Parashat Breishit, Genesis 1:1-6:8

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Breishit is sponsored by Barb Swimmer in memory of her mother Zivian Swimmer and by Gwendolyn Tapper in memory of her father David Yitzchak ben Israel ha-Levi whose yahrzeit is Simchat Torah.

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How do we react when we offer the best we have to give and it is ignored?

Who knew that the Beatles were prescient? The Fab Four must have been thinking about us when they sang "you say goodbye and I say hello." With the last weekly Torah reading in Deuteronomy, we said "goodbye." Now, thanks to the generosity of a few large donors and many smaller "on-line" donors we're saying "hello!" I'm thrilled to be back writing these weekly commentaries again, and I hope you will all join us for another year of weekly parasha learning with Kolel. And so without further ado…

This first portion in the Torah is all about the development of humanity. Ideally, it should have been subtitled Great Expectations. In reality, it ended up being East of Eden. Humanity goofs. Big time. Again and again. Each mistake is a step further away from perfection. Each mistake is such a disappointment that by the end of the parasha God has second thoughts: And the Lord regretted that He had made man on earth, and His heart was saddened (va-yitatsev). (Genesis 6:6) Ouch! Interestingly, God is experiencing the frustration that accompanies parenthood. As God tells Eve:

I will make most severe
Your pangs (itzvonech) in childbearing;
In pain (be-etsev) you shall bear children.

Genesis 3:16

Adam is told: By toil (be-itzavon) shall you eat of it (Genesis 3:17) These verbs –toil, pain and sadness have the same root. It can be taken to mean the emotion felt when a person's potential isn't met.

We know the mistakes that were made. First, there was the incident with the serpent. More significant than eating the forbidden fruit was the fact that we did not 'fess up. Then there’s the problem in the next generation that is even worse. One brother kills another. In one generation we go from discovering the beauty of giving life to the shocking awareness of taking life.

In fairness to Cain, how was he to know that his action would result in death? How was he to know how to channel his disappointment at God’s rejection more constructively? For this is what it all this comes down to – disappointment: Parents' disappointment with children, Cain's disappointment with God, God's disappointment with us.

With disappointment comes fear of rejection. As John Steinbeck wrote in East of Eden (p 270.) about Cain and Abel:

I think this is the best-known story in the world because it is everybody’s story. I think it is the symbol story of the human soul . . . The greatest terror a child can have is that he is not loved, and rejection is the hell he fears. I think everyone in the world, to a large or small extent, has felt rejection.

The lesson we are taught in parashat Breishit is how to overcome rejection, how to go on even when our best efforts are set aside as not good enough. We've all experienced this: in school, in the workplace, in relationships. How do we react when we offer the best we have to give and it is ignored? Cain lashed out with tragic consequences. A compassionate God taught him that he could have reacted differently:

Surely, if you do right,
There is uplift.
But if you do not do right
Sin couches at the door;
Its urge is toward you,
Yet you can be its master."

Genesis 4:7

Humanity had been on earth for but a short time, but the struggle with unattainable desire was an inherited one. Before being banished from the Garden of Eden, Eve is told that her desire will rule (yimshol) over her (Genesis 3:16). In the next generation Cain learns that you can be its master (timshol). (Genesis 4:7)

Cain struggles with rejection, with his actions and with their consequences. Ultimately, he masters these struggles: He accepts responsibility and repents. Midrash Genesis Rabbah teaches that Cain meets his father Adam, who asks him about the punishment he received for his sin.
"I repented and am reconciled," replied he. Thereupon Adam began beating his face, crying, "So great is the power of repentance, and I did not know!" (Genesis Rabbah 22:13, Soncino translation)

After his mistake Adam must struggle to bring forth food from the ground; Cain, after his transgression, does not have it easy either, but he perseveres. He marries and raises a family. Having accepted responsibility for his actions, he is no longer strictly concerned about himself and the impression he makes. Cain founds the first city and names it after his son, Enoch. His descendants develop music and metallurgy or, to put it more broadly, culture and technology.

The verb etsev, used in connection with the punishments of Adam and Eve, does not appear in connection with Cain; he eventually fulfills his potential. Alas, a few short generations after Cain accepts responsibility, God looks at the descendants of the first humans and the Divine heart was saddened. (Genesis 6:6) Apparently, the failure to fulfill our God-given potential is a human trait that recurs across the generations.

Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Michal Shekel

Parashat Ha'azinu, Deuteronomy 32:1 - 32:52, Shabbat Shuvah

There is a saying that "good things come in threes," and it is certainly possible to find many examples of this. Literature has given us The Three Musketeers, folktales are full of triads with events building up in three stages. We give three cheers for three strikes and "three cheers and one cheer more" for a triple play. Music has the Three Tenors and comedy the Three Amigos and the Three Stooges (The Marx Brothers are actually a foursome, originally a fivesome). Young drivers master the three-point turn, and how could we exist without three dimensions?

The Bible also gives us many things in threes: three patriarchs, a three days journey to Mount Moriah, three days of preparation for the revelation at Sinai. This week's triple whammy is a triumvirate of prophets: Hosea, Micah and Joel. Selections of their works make up this Shabbat's haftarah (prophetic reading), while the opening line from Hosea 14:2 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God gives this Shabbat its special name: Shabbat Shuvah, the Sabbath of Repentance (return). (Most Shabbatot are named after the Torah portion.) As with many prophetic works, their message is in poetic form.

Such is also the case with this week's parasha, Ha'azinu. In this next-to-last selection in the Torah, Moses recites a poem or perhaps sings a song, since this portion is also called Shirat Moshe, the Song of Moses. As befits our greatest prophet, the poem encompasses the future as well as the past.

The poem warns; it instructs; it gives hope. Israel's past history has amply demonstrated God's love and care, and these will not be found wanting in the future. Rebellion against divine law may put Israel in dire straits, but in the end God will be shown not to have forgotten the people once lovingly created.

The Torah: A Modern Commentary (revised edition),

W. Gunther Plaut (ed.), p.1398

Commenting on Deuteronomy 32:44, Moses…recited all the words of this poem in the hearing of the people, Elie Munk notes that Maimonides explained "all" to mean everything that would happen to Israel in the future. Wow! With insight like that, how could they not set forth on the straight and narrow?

Thus Ha'azinu is the perfect fit for Shabbat Shuva, the Sabbath that falls between Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur. Moses' words demonstrate what must be faced for true repentance to take place: a clear acceptance of past wrongdoings, an awareness that we may yet again stray and must therefore be on our guard, and the knowledge that a loving God is ever-faithful to us. These are the obvious lessons of Ha'azinu.

The power in this parasha is that there is a message beyond the words, an example that may be found in the actions of Moses, for reciting this poem is the very last act he carries out as our leader. At the end of this bravura performance, Moses, reminded of his transgression, must face his own music and prepare for death, his aim to lead his people into the Promised Land must remain unfulfilled.

That very day the Lord spoke to Moses: Ascend these heights of Abarim to Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab facing Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving the Israelites as their holding. You shall die on the mountain that you are about to ascend, and shall be gathered to your kin, as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his kin; for you both broke faith with Me among the Israelite people, at the waters of Meribath-kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, by failing to uphold My sanctity among the Israelite people. You may view the land from a distance, but you shall not enter it — the land that I am giving to the Israelite people.

Deuteronomy 32:48-52

First, a little question about Shabbat Shuva: Why do we need it? Having just observed Rosh HaShana, we are in the midst of the ten days of repentance before Yom Kippur. Portions of the daily liturgy change, the wording reminding us that God is our Sovereign. What is the purpose of that extra nudge on this Shabbat? Don't we get it?

It is human nature to procrastinate, especially when it comes to difficult things we don't want to face. Repentance isn't easy; asking forgiveness is not only humbling, but recalling our transgressions can be downright embarrassing, even shameful. More difficult than recalling our transgressions is forgiving others the hurt they caused us. Resentment keeps us chained to one place, unable to move forward to enter that Promised Land.

Along comes Moses, and in his last act before he dies, he instructs us is to move on. He himself is the embodiment of reconciliation, accepting his path in life. This is not the Moses we met in Exodus, reluctant to face Pharaoh. This is the man who faced Pharaoh, struggled with the people, and confronted God on our behalf. This is a man facing his last days on earth; and what is his lesson? Take to heart all the words with which I have warned you this day. Enjoin them upon your children, that they may observe faithfully all the terms of this Teaching. For this is not a trifling thing for you: it is your very life. (Deuteronomy 32:46-47) Faced with death, the difference between trifling thing and very life become clear.

Learn this difference and live it. This is the message. Why Shabbat Shuva? Because Yom Kippur reminds us of death and dying. The dead don't eat or drink; the dead wear white (shrouds). Yom Kippur mimics death and is meant to scare us into living a life of goodness. On Shabbat Shuva we are like Moses facing death. By Yom Kippur we should be able not only to discern the difference between trifling thing and very life, we should be able to act upon it. Unlike Moses, we are given that second chance to choose life and enter the Promised Land. Let's do it.

Personal note: This is the last parasha study I will be writing for Kolel. Writing these weekly studies in the past three years has provided me with much joy and spiritual fulfillment. I hope you have enjoyed reading them as much as I have enjoyed writing them. My thanks to Rabbi Elyse Goldstein for the opportunity to participate in this endeavour. Thanks to all of you for tolerating my somewhat irreverent approach to reverence. I have also appreciated the comments you have sent from around the world. There is a possibility that I will offer a study in the (distant) future either as a blog or through an email subscription. If you would like to be informed when/if this happens, please send your email address to weeklytorahstudy@gmail.com with the subject heading: subscribe. May we all continue to find spiritual fulfillment by studying and living Torah: For this is not a trifling thing for you: it is your very life.

Shabbat Shalom and G'mar Hatimah Tova,
Rabbi Michal Shekel