Shabbat Slichot, Nitzavim-Vayelech

Deuteronomy 29:9-63:9


This week's commentary was written by Rabbi Abigail Treu, rabbinic fellow and director of Donor Relations and Planned Giving, JTS.

My kids have a hard time taking turns speaking. While their mother tries to instill some manners, they have taken to shouting, "Pause!" in order to silence one another, a phrase they've adapted from their use of the TV remote control to temporarily stop the scene unfolding on screen.

An inviting metaphor: hitting pause on the forward motion of our lives, attending to what needs to be said or done, and then pressing the play button to continue the action. Of course, life doesn't work that way. The High Holiday season invites us to try it, though: before the new year unfolds we pause, take time off from work to be with our fellow Jews, and stand still for a few days.

Stand still, nitzavim, before we move forward, vayeilekh: the double parashah we read just before Rosh Hashanah invites us to recognize what we need to do. Stuck in the narrative while Moses talks—reviewing the history of forty years gone by and preparing for the future about to unfold—we hardly notice what the names of the parashah, Nitzavim-Vayeilekh, suggest.

The metaphors of "pause" and "play" or of "stopping" and "starting," however, do not do full justice to the rabbinic model. Yes, we are to stand still, to spend time reviewing and preparing before moving into a new year. But more than that, we must become a little disoriented, a little shaken up, in order to really be able to move forward in a meaningful way. If we simply hit pause, we haven't done what our tradition is asking us to do this month. We need to go deeper, and for that we need to be taken out of the regular, ordered rhythm of life and into someplace at once familiar and disquieting.

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While you're at it, check out our High Holidays holiday spotlight kit for great HHD ideas, recipes, crafts, etc.

Ki Tavo

Deuteronomy 26:1–29:8

Love Is Not The Opposite Of Hate; Law Is

Law is essential to Judaism, establishing an external set of moral guidelines.

By Rabbi Bradley Artson. Provided by the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, which ordains Conservative rabbis at the American Jewish University.

Human beings never seem able to express all their hatred for each other.

Men and women war against each other; blacks and whites, gay and straight, liberals and conservatives, city-folk and suburbanites--there is no end to stereotypes, hostility and mistrust. In response to this propensity to hate, Nobel laureate Elie Weisel organized an international conference on hate in Oslo, Norway. The glittering list of invited participants included four presidents, and 70 writers, scientists and academics.

The two questions which shaped their deliberations were, "Why do people hate?" and "Why do people band together to express hatred?" Although the speeches were beautiful and the resolutions were firm, the entire event was fairly predictable, except for their primary conclusion, which seems so at odds with common sense. Ask anyone what the opposite of hate is, and they will tell you it's love. But the consensus of these most accomplished, powerful and thoughtful people was that, "Only the belief in and execution of the law can defeat hatred."

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Ki Teitzei

Deuteronomy 21:10–25:19

Let's Get Physical!

The commandment to remove a corpse from the stake on which it is impaled teaches us the importance of respecting the holiness of the body.

By Rabbi Bradley Artson on MyJewishLearning.com
The definition of what is "religious" shifts throughout the ages.

In antiquity, being religious meant offering sacrifices (of children, women, prisoners taken in war) and making regular gifts to the gods. In biblical Israel, it meant being aware of God's presence, by bringing animal sacrifices to the Temple in Jerusalem at the designated times.

By the Second Temple period, a new emphasis, one of ritual purity, ethical rigor, and obedience to a growing oral tradition became the defining feature of pharisaic religiosity, which the Rabbis of the Talmud extended into an emphasis on the performance of mitzvot (commandments) and study as religious acts.

In the medieval period, study and ritual purity remained important, but they were refocused through the lenses of kabbalah, Jewish mysticism. Finally, in the early modern age, social justice (for some) and celebration through song and dance (for others) often competed with the earlier identifying features of religiosity.

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Shoftim

Deuteronomy 16:18–21:9

Justice, Justice You Shall Pursue

Justice, expressed in Parashat Shoftim, is one of the eternal religious obligations of Judaism.

By Rabbi Bradley Artson. Provided by the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, which ordains Conservative rabbis at the American Jewish University on MyJewishLearning.com
Over the last several millennia, humanity has developed a large and growing body of profound writings, words that encapsulate the hopes, aspirations and potential of the human soul.

Across the globe, religious traditions rightly exult in the majesty and depth of their sacred writings: the Bagavad-Gita, the Rig-Veda, the Dammapada, the Tao Te Ching, the Iliad, these are the spiritual heritage of humanity, a crowning glory of literary art and religious passion.

Reading these books constitutes an exposure to greatness. Yet there is something lacking in them all that the Hebrew Bible possesses in unique measure: a passion for justice for the poor, the weak, and the despised. Unlike the Buddhist ideal of a 'bodisatva' (an enlightened being) who is so pure that he can step over a beggar without remorse, Moses and Jeremiah consider justice and compassion to be the sine qua non of any true religiosity. One cannot claim to love God and not be passionate about justice. That is the primary Jewish contribution to the human spirit.

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Re'eh

Deuteronomy 11:26–16:17

Be Yourself

The gifts brought to the Temple for the Pilgrimage festivals teach us the importance of preserving our unique identities.

By Rabbi Bradley Artson on MyJewishLearning.com
Social pressure to conform is a steady and soul-deadening force.

With relentless enticements, cultures seek ways to impose similarity of worldview, of behavior, even of thought upon their members. Even contemporary society, with its laudable commitment to individuality, imposes subtle mandates through the media, through the movies, through advertisements and in countless other ways.

Small wonder, then, that the truly free soul is rare. Indeed, for many who practice religion (and for many who flee religion), that conformity and habit are nowhere more imposing than in the realm of faith and ritual.

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Eikev

Deuteronomy 7:12–11:25

The Covenant of Fertility

Fertility of the womb and fertility of the land are divine gifts.

By Rabbi Lauren Eichler Berkun on MyJewishLearning.com

The themes of fertility and barrenness are central to the biblical narrative.

It is striking how often we encounter barren women in the Bible. Sarah, the women of Abimelekh's household, Rebekah, Rachel, Manoah's wife, Hannah, and the Shunamite woman are all examples of barren women whose wombs are opened by God. Clearly, the process of reproduction holds a key to biblical theology. The very covenant of Israel is presented as a brit [covenant] of fertility. God promises Abram, "This is my covenant with you. You shall be the father of a multitude of nations...I will make you exceedingly fertile." (Genesis 17:4, 6). This week's parashah further emphasizes the connection between covenant and childbearing. Moses teaches:

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Shabbat Nachamu - Va-et'chanan

Deuteronomy 3:23–7:11

Love The Lord

Moses' message to relate to God through love, not only through fear, is especially relevant in the modern age.

By Rabbi Bradley Artson. The following article is reprinted with permission from American Jewish University from MyJewishLearning.com

What is the proper emotional attitude to take toward God? In our day, as in the past, religious human beings divide into two general camps.

Some argue that we must fear and venerate God, while others stress the need to love God.

The two modes of relationship, fear and love, have a long history within Judaism. Both yirat shamayim (fear of heaven) and ahavat ha-Shem (love of God) find ample attestation in traditional and modern writings. While most Jews retain elements of both, individuals and communities tend to stress one tendency over the other.

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