Sos Asis – Hebrew for “rejoice greatly,” is the first phrase of this week’s haftarah and the title of the whole portion. We have endured, we have survived, we have overcome because of him, and now we are wrapped in his righteousness.
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Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going with my life? Is God with me or against me? I remember all too well the years when those pressing questions had no answer. And then the library workers at my university went on strike.
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As we approach the midpoint of the Hebrew month of Elul, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur draw near, ushering in the Days of Awe. In about a month from now, as the sun sets, the reverberating melody and contemplative words of Kol Nidre will resonate through synagogues worldwide.
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On October 27, 2018, Robert Bowers entered the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh shouting “All Jews must die!” He then proceeded to open fire. After the chaos had settled, eleven people had been murdered and six more critically wounded. It is the most violent antisemitic attack ever perpetrated on American soil.
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Our parasha begins with Moses speaking to the people of Israel in the plains across the Jordan river, offering us what is clearly a choice. Note the opening word, Re’eh, “See.” We are not to offhandedly choose one way or another by default, but are to really see this choice, to deeply encounter it . . . even if we may not have previously recognized it as a choice.
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Remembering and not forgetting is a major issue in life as it is in this week’s parasha. In our very first verses we read. “Because you are listening to these rules, keeping and obeying them, Adonai your God will keep with you the covenant and mercy that he swore to your ancestors.”
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God wanted Moses to face the future. We might extrapolate that he expects us to face the future too. Our parasha teaches that facing the future requires two things: Remembering the past, and Listening to, obeying, our God.
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Words are essential building blocks for all communication. They can be used for good as well as not-so-good. I believe it is fair to say that words, or d’varim in Hebrew, are necessary to communicating and perhaps even to survival.
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One of the more common critiques leveled against the Bible is that it does not fairly adjudicate in the battle of the sexes. When we remove the lens of 21st century modernity, however, we can see in this week’s reading several key Jewish principles that govern familial and authoritative relationships.
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Seven things distinguish a fool and seven things distinguish a wise person. . . . If there is something the wise person has not heard, the wise person says, “I have never heard.” The wise person acknowledges what is true. The opposite of all these qualities is found in a fool. (Pirke Avot 5:9)
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