TORAH READING FOR 20 SHEVAT 5783 Feb 10-11, 2023

February 10, 2023 by templekol

From “The Haftarah Commentary” / by Plaut and Stern UAHC Press 1996:

GLEANINGS p. 175

Words to Remember

Holy, holy, holy is the God of heaven’s hosts, whose Presence fills all the earth! (Is. 6:3)

PARSHA

From Reform Judaism https://reformjudaism.org/torah/portion/yitro

Yitro (יִתְרוֹ — Jethro) – Exodus 18:1-20:23

Jethro, priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard all that God had done for Moses and for Israel, God’s people, how the Eternal had brought Israel out from Egypt. – Exodus 18:1

SUMMARY:

Yitro brings his daughter Zipporah and her two sons, Gershom and Eliezer, to his son-in-law Moses. (18:1-12)
Moses follows Yitro’s advice and appoints judges to help him lead the people. (18:13-27)
The Children of Israel camp in front of Mount Sinai. Upon hearing the covenant, the Israelites respond, “All that God has spoken we will do.” (19:1-8)
After three days of preparation, the Israelites encounter God at Mount Sinai. (19:9-25)
God gives the Ten Commandments aloud directly to the people. (20:1-14)
Frightened, the Children of Israel ask Moses to serve as an intermediary between God and them. Moses tells the people not to be afraid. (20:15-18)

HAFTARAH

Ashkenazim: Isaiah 6:1-7:6; 9:5-6

Sefardim: Isaiah 6:1-13

From Wikipedia.org https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yitro

Connection to the Parashah

Both the parashah and the haftarah recount God’s revelation. Both the parashah and the haftarah describe Divine Beings as winged. Both the parashah and the haftarah report God’s presence accompanied by shaking and smoke. And both the parashah and the haftarah speak of making Israel a holy community.

RECOMMENDED READING

From Reform Judaism https://reformjudaism.org/torah/portion/yitro

“What? Why?”

By: Jonathan K. Crane

STRUGGLING WITH TORAH and REFLECTION

For Torah Study, instead of the portion from the Book of Exodus that is read on this Shabbat, we will read the Haftarah (a selection from the prophets) from Isaiah 6:1-7:6; 9:5-6. You can read this week’s Torah Portion at https://www.sefaria.org/Exodus.18.1-20.23 and the Haftarah we will be studying at https://www.sefaria.org/Isaiah.6.1-7.6 and https://www.sefaria.org/Isaiah.9.5-6

From “The Torah / A Women’s Commentary” edited by Dr. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Rabbi Andrea L. Weiss, Ph.D.

יתרו Yitro – Exodus 18:1-20:23

The Birth of a Nation: Israel Becomes a Covenanted People by Elaine Goodfriend, p. 407

PARASHAT YITRO (“Jethro”) records the transformative encounter between God and Israel at Mount Sinai, the moment when God and the people Israel become wedded in an exclusive covenantal relationship. After experiencing how God bore them “on eagles’ wings” (19:4) from Egypt, the people willingly accept God’s proposal: If they listen to God’s voice and obey the covenant, they will become God’s “treasured possession,” a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (19:5–6). The blare of a ram’s horn and a spectacular display of smoke, thunder, and lightning herald the appearance of the Divine. Then, the revelation of the commandments stipulate what it means to walk in God’s ways.

The teachings of the Decalogue, also known popularly as the Ten Commandments, guide the Israelites in their relationships with God and other human beings. The first four commandments charge the Israelites to worship God faithfully and to observe the Sabbath. The last five prohibit taking what is not yours: a human life, another man’s wife, or someone else’s property, either directly through stealing or indirectly through false testimony or coveting another’s belongings. The fifth commandment–a bridge between the precepts focused on the Divine and those concerned with humans–mandates reverence of one’s mother and father.

In the Decalogue, women are mentioned as mothers, wives, daughters, and servants. Elsewhere in the parashah, women play a more elusive role. Zipporah appears in the beginning of the portion, when Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, travels to the wilderness of Sinai in order to reunite Moses with his wife, Zipporah, and their two sons. What is puzzling about this scene is that an earlier passage in Exodus suggests that Moses brought his family with him to Egypt (4:20, 24–26). When and why had she “been sent home” (18:2) to Midian?

Even more perplexing and disturbing for many contemporary readers is the question of whether women were included in, or excluded from, the revelation at Sinai. How should we interpret Moses’ command to “not go near a woman” (19:15)? Does the masculine language of the laws address women? These issues are explored … in Another View….

Another View – by Diane M. Sharon, p. 421

WHEN GOD TELLS MOSES to command the people to sanctify themselves, wash their clothes, and be ready for the divine revelation, God emphasizes that the people should be instructed not to go up or touch the mountain (19:10–13). Moses begins by faithfully repeating God’s commands, yet he concludes, not by reiterating God’s warning not to touch the mountain, but instead by admonishing the Israelites not to go near a woman (19:15). Feminists have wrestled with this disturbing verse and its implications. Does this formulation mean that Moses was only speaking to the men? Moses seems to have subverted God’s command to all the people by speaking only to half the Israelites.

Moses’ striking deviation from God’s command is troubling well beyond the feminist focus. Moses’ alteration of God’s command raises the central question of who is the final authority on what God really says. Which version of the command is authoritative? Is Moses faithfully transmitting God’s words? Is the text accurately presenting God’s instructions? And, ultimately, what gives Moses or the text the right to report God’s words differently from the way in which they were originally delivered?

A clue can be found in the genre of this passage. Exodus 19:9–15 fits the ancient literary form of the Command/Performance formula, in which a divine command is expected to be transmitted by the messenger in identical language. According to this convention, any deviation from the initial command in the transmission draws attention to itself and is highly significant. What is the significance of Moses’ alteration of the divine word here?

This text, with its deviation from the expected Command/Performance convention, cries out “darsheini” (“Interpret me!”) and so invites readers–ancient as well as modern–to grapple with revelation. The entire history of interpretation of our sacred texts, from the Mishnah to modern feminist midrash, is empowered by Moses’ audacious transformation of God’s words. Exodus 19:9–15 subverts omniscient external authority and hands authority to the reader. This troubling passage empowers all of us to read, interpret, and find meaning in this parashah and its contradictions.

Post-biblical Interpretations – by Judith R. Baskin, pp. 421-422

Jethro priest of Midian … heard (18:1). The Rabbis wondered what prompted Jethro, priest of Midian, father of Moses’ wife, Zipporah, to visit Moses in the wilderness. One tradition concludes that Jethro learned of the revelation at Mt. Sinai. Another sage suggests that Jethro heard about the parting of the Sea of Reeds. The Rabbis go on to say that Jethro converted to Judaism because he was so impressed by God’s power in redeeming Israel from Egypt (M’chilta, Amalek 3; Sh’mot Rabbah 27.6).

Discussion of Jethro’s acceptance of Judaism in this passage in M’chilta reminded the Rabbis of another supposed convert, Rahab the harlot–who was said to have been, along with Sarah, Abigail, and Esther, one of the most beautiful women who ever lived (BT M’gillah 15a). In Joshua 2:10–11, Rahab tells Joshua’s spies that when she heard of the parting of the Sea of Reeds, she became convinced that “your God יהוה is God in heaven above and here on earth” (Joshua 2:11). Rahab is said to have gone beyond all other converts in her recognition of God’s great powers (M’chilta, Amalek 3). When she was fifty years old, she converted and asked God to forgive her for her life as a prostitute, reminding God that she had enabled Joshua’s spies to escape from Jericho. According to some rabbinic sources, Rahab even married Joshua (BT M’gillah 14b) and was rewarded by having priests and prophets of Israel among her descendants (Sifrei B’midbar 78). Her story, like Jethro’s, represents a powerful message that neither gender, foreign origins, nor a dubious past is a barrier to those who sincerely wish to join the Jewish people.

So Jethro … took Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after she had been sent home (18:2). The biblical text gives no information on when or why Moses sent Zipporah and her two sons back to Jethro. A tradition in M’chilta, Amalek 3, imagines that after Moses received the divine call to redeem Israel from slavery, he set out for Egypt with his family. When he encountered Aaron on the way (4:27), Moses introduced his wife and sons. Aaron responded, “We are worrying about those already there and now you bring upon us these newcomers!” At that moment, Moses said to Zipporah, “Go to your father’s house.” Based on the use of the verb “sent” (shalach) both here and in the description of divorce in Deuteronomy 24:1, the Rabbis concluded that Moses divorced his wife, though they debated whether he did so with a get (a bill of divorce) or simply by an oral statement (M’chilta, Amalek 3).

Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob and declare to the children of Israel (19:3). The Rabbis were certain that divine words contained no repetition. Thus, M’chilta, Bachodesh 2, explains that house of Jacob refers to the Israelite women, while children of Israel refers to the men. (In 1917, Sarah Schenirer of Cracow, Poland, founded what is now a worldwide network of Orthodox schools for girls, which takes its name from the rabbinic interpretation of this verse: Beis Yaakov, The House of Jacob.) A second interpretation of this juxtaposition suggests that Thus shall you say was a divine directive that Moses should instruct the women in a mild tone, while the parallel verb declare implied that Moses should be strict with the men. The result was that God’s revelation was accessible to everyone.

Honor your father and mother (20:12). A statement in M’chilta, Bachodesh 8, observes that honoring parents is equal to honoring God. The Rabbis also noticed that this verse puts honoring father before honoring mother, while in Leviticus 19:3 fearing one’s mother precedes fearing one’s father. They explained this discrepancy as being the result of the parents’ different gender roles: “a man honors his mother more than his father because she sways him with persuasive words,” whereas “a man is more afraid of his father than of his mother because his father teaches him Torah.”

PRAYERS

From “Mishkan T’filah / A Reform Siddur”:

FOR OUR COUNTRY p.516

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.

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, 20 Shevat through 26 Shevat, we lovingly remember:

Laura Stone

Temple Kol Hamidbar Memorial Board and an early Member

Daniel McCarthy

Friend of Jane Kolber

Jacque Krol

Friend of Temple Kol Hamidbar member

Dorothy Cash

Donor of the Organ to Temple Kol Hamidbar

Those victims of the Sho’ah (Holocaust) who died at this time of year.

“ZICHRONAM LIV’RACHAH” – MAY THEIR MEMORIES BE FOR BLESSING.

TORAH STUDY AND SHAZOOM

We will meet as usual at the regular times for Torah Study and Shazoom this evening, Friday, February 10, 2023. For the next few months we will read and discuss the Haftarah, each selection from the prophets following the weekly Torah Portion.

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.

Topic: Torah Study – Haftarah Yitro: Isaiah 6:1-7:6; 9:5-6

Time: Feb 10, 2023 06:00 PM Arizona

and/or

Shazoom – Erev Shabbat Service

Time: Feb 10, 2023 07:30 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 Isaiah and the Book of Isaiah: