Filed under: Thoughts of the Week
This Shabbat, we read the start of the fifth book of Moses, known as Deuteronomy, with chapters in Devarim, Words, I-III, 22 and the first reading from Isaiah I, 1-27 as the haftorah. It was Shabbat Hazon (vision), the Shabbat before Tisha B’Av, the 9th day of the lunar month, a fast day that we say coincides with the destructions of the first and second temple and several other tragedies to the Jewish nation. The Torah portion accounts the words of Moses as he prepares the new generation of the children of Israel for their entry into the promised land. The haftorah includes Isaiah’s vision of the rebellion of the people against the Divine and the forgiveness and restoration promised if they return.
The promise of a brighter future out of the wilderness and away from the confusion of idol-worshiping if the people return is the theme of these readings. Moses tells the people that the Divine had spoken to them all in Horeb, a mountain associated with Mount Sinai, as the mountain of the Divine. Moses had seen the burning bush and spoke with the Divine for the first time there, when he was a shepherd tending the flocks of Jethro in Midian, seeking a lost lamb. The Divine said that they should turn from Horeb and go to the hill-country as they prepare to enter the land. The use of turn foretells a theme of the high holidays, of returning through reflection to a more life-enhancing state.
In the triennial cycle, we focused on the last third of the Torah reading. Unlike the attitude of the spies 40 years before, Moses reminds the people that the Divine will fight for them and had already conquered two nations. Moses commands Joshua to not have fear. These kingdoms – of Og and of Sihon – found to the west of the Jordan River in the steepe land and Golan Heights – were once a land of giants. These cities of giants were given to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh by the Divine. The men of these tribes were reminded of their promise that they would serve in the conquest of the rest of the promised land before they return to build their own lands.
In contrast of this optimism to not fear, the readings from Isaiah describe the desolation of the land when the people rebel against the Divine. To return to the Divine, the people must “cease to do evil, learn to do well, Seek justice, relieve the oppressed, Judge the fatherless, plead for the widow (Isaiah I, 16-17)… you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city. Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and they that return of her with righteousness” (I, 26-27).
It is comforting that there is a chance to return, to change one’s way. The emphasis on justice and righteousness in Isaiah contrasts with the troubling conquest of the land. Some say that the conquest of the promised land is a metaphor for the conquest of unhealthy habits and ways of living. The travels, the changes, in this last book of Moses retells the growth of a nation as it begins to reach its goal and the end of the journey. We all do travel, grow, change in these short lives we live. It is good that we have the opportunity to return, to amend our routes, without fear of the future. As we continue on our journeys, there is always room to change and to return to the right road, the just way.
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