13:19 - "And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him..." (This must mean Joseph's mummy, right, per Genesis 50:26.)
13:21 - Interesting: "And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; that they might go by day and by night." If memory serves, this is the first time we read in the Torah about something (a) supernatural/miraculous, something that couldn't even possibly be explained away, and (b) that was witnessed by the masses.
14:19 - God gets ready to part the Red Sea, when we read that "And the angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel removed and went behind" the Egyptians. Huh?!? Didn't we just read in 13:21 that it was "the LORD" that was doing the guiding?!? Did I miss something?
15:1-18 - The Song at the Sea in praise of God... Quite beautiful, actually. But there are some snags. How was Moses able to sing about things that hadn't yet happened? Like what Pharaoh said after the Israelites had left (15:8)! Like speaking of the destruction of the peoples of the Promised Land in the past tense (15:14-16)! The building of the Temple (15:17)! Geesh.
15:20-21 - Nice interlude for Miriam here, who, after the long Song at the Sea, "took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances" and sang.
15:26 - Ah yes, the fire and brimstone: After only three days wandering the desert, they can't find water, and the people turn to Moses for answers. God provides water, saying "'If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His eyes, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon thee, which I have put upon the Egyptians; for I am the LORD that healeth thee.'" I know I have a lot to learn in terms of understanding the role of punishment vs. rewards, and I'm sure my thinking will evolve on the subject...but frankly this is some of the hardest stuff to swallow in the Torah: That punishments and rewards are causal effects of whether or not I observe the law. I just don't -- I can't -- see the world working this way. I can't believe in a God that operates in this manner, nor in a religious-legal system predicated on God doing so.
16:2-3 - So this is where Jewish whining comes from: "...and the children of Israel said unto [Moses and Aaron]: 'Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.'" Nice! But it makes me wonder: Why don't we talk about this during Passover? I think it would make a good subject: Why is it, just when we've gotten the greatest thing in the world (i.e., freedom), we complain and want more? I would think the haggadah should talk about this lessons in this...
16:13-15 - Another nomination for the "strangest verses in the Torah" award: God produces manna, apparently overnight, and in the morning, "when the layer of dew was gone up, behold upon the face of the wilderness a fine, scale-like thing, fine as the hoar-frost on the ground." Say what? Kehot translates this as follows:
When the sun rose and the layer of dew rose, behold, over the surface of the desert a thin substance that had been packed within the two layers of dew was exposed, as if the dew had been peeled back. It had a thin crust on top and was as fine as the frost on the ground. Underneath this was another layer of dew. This substance was thus protected by dew both above and below. Although dew usually descends from the atmosphere onto the earth, here, the dew miraculously rose from the ground.I still can't figure out what this is supposed to look like...
17:11-12 - Curious: When Moses physically lifts his hand on the hill top, Joshua and the Israelites prevail over the forces of Amalek. When Moses lowers his hand, though, Amalek prevails. As if to drive the point home that there is an actual connection between the position of Moses's hand and the fortune of the Israelites in battle, we read that "Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun." Why was this necessary? Why not just wave the staff once or some such thing? Seems like overkill.
17:14-16 - I don't get it. A couple mitzvot directly pertain to never forgetting what Amalek did and to destroy their seed...but what did they do that was so bad? This is it? Huh...
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> This must mean Joseph's mummy,
ReplyDeleteCorrect. According to the Midrash, each tribe took its founder's bones with it for reburial in Israel but because of Yosef's importance, Moshe Rabeinu himself attended to him.
> this is the first time we read in the Torah about something (a) supernatural/miraculous
What about a plague that selective knocks off first born males?
> Didn't we just read in 13:21 that it was "the LORD" that was doing the guiding?!?
The cloud moves behind the Israelite camp to blck the Egyptians from following them until they're well across the sea. Remember that at that point they don't need a supernatural guide. There's the path in the water directly ahead to follow.
> How was Moses able to sing about things that hadn't yet happened?
First of all, the Midrash tells us that as they sang, all the Israelites experienced prophecy. Now, prophecy in the vernacular is generally "I see in the future..." but in Jewish thought it's not about that but about communing with the essence of God. Thus they could be aware of what Pharoah was thinking, for example.
Another way to look at it is that what they said about Pharoah is obvious. After all, if he sent an army after the Israelites, what other reason could there be? It's also possible that before they crossed the sea the Egyptians shouted those exact same threats at them.
> Like speaking of the destruction of the peoples of the Promised Land in the past tense
In the Hebrew it's not the past tense and it doesn't speak about their destruction but their fear of what has just happened. Compare with the first few chapters of Joshua where Rahav describes how the locals felt upon hearing that the sea had split and the Israelites had left Egypt.
As for the idea of the Temple, no it doesn't mention the Temple specifically but the idea that God would choose a place on Earth as a central location, something standard to all religions in the MiddleEast at that time, thus something the Israelites would have assumed would be given to them once they reached Israel.
> That punishments and rewards are causal effects of whether or not I observe the law.
ReplyDeleteThis is an INCREDIBLY complex topic in Jewish law. The whole idea of reward-punishment has fascinated great Jewish minds for over 3000 years - look back as far as Shlomo HaMelech's musings in Koheles, for example. I can't give you a simple answer here but I can share some basics to start with:
1) Judaism accepts that there is "this world" and "the world to come". A person's soul moves from the former to the latter upon dying.
2) Any concept of reward and punishment for the mitzvos is based on understanding that reward and punishment may happen in this world or the next. So it's not a simple "I ate trief, here comes the lightning bolt" answer.
3) As (I think it's) Amos say, God has a special relationship with us. He has expectations and in return for us fufilling them by performing His mitzvos, He will shower us with goodness. If we fail to perform them, then the opposite occurs because we are taking His gifts and then misusing them.
Again, this is VERY simplistic and quick answer. I'm sorry about that.
> Why don't we talk about this during Passover?
Because it has nothing to do with Pesach. The hagaddah focuses on the sequence of events from the start of the slavery to the crossing of the sea and then ends. This event occured afterwards. Yes, there are important lessons to be learned about faith but they are not, strictly speaking, relevant to the hagaddah.
> I still can't figure out what this is supposed to look like...
ReplyDeleteI don't think anyone can. Sometimes I think of tofu but that's just me...
> As if to drive the point home that there is an actual connection between the position of Moses's hand and the fortune of the Israelites in battle
You must remember that the Jewish fight against Amalek occurs on both the physical and spiritual plane. Just as Yehoshua was leading the physical fight, the Israelites functioning as his soldiers, Moshe Rabeinu was leading the spiritual fight, Hur and Aharon functioning as his soldiers. It is also clear this is a battle they had to fight. One way of the staff and no lesson about standing up for oneself again this kind of an enemy would have been made.
From the way the Torah describes it, Amalek isn't just a nomadic desert tribe that was sensitive about Israel crossing its territory. First of all, its territory was far away near the Dead Sea so they made an effort to come and attack the Israelites. Further, there is a moral aspect to this. After the song of the sea describes all the folks living in Israel as terrified of the Israelites, Amalek comes and attacks? What gives? Amalek is therefore seen as the antithesis of the Godly nation, an eternal enemy dedicated to destroying that which God wishes to build in the world. Its continuing existence is therefore incompatible with the world progressing in the way its should.
I hope that helps.
Garnel, I've fallen a bit behind in responding to comments...but yours are worth taking the time to consider. I'll backtrack over the next few days to take them up...
ReplyDelete