This reading reviews some of the laws and rules regarding conduct among human beings. Among the more interesting laws is that of Deuteronomy 24:5: "When a man takes a new wife, he shall not go out in the army, nor shall he be subjected to anything associated with it. He shall remain free for his home for one year and delight his wife, whom he has taken."
When my wife and I were first married, we had to live apart for several months, because I had committed to a congressional campaign in Chicago and she had taken a job in Washington, DC, partly to maintain her legal immigration status. (She became a citizen the following year.) She sometimes admonished me with the lesson of Deuteronomy 24:5, suggesting that perhaps I should have put politics aside for the sake of the newlywed year. Things would have been tough, anyway: it was the midst of the recession, and jobs were in short supply. We could not afford a honeymoon. But we could at least have been together all the time, instead of just on weekends.
I knew she was right. In some ways, I regret that choice. You never really get that first year back. We are very happy, 12 years later, but I learned the wisdom of that Biblical passage. And the importance of setting time aside for one another doesn't end after the first year. You need to make time to reconnect, beyond the pressures of work and the duties of family, which have no end, unless you set a boundary to them.
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!
