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July 8, 2022 (9 Tammuz 5782) A Richer Reading Experience Dear Holy Friends, I pray that this correspondence finds you in good health and good cheer while enjoying a relaxing and fun-filled summer. We invite you to join us for our hybrid services which will take place this Shabbat morning at 10:30am both in our sanctuary, as well as on our regular Zoom prayer link. Over the last couple of Shabbatot, we have explored some of the interesting connections between the Torah and Haftarah texts. When we pause to consider thematic or linguistic connections between different books of the Bible, we are engaged in a scholarly discipline referred to as intertextuality. Two Shabbatot ago, the Torah portion of Shlach Lecha offered the account of Moshe sending twelve spies into the land of Israel. The pessimistic outlook of that group resulted in the wandering in the desert for the next forty years. In contrast, that same Shabbat, the Haftarah told the epilogue of the punishment of wandering in Bemidbar. Joshua sends only two spies, who come back enthusiastic and positive, sharing that the conquest of the Promised Land will undoubtedly be successful. Read together, the two texts not only teach us of leadership, readiness, and faith, but the Haftarah story literally completes the story that began in the Book of Numbers. Last Shabbat, in the Torah we read of the rebellion of Korach. The companion Haftarah taught us of the struggle to appoint a monarch through the lens of the Book of Samuel. Read together, these chapters examine the struggle of social hierarchy and leadership models in the face of social unrest. As a third example, this week in the Torah, Moses is taught the inexplicable law of the red heifer, which is an irrational ritual of purification for those who have been contaminated by contact with a dead body. After Miriam and Aaron die, there is yet another baffling story, which describes how venomous snakes attack the Israelite camp (after yet another eruption of discontent in which the people “speak against G‑d and Moses.”) In a completely paganistic activity, HaShem tells Moses to place a brass serpent upon a high pole, and all who will gaze heavenward, while staring at the totem, will be immediately healed. The Haftarah, from the Book of Judges, continues the theme of irrationality, as the Israelites engaged Jephtah, the son of a harlot who was vanquished to live abroad by his siblings, to lead them in battle against a military threat. Jephtah agreed, on one condition: "If you bring me back to fight with the children of Ammon and G‑d delivers them before me, I will become your head." The Israelites, as a group, accepted Jephthah’s terms, even though they did not even know him. (Needless to say, the reign of Jephtah ends in disaster.) These two texts, when read together, examine the concept of the place of rationalism in the world, either as a religious or social construct. Whether examining holy texts over Shabbat or at another time, may we all come to recognize and understand that intertextuality leads to a much richer reading experience, inviting new interpretations and bringing other contexts, ideas, and themes to the text in hand. Happy reading and Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Eric Wasser, EdD, Hon.DM
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