This week's Torah portion includes the Ten Commandments, the pinnacle of spiritual connection between God and humanity, through the Jewish people.
Interestingly, the portion is not named after the Ten Commandments, or Moses, or Mount Sinai, but after Yitro (or Jethro), Moses's father-in-law, who visits the Israelite camp following the Exodus from Egypt, and gives Moses key advice about how to manage the task of administering justice to the people.
I find this portion particularly relevant this year, because I am currently on a book tour to promote my biography of my mother-in-law, Rhoda Kadalie, the South African political activist, human rights expert, NGO leader, and author.
Rhoda's writing and her insights into politics -- both in South Africa and the U.S. -- had a profound effect on my own thinking. The more I researched her work and beliefs, the more I realized how she had shaped my own outlook.
That is why the Torah honors Moses's father-in-law. While relationships with in-laws can be awkward, and even conflicted, they are among the few outsiders to whom we grant special access to our lives. And their impact can be profound.
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!
