War & Forgiveness | The Derusha Update

The Derusha Update

From around the world of books and blogs - 

Thoughts on the weekly Torah portion and more / 

Enjoy!

This Week's Portion:

 "When You Go Out To War..."

  [ Deut 21:10-25:19 ]

read on Sat Aug 21, Shabbath Elul 11

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The children of Israel are still camped across the Jordan River, on the plains of Moab just outside the promised land. This week's portion opens with Moses nearing the end of the first section of his farewell address to the assembled people. Moses repeats the laws of Israel which aim at instilling the "good faith" in which the different social relationships (familial, economic, and legal) between members of Israelite society must be maintained.

This week's concluding reading from Isaiah records God's emphatic promises of reunion with the people of Israel, God's beloved "wife," and God's exuberant instructions to prepare for a future restoration and expansion.

Looking for something good to read?

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE by Marino

"Murderers dressed in sunday's best commit thought-crimes inspired by divine bureaucrats while obscure patterns radiate from an overdose on reality. I try to mean it when I smile." 

WE ARE ALL GOD'S CHILDREN by Joseph Haddad 

"Though we may have different languages, cultures, beliefs, and faiths, human beings remain fundamentally related to each other, members of an extended family." 

THE NAKED CROWD by Jose Faur 

"Hence, the Tora or Law of Israel involves both spiritual enlightenment and political freedom: one without the other strips Judaism from its significance." 

GOY by Ranjit Chatterjee 

"I am not a poet, much as I admire poets, like Milton who absolutely baffles me with his prodigious blind creativity and puritan sensuality, or Walt Whitman with his unabashed American confidence and grandeur that in a sane man would be called lunatic. Ah, sanity." 

THE MISHNE TORAH ed. Yohai Makbili, et al 

"The first of the positive precepts is to know that there exists a God, as it is written 'I am the LORD, your God' (Exodus 20,2; Deuteronomy 5,6)."

Questions and Commentary

"If you no longer desire [the woman you captured], you must release her; you may not sell her for money or treat her harshly, for you have violated her." [ 21:14 ]

Her captor is told by the Torah, "you have violated her." That in itself was no doubt news to men's ears. "What do you mean I violated her? I just did what any red-blooded male would do," one can just hear these men protest. The root of "violated" isanat, which is the name of the vengeful Canaanite goddess raped by her father and her brother. It is the same verb used to describe the rape of Dinah (Gen. 34:2) and the Egyptian oppression of the Jews (Ex. 1:11-12, 3:7). Judith Antonelli

"You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together." 

[ 22:10 ]

...the Torah forbids us to plow a field with an ox and donkey together. Can you think of any logic behind this law? Menachem Leibtag

"You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother; you shall not abhor an Egyptian, for you were a stranger in his land." [ 23:8 ]

...Let us try to extract some relevant principles from among the Mosaic imperatives regarding certain peoples who were unfriendly to Israel....The descendants of Esau had inherited the hostility of their ancestor toward Jacob with such intensity that the king of Edom refused the Hebrews simple passage through his country. Nevertheless, Moses instructed his people not to hate the Edomites, for they are our brethren. And in order to make clear that this injunction is not due to the kinship between Esau and Jacob, he amplifies it in the same verse: "You shall not abhor an Egyptian, for you were a stranger in his land" (Dt 23:8). Why is this said? Could it be claimed that Egypt lavished a benevolence upon Israel beyond what she received from other peoples? To the contrary, indeed, the Jews were so ill treated there that they had all the more reason to be grateful to the other nations. If the text, then, invokes the memory of Egyptian hospitality, it must be an acknowledgement that the generous reception which Israel was initially granted in that country ought to be more remembered than the severe suffering which came later. Elijah Benamozegh

"Since God, your Authority, walks in the midst of your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you, let your camp be holy; let [God] not find anything unseemly among you and turn away from you." [ 23:15 ]

These words caution us about the types of destructiveness which are known among soldiers when they are away from their homes a long time. God therefore instructed us about actions which bring upon consideration the resting of the Divine Presence among us, so that we will be saved from those [destructive] actions....In order that it will be rooted within everyone that the camp is like the sanctuary of God, and is not like the camps of the nations - in regards to destructiveness and negligence, interpersonal injury and the taking of wealth, and nothing more - rather our goal is the rectification of human beings towards God's service and the regularity of their circumstance. Moses Maimonides

"God called you, like a brokenhearted and abandoned wife - a young wife that was rejected, declared your Authority; for a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great compassion I gather you back. " [ Isaiah 54:6-7 ]

For us, the scenario of the rejected woman reconciling with her husband may resonate all too well with the familiar domestic reality of battered wives rejoicing in a reunion with their abusers. Such an association strips the prophecy of all redemptive promise. In order for the metaphor to hold its power, its readers must go along with the unspoken assumption of the prophet/poet, which is that, in this scenario, the man is completely righteous in his anger toward his woman; that she has, in fact, betrayed him...This metaphor reflects the way the Israelites viewed themselves in relation to God. It was their sin that caused their exile. Israel, though powerless and exiled, sees itself as the one whose actions drive the situation...Forgiveness and liberation comprise the ultimate theme of this haftarah. God's love endures beyond all physical existence. The expression of such love through a sexist metaphor is simply an affirmation that complete redemption is imaginable, describable, if even from a limited perspective. For us, it is comforting to know that we don't have to be able to perfectly envision the fully redeemed world in order to believe that it is possible.Vivian Mayer

News and Views

Who's Selfish Now? 

[ economics @ YUTOPIA ]

Tony Judt 

[ eulogy @ A Perpetual Pilgrim ]

Desert crossroads 

[ follow-up @ Lazer Beams ]

The Treifa Big City 

[ review @ Hirhurim-Musings ]

New translation of Isaiah for Yom Kippur 

[ haftarah @ Velveteen Rabbi ]

Kosher Veganarchy in the UK! 

[ progress @ The Jew and the Carrot ]

Kosher Food but non-Kosher Behavior 

[ opinion @ Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals ]

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Judith Antonelli on Shemitta - "The Land's Sabbath"

In her masterpiece, In the Image of God: A Feminist Commentary on the Torah, Judith Antonelli provides an historical and cultural context for the Biblical narratives and laws, sourced in the Rabbinic textual tradition, with a pervasive concern for humanism and ecology. Declaring "Mother Nature" to be the theme of the Tora portions of Behar and Behuqothai, Antonelli describes the relationship between the seven-year cycle of land use and rest, and the seven-day cycle of human activity and rest:

When you come to the Land that I am giving you, the Land must rest in a Sabbath to Hashem. Six years you will plant your field, and six years you will prune your vineyard and gather her crops. In the seventh year there will be a Shabbat Shabbaton for the Land, a Sabbath of Hashem. (Lev. 25:2-4)

I will command My blessing to you in the sixth year, and the Land will produce crops for three years. You will plant in the eighth year but will eat from the old crops until the ninth year. (Lev. 25:21-22)

Every seventh year the Land had to have a Sabbath, just as every seventh day the Jews had to have a Sabbath. Furthermore, enough food would be produced in the sixth year to last until the ninth year, just as the double portion of manna given in the wilderness on the sixth day lasted through the Sabbath.

Just as refraining from working at our jobs on the Sabbath requires faith that God will provide enough income for us, so too the observance of Shmitah requires faith that God will provide enough food. On a purely physical level, Shmitah allows the land to regenerate itself by lying fallow for a year; on a spiritual level, Shmitah affirms that the land belongs to God and may not be subjected to unlimited human exploitation. Similarly, the Sabbath allows us to regenerate ourselves by "lying fallow" for a day, and affirms that our creative endeavors also ultimately belong to God.

That the Jews found it difficult to have such faith is indicated in Leviticus 26:34-35. Because Shmitah was not observed, the Jews were exiled. Only through desolation was the Land of Israel given the rest it needed. The seventy years off Babylonian exile are said to correspond to the seventy Sabbatical Years that the Jews neglected to observe (Rashi). The term "Shabbat Shabbaton," which is also used to describe Yom Kippur (Lev. 16:31; 23:32), implies a relationship between Shmitah and atonement.

Derusha Update: "Who Was Sara?"

The Derusha Update 2.04

"WHO WAS SARA?"

14 November 2009

Hayyei Sara

27 Heshwan 5770

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"Every book shares with its readers a glimpse at what once was, what now is, and what - eventually - could be."

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Below are selected clippings from various sources that have been hand-picked to add some spice to your Shabbath reading. We hope you find these selections interesting and informative. Remember, there's always more to learn and another page to turn!

=== A Woman Of Valor (Midrash)

=== She Had Her own Unique Relationship With God (Goldman)

=== A Radical Socio-Religious Visionary (Antonelli)

=== She Stood By Her Husband (Ibn Kathir)

=== She Passed On In Ecstasy (Midrash)

=== This Week In The Derusha Notebook (Blog)

=== Looking For Something Good To Read? (Derusha)

=== Upcoming Derusha Events (Calendar)

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A Woman Of Valor

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Twenty-two biblical women are worthy of the term "woman of valor" [Mishlei 31:10]. Among them, Sara was the greatest, and therefore she is the only woman whose age is given in Scripture.

[From "Midrash Mishlei" 31]

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She Had Her Own Unique Relationship With God

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The Maharal of Prague (16th century Jewish philosopher) formulates an astounding question on the use of Sarah’s name in these two passages. He asks if it would not have made more sense for the name Yiscah, which implies prophecy, to have been used in the above passage rather than in the list of genealogies. Wouldn’t this have made more sense both in terms of giving a clearer understanding to the first sentence and also strengthening the prophetic stance of this sentence?

The Maharal resolves this issue with an amazing insight into the character of Sarah and the significance of her names. The Torah is actually giving us a very important message about our spiritual ancestors in choosing these names. By using the name Yiscah so early on in the genealogies while referring to her as the daughter of Haran - unrelated to her role as wife to Abraham - the Torah is telling us that Sarah had her own unique relationship with G-d independent of Abraham’s connection to the Almighty. She was a prophetess in her own right while still known simply as the daughter of Haran, before she was the wife of Abraham! Abraham (which means "father of a great nation") and Yiscah/Sarah ("Prophetic Princess") were two individual seekers of G-d in a world of idolaters. They met as equal spiritual powers who united in such a way as to cause a spiritual monotheistic revolution felt throughout the entire world and reaching countless generations of humankind.

[From "A Rose By Any Other Name" by Stacey Goldman on Chabad.org]

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A Radical Socio-Religious Visionary

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A symbolic reenactment of the incest between Baal and Asherah formed an essential part of Canaanite fertility rites. This is why the Hebrew Bible has such repugnance for it and commands the Jews to eliminate "the Baal and the Asherah" from their midst. Instead of applauding this, feminists have criticized it as "patriarchal."

In Egyptian mythology, creation of the universe was accomplished through an act of masturbation by the sun god Atum. When Isis' brother and husband Osiris was killed and dismembered, she recovered all his body parts except his penis; she therefore made an artificial one for him, which became a focus of Egyptian worship. At Osiris' bull festival, women carried a genitally explicit replica of him that they set in motion by means of strings.

In Babylonian mythology (the Enuma Elish), creation is described as occurring through the murder and dismemberment of the goddess Tiamat by the god Marduk...

In spite of "linguistic maleness," the God of the Hebrew Bible does not have a phallus, commit rape and incest, or create the universe through masturbation or the murder and mutilation of a female! Abraham and Sarah's radical vision of one genderless God must have been a welcome relief from these pagan gods made in the image of abusive men.

[From "Beyond Nostalgia: Rethinking the Goddess" by Judith S. Antonelli, in "On The Issues Magazine"]

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She Stood By Her Husband

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Sarah was the only woman of Ibrahim's people to believe in Allah. She afterwards became his wife. She stood by her husband all the time when calling his people to Allah. When Ibrahim realized that no other than his wife and his nephew, Lut, was going to believe in his call, he decided to immigrate to a city caller Ur and another called Haran and then departed for [Kana'an] with them. After [Kana'an], Ibrahim (peace be upon him) arrived in Egypt.

Abu Hurairah narrated that Ibrahim did not tell a lie except on three occasions: twice for the sake of Allah (Exalted and Almighty)...The third was while Ibrahim and Sarah were on a journey. They passed through the territory of a tyrant. Someone said to the tyrant: "This man Ibrahim is

accompanied by a very charming lady." So, he sent for Ibrahim and asked him about Sarah saying "Who is this lady?" Ibrahim said: "She is my sister." Ibrahim went to Sarah and said "Oh Sarah! There are no believers on the surface of the earth except you and me. This man asked me about you and I have told him that you are my sister. Do not contradict my statement. The tyrant then called Sarah, and when she went to him, he tried to take a hold of her with his hand, with evil intentions, but his hand got stiff and he was confounded. He asked Sarah: "Pray to Allah for me and I shall not harm you." So Sarah asked Allah to cure him and he was cured. He tried to take hold of her for the second time, but his hand got as stiff as or stiffer than before and he was more confounded. He again requested Sarah: "Pray to Allah for me, and I will not harm you." Sarah asked Allah to again, and he became all right. He then called one of his guards who had brought her and said: "You have not brought me a human being but have brought me a devil."

The tyrant then gave Hajar as a maid servant to Sarah. Ibrahim, gesturing with his hand, asked: "What has happened?" Sarah replied: "Allah spoiled the evil plot of the ingrate and gave me Hajar for service."

[Adapted from "Stories of the Prophets" by Al-Imam Ibn Kathir]

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She Passed On In Ecstasy

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Satan went to Sara and appeared to her in the figure of an old man, very humble and meek, while Avraham was still engaged in the burnt offering before his Lord. He said to her, "Don't you know all that Abraham has done with your only son this very day? For he took Yitshaq, built an altar, and killed him, and brought him up as a sacrifice upon the altar; and Yitshaq cried and wept before his father but he did not look at him and nor did he have compassion on him."

Satan repeated these words and went away from her, and Sara heard all the words of Satan; she imagined him to be an old man, from amongst the sons of men, who had been with her son and had come and told her these things. Sara lifted up her voice and wept and cried out bitterly, on account of her son; she threw herself upon the ground and cast dust upon her head. She said, "Oh my son, Yitshaq my son, oh that I had died this very day instead of you." She continued to weep and said, "It grieves me for you; oh my son, my son Yitshaq, oh that I had died this day in your stead." She still continued to weep, and said, "It grieves me for you, after I have reared you and have brought you up; now my joy is turned into mourning over you, I who had a longing for you, and cried and prayed to God until I bore you at ninety years old - and now you have served this very day with the knife and the fire, to be made an offering. But I console myself with you, my son, in its being the word of my Lord, for you fulfilled the instruction of your God; for who can transgress the word of our God, in whose hands is the soul of every living creature? You are just, my Lord, our God, for all your acts are good and righteous; for I am also made joyful with your word, which you instructed, and while my eye weeps bitterly my heart rejoices." Sara laid her head upon the chest of one of her handmaids and she became as still as stone.

She afterward arose and went about making inquiries, until she came to Hevron; and she inquired of all whom she met while walking on the road - and no one could tell her what had happened to her son. She came with her maid servants and men servants to Qiryath-Arba', which is Hevron, and she asked about her son; and she remained there while she sent some of her servants to seek where Avraham had gone with Yitshaq. They went to seek him in the house of Shem and 'Ever, and they could not find him; they sought throughout the land and he was not there.

And behold! Satan came to Sara [again] in the shape of an old man, and came and stood before her and he said to her, "I spoke falsely to you, for Avraham did not kill his son, and he is not dead." When she heard the thing, her joy was so exceedingly ecstatic on account of her son that her soul left through joy; she died and was gathered to her people.

When Avraham had finished his service, he returned with his son, Yitshaq, to his young men and they rose up and went together to Be'er-shev'a, and they came home. Avraham sought for Sara and could not find her; he made inquiries about her and they said to him, "She went as far as Hevron to seek you both, where you had gone, for such-and-such was she told."

Avraham and Yitshaq went to her, to Hevron, and when they discovered that she was dead, they lifted up their voices and wept bitterly over her. Yitshaq fell upon his mother's face and wept over her, and he said, "Oh, my mother, my mother, how have you left me, and where have you gone? Oh how, how you have left me!"

Avraham and Yitshaq wept greatly, and all their servants wept with them on account of Sara, and they mourned over her a great and heavy mourning.

[From "The Book of Yashar" 23:76-90]

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This Week In The Derusha Notebook

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• "American Wisdom: Preface on a Sunday Morning" [11/8]
• "Spirituality in Business: The Successful Businessperson" [11/9]
• "The Success and Failure of Ayn Rand: The Popular Appeal of Her Literature and Philosophy" [11/10]
• "Caring for Israel: Micha Kurz on Soldiers and Silence in Israel" [11/11]

[Read the latest posts @ "The Derusha Notebook" today!]

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Looking For Something Good To Read?

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"What Is the Meaning of Life" by Marino [ISBN 978-1-935104-00-1]

Evocative of the Beat generation's cry for the victims of an empty and self-destructive culture, the pages of this book deliver the next generation's answer to that howl. Combining breathtaking and provocative poetry with a piercing social commentary penned by a prodigal teenage artist, this book is a must-read for all who are troubled by the slow decay of American society. Features the acclaimed "Allen Ginsberg, Are You Lonely? / Where Have You Gone, Friedrich Nietzsche?"

[Derusha's books and authors are changing our world]

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Upcoming Derusha Events

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Sunday, November 29 - Teaneck Holiday Boutique

(4:00 pm to 8:00 pm)

@ The Richard Rodda Community Center

(250 Colonial Court / Teaneck, NJ 07666)

[Entrance to parking lot is from Palisade Avenue, adjacent to Votee Park]

Come join our first annual inter-cultural Teaneck Holiday Boutique for a unique collection of beautiful (and affordable!) gifts for loved ones. Featuring artwork by Tintawi Charaka, Natalia Kadish, David Masters, and Ettie Sadek. Books published by Derusha Publishing will be available for purchase.

Sunday, December 13 - "Goy" Launch Party

(7:00 pm to 9:00 pm)

@ The 92 Street Y

(1395 Lexington Avenue / New York, NY 10128)

[Directions available at http://www.92y.org/content/directions.asp]

Celebrate the publishing of Ranjit Chatterjee's spellbinding spiritual autobiography "Goy" with us on Sunday, December 13, at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. Author to speak, followed by a "question and answer" session and book signings. Refreshments will be served throughout.

Hope to see you there!

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Have a question? Contact us!

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As always, we are eager to hear from you. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions, comments, or suggestions.

Regards and best wishes for a meaningful week,

Gil Amminadav

gil.a@derushapublishing.com

Elana Amminadav

elana.a@derushapublishing.com

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About Derusha Publishing LLC

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Derusha Publishing is a dynamic and versatile company that prints poetry and philosophy, history books and prayerbooks, translations of traditional texts and post-modern commentaries on our common culture.

Derusha Publishing is working with readers everywhere to make the world a better place, one word at a time. Publishing is more than just our business - it's our vision.

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Thank you and Shabbath Shalom!