I had an additional thought over the Sabbath as I read the text of the Torah portion. This is, of course, the portion in which Moses sees the burning bush: "[A]nd behold, the thorn bush was burning with fire, but the thorn bush was not being consumed." (Exodus 3:2)
There are all kinds of commentaries on that passage. Rashi, who lived 1,000 years ago, asked why God chose to show Himself to Moses in a lowly bush, rather than a high tree. The answer: He wanted to show that He was with His people in their suffering, at their lowest point.
Other commentaries say that the bush is a metaphor for the Children of Israel: though we suffer, we are not destroyed.
I have had the thought since the Palisades Fire that although our neighborhood was destroyed, our community was not. We are still in touch through WhatsApp, social media, and in person. We are helping each other. And the people of Los Angeles are also standing with us.
We are the bush that burns, but is not consumed.
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This week's Torah portion includes several laws about conduct in civic and personal life, the common theme of which is boundaries -- setting bounds to what one may do at home, at work, and even in the battlefield.
One noteworthy passage concerns Amalek, the evil nation that attacked the Children of Israel as they made their Exodus from slavery to freedom. Deuteronomy 25:17-19 commands Jews to obliterate Amalek's memory.
The South African government accused Israel of genocide on the basis of a story about Amalek in the Book of Samuel, in which King Saul was commanded to wipe out the entire evil Amalekite nation.
Because Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quoted this week's portion -- "Remember what Amalek did to you" (25:17), the South African government claimed he was commanding soldiers to commit genocide.
It was an absurd and malevolent misreading of the Bible and of Jewish tradition. The commandment, as observed by Jews today, is to remember the evil of Amalek and fight ...
