D'var Torah - August 19, 2011 - Eikev
Fran Scheffler-Siegel
About six weeks ago, Rabbi Blake invited me to present this week's D'var Torah. It seemed to me that I had plenty of time to prepare, and he did say that Eikev was a particularly interesting parashah. So, off I went to prepare, and prepare, and prepare...... I have read Eikev many times, reviewed the more accessible commentaries, met with two rabbis, and thought about Eikev when I am at home and when I am away, when I lie down, and when I rise up.....
When I think about the responsibility of creating a meaningful D'var Torah, my mind goes to an meditation based on Ahavat Olam, that appears in Mishkan Tefila, our prayer book:
"As you taught Torah to those whose names I bear, teach me Torah too. Its mystery beckons, yet I struggle with its truth. You meant Torah for me: did you mean the struggle for me, too?......"
So, what follows is the results of my struggle:
Eikev is the third parashah in the book of Deuteronomy. Moses is speaking to the Israelites at the near end of their 40 year journey through the wilderness as they are soon to enter the Promised Land. Moses warns the Israelites to take note of all the evidence of God's love and to return it by keeping the covenant He made with Abraham Isaac and Jacob. After all, Moses says, God has protected you during your journey through all the hardships you have endured; God has provided manna when you were hungry; protected you from illnesses; sustained you and empowered you to fight and win many battles as you crossed through or around hostile territories. God has shown you love and has considered you above all the other people of the earth.
Moses is old, and won't be entering the Promised Land with them. Moses's speech is filled with his fears for the Israelites. He has fears about their future. Without him there to intercede with God and to teach them His laws, he fears that they will revert back to their pagan ways and become no better than the peoples they defeated. His message is a strong one filled with threats of punishments. Moses wants them to "own" his fears. He wants them to be more fearful of defying God, than of the hardships they will still endure.
Fear is a familiar experience for the Israelites. Fear of annihilation is what most likely drove them in battles; Fear for the well-being of their families is mostly likely what gave them resourcefulness during famines, or illnesses, or natural disasters. A deep and abiding feeling of fear was familiar to our ancestors in ways most of us have never experienced. Moses' message to the Israelites is, "you know what fear is - you felt fear when you battled a powerful enemy. You felt fear when you were hungry in the desert. You felt the fear of uncertainty when you were driven to construct the Golden Calf. You have been driven by fear many times in your lives. That visceral fear - fear of your powerlessness belongs only to God. God has proven many times during your 40 year journey that He can cause you to confront great and powerful enemies and then give you the tools to fight and vanquish them. He can cause the drought that starves your crops, and then produce the rains to nourish them. He can cause you tobe childless and then to produce many children. And so, you know what fear is. Fear of other people, and of the natural elements is misplaced. God is more powerful than any of those. You should fear God.
Moses tells them how to show their fear of God: That you fear God, is to go in all His ways,
And, he tells them how to show their love of God: serve God with all your heart and all your soul" (10:12).
And, so, the Israelites must fear and love God and show Him both by their deeds or be punished.
For me, fear of God is a troublesome concept. Moses suggests in Eikev that there is a direct relationship between one's actions - good and wicked - and the rewards bestowed and punishments inflicted. At first, this did not resonate with me - we all know that bad things happen to good people - there is no one to one relationship between legal, moral, and ethical behavior, and whether or not we will be healthy, or have healthy children, or achieve great wealth, or live a care-free life. I have only to remember my friend from the time I was a toddler, Gail, who died of muscular dystrophy at 32 years of age, or my college roommate, Barbara who was killed by a drunk driver at age 34, or the many children with developmental challenges I have known, or the world news that informs me about suicide bombers, or natural disasters that take the lives of innocent people - I have only to remember these tragedies to know that some things have nothing to do with living a life reflecting the covenant God made with our ancestors.
My struggle with the "fear of God" concept brought me to realize that my original interpretations of Eikev were too literal. My struggle shifted my understanding to a more spiritual level. Moses was actually telling the Israelites, "if you live by God's laws, you will acquire great strength of character. You will withstand hardships with courage, and you will flourish. You will acquire the ability to be empathetic so you can be of service to others and thereby build a strong society. And in these ways you will live with purpose. You must perform mitzvoth in every step you take and every breath you breathe."
Moses wasn't concerned with their material mundane well-being - he was concerned with their spiritual health. If they live in God's way "[they] shall be blessed above all other peoples". If they perform God's mitzvoth, God will continue to bless them - this relationship - God's blessing and their performance of mitzvoth provide them a special place in the world. If they don't follow God's teaching they will perish - essentially because they would have no place, no mission, no purpose.
So how does Eikev inform us in these modern times to elevate ourselves to become spiritual Jewish seekers of justice and truth? Mitzvoth are still the answer. Our mitzvoth may take different forms for each of us, but the message is that we must do them mindfully each day. We all do mitzvoth every day - Being here tonight is a mitzvah!
We perform Mitzvoth through acts of loving kindness toward our family, friends, and strangers. We do it by teaching our children to to respect their peers, and be gentle with animals. We do it as adults when we choose to work in the helping professions - like policeman, or teacher, or doctor, or speech-language pathologist. We do it as volunteers by donating money, or by donating time to good causes. We do it by words of thanks to those who are helpful to us.
There so many ways of performing mitzvoth that sustain us by sustaining others..... "Befriend the stranger", Moses says.
In many parts of the world, there are people who live in material fear every day. Hunger, poverty, and crime dominate them. We don't have to go far from home to see examples of abject poverty. In Mt Vernon, many people live in poverty. They live in homeless shelters, or in dilapidated buildings. They are loving parents who are unable to find work. They have children who they fear for every day as these children must walk to and from school with the fear of being accosted by other children who are worse off than they, or by adults who hang around street corners up to no good.
But there are loving parents who are members of WRT who empathize with the parents of Mt. Vernon. They take on the role of mentor, benefactor, advisor, tutor, coach. And there are high school students at Scarsdale High School, who empathize with the children of Mt Vernon, and take on the role of 'big brother" or "big sister".
In the midst of Mt Vernon, there is a school, The Edwards Williams Elementary School, where most of the children live below the poverty line. Where school is a kind of safe haven, and an after-school program is a necessity, not a luxury. There is an exemplary after school program there known as the Amazing Afternoons. This program gives 120 children in first through fifth grades a safe place to play and learn and to acquire the basics donated by others: food, clothing, household goods and appliances. There are 80 volunteers, adults and high school students, who show up Monday through Friday from October through June to help with homework, coach in basketball and chess, teach dance and music. There are parent discussion programs led by professional therapists and concerts organized by professional musicians. There have been many mitzvoth performed at Amazing Afternoons over the past 10 years.
Up until this year, the New York State Department of Education funded approximately 60% of the Amazing Afternoons. Last June, NYS defaulted. Amazing Afternoons would have to close. To many of the WRT volunteers, this was not a tolerable option.
So, they formed a SAVE AMAZING AFTERNOONS COMMITTEE and have over the past 4 months done the impossible. They raised enough funds to reopen Amazing Afternoons in the fall. They did it by requesting donations from all their friends, from many local organizations, and from foundation grants. They need to raise more money, but it doesn't seem as daunting a job now - the funds are coming in. The children will have their Amazing Afternoons. Moses would be proud!
My struggle with Moses' message elevated my understanding of a fundamental concept in Judaism ---- performing mitzvoth bring us closer to God and develop in us a sense of awe for His earth and its inhabitants. Moses tells the Israelites to remember not to forget their humility, to avoid arrogance. Stop complaining, appreciate your hardships as a test of courage, give of yourself to others: So, the choice is theirs: Follow God's laws and have a happy life; Refuse God's laws and become extinct. These are spiritual choices!
To follow God's laws does not insure material health wealth and happiness. It does something much greater! It insures us of spiritual health wealth and happiness, and a reason to live. After all, man does not live on bread alone (Deut. 8:3)! The work of living according to the laws of Torah is worth the struggle!
Shabbat Shalom!
Thank you for this post. Your analysis resonates with much of the thinking I've done during my spiritual development of the last three months.
ReplyDeleteMy first reaction was one of reticence; as an agnostic I'm wary of seeing everything as an allegory because I suspect that, from the point of view of a believer, my interpretation would seem like presumptuous second-guessing. So when I read that your "original interpretations of Eikev were too literal" I smiled, yet I was leery of agreeing too hard.
Fear initiated an efflorescence in me during the last few months; not fear for my physical well-being so much as fear of going to a spiritual place from which I would not return. During that time I've gotten glimmerings of insight into how I've contributed to the pain in my life. It appears now that the only direction of growth open to me is that of openness to something bigger than myself; I'm slowly becoming comfortable calling that thing God.
As an agnostic I've never feared God, yet there's still plenty to be afraid of both outside and inside my own skull. I need to move from fear to peace, to shift my gaze from inward to outward. So I tend to embrace your interpretive shift. Fear can be useful as a blunt instrument to get people moving, but as a long-term solution it's nothing but corrosive.
Yesterday I performed two different acts of service, and I'm thinking of how my day illustrated both the corrosive effects of fear, and the need to move away from it. First I drove to New Jersey to see my Little Brother, who lives in East Orange. I became his Big Brother through Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America a few years ago when I lived in that area. Now that I live in Larchmont, it's much more difficult for me to see him.
Traffic was even more horrific than I'd anticipated, and I did not deal well. I spent half the day filled with rage at traffic, and at myself. See, I'd also said "Yes" to in invitation from a member of my fellowship to participate in "Midnight Run", a group of people who collect clothing and food in Westchester and then drive into Manhattan to distribute it to, and talk to, homeless people. I felt that, in overcommitting myself, I was short-changing both my Little Brother and my fellowship. I was wrapped up in self-loathing. And here's the interesting thing I've learned about self-loathing: it's just another form of arrogance, because it makes everything about me.
By the time I got to Midnight Run I was in such a horrible mood that I feared I would be useless: not just because I was exhausted and angry, but because I could feel myself wanting to make everything about me rather than about the work. I fought that feeling, and as I performed the service I could feel the negative, self-centered emotions leaking out of me.
It's not about me, and the more I embrace that the more I move from a place of fear. It's not about me; it's about the work of becoming part of something bigger than me.
I read your article, in which you write:
ReplyDelete"For me, fear of God is a troublesome concept. Moses suggests in Eikev that there is a direct relationship between one's actions - good and wicked - and the rewards bestowed and punishments inflicted. At first, this did not resonate with me - we all know that bad things happen to good people".
The very next portion of Torah (Re'eh) starts out with this issue at its outset.
Its a most fundamental Judaic principle - that which relates to "free choice". Man, and only man, benefits from this privilege. The opening verse of "Re'eh" teaches this tenet. It says, "... I offer you blessings and curses ...".
Two words in this verse deserve focus. The word "I" (אנכי) is the same word with which the segment of the "Ten Commandments", in an earlier portion, starts off with. The word "offer" connotes a gift; As this verse does, which speaks of offering blessings. But how then can these two words that imply beneficence also be used to provide curses?
Every aspect of Torah is perfect and therefore we must understand how the offering of curses is indeed a good feature.
Imagine then the world without the presence of bad. If goodness were the only reality, if humans had no tendency to do bad, thereby being forced into constant good behavior, man would lack the capability for free choice.
Of all creatures in the world, only man has free choice. Without capability to also choose bad, mankind would be no different than any other, lower creature.
It turns out, therefore, God's granting to man "curses" as well as "blessings", raises mankind to a unique position among the world's creatures. By implanting the inclination for evil as well as for doing good renders mankind its exalted status, without which it would be relegated to being merely another specie of animal.
The rewards for choosing right from wrong is another issue, and in fact involves another tenet of Judaism - how rewards for free choice are distributed. For this also involves the belief in the world-to-come, the world of truth that awaits one who passes on from this world of good-mixed-with-bad. For rewards for deeds in this world can be held back until the person reaches the world-to-come. So let not the irony of seeing a righteous person who suffers while an evil person enjoys a lavish lifestyle in this world confuse you.
For if the free choice option embedded in your psyche be misconstrued as an arbitrary device, you will have missed the whole point of its benefit, for which you can only hurt your own destiny.
Wishing you all a great month of Elul, and thereafter a good, sweet year.
I'd like also to address a comment made by Hugh, who spoke of his "fear of going to a spiritual place from which I would not return".
ReplyDeleteThis, I believe, manifests the crux of the matter for people who search their souls for truth and will not let convenience sway them from that straight-as-a-laser path of truth. The unconscious realization that truth might lead to the necessity of commitment, having to take the consequences of discovery from the realm of thought to the realm of action, carries with it an unconscious fear that new behaviors must now be embarked upon, old ones dispensed with, and new challenges therefore lie ahead. It takes a giant to pull off this gigantic effort, if for nothing else but to test his new discoveries.
It bears taking note that a THEORETICAL evaluation of one's findings, as opposed to a BEHAVIORAL endorsement of them, cannot be a valid substitute. For, unlike perhaps other endeavors, Judaism is behaviorally dependent. The Jews in the generation of Moses took upon themselves to DO before they could UNDERSTAND, because only by doing can many important phases of Judaism be understood. "We will do and we will [then] understand", they declared, prior to receiving the Torah. This was not just an arbitrary whim. It is a characteristic Jewish imperative. It reminds me of the once-very-successful TV commercial that went, "Try it - You'll like it!" For in Judaism, not trying inevitably leads to not liking (and if not immediately, or in one generation, certainly by two or three).
The upheaval a behavioral change of repertoire may entail is not trivial. It is not for nothing one of the first laws in the book of the Jewish Code of Law urges the practitioner to be "Bold as a leopard, light as an eagle, swift as a deer and strong as a lion, to do the will of your father in heaven."