Ki Tavo 5774

There is a fascinating rabbinic tale that is told about the most moving verse in this week’s parasha:

Blessed shall you be in your comings and blessed shall you be in your goings (Deuteronomy 28:6). 

In the Talmud (Ta’anit 5b-6a), we are taught: When Rabbi Nahman and Rabbi Isaac were about to part, Rabbi Nahman asked Rabbi Isaac to bless him. Rabbi Isaac replied: “Let me tell you a parable. To what may this be compared? To a man who was traveling in the desert. He was hungry, tired, and thirsty, when suddenly he came upon a tree whose fruits were sweet, its shade pleasant, and a stream of water was flowing beneath it. The man ate of the tree’s fruits, drank of the water, and sat in the tree’s shade. When he was about to continue his journey, he turned to the tree and said: ‘Tree, O tree, with what shall I bless you? Shall I say to you may your fruits be sweet? They already are sweet. That your shade be pleasant? It already is pleasant. That a stream of water flow by you? A stream of water already flows by you. Therefore, this is my blessing, ‘May it be God’s will that all the shoots planted from you be just like you.’” “So it is with you” [Rabbi Isaac said to Rabbi Nahman]. “With what shall I bless you? Shall I wish you Torah learning? You already have learning. Wealth? You already have wealth. Children? You already have children. Therefore, this is my blessing: May it be God’s will that your offspring will be will be like you.”

Similarly, Anshe Emet is blessed with so many things: a community that looks out for one another, a community with great adult education, an outstanding religious school and youth program, various types of tefillot (services) for people of all types, and more. So what blessing can we possibly add? That our children will receive those blessings and pass them on to others.

We are lucky to have two people who recently joined our team to help transmit our passion for Jewish education for children. Rabbi D’ror Chankin-Gould just began this past week as our synagogue’s youth director. He is a brilliant and caring person, and we are so excited to have him on the team. We also have Shaqued Gavriel, who just arrived from Israel as our shinshinit, which stands for shnat sherut, meaning year of service. Shaqued will be bringing her passion for Israel and Jewish life to all of our youth programming over the coming year.

I hope that you will join us this week at Shabbat is Awesome, September 13th, so that you can meet Rabbi Chankin-Gould, and spend time with Shaqued, as we bless our community with the gift of transmitting Jewish values to our youth.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi David Russo

Ki Teitzei 5774

Battle Brides

We went against Thebe, the sacred city of Eëtion,

and the city we sacked, and carried everything back to this place,

and the sons of the Achaians made a fair distribution

and for Atreus’ son they chose out Chryseis of the fair cheeks.

Then Chryses, priest of him who strikes from afar, Apollo,

Came beside the fast ships of the bronze-armoured Achaians to ransom

back his daughter...

Then all the rest of the Achaians cried out in favour

that the priest be respected and the shining ransom be taken;

yet this pleased not the heart of Atreus’ son Agamemnon,

but harshly he sent him away with a strong order upon him.

The old man went back again in anger, but Apollo

listened to his prayer, since he was very dear to him, and let go

the wicked arrow against the Argives…

It was I first of all urged then the god’s appeasement;

and the anger took hold of Atreus’ son, and in speed standing

he uttered his threat against me, and now it is a thing accomplished.

For the girl the glancing-eyed Achaians are taking to Chryse


in a fast ship, also carrying to the king presents. But even


now the heralds went away from my shelter leading


Briseus’ daughter, whom the sons of the Achaians gave me.

-Homer, The Iliad (tr. Richmond Lattimore), I.366-393

Homer’s Iliad opens with something of a Bronze-Age domestic drama. The basic facts, related by Achilleus to his mother in the passage quoted above, are as follows: The Achaian army, camped at Troy, sacked Thebe; the captive women were distributed to the various heroes as a prize, but the girl given to Agamemnon, leader of the Achaian army, was the daughter of the priest in a temple dedicated to Apollo. Her father came to ransom her, and when Agamemnon refused, Apollo sent a plague against the Achaians. In order to stop the plague, Achilleus urges Agamemnon to return the girl to her father. Agamemnon reluctantly assents, but demands Briseis – Achilleus’ prize – as compensation.

The practice of taking women captive in war and treating them as prizes to be distributed among the victors was common in the ancient world – and even to this day in some parts of the world – and it lies in the background of our parshah’s opening verses:

When you take the field against your enemies, and the Lord your God delivers them into your power and you take some of them captive, and you see among the captives a beautiful woman and you desire her and would take her to wife, you shall bring her into your house, and she shall trim her hair, pare her nails, and discard her captive’s garb. She shall spend a month’s time in your house lamenting her father and mother; after that you may come to her and possess her, and she shall be your wife. Then, should you no longer want her, you must release her outright. You must not sell her for money: since you had your will of her, you must not enslave her. (Deut. 21:10-14)

The Torah’s prescription offers several correctives to the situation that appears in the Iliad: the captive woman is given time to mourn her losses; she becomes a wife, rather than a concubine or some other lower status of relationship; and she cannot be traded away as property, the way that Agamemnon and Achilleus argue over Briseis.

As students of history, we can appreciate how the Torah’s approach to women captured in war substantially improves upon the status quo times of war. But is it objectively good? Even with the limitations in place, the Torah still allows men to seize women in battle and take them home against their will. The captor needs to treat this woman as a wife, but she has no right of refusal. Perhaps in the ancient world this parshah would have seemed like a progressive support for women, but it falls far short of what we today would accept as moral.

As Conservative Jews, our teachers respond very directly to this challenge. Our movement has long maintained that “The single greatest event in the history of God’s revelation took place at Sinai, but was not limited to it… The process of revelation… remains alive in the Codes and Responsa to the present day… Since each age requires new interpretations and applications of the received norms, Halakhah [Jewish Law] is an ongoing process” (Emet ve-Emunah: A Statement of Principles of Conservative Judaism, 20-21). God’s moral teachings for the Jewish people were first revealed at Mount Sinai, but they continue to be refined by rabbis and leaders in each generation.

We see this process of ongoing revelation not only with respect to the treatment of civilians in wartime, but in how our community relates to women, gays and lesbians, and many other diversity issues. When you look around Anshe Emet on Shabbat, you see a diversity of community that our grandparents could not have imagined, but which has become a source of strength and pride for our community. The “new interpretations and applications of the received norms” allow for this evolution, and it gives us good reason to be proud to say we are Conservative Jews.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Abe Friedman