assembly. They said three things: Be patient in [the administration of] justice, raise many disciples and make a fence round the Torah.” The Hebrew word סְיָג may be better translated as a safeguard. Anyway, what is discussed is the process of taking the Torah and passing it from one generation to another, and the realization that at each transition there are all kinds of changes. They are worried of this process and therefore, the same people of the General Assembly, at the time the last of a long chain, foreseeing the future, providing a warning to their successors. The request to be patient in the administration of justice, on one hand not to be too harsh but on the other hand not overly lenient. Rabbi Obadiah of Bartenura of the 15th century, argued that they need to wait until they administrate justice. It is easy to make decisions swiftly but it is better to take a moment and also think of the consequence.

They also argue for raising many students, disciples, however, it is fair to wonder why that should be? Is it really a blessing to have many students? To me it seems that in their long-term thinking they see an advantage of having many learned people who can provide many opinions and varying thoughts – this is something that can happen only if you have many of them who are knowledgeable. These are people who study, who learn, who argue and debate, there are checks and balances rather than the acceptance of a single ruler without a profound understanding of ramifications. They suggest we take another route than that.

The erection of safeguards around the Torah also requires some deliberation. Maimonides suggested that these are the commands and rules that will ensure that a person is distanced from the possibility of sinning. Rabbi Obadiah of Bartenura suggests an even higher barrier, suggesting the idea of the rection of a fence so that there is no chance of penetration and as a result performing sins. I would like to suggest a different angle that seems to be more consistent with the text itself and that looks at the safeguards concept that is a protection from the Torah in two ways, both when it is overly restrictive and when it is overly lenient. That safeguard put over the Torah allows us to mold the Torah so that it can be as meaningful as it was to previous generations.

In the new Israeli Reform Sidur, Tfilat Ha’Adam, that has just recently reached the bookstores and out congregations, Rabbi Rinat Tzfania, suggests another version for the teaching from Pirkei Avot that brings in the women perspective, that complements the earlier male-only version, complementing it, mitigates it, adds female students to it, and also adds a safeguard to it. And so she says: “Miriam received the Torah at Sinai and transmitted it to the daughters of Zelophehad, and the daughters of Zelophehad to Deborah, and Deborah to Ruth, and Ruth to Bruriah. They said three things: make your voices heard, raise many female-disciples and interpret the Torah.” There is a chain of a Jewish tradition that is passed from one generation of women to another, and that forms our national, cultural, and moral history. It also suggests not to fall into the last generations’ trap as if women are to leave these areas of study to men alone. To the contrary, they have an important and valuable contribution, that must be heard, discussed before and by the many, so that new ways of thinking may develop, so that Judaism remains as relevant to our generation as it was for those generations.

This Shabbat Shmini we read, “Now it came about on the eighth day that Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel;and he said to Aaron, ‘Take for yourself a calf, a bull, as a sin offering and a ram as a burnt offering, both without defect, and offer them before the Lord.’” The process ends when, “Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them, and he stepped down after making the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings. And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting. When they came out and blessed the people, the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. Then fire went out from the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the portions of fat on the altar; and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell face downward.” The safeguard of our days is that we do not make burnt offerings. The interpretation is that something else should be offered, for example, prayer. It is different from the clear requirements made in the Torah, but a safeguard has been erected, that safeguard does not suggest contempt or unwillingness to recognize a different religious practice, rather it aims at separating the important from the unimportant. It is not about the ritual but about how we make sure we are aware of the need to create a just, purposeful, accepting, and inclusive society.

This Shabbat that is in between the Holocaust Remembrance Day, and the Remembrance Day to the soldiers and fighters for the freedom of Israel followed by Israel’s Independence Day, is known by the Israel Reform Movement as Shabbat Tekumah, Revival. It is a Shabbat where change is in the air, a transitional Shabbat, a Shabbat of growth. Last Tuesday we rejoiced when, for the first time in the history of Israel’s Knesset, a Reform Rabbi, until very recently the CEO and president of the IMPJ, my friend, teacher and colleague, Rabbi Gilad Kariv was sworn in as a Member of Knesset. He will be bringing into our parliament the values of our Movement, raising a crystal-clear Jewish voice of Justice, mercy and charity for all. We send him off with a blessing of much success and achievement in the name of God.

Shabbat Shalom, Chodesh Tov and wishes for Good Health.

Reuven Marko, 9 April 2021, 28 Nisan, 5781