Haftarah for Chayyei Sarah: What would be, was; what will be, who among us knows?

1 Kings 1: 1 - 31

The story told in this haftarah concerns the succession to the dying King David. He had promised Bathsheba that her son, Solomon, would succeed him, but Adonijah schemed to replace his father, even having himself proclaimed king while David still lived. Bathsheba, with the help of the prophet Nathan, roused David, who repeated his oath to Bathsheba.

In retrospect, everything seems inevitable. Solomon naturally followed David, the wise and reverent king succeeding the politically and militarily adept king. But as something is happening, it is by no means clear to those involved what the outcome will be. "Minerva's owl spreads its wings only at dusk," Hegel wrote, meaning you can't understand something until it is over.

God certainly knew who would and should replace David. Only Solomon could have built the Temple. Without what the Chinese call "the mandate of Heaven," it was not possible to rule ancient Israel. Adonijah never had a chance to be a legitimate successor (although there's no way he could have known that). Nor was he the last to plot for a throne. The breakdown of David's kingdom later on, as schemers fought each other, was one of the causes of the exile to Babylonia and the destruction of Solomon's Temple.

But it isn't always clear what God's will is, not then and especially not now. We can read the Bible, but, as I said, the past always looks inevitable. People who insist that they know who God wants to rule are at best misguided and at worst knaves. There are no more prophets, unfortunately. We're on our own. Lincoln prayed, not that God was on his side, but that he was on God's side. So may we all pray. But we can never be certain, so we should all be humble.

(Note: all citations from Eitz Chayim ("Tree of Life"), the official Chumash (printed version of the Torah) of the Conservative Movement (copyright 2001 by the Rabbinical Assembly; Hebrew text, based on Biblia Hebraica Stuttgarensia, copyright 1999 by The Jewish Publication Society; English translation copyright 1985, 1999 by The Jewish Publication Society).

(Except as otherwise specifically noted and referenced, all commentaries are mine.)

Chayyei Sarah: The life of a woman in the ancient middle east

Parshah for Saturday, Nov. 6:

Chayyei Sarah [Bereishit, Ch. 23, verse 1 - Ch. 25, verse 18

Ironically for a parshah called "The Lives of Sarah," it starts immediately with her death at the age of 120. Abraham buries her in Hebron, where he had once built an altar to God. This is one reason why many religious Jews in Israel are avid to hold on to Hebron, now in the West Bank and surrounded by Palestinians.

The rest of the parshah deals with Abraham finding a wife for his son Isaac. He sends a servant back to his homeland, who finds the beautiful and generous Rebecca. She is kindly and hospitable to the stranger, convincing the servant that she is the one for Isaac. The tribes of the middle east have historically made almost a cult of hospitality, and the Torah reflects this, not surprisingly. It is one of the highest virtues, much admired by whoever wrote the Torah.

Everyone in this story recognizes that this is truly a match made in Heaven. "Then Laban and Bethuel answered, 'The matter was decreed by the Lord; we cannot speak to you bad or good. Here is Rebekah before you; take her and go, and let her be a wife to your master's son, as the Lord has spoken." Clearly these are good men, even without partaking of the covenant, since they recognize the one God.

Women in the middle east were not permitted to live independently of men, either father, brother or husband. The best they could hope for was to find a kind, loving man as protector. We are told, "Isaac then brough her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he took Rebekah as his wife. Isaac loved her, and thus found comfort after his mother's death." Not a word about Rebecca's comfort (having left her entire family behind), but, as I said, if Isaac truly loved her and took care of her, she was better off than most women of her time and place.

The parshah ends with a lengthy list of Abraham's descendants. Not quite as numerous as the stars in the sky, but the old boy was certainly fruitful.

(Note: all citations from Eitz Chayim ("Tree of Life"), the official Chumash (printed version of the Torah) of the Conservative Movement (copyright 2001 by the Rabbinical Assembly; Hebrew text, based on Biblia Hebraica Stuttgarensia, copyright 1999 by The Jewish Publication Society; English translation copyright 1985, 1999 by The Jewish Publication Society).

(Except as otherwise specifically noted and referenced, all commentaries are mine.)

Haftarah for Va-Yera: We can all be someone's miracle

2 Kings 4: 1 - 37

Not every haftarah is potent with meaning or insight, not every one resonates with power, not every one is memorable. This is one of the more workaday haftarot, concerning a pair of miracles performed by the prophet Elisha. In the first, he provides a near endless supply of oil to an impoverished woman, which she sells to pay off a crushing debt. In the second, he rewards a woman for her generous hospitality to him by promising her a son and then by later bringing the son back to life.

There are two lessons in this reading. The first is that we should all emulate Elisha and help, as best we can, those who are living in poverty. We can't all perform miracles, but for the poor, practically any assistance borders on the miraculous. Once you fall into debt, it can seem all but impossible to get out. In addition, the woman fears her sons may be sold into slavery to satisfy her creditors. All Jews are specifically commanded to redeem Jewish slaves into freedom. Debt itself is a form of slavery, especially when accompanied by high interest payments. It is true that many people find themselves in debt through their own improvidence, but even stupidity should not be a life sentence. If we can help people to self-sufficiency, we are all but obligated to do so.

Second, not every generous, hospitable act will lead to a miracle. The second woman seems inclined to be hospitable to Elisha because he is a holy man. Perhaps she would not have been as generous to anyone else. Still, she does not appear to have an ulterior motive in mind; she asks for nothing. Elisha has to approach her to find out what he can do to thank her. Even then, she does not personally ask for a son; in fact, she does not even believe him.

You never know where a miracle may come from. You never know when an act of kindness will repay itself a thousandfold. Even if it doesn't, an act of kindness, an act of generosity, helping a person in need, is itself a miracle. We are not all prophets, we can't help a barren woman conceive, or bring a beloved child back from the dead, or fill countless vessels with oil. But we can all help others, we can all be that unexpected and blessed miracle for someone. What we get back will be even greater than what we give.

(Note: all citations from Eitz Chayim ("Tree of Life"), the official Chumash (printed version of the Torah) of the Conservative Movement (copyright 2001 by the Rabbinical Assembly; Hebrew text, based on Biblia Hebraica Stuttgarensia, copyright 1999 by The Jewish Publication Society; English translation copyright 1985, 1999 by The Jewish Publication Society).

(Except as otherwise specifically noted and referenced, all commentaries are mine.)

Va-Yera: Judge and Justice

Parshah for Shabbat, Saturday, Oct. 30, 2004:

Va-Yera [Bereishit, Ch. 18, verse 1 - Ch. 22, verse 24]

This parshah contains the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, a tale of iniquity and punishment. These sinful cities are irredeemable, despite Abraham's great efforts on their behalf. "Shall not the judge of all the earth deal justly?" he famously asks God. This is the great question that must be asked of all systems of law. The word judge is both noun and verb. We call senior judges Justices. We expect they will deal justly, but that expectation has its origins in this parshah.

It is clear that Abraham has had it with blind obedience. He learned his lesson on Mount Moriah. God deserves our faith, our thankfulness, our worship - but that's it. When God asks us to do something that violates our conscience, we can say no. We can resist, we can make demands of our own. God is God, but even God is not above the law. For the sake of even one righteous person, the wicked should not be destroyed.

One can argue from that, that an innocent man should never be punished, even at the risk of letting the guilty go free. That is the ultimate in justice. Given that at least 100 Americans on death row have been freed when it turned out they had been wrongly convicted, we should think long and hard about the immorality of capital punishment. We have almost certainly executed an innocent man - there is no greater violation of God's justice.

If God himself must be just, then none of us has an excuse to do otherwise. It is incumbent upon all of humanity to establish a system of justice. We still have a long way to go to fulfill that Noachide commandment.

This parshah also contains the unpleasant tale of Lot and his daughters. Lot, who resides in Sodom, has taken two angels into his house. The evil men of Sodom demand that he send them out to them to be raped. Rather than dishonor his guests, Lot offers the rowdy townspeople his two virgin daughters. The angels don't let this happen, but the fact that Lot made the offer cannot but disquiet any modern reader. The fact that the Torah is silent about Lot's offer is even more disquieting.

But there is a lot in the Torah that is disquieting. We will deal with this in future weeks. Anyone who attempts to read the Torah as a coherent, unified, consistent whole has to do a lot of intellectual juggling and rationalizing. The Orthodox insist that every word, every letter in the Torah is identical to what they believe God dictated to Moses on Mount Sinai. Even Conservatives sing "Vzot ha-Torah" - this is the Torah - "asher sam Moshe lifnei b'nai Yisroel al pi Hashem b'yad Moshe" - that Moses displayed to the children of Israel from the mouth of God by the hand of Moses. Except, we don't really teach that. We teach that the Torah was compiled, possibly by Ezra the Scribe in the fifth century B.C.E., from a lot of extant holy texts.

That's for later discussion. What's important is that there is no explanation given for Lot's treatment of his daughters. Perhaps he recognized his guests as angels, or for some other reason had faith that God would not let him sacrifice his children. But none of that is in the bare text. Lot simply says, take my daughters but leave my guests alone. That's carrying hospitality to an extreme. A lot of ancient middle eastern cultures did indeed demand that a man protect those he had given refuge to, no matter the cost. But sacrifice your virgin daughters? And the Torah doesn't condemn this? What was God thinking?

(Note: all citations from Eitz Chayim ("Tree of Life"), the official Chumash (printed version of the Torah) of the Conservative Movement (copyright 2001 by the Rabbinical Assembly; Hebrew text, based on Biblia Hebraica Stuttgarensia, copyright 1999 by The Jewish Publication Society; English translation copyright 1985, 1999 by The Jewish Publication Society).

(Except as otherwise specifically noted and referenced, all commentaries are mine.)