HeritageandHistory Zurich

“Nachamu, nachamu ami…” I still haven’t forgotten that melody. It is from this coming Shabbat’s Haftarah, Shabbat Nachamu. The Shabbat on which, 39 years ago, I celebrated my Bar Mitzvah. You don’t need to do much math: I turned 52 – 4 times Bar Mitzvah this week. This melody and these first three words of Isaiah, which begs that his people be comforted by the tragedy of the destruction of the Temple, I may never forget.

In the book of Devarim – words, the words that Moses addressed to the people – the saga of the Israelites is repeated, the laws of God are remembered, ratified and extended, and in this parsha Vaet’chanan the peculiar foundation of this nation among other peoples is emphasized: the Israelites have a single God and are, with this single God, partners in Creation, responsible for each other and for everything that inhabits the Earth.

From a historical perspective, the Torah today is made up of five books, but possibly four until the book of Devarim was included. Commonly known and published as the Law of Moses, it is not Moses’s! Moses was, in his greatness and tireless disposition and availability, the one who united the displaced people in the land of Egypt to God. He led the Israelites back to the Promised Land. More than that, he led the Israelites back to the one God and His Law.

Nothing is more obvious, conclusive and imperative than, when the people are prepared to actually enter the Promised Land, according to the biblical text, that it is the words of Moses that inspire, educate and frame them. Nowadays, nothing works better on the internet than a meme with a catchphrase signed by a renowned author or even Socrates!

Still from a historical perspective, the book of Devarim was included with the other four when the people needed it most. And education. It is believed that the Israelites were straying from the concept of the one God. And, without this fundamental concept, Judaism was and is still at risk. And Vaet’chanan has an essential role here.

“Shema Israel, Adonai Elohêinu, Adonai Echad”, we read in Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4. And the text continues with the Ve’ahavta, which is so familiar to us. Generations of Jews learn and rehearse this excerpt for their big moment on the bimah. And we listen and recite tirelessly. Verse 5: “You will love the Eternal with all your soul and with all your strength” (Veahavta et Adonai Elohaicha bechol-levavcha uvechol-nafshacha uvechol-meodecha). Verse 6: “Take to heart these instructions/words that I command you today.” (Vehaiu hadvarim haele Asher anochi metsavcha haiom al-levavecha). And 7: “Engrave them upon your children. Recite them when you are at home and when you are away, when you go to bed and when you get up.” (Veshinantam levanecha vedibarta bam beshivtecha bebeitacha uvelechtecha vaderech uveshochbecha uvekumecha)

Engrave, mint, leave marked – Veshinantam! The repetition and transmission of the Torah are fundamental to the Israelite nation. This is what we do today, in our Minyan on Thursdays, and every time we gather, we recite, read from the Torah, teach, learn. It is our source of fundamental knowledge about Judaism, its central stories, festivities and values. It is the Torah, among us, that carries the Crown!

In the series “The Crown” about the history and ascension of Queen Elizabeth II to the throne of England, she resolves a practical issue at the beginning of her reign, still very young, appealing to a lesson she had learned in her preparation classes in adolescence to take over as monarch. (Elizabeth II also took “Bat Mitzvah” classes, in her case, the study of the English Constitution.) She wrote down in a notebook a basic philosophical concept by Walter Bagehot, described in his 1867 book “The English Constitution”, that a constitution needs two partners, “one to instigate and preserve the reverence of the nation” (the worthy) and the other to “employ that reverence in the work of government” (the efficient). The monarch, the Queen, who bears the Crown, is the worthy partner, and the government cabinet, the efficient partner.

This endless reading of the Torah is, in my opinion, an incessant exercise in extracting its core, its most visceral and essential part.

Our Law, the Torah, carries the Crown, it is our dignified partner. And we, all of us, without exception, without hierarchy, without privileges, are the efficient partner. And as the efficient partner, the one who, in this world, executes the Law of God, we revisit the text throughout our lives – from Simchat Torah to Simchat Torah – and, infinitely, throughout the generations. This endless reading of the Torah is, in my opinion, an incessant exercise in extracting its core, its most visceral and essential part.

Asher Gulak, a Lithuanian historian of Jewish law, became one of the founders of the modern discipline of Jewish Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Gulak attributed the survival of Jewish law through the ages, even in the absence of an organized Jewish government, to “the foundations of faith and justice upon which it is established.” Gulak comments on the special connection that Jews draw between law and ethics. For Gulak, law is primarily enacted and enforced by a sovereign using power, or “external sanction.” In this view, we follow the laws, even when we don’t do so wholeheartedly, because they are enforced. On the other hand, ethical action reflects what must be done and is driven by internal compulsion rather than external force. Gulak suggests that one of the distinctions of Jewish law is the sense that both Jewish law and ethics originate from the same source. He writes: “[Jewish] Law does not derive from sovereignty or government, and its central value is not the maintenance of a regime or government.” According to him, “this explains why Jewish Law concerns individuals and the justice of their actions much more than social governance and its institution.”

In modern history, Reform Judaism brought a different but not unusual perspective to Jewish law. In moments prior to or concomitant with the emergence of the Reform more than 200 years ago, other movements, currents, charismatic manifestations, rabbis, rabbinic councils were already re-weaving the delicate threads of the application of Jewish Law – of Halachah – in treaties, compendiums, responses and interpretations. (Indeed, this is what we have been doing since the Law was accepted by us.)

I am delighted that Reform Judaism recognizes and reaffirms that the Torah is the unitary principle of the law, but does not ignore the fact that human hands shaped the Torah and that human contributions were made in its development. In light of this perspective, Reform Judaism distinguishes between varying laws and gives priority to moral norms over ritual demands. Still, the Reform always considers its practices and perspectives guided by the biblical injunction: everything we do must be fair, as justice is God’s will.

Preparing for this reflection, I learned a little more about my own parsha. But I realize that, in a way, I and the generations that preceded me were engraved, coined by words, by Devarim. And I wonder, if we here, when we study, listen or speak, if we are just bringing a new color to the day, to the weekend, or are we allowing ourselves to be coined – veshinantam – by the essence of an ethical life, whose laws can and must be renewed, re-woven and adapted to contemporary life.