TORAH READING FOR 10 SHEVAT 5784 January 19-20, 2024
SHAZOOM ONLY 6:30 PM January 19, 2024
OUR HEARTS ARE WITH THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL
From “Mishkan T’filah / A Reform Siddur” CCAR, New York 2007, p.160
BARUCH atah, Adonai, haporës sukat shalom alëinu,
V’al kōl amo Yisraël v’al Yerushalayim.
BLESSED ARE YOU, Adonai, Guardian of Israel, whose shelter of peace
is spread over us, over all Your people Israel, and over Jerusalem.
PARSHA
From Reform Judaism https://reformjudaism.org/torah/portion/bo
Bo (בֹּא — Hebrew for “Go [to Pharaoh]”) – Exodus 10:1-13:16
Then the Eternal One said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh. For I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his courtiers, in order that I may display these My signs among them.” – Exodus 10:1
SUMMARY:
- God sends the plagues of locusts and darkness upon Egypt and forewarns Moses about the final plague, the death of every Egyptian firstborn. Pharaoh still does not let the Israelites leave Egypt. (10:1-11:10)
- God commands Moses and Aaron regarding the Passover festival. (12:1-27)
- God enacts the final plague, striking down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt except those of the House of Israel. Pharaoh now allows the Israelites to leave. (12:29-42)
- Speaking to Moses and Aaron, God repeats the commandments about Passover. (12:43-13:16)
HAFTARAH
From Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo_(parsha)
Jeremiah 46:13–28
Connection to the Parashah
Both the parashah and the haftarah describe God’s judgment against Egypt. The parashah reports that God told Moses to go (bo) to Pharaoh; the haftarah reports God’s word that Nebuchadnezzar would come (la-vo) to Pharaoh. Both the parashah and the haftarah report a plague of locusts — literal in the parashah, figurative in the haftarah. Both the parashah and the haftarah report God’s punishment of Egypt’s gods. And both the parashah and the haftarah report God’s ultimate deliverance of the Israelites from their captivity.
RECOMMENDED READING
From Reform Judaism https://reformjudaism.org/torah/portion/bo
By: Jonathan K. Crane
STRUGGLING WITH TORAH and REFLECTION
We will continue to meet every other Friday for Torah Study to read and discuss selections from Ketuvim, the third section of Tanach (Hebrew Bible), which follows Torah and Nevi’im. Please see the NEW Torah Study-Shazoom schedule below. NEXT week we will continue studying the Book of Daniel, which is found in the Ketuvim (Writings). Read this week’s Torah Portion at https://www.sefaria.org/Exodus.10.1-13.16 and Haftarah at https://www.sefaria.org/Jeremiah.46.13-28
From “The Torah / A Women’s Commentary” edited by Dr. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Rabbi Andrea L. Weiss, Ph.D., Women of Reform Judaism/The Federation of Temple Sisterhoods and URJ Press New York 2008
בא Bo – Exodus 10:1-13:16
Contemporary Reflection – by Suzanne Singer, pp. 374-5
GOD’S HARDENING OF PHARAOH’S HEART in Exodus 10:1 presents a theological problem on two levels. First, if God is the agent of Pharaoh’s behavior, what does that imply about Pharaoh’s free will? Second, if God hardens Pharaoh’s heart in order to demonstrate God’s power, we must ask: At what price the Israelites’ liberation? Indeed, the ultimate result of Pharaoh’s stubbornness is the murder of every first-born Egyptian male. Even if we consider this to be retributive justice, payback for Pharaoh’s earlier order to kill all newborn Hebrew males, we still must ponder: Does one heinous crime justify another? And how do we come to terms with killing innocent children?
Commentators, equally bothered by this thorny moral dilemma, have provided inspired interpretations. With regard to the question of free will, some interpreters note that during the first five plagues, Pharaoh hardens his own heart. Only afterward does God take over, starting with the sixth plague (9:12), suggesting that Pharaoh has foregone the chance to operate independently. Modern psychoanalyst Erich Fromm writes, “The more man’s heart hardens, the less freedom he has to change; the more he is determined by previous action…there comes a point of no return, when man’s heart has become so hardened…that he has lost the possibility of freedom” (You Shall Be as Gods, 1966, p. 101). This is an astute insight into human behavior, but it begs the question of the text’s plain meaning, which is that God causes Pharaoh’s stubbornness.
The hardening of Pharaoh’s heart might also be viewed as a paradigm for what Fran Burgess calls the “transformative power of adversity.” According to this view, Pharaoh’s stubborn resistance is the condition necessary for Moses and the Israelites to emerge from their straits (the Hebrew name for Egypt, mitzrayim, is very close to the Hebrew for “straits,” metzarim). Indeed, it often takes facing overwhelming odds to make radical change. As Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong said, “Before cancer, I just lived. Now I live strong.” Pharaoh thus serves as a tool for the Israelites’ psychological and moral development. However keen, this interpretation too satisfies only on the level of metaphor.
Perhaps the most satisfactory approach is to keep the theological problems ever-present. In The Particulars of Rapture: Reflections on Exodus (1995), Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg suggests that the liberation story of the Israelites, what she calls the “master narrative,” gives rise to “counter-narratives” that throw the justification of God’s triumphal power into question. Indeed, as Zornberg argues, the master narrative of God as loving and benevolent redeemer of the Israelites is challenged by the killing of the Egyptians’ first-born, including “the first-born of the captive who was in the dungeon” (12:29). This prompts a counter-narrative from the perspective of the plague’s victims that asks: What sin could the babies and the captives possibly have committed to deserve this punishment? The answer posits an evil God. This narrative appears again later, in the story of the Golden Calf, when Moses convinces God not to murder the Israelites for their transgression, arguing that otherwise, the Egyptian story will prevail: “Let not the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he delivered them’” (32:12). Although the Midrash attempts to silence and “neutralize” potentially heretical answers to such queries, Zornberg maintains that “the Torah, even God’s quoted words, gives rise to interpretations that radically contradict its own master-narrative, and that cannot, moreover, be totally repudiated by its accredited expositors” (p. 143).
For Zornberg, an alternative for dealing with the dissonance between narrative and counter-narrative is “the model of endless questioning, in which the answer does not totally silence the questioner” (p. 143). In fact, implicit and explicit questions play an important role in this parashah. God mandates that the story of the Exodus be told in response to children’s queries: “And when your children ask you…, you shall say…” (12:26–27). This is the basis for the Passover seder’s custom of the Four Questions. Further, two more verses from this parashah and one from Deuteronomy instruct us to answer our children’s questions about the Exodus. The Rabbis understood all these verse as referring to four kinds of children, the Haggadah’s Four Sons, each with varying aptitudes, each eliciting a different perspective on the narrative: the Wise Son (Deuteronomy 6:20–21), the Wicked Son (Exodus 12:26), the Simple Son (13:14), and the One Who Is Unable to Ask (13:8).
Through questions, we might call forth another counter-narrative: the experience of women during the exodus and its subsequent retelling. Noting that the traditional Haggadah assumes a conversation between a father and four sons, contemporary feminist Haggadot fill in for the absence of women’s voices. The Ma’yan Haggadah, for example, includes the Four Daughters. The daughter “in search of a usable past” asks, “Why did Moses say at Sinai, ‘Go not near a woman,’ addressing only men, as if preparation for revelation was not meant for us, as well?” The daughter “who wants to erase her difference” wonders about the importance of women’s issues. The daughter “who does not know that she has a place at the table” asks, “What is this?” And the daughter “who asks no questions” is told: “From the moment Yocheved, Miriam, and the midwives questioned Pharaoh’s edict until today, every question we ask helps us leave Egypt a little farther behind” (Tamara Cohen, Sue Levi Elwell, and Ronnie Horn, eds., The Journey Continues: Ma’yan Passover Haggadah, 1997).
Just as the women defied Pharaoh, so we too as readers must confront and challenge troubling aspects of our sacred narratives. The persistent hardening of Pharaoh’s heart results in the Israelites’ night of redemption, but we must never forget that this same night was one of horror for the Egyptians. We must continue to ask the questions that preserve our awareness of the Other’s story. Did the Israelites hear the tzaakah (cry) of the Egyptians (12:30)? Did it remind them of their own cry–the tzaakah in 3:7, which brought God’s attention to their plight? Year after year, as we recall at our seder table the wonders God performed for us, we must remember the price the Other paid for our liberation.
TU B’SHEVAT COMMUNITY SEDER – online January 24, 2024, 6:30 PM
Tu B’Shevat, “New Year of the Trees,” begins the evening of January 24, 2024. Again, this year, we will celebrate Tu B’Shevat online with a simplified Seder. Please see the separate email sent on January 18, 2024, with the instructions and meeting information. NOTE: a different meeting ID, passcode and link from the regular Friday evening Torah Study-Shazoom is required.
PRAYERS
From “Mishkan T’filah / A Reform Siddur”:
FOR OUR COUNTRY p.376
THUS SAYS ADONAI, This is what I desire: to unlock the fetters of wickedness, and untie the cords of lawlessness; to let the oppressed go free, to break off every yoke. Share your bread with the hungry, and take the wretched poor into your home. When you see the naked, give clothing, and do not ignore your own kin.
O GUARDIAN of life and liberty, may our nation always merit Your protection. Teach us to give thanks for what we have by sharing it with those who are in need. Keep our eyes open to the wonders of creation, and alert to the care of the earth. May we never be lazy in the work of peace; may we honor those who have [served, suffered or] died in defense of our ideals. Grant our leaders wisdom and forbearance. May they govern with justice and compassion. Help us all to appreciate one another, and to respect the many ways that we may serve You. May our homes be safe from affliction and strife, and our country be sound in body and spirit. Amen.
PRAYER FOR THE STATE OF ISRAEL p.552
O HEAVENLY ONE, Protector and Redeemer of Israel, bless the State of Israel which marks the dawning of hope for all who seek peace. Shield it beneath the wings of your love; spread over it the canopy of Your peace; send Your light and truth to all who lead and advise, guiding them with Your good counsel. Establish peace in the land and fullness of joy for all who dwell there. Amen.
FOR HEALING
We recite MI SHEBËRACH for the victims of abuse, brutality, conflicts, fear, natural disasters, pandemics, tragedies, violence of all kinds especially directed at individuals and specific communities including us, and war; for all those at home alone or lonely; for all those in need of physical, emotional, and mental healing. “R’fuah sh’lëmah” – a complete recovery!
YAHRZEITS/ANYOS
We say KADDISH YATOM for those of our friends and families who have died and been buried this last week; those in the period of Sh’loshim (30 days since burial); those who have died in the last year; and those whose Yahrzeits/Anyos occur at this time; as well as the victims of brutality, conflict, disease, natural disasters, pandemics, tragedies, violence of all kinds, and war.
This coming week, 10 Shevat through 16 Shevat, we lovingly remember:
Gilda Joseph
Survivor of Mengele’s twin experiments, relative of Ruben Gomez
Carlos Sanchez
Friend of Dr. Sam and Mary Caron
Those victims of the Sho’ah (Holocaust) who died at this time of year.
“ZICHRONAM LIV’RACHAH” – MAY THEIR MEMORIES BE FOR BLESSING.
SHAZOOM ONLY
We will meet for Shazoom ONLY this evening, Friday, January 19, 2024. Please see the NEW Torah Study-Shazoom schedule below. NEXT week we will continue studying the Book of Daniel, which is found in the Ketuvim (Writings).
Zoom regularly updates its security and performance features. Making sure you have the latest version of Zoom, please join us online this evening with wine/grape juice for Kiddush and Challah for Motzi.
Shazoom – Erev Shabbat Service
Time: Jan 19, 2024 06:30 PM Arizona
To join Torah Study and/or Shazoom click on the following link [you may need to copy it into your browser]: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/72510500854?pwd=Z3VQZWF4U1BBZytNYmh3aHFTWkFDZz09
Meeting ID: 725 1050 0854
Passcode: 4NrMk0
Hint: The last character of the password is the number zero.
Shabbat Shalom – Buen Shabbat/Gut Shabbos
-Ruben
PS – About Tu B’Shevat (The New Year of the Trees) & the NEW schedule through June 2024:
From Reform Judaism
https://reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/tu-bishvat
From My Jewish Learning
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/tu-bishvat-ideas-beliefs/
From Torah.org
https://torah.org/learning/yomtov-tubshvat-tubshvat/
From Jewish Virtual Library
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/tu-b-shevat
From Aish.com
https://aish.com/abcs-of-tu-bshvat/
From Judaism 101
https://www.jewfaq.org/tu_bshevat
From Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_BiShvat
From Encyclopedia Britannica
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tu-bi-Shevat
NEW Schedule through June 2024 for Torah Study and Shazoom (Arizona Time Zone):
January 19, 2024 – Shazoom ONLY at 6:30 pm
[Tu Bishvat 1/24-25]
January 26, 2024 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
[Shabbat Shirah 1/26-27]
February 2, 2024 – Shazoom ONLY at 6:30 pm
February 9, 2024 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
February 16, 2024 – Shazoom ONLY at 6:30 pm
[Purim Katan 2/22-23 Adar I]
February 23, 2024 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
[Shushan Purim Katan 2/23-24 Adar I]
March 1, 2024 – Shazoom ONLY at 6:30 pm
March 8, 2024 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
[Shabbat Shekalim 3/8-9]
March 15, 2024 – Shazoom ONLY at 6:30 pm
March 22, 2024 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
[Shabbat Zachor 3/22-23] [Purim 3/23-24]
March 29, 2024 – Shazoom ONLY at 6:30 pm
[Shabbat Parah 3/29-30] [Shushan Purim 3/24-25]
April 5, 2024 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
[Shabbat HaChodesh 4/5-6]
April 12, 2024 – Shazoom ONLY at 6:30 pm
April 19, 2024 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
[Shabbat HaGadol 4/19-20] [Pesach 4/22-30] [Counting the ‘Ómer 4/23-6/11]
April 26, 2024 – Shazoom ONLY at 6:30 pm
May 3, 2024 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
[Yom HaShoah 5/5-6]
May 10, 2024 – Shazoom ONLY at 6:30 pm
[Yom HaZikaron 5/12-13] [Yom Ha’Atzma’ut 5/13-14]
May 17, 2024 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
[Pesach Sheni 5/21-22]
May 24, 2024 – Shazoom ONLY at 6:30 pm
[Lag Ba’Ómer 5/25-26]
May 31, 2024 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
[Yom Yerushalayim 6/4-5]
June 7, 2024 – Shazoom ONLY at 6:30 pm
[Shavuot 6/11-13]
June 14, 2024 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm
June 21, 2024 – Shazoom ONLY at 6:30 pm
June 28, 2024 – Torah Study at 6 pm and Shazoom at 7:30 pm