Re'eh (Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17) and Haftarah (Isaiah 54:11-55:5): The JPS B'nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary

by Jeffrey K. Salkin

Overview

The JPS B’nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary shows teens in their own language how Torah addresses the issues in their world. The conversational tone is inviting and dignified, concise and substantial, direct and informative. The narrative summaries, “big” ideas, model divrei Torah, haftarot commentaries, and discussion questions will engage teens in studying the Torah and haftarot, in writing divrei Torah, and in continuing to learn Torah throughout their lives.

 
Re'eh includes:
 * General introduction 
 * Two model divrei Torah on the weekly Torah portion.
 * One model davar Torah on the weekly Haftarah portion.
  
 Jewish learning—for young people and adults—will never be the same. 
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780827617322
Publisher:	The Jewish Publication Society
Publication date:	12/01/2018
Series:	JPS Study Bible
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	24
File size:	1 MB

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

The Torah

Re'eh: Deuteronomy 11:26–16:17

Re'eh continues Moses's second farewell address to the Israelites. It begins by reminding them that they can choose blessing or curse: a blessing if they obey God's commandments, and a curse if they disobey. The parashah continues one of Deuteronomy's major themes — the prohibition of idolatry — and, for the first time, tells the Israelites that they will have to confine all their sacrificial offerings to one specific place. As Jewish history continues to unfold, the Israelites will understand this place to be Jerusalem.

The portion repeats the basic laws of kashrut, by describing which animals can be eaten and which are prohibited. The Israelites are warned not to follow false prophets, and are instructed to observe the three pilgrimage festivals: Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot. And it ends with social legislation: property must be shared with Levites, strangers, orphans, and widows.

Summary

• Moses tells the Israelites that they will always have the ability to decide for themselves between blessings and curses. When they enter the Land of Israel, the tribes will pronounce the blessings on Mount Gerizim and the curses on Mount Ebal, which are opposite each other. (11:26–3)

• He also tells them that when they enter the Land of Israel, they will no longer be permitted to offer sacrifices at just any convenient site. They will worship God only at the place where God chooses. (12:4–16)

• Moses expands the "menu options" for the Israelites. Even though they will have to bring their sacrificial offerings to one specific place, they will still be permitted to eat meat anywhere, as long as they do not eat the blood along with the meat. (12:20–28)

• There is a list of animals that are permitted and those that are forbidden. We find a similar list in Leviticus 11, but there are some significant additions in this version. Here, the list of permitted and forbidden animals comes after very specific prohibitions of idolatry. Further, while the Israelites are not allowed to eat anything that has died a natural death, the text specifies that such meat can be given to the stranger to eat. (14:4–21)

• Moses reviews how people are to share their harvest and treat the poor. The remission of debts and indentured servitude is discussed, against the backdrop that poverty will always be with us. The description of the three important festivals notes that everyone in society should be included in their observance. (14:22–16:17)

The Big Ideas

• The ability to make moral choices is one of Judaism's greatest gifts to the world. This is one of the most important differences between human beings and animals. Animals will always act based on instinct; people have the ability to think about the consequences of their options and their actions first. It is also one of the many differences between human beings and computers. Computers never choose to do anything; they only perform based on the information that people enter into them. The ability to choose the good is what has created the civilization we have today.

• Judaism believes that certain places are holy. While Judaism has always cared more about sacred times, like Shabbat and the festivals, it has hardly ignored the idea that places can be holy as well. Deuteronomy introduces this notion by stating that the Israelites will only be permitted to offer sacrifices at a specific place — which later will be the Temple in Jerusalem.

• Life is sacred. This is the main reason why Israelites were not permitted to eat the blood with their meat — because blood symbolizes life. This still forms the basis of kosher slaughtering. The animal must be slaughtered in a particularly humane way so as to minimize pain to the animal, and all blood must be drained from the meat before it can be declared kosher. Some would say that God would have preferred for human beings to be vegetarians, but God understood that this was a rather lofty goal. So, yes, we can eat meat, but it has restrictions attached to it.

• To be a Jew means to be different. In Deuteronomy, this seems to be the major reason why certain animals can be eaten and others are prohibited. Differentiating Jews from others was not part of the message the last time this list was presented (Leviticus 11). God is telling the Israelites that when they enter the Land of Israel they will have to learn to continue to exert their differences from the native Canaanites in every way — no worshiping idols, not even tolerating anyone who worships idols, and eating differently. That is still a major reason why many Jews observe the tradition of kashrut; it constantly reminds them of their Jewish identity.

Divrei Torah

It's Your Choice, So Choose Wisely!

If you have been paying attention for the last few years, you will have heard a phrase that gets thrown around a lot: "pro-choice." It means that a woman can choose her own health options, particularly whether she wants to bear and give birth to a baby.

So, here is what you need to know: Judaism is prochoice, in the broad sense of the term. Judaism is filled with the language of choice. God chose the Jewish people to do the mitzvot. The Hebrew word for "young person" is bachur or bachurah — one who can make choices — which is the whole meaning of bar and bat mitzvah: old enough to choose wisely.

That's what makes the opening words of our Torah portion so powerful. God sets before us blessing and curse. What does that mean? Here, "blessing" means material prosperity; if you follow the mitzvot, you (not "you" as an individual; "you" as the entire People of Israel) will have prosperity in the land. But if you don't follow the mitzvot, you get the curse — which means, frankly, disaster.

God is saying: "There are options in life. There are alternatives. You make the choice." God is like a parent who is dealing with a child who is maturing. "You can choose: do your homework and succeed in school, or don't and you won't be able to take advantage of all the learning that school offers you." God, like a wise parent, cannot force us to do anything, but God wants us to know the consequences of our actions.

That's what makes us human. Rabbi Harold Kushner writes: "The distinguishing characteristic of human beings, setting us apart from other animals, is our ability to choose the values by which we live. Other animals are driven by instinct. Human beings have the potential to control instinct." We train our pets to do certain things, and not to do certain things. When they obey us, it is not out of their free will; they have simply trained their instincts so that they earn a reward. "Good dog!" does not mean that the dog is morally good; it simply means that the dog has done what we have trained him or her to do.

It goes even further than that. In one sense, this whole notion of free choice explains why there is evil in the world. The great medieval sage Maimonides totally understood this. "All people have the freedom of choice — to either follow God's laws, or not to follow those laws. Only man, with his knowledge and thought, can distinguish good from evil and choose between the two, and no one can stay his hand from doing good or evil."

According to this view, there is evil in the world as a consequence of God giving us free will. We are free to choose to do good or evil. God hopes that we will choose the good, but God cannot force us to do so. God chooses to limit God's own interference with human nature. That is the wonder, and the peril, of free will.

Some say that God gives us our freedom, but when we abuse it God goes to a secret place and cries. Because of what we are doing to ourselves and to each other — and because God has freely chosen not to interfere.

It is a tough choice ... for God and for us. So the choice is ours, to choose, and to do so wisely.

This Must Be the Place!

"Why do I need to go to a synagogue? I can pray anywhere!" You might have heard people say that. The same people would never say: "I can play baseball anywhere!" (Because, actually, you can't; you need four bases and an outfield.)

This is one of the great themes of Deuteronomy: now that we are about to enter the Land of Israel, we need some rules, people! One God. No idols or false gods. (Deuteronomy goes ballistic on this issue: don't serve other gods; destroy the places where false gods were worshiped; don't even ask how the other groups of people served their gods!) No local prophets with false messages! And there can be only one place where you serve God. You can't make your offerings at your local "sacrifice places" anymore. No — God will choose a place where God's Name will dwell (which, in ancient times, actually meant where God would live).

That particular place for God winds up being the Temple in Jerusalem, even though the text doesn't say this. Many scholars believe that this "one holy place" order in Deuteronomy actually comes from a much later time, when King Josiah decided to get rid of local sacrificial altars and centralize everything in Jerusalem, and ordered the people to come to the Temple in Jerusalem on the three festivals — Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot. A midrash teaches: "The world is like a human eye. The white of the eye is like the ocean. The pupil is the Land of Israel. The opening of the pupil is like Jerusalem. The reflection in the eye is like the ancient Temple." That is how sacred Jerusalem has been to the Jewish people.

So, in later biblical times, there was only one place for sacrifice — the Temple in Jerusalem. And you had to make a pilgrimage there on the festivals three times a year. That was it? That was all you had to do to fulfill your religious duties? The pilgrimage was a big deal, but what about the rest of the year?

Contemporary scholar Jeffrey Tigay helps us with this question. "Deuteronomy must have expected that some other religious activities would take the place of sacrifice during the rest of the year. It is likely that prayer and study were expected to fill the gap."

After the Babylonians destroyed the First Temple in 587 BCE, the Jews needed another way of serving God. Perhaps that led to the invention of the synagogue — a place of gathering, study, and prayer. Perhaps the synagogue developed because not everyone could make the trip to Jerusalem, and they stayed home and prayed and studied.

Now, there is no longer one place where God has chosen for the Divine Name to dwell. There are many places. Certainly the synagogue is a very important one. An individual may pray and study almost anywhere, but a community needs a gathering place. That is why the synagogue is called Beit ha-Tefillah (the House of prayer), Beit ha-Midrash (the House of study), and Beit ha-Knesset (the House of gathering). And that is why the synagogue has been the center of Jewish life for two thousand years.

Connections

• What are some of the most important choices that you have made? Important choices that will affect your future? Your Jewish choices?

• Why has the Land of Israel been considered holy by Jews? What other places in your life are holy? How do you define "holy"?

• Do you believe that Jews should distinguish themselves through what they eat? How?

• Do you believe that it's OKAY to eat meat? In what ways does Judaism protect the dignity of animals?

CHAPTER 2

The Haftarah

Re'eh: Isaiah 54:11–55:5

(Reader note: this haftarah is the same as the haftarah for Parashat Noa?, in the book of Genesis.)

The Jews are now preparing themselves, spiritually, to return to the Land of Israel. Even still, they need assurances from God, for the people see themselves as a boat that is being tossed around in a terrible storm (54:11).

But the storm will someday end, and the "boat," which is the Jewish people, will come to a safe harbor. It will not only be a geographical homecoming, to the Land of Israel, but a spiritual one as well. It will require that Jews make a renewed commitment to being a people concerned with tzedakah — charity and acts of social justice.

While it seems that God had hidden the Divine Presence from the Jewish people, and had even sent them into exile in Babylon, in reality, God has never withdrawn love from them.

Are You Making Peace?

I bet you never thought that studying Torah and its varying perspectives leads to peacemaking. It's an amazing lesson — and it is one that Judaism has tried to teach the world.

Second Isaiah envisioned a time of restoration for the Jewish people, not only physically to the Land of Israel, but spiritually to a state of peace and happiness. We all have a role in bringing that about, but need to know how, which is one reason why Judaism puts such an emphasis on education.

Quick: why do you attend religious school? To learn about Judaism? To learn the history of the Jewish people? To learn Hebrew — or, at least, enough Hebrew for your bar or bat mitzvah ceremony? To be with friends? Because your parents say so?

Those are all decent answers. But here's one that maybe you've never considered: to learn how to think. Jewish education is great preparation for how to think like an adult. When many people discuss controversial subjects, they can get very worked up, not really listening to their opponents' views, and seeing them in the worst possible light.

But that is not how Judaism views the world. And we find proof of this in one verse of this week's haftarah: "And all your children shall be disciples of the Lord, and great shall be the happiness [shalom, which also means 'peace'] of your children" (54:13).

The study of Torah should lead to peace between Jews who are learning Judaism together. It is written in the Talmud, "Rabbi Eleazar said in the name of Rabbi Chanina: Those who study Torah help to build peace in the world. Do not read banayikh, 'your children,' but rather 'bonayikh,' 'your builders.' Those who learn and teach Torah are the builders of the world."

Builders — not destroyers through cruel and harsh language. The best way that you can build the world is through people learning together. That is why Judaism believes that we should study many different opinions.

Here is one example. Traditional medieval commentaries on the Hebrew Bible have a very interesting page layout. The Bible text is in the middle and commentary, or interpretations of the text, from across the centuries surround it. All those teachers "live together" on the same page, in shalom.

Or, look at the mezuzah on a door. It is slanted. Rashi, the great sage of twelfth-century France, said that the mezuzah should be vertical. His grandson, Rabbeinu Tam, said that it should be horizontal. A generation later, Rabbi Jacob ben Asher said that it should be a little of both; it should be slanted — as a way of keeping shalom.

That is why Rav Kook, the first chief rabbi of prestate Israel, said: "When Torah scholars broaden knowledge and provide new insights, they contribute to the increase of peace." All views, even those that seem contradictory, in fact help reveal knowledge and truth. For this reason, the early sage Rabbi Chanina emphasized that scholars are like builders. A building is erected from all sides, using a variety of materials and skills. So too, the whole truth is constructed from diverse views, opinions, and methods of analysis.

An important lesson — be a student; be a builder, be a peacemaker.

(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "The JPS B'nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary Re'eh (Deuteronomy 11:26–16:17) Haftarah (Isaiah 54:11–55:5)"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin.
Excerpted by permission of UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA PRESS.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Introduction,
What Is Torah?,
And What Else? The Haftarah,
Your Mission — To Teach Torah to the Congregation,
How Do I Write a Devar Torah?,
How To Keep It from Being Boring (and You from Being Bored),
The Very Last Thing You Need to Know at This Point,
The Torah: Re'eh: Deuteronomy 11:26–16:17,
Summary,
The Big Ideas,
Divrei Torah,
It's Your Choice, So Choose Wisely!,
This Must Be the Place!,
Connections,
The Haftarah: Re'eh: Isaiah 54:11–55:5,
Are You Making Peace?,