Friday, September 14, 2018

The Teaching - D'var Torah - Parashat Vayeilech - September 14, 2018


 From 2001 to 2006, I taught a spring semester course in Sociology of Religion at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas.   I had been asked to teach that course because I had majored in Sociology in college at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana.   The Sociology department head was a congregant at my Temple, and they needed someone to fill in at the last minute because the usual instructor had taken a leave of absence.    I had only a week to prepare the course after a quick look at the textbook.  
    I settled into the course rather quickly.   One of the assignments I gave my students was to go to a house of worship or a gathering of a faith group not their own in order to observe and to report on what they witnessed.   I would ask them note how the group expressed their core beliefs, what symbols were central to the worship experience, how people present were personally acknowledged, which rituals involved participation of worshippers and which involved a leader presenting a core message, and how social ties were created before, during and after the service.    For me, it was an exercise not only in teaching, but in self-reflection.  Every Shabbat, I would keep this assignment in mind as our worship at my congregation, and our post-service reception, the Oneg Shabbat, unfolded.  
   We can easily engage in this type of observation in the present day.  Sometimes ancient texts describe in some detail rituals and customs from the past.   The Torah reading for this Shabbat from the book of Deuteronomy does just that, in its own way. 
    It is really difficult to know when this passage originated.  Traditionalists would say that God gave it to Moses on Mount Sinai, well before this scene prior to crossing into Canaan ever materialized.   Some scholars would say that the whole book of Deuteronomy was nearly identical to a “Book of the Teaching of Moses” that was found in the Temple in Jerusalem in 621 BCE during the reign of King Josiah.   Other commentators would date this section to 100 to 200 years after that.   
    The date may not really matter at all.  What is important is that this scene portraying a special ritual, with community values proclaimed before the people, depicts ancient practices that are quite similar to what we do now in our respective congregations.
      First, the people were gathered together into one place. There was not yet a Temple, given that the Israelites seem to have been witnessing Moses’ farewell speech in an outdoor setting, likely near their Tent of Meeting that they set up in the wilderness.
    Second, there was a sermon.  If you look only at this section, it was a very short sermon.  If you count the entire book of Deuteronomy as Moses’ speech, well, it was much, much longer!   With Moses about to conclude his time as leader of the Israelites, passing the torch to Joshua, he knew that he had to reassure his people and offer them a sense of security that would outlast his presence with them.    So he told them to be strong and resolute.  He declared that God would be with them wherever they would go.    In those moments, he used his words to bestow his spirit upon them in a way that would preserve his legacy.  
   Third, the leader’s message was put into writing.  As I already mentioned, we are not sure if “this Teaching” that Moses wrote down was this short section or the whole book of Deuteronomy.  It might have even been the entire Torah, from Genesis through Deuteronomy.   In any case, it was written down so it could be read again and again.  Similarly, these days, most any clergy person saves his or her messages of all types in writing or online, because they embody the essence of who he or she is and what he or she believes. 
    Fourth, there were other leaders involved in the ritual, who would read the Teaching they received from Moses in the future at a set time - in this case, that was to be every seven years at the time of the fall harvest festival, the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles, called in Hebrew SUKKOT.   And it would not be in that place that the Teaching was originally read – to the east of the Jordan River -- but in a place that God would choose after the Israelites had settled across the Jordan. 
    Fifth, there was a symbol that was a focal point for the people: the Ark of the Covenant.   It signified the teachings that the people would continue to study in future.  The Ark reminded them that God was with them.  
   Sixth, this section gave specific instructions regarding who should listen to the Teaching being read every seven years.  The directions were crystal clear: “Gather the people—men, women, children, and the strangers in your communities—that they may hear and so learn to revere the Eternal your God and to observe faithfully every word of this Teaching.”  It was a worship experience that included religious education among community members and for anyone who was curious and happened to be in the vicinity.  The focus, though, seemed to be on assuring that the children, who hadn’t personally lived through the Exodus from Egypt and all those years in the desert, would be able to teach their children and grandchildren the stories from their past and the values that were most important for their people. 
     So this passage from the Torah sets a pattern for a gathering of people for prayer and study that we still follow today.   I believe that it also sends us a crucial message: that we should be strong and resolute, or courageous, about taking a stand for our own beliefs, and that we should see the value in joining with many people to reflect on such a text together, not just in our congregations, but across a variety of faith groups.   If we see our whole community as being gathered together as one - men, women, and children - we may just have a chance to truly reach a promised land, a future filled with mutual respect, with understanding, with hope, and with peace.  

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