This week's Torah reading deals with the laws of ritual purity, as well as the deaths of both Miriam and Aaron, and Moses's sin in striking the rock. All weighty topics, revealing the heavy moral burden of leadership.
The additional reading, from the book of Judges (11:1-33), is the story of Yiftach (or Jephthah), one of the most tragic stories in the Bible. It is the story of how a leader is trapped by his own vow -- forced, in effect, to sacrifice his daughter.
The two readings mirror one another, because they show that even the smallest words and gestures by leaders can have dire consequences.
But the story of Yiftach also has another curious element: that of the redeemed outcast.
Yiftach is an outlaw before he becomes a leader. He is cast out by his brothers because he is the son of a concubine and therefore illegitimate. He lives on his own, gathering a band of fellow misfits around him as a personal army.
Under threat of invasion, the leaders of Israel finally turn to Yiftach for aid. He makes them a deal: he will defend them, if they make him their leader. They agree to those terms, and Yiftach and his band of outlaws are vindicated.
There's a lesson there about leadership, too: just as leaders bear a moral burden, so, too, do the rest of us bear a responsibility to care for every member of society and treat each other with dignity -- not to cast anyone aside.
This week’s portion launches the great story of Abraham, who is told to leave everything of his life behind — except his immediate family — and to leave for “the Land that I shall show you.”
There’s something interesting in the fact that Abraham is told to leave his father’s house, as if breaking away from his father’s life — but his father, in fact, began the journey, moving from Ur to Haran (in last week’s portion). His father set a positive example — why should Abraham leave him?
Some obvious answers suggest themselves — adulthood, needing to make one’s own choices, his father not going far enough, etc.
But I think there is another answer. Abraham (known for the moment as Abram) needs to establish his own household. This is not just about making one’s own choice, but really about choosing one’s own starting point. It’s starting over.
Sometimes we start over in fundamental ways even if much that surrounds us remains the same. Sometimes the journey we have to ...
The story of Noah is familiar; the details, less so.
Noah is often seen as an ambivalent figure. He was righteous -- but only for his generation. What was his deficiency?
One answer suggests itself: knowing that the world was about to be flooded, he built an Ark for the animals and for his own family -- but did not try to save anyone else or to convince them to repent and change their ways (the prophet Jonah, later, would share that reluctance).
Abraham, later, would set himself apart by arguing with God -- with the Lord Himself! -- against the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, saying that they should be saved if there were enough righteous people to be found (there were not).
Still, Noah was good enough -- and sometimes, that really is sufficient to save the world. We don't need heroes every time -- just ordinary decency.
Hi all -- as I noted last month, I'm going to be closing down my Locals page, at least for tips and subscriptions -- I may keep the page up and the posts as well, but I'm no longer going to be accepting any kind of payment.
Look for cancelation in the very near future. Thank you for your support!
