Certain Psukim/sentences in Torah have been my favourites for many years. They bring me comfort, like Charlie Brown said of Snoopy, in recognizing the aspirational goals of my people — even if they’re not often emphasized.
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Let me list three … the first, the third and then the one from Yesterday’s reading in Bo/Exodus:
The first is from Breishis/Genesis:
וַיִּשְׁמַ֣עאֱלֹהִים֮אֶת־ק֣וֹלהַנַּעַר֒וַיִּקְרָא֩מַלְאַ֨ךְאֱלֹהִ֤ים׀אֶל־הָגָר֙מִן־הַשָּׁמַ֔יִםוַיֹּ֥אמֶרלָ֖הּמַה־לָּ֣ךְהָגָ֑ראַל־תִּ֣ירְאִ֔יכִּֽי־שָׁמַ֧עאֱלֹהִ֛יםאֶל־ק֥וֹלהַנַּ֖עַרבַּאֲשֶׁ֥רהוּא־שָֽׁם׃
God heard the cry of the boy, and an angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the cry of the lad in that he is there.
In the story of Avraham’s attempt to kill Hagar and Yishmael by tossing them out into the Judaean Badlands with almost no supplies while putatively blaming Sara and her envy of Hagar and her claim that Yishmael was “fooling around” with Yitzchak, the textWriter adds three words (in the Hebrew): in that he is there.
I have been long moved by that ideal of seeing others as they are and, pointedly, not necessarily as I’d like them to be.
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The third sentences are from one of my favourite chapters in Torah, Leviticus 19, which claims to list those impulsions (Positive Mitzvos) and Prohibitions (Don’t-do-them Mitzvos) that make one Kadosh, just as God is Kadosh.
וּֽבְקֻצְרְכֶם֙אֶת־קְצִ֣יראַרְצְכֶ֔םלֹ֧אתְכַלֶּ֛הפְּאַ֥תשָׂדְךָ֖לִקְצֹ֑רוְלֶ֥קֶטקְצִֽירְךָ֖לֹ֥אתְלַקֵּֽט׃
When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap all the way to the edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest.
וְכַרְמְךָ֙לֹ֣אתְעוֹלֵ֔לוּפֶ֥רֶטכַּרְמְךָ֖לֹ֣אתְלַקֵּ֑טלֶֽעָנִ֤יוְלַגֵּר֙תַּעֲזֹ֣באֹתָ֔םאֲנִ֖ייְהוָ֥האֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃
You shall not pick your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I the LORD am your God.
לֹ֖אתִּגְנֹ֑בוּוְלֹא־תְכַחֲשׁ֥וּוְלֹֽא־תְשַׁקְּר֖וּאִ֥ישׁבַּעֲמִיתֽוֹ׃
You shall not steal; you shall not deal deceitfully or falsely with one another.
וְלֹֽא־תִשָּׁבְע֥וּבִשְׁמִ֖ילַשָּׁ֑קֶרוְחִלַּלְתָּ֛אֶת־שֵׁ֥םאֱלֹהֶ֖יךָאֲנִ֥ייְהוָֽה׃
You shall not swear falsely by My name, profaning the name of your God: I am the LORD.
לֹֽא־תַעֲשֹׁ֥קאֶת־רֵֽעֲךָ֖וְלֹ֣אתִגְזֹ֑ללֹֽא־תָלִ֞יןפְּעֻלַּ֥תשָׂכִ֛יראִתְּךָ֖עַד־בֹּֽקֶר׃
You shall not defraud your fellow. You shall not commit robbery. The wages of a laborer shall not remain with you until morning.
לֹא־תְקַלֵּ֣לחֵרֵ֔שׁוְלִפְנֵ֣יעִוֵּ֔רלֹ֥אתִתֵּ֖ןמִכְשֹׁ֑לוְיָרֵ֥אתָמֵּאֱלֹהֶ֖יךָאֲנִ֥ייְהוָֽה׃
You shall not insult the deaf, or place a stumbling block before the blind. You shall fear your God: I am the LORD.
לֹא־תַעֲשׂ֥וּעָ֙וֶל֙בַּמִּשְׁפָּ֔טלֹא־תִשָּׂ֣אפְנֵי־דָ֔לוְלֹ֥אתֶהְדַּ֖רפְּנֵ֣יגָד֑וֹלבְּצֶ֖דֶקתִּשְׁפֹּ֥טעֲמִיתֶֽךָ׃
You shall not render an unfair decision: do not favor the poor or show deference to the rich; judge your kinsman fairly.
לֹא־תֵלֵ֤ךְרָכִיל֙בְּעַמֶּ֔יךָלֹ֥אתַעֲמֹ֖דעַל־דַּ֣םרֵעֶ֑ךָאֲנִ֖ייְהוָֽה׃
Do not deal basely with your countrymen. Do not profit by the blood of your fellow: I am the LORD.
לֹֽא־תִשְׂנָ֥אאֶת־אָחִ֖יךָבִּלְבָבֶ֑ךָהוֹכֵ֤חַתּוֹכִ֙יחַ֙אֶת־עֲמִיתֶ֔ךָוְלֹא־תִשָּׂ֥אעָלָ֖יוחֵֽטְא׃
You shall not hate your kinsfolk in your heart. Reprove your kinsman but incur no guilt because of him.
לֹֽא־תִקֹּ֤םוְלֹֽא־תִטֹּר֙אֶת־בְּנֵ֣יעַמֶּ֔ךָוְאָֽהַבְתָּ֥לְרֵעֲךָ֖כָּמ֑וֹךָאֲנִ֖ייְהוָֽה׃
You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your countrymen. Love your fellow as yourself: I am the LORD
Now, while I don’t much hanker to the cursing of homosexuality in another one of these sentences from Lev. 19, so many of these ideals function for me as models for daily living activities.
Not needing to take it all but to share ….
not using the name or notion of God to harm others …
Being decent …
Not mistreating the handicapped …
Watching what you say but balancing that with speaking up-and-out …
not being controlled by hatefulness and revenge but seeing others as Subjects in Their Own Right, just like us.
Love Lev 19 and it’s very close to being the paginal center … a centerfold in the 5 books of Moses.
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But the third passage comes from the discussion of the paschal offering that Torah outlines right after the First Born Children were whacked in the Tenth Plague.
תּוֹרָ֣האַחַ֔תיִהְיֶ֖הלָֽאֶזְרָ֑חוְלַגֵּ֖רהַגָּ֥רבְּתוֹכְכֶֽם׃
There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who dwells among you.
There is, Torah says, at least in this example, but ONE LAW for TREATING OTHERS. We are tribal beasts, we members of Clan Anthropos, but we may embrace as an aspirational goal that there should be decency shown to all … perhaps, the same spirit that is included in the Bill of Rights and other forms of Universal Bills of Rights.
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In any case, I long felt warm whenever I’d read this sentence … and then, yesterday, a Recon Rabbi gave a Dvar Torah in our little Chavurah tying it to details of Israeli Citizenship and American Citizenship. It was a brilliant dvar torah, I thought, a two-thumb-drasha! but like Edgar Allan Poe felt about Science which he compares to ‘a vulture whose wings are dull reality’ … it “stole from me the Summer Dream beneath the Tamarind Tree.”
I have to learn, as the kids say, ‘to unsee that.’
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