Ki Teitzei

Deuteronomy 21:10–25:19

Ownership of Property, Returning Lost Property

Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

This week's parashah, Ki Tetzey, contains the greatest number of mitzvot/ commandments of any Torah portion. The 72 mitzvot found in the parashah focus on everything from the treatment of captives, defiant children, lost animals and the poor through laws of inheritance, weights and fair weights and measures. This amalgam of mitzvot may seem random at times, and yet there is a guiding principle that reminds us not to be indifferent to other people and the world around us.

One of the mitzvot found in the parashah concerns the obligation that we have to return lost property, no matter what it may be or how long ago we may have discovered it. In reading the commentaries on Ki Tetzey I came across many stories from throughout Jewish history dealing with this specific mitzvah.

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Shoftim

Deuteronomy 16:18–21:9

Rabbi Lewis Eron for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Melech Ha-Olam, Sovereign of All

Each time we pronounce a blessing, we are making a political statement. Within the introduction to every blessing are the words which declare that our Eternal God is melech ha-olam, Sovereign of the Universe. Every time we express our gratitude for the opportunities and experiences life offers us, we also affirm our loyalty to God as our sovereign and acknowledge our citizenship in the Divine One's dominion. In Hebrew this is called kabbalat ol malchut shamayim, accepting the yoke of the kingdom of heaven.

This basic Jewish concept appears as one of the central themes of our worship. Our tradition sees the recitation of the Shema as a way to witness our acceptance of God's rule over our lives. When we bring our worship to a conclusion with the Aleinu prayer, we thank God for our unique destiny and bow before God's sovereign power. We finish the prayer with the hope that all nations will join together acknowledging God as the Ruler of All. Earthly dominion will pass away and we all will recognize that we are God's subjects.

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Re'eh - Rosh Chodesh 1

Deuteronomy 11:26–16:17

Rabbi Eric Mendelsohn for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

"Be Happy!"

"Remember the month of Aviv and keep the Passover ...". In Parshat Re'eh we are given a description of the three major pilgrim festivals, Pesah, Shavuot, and Sukkot. These are the Chagim. Chag is a correlative of the word Haj. Just as Haj to Mecca is a requirement for the Moslem (if one can afford it) so is the Chag to Jerusalem if one is a Jew.

The grandchildren of the great medieval Jewish commentator Rashi, building on his commentary, note that the word "Simcha" which like "V'ahavta" is an imperative - "Be happy !" occurs three times in the description of Sukkot (and with the extra command "Ach Sameach" - "Also be happy", it is almost like a parents' reminder -- "Have a good time and by the way, have a good time.") On the other hand - "Simcha" is mentioned only once for Shavuot, and not at all with regard to Pesah.

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Eikev

Deuteronomy 7:12–11:25

Rabbi Lewis Eron for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

"If I were a rich man..."

How often have we expressed this wish? As successful as we may be, there always seems to be something more that we want. For most of us, those who need to work hard to pay the rent or mortgage, save for retirement, and need to pay college tuition, even the promise of a few more dollars is welcome. We fight for a raise, watch the stock market go up or down, and buy a lottery ticket or two. We dream about what a little extra money could do. It really would be nice to be rich, or as my great-grandmother said, "Rich or poor, it's good to have money."

But on the whole, we are doing ok. Although there are still far too many Jewish people caught in poverty, in general Jews today in the United States, Israel and throughout the world are far more financially secure than Jews have been for centuries. If we are not living the life styles of the rich and famous, most Jews are in the broad middle class and live comfortable lives. For most of us, the grueling poverty of the ghettos of the Old World and the tenements of the New World are part of our family memories and not our everyday reality.

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Shabbat Nachamu

Va-et'chanan Deuteronomy 3:23–7:11

By Rabbi Lewis Eron for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Our Sustaining Hope

The great miracle of Jewish survival is not that we survived great tragedies. It is that we survived as a community ever faithful to its vision of a better world for us and for all people and not as an angry and embittered tribe.

When we look at Jewish responses to the tragedies of our past, what emerges is that despite the great disasters, the unbelievable suffering, the unbearable pain, and the overwhelming sense of loss, we never believed that our God abandoned us. We never gave up hope.

When we asked where our God was, our response was that God is with us in our suffering. We did not feel alone but sensed that even after the fall of Jerusalem and through all the centuries of wandering, the Holy One went into exile with us to comfort us, inspire us, and give us hope.

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Shabbat Chazon

Devarim, Deuteronomy 1:1–3:22

Rabbi Richard Hirsh for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

Shabbat Hazon

This week's Torah portion is Devarim, the opening section of the last book of the Torah known in English as Deuteronomy. This Shabbat, however, is known as Shabbat Hazon, after the opening words of the special Haftara reading: "Hazon Y'Shayahu", "[This is] the vision of [the prophet] Isaiah".

The origins of the tradition of the Haftara, the supplementary biblical reading associated with the weekly Torah portion, are obscure. Normally, the selection is tied to the content of the Torah portion, or to a key word or personality found in the Torah reading.

However, the rhythm of the Jewish calendar also helps to determine the Haftara reading, as is the case this week. This Shabbat comes just before the mid-summer fast day of Tisha B'Av on which we commemorate the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem (586 BCE and 70 CE). It is the last of three special Haftaras of "rebuke", in which the prophets of ancient Israel warn the people to repent lest their sins bring national ruin.

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Matot-Mas-ei

Numbers 30:2-36:13

Rabbi Richard Hirsh for Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

The Importance of Re-Reading Torah

The Book of Numbers is in many ways the least cohesive of the five books of the Torah. Its narrative excursions and legal legacies are occasionally related, but more often discrete.

In Matot and Masey, which conclude the fourth book of the Torah, the narrators/editors of the Torah attempt to pull things together by accounts which summarize the forty years in the desert and anticipate the imminent entrance into the Land of Israel.

However, even before the Torah moves to prescriptions for social and religious regulation within the Land, it presents a narrative of proscription which is chilling. Beginning in Numbers 31, the text tells the story of the Israelite war against the Midianites. So brutal is the account that even Dr. J. H. Hertz, the preeminent apologist for the traditional rendering of the text, states in his well-known commentary that "The war against the Midianites presents peculiar difficulties...we cannot satisfactorily meet the various objections that have been raised...".

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