Radical Torah

The other day I found myself reading a lovely internet article by Michael Medved entitled “Why the World Hates the Jews.” (No, I won’t provide the link for you here, but I’m sure you can find it if you’d like to read it yourself.) When I finished I ended up asking myself, is this really what it all comes to? Is this really what it means to be Jewish? At the end of the day, is it all really just about “Us vs. Them?”

I found myself pondering the same question as I read this week’s Torah portion, Parashat Yitro, (more…)

This week’s Torah portion, Yitro, invites us to join our ancestors in preparation, purification, and encounter. We’re invited to follow Moses toward the place where God will descend into creation — to follow Moses inward, into the Sinai of our hearts — and to cluster together as a community at the base of the mountain, to hear the unfolding of revelation.

At this moment in our story, the Israelites have just been freed from slavery. They are probably feeling overwhelmed, and maybe scared, and almost certainly fragile. And this is when God speaks to them — not when they’re well-rested, settled in a new place, or prepared for a new chapter in their lives.

I can relate to that. I imagine most of us can. Maybe you’ve left a difficult job, or made a challenging transition. Maybe you’re out of the hospital and the longed-for world seems too bright, your nerves too raw. Maybe you don’t know why you’re at the base of this mountain, but you are, and now there’s a Voice speaking directly to your core in a way that makes you tremble, a way you know you’ll never forget. We’re all in this together, but what each of us hears comes through her or his ears alone.

Here’s some of what I hear.

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At Sinai, when the Holy One gave the Torah to Israel, God manifested marvels upon marvels with God’s voice. How so? When the Holy One spoke, the voice reverberated throughout the world. At first, Israel heard the voice coming to them from the south, so they ran to the south to meet the voice there. It shifted to the north, so they ran to the north. Then it shifted to the east, so they ran to the east; but then it shifted to the west, so they ran west. Next it shifted to heaven. But when they raised their eyes towards heaven, it seemed to rise out of the earth. Hence Israel asked one another, “But wisdom, where shall it be found? And what is the place of understanding?” (Job 28:12)

“And the people perceived the thunderings” (Ex 20:15). Since there was only one voice, why “thunderings” in the plural? Because God’s voice mutated into seven voices, and the seven voices into seventy languages, so that all the nations might hear it. (Exodous Rabba 5:9)

It’s a funny, kind of pathetic image, picturing the Israelites scuttling around like they’re the butt of some Divine prank. Except for the fact that their desperation is evident, and it’s pretty clear that this anxiety is serious business.

The running around, the frantic freneticism of the Israelites in this story reminds me a lot of how we live in America lately.

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Much energy and imagination have been devoted to the question of why the aseret dibrot, the utterances given at Sinai, are followed by the instruction to make altars out of earth or whole stone, not stone which has been cut.

In his commentary on the phrase “an altar of earth,” Rashi writes, “the altar must be attached to the ground; it should not be built on columns or some other foundation.” In other words, the altar — our mode of communication with God, according to the understanding of that time — must be rooted in the earth. God is commanding us to “ground” ourselves. And on the matter of uncut stones, the usual explanation is that metal implements suggest or imply swords, which shorten or curtail life — an action in direct opposition to the enlivening altar. (Well, enlivening for us; not so much for the animals being sacrificed. But we’ll let that go.)

The real point of Exodus 20:22 is how to approach and connect with God. And there’s much to learn here, even (or especially) in this post-sacrificial age.

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