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Gerry Kaplan Irvin Kappy
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Nancy Welber Barr
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70 Detroit Jewish News
The Many Contradictions
In Our Lives As Jews
Oops. Moses was dead wrong,
wasn't he?
Ah, but the contradictions are the
warp and woof of the Torah tapestry.
Reading it alertly is like catching a
butterfly, letting it go, and seeing its
presence still in your hand. The peo-
ple are holy, but sinful. They act like
slaves, but they merit the theophany
at Sinai. They eagerly accept God's
by has the wording of
commandments, yet they go after
other gods.
the blessing adopted
the second and third
They want to hear Moses because
person? "The fact that
hearing from God directly is too
[God] exists is revealed; His
much, but they challenge
true nature is completely
Moses' leadership. They cry
veiled. To impress these fun-
in slavery; they complain in
damental principles in our
freedom.
souls, the blessings were so
What's wrong with
instituted as to contain both .
them? Why can t they be
forms of expression — the
like characters in a novel?
exposed and the hidden." —
We can cope with complex-
The Rashba, quoted by B.
ity, even unpredictability;
S. Jacobson, Meditations on
but this complete inconsis-
the Siddur (1- .1 Aviv, 1966,
tency just makes no sense.
p. 62).
Yet the contradictions
JOE LE WIS
The Torah is like life, full
we
have seen are minor
Special to
of contradictions, not like
when
set against a third
The Jewish News
art, which creates a consis-
contradiction, ingrained in
tent universe. Vayelech is a
the language of the Torah,
perfect example, and it shows the
which brings together past and
powerful religious truth of artistic
future.
imperfection.
Look at the first word,
Moses begins by stepping out to
"Vayelech." Here is the "vav conver-
make his big announcement: It's his
sive" of biblical grammar: To make a
birthday; he's 120, and he won't be
past tense, you take the future and
able to get about any more (31:1-2).
stick vav — "and" — in front of it.
He makes himself sound old and
"And he will go" becomes "and he
decrepit but that seems impossible.
went;" the conjunctive particle fuses
As Rashi points out, we're told
two opposites, past and future. It is a
Moses was full of vigor until his
trick of Torah grammar, so familiar
death. Still, there's a lingering sense
we barely notice it; yet here and else-
that this hale and hearty old fellow is
where its meaning may deserve care-
announcing his infirmity.
ful attention.
The next contradiction is more
T. S. Eliot wrote, "Time present
troublesome. Don't worry, Moses
and time past / Are both perhaps
tells Joshua; you'll enter the Land,
present in time future, / And time
and God will be with you: "Keep
future contained in time past."
your chin up because you're going to
Which just goes to prove that
bring this people to the land. 'And
English can be as difficult to under-
stand as Hebrew.
God — he's walking in front of you
— he'll be with you; he won't let you
No, seriously: Eliot simply specu-
go or leave you" (31:7-8).
lates that tomorrow, as we look back
God, on the other hand, is plan-
on today's chicken dinner and yester-
ning the exact opposite. The people
day's vegetarian tart, we will see a
will stray after other gods, and God
distinction in time between one meal
will be furious: "The people will
and the other. Both will be present,
leave me and break my contract and
settled around our waist. The passing
I will leave them and hide my face
from them" (31:16-17).
Shabbat Vayelech:
Deuteronomy 31:1-30;
Hosea 14:2-10; Micah
7:18-20; Joel 2:15-27.
'
Please complete and return this form to Nitzana York,
Jewish Family Service • 24123 Greenfield • Southfield, MI 48075
Name
Torah Portion
Joe Lewis is a consultant in communi-
cations and technology, and teaches for
the University of Phoenix Michigan
Campus and Congregation Beth
Shalom' religious school.
Conversations
Does God tell the truth? Does
Moses tell the truth? Do people
(children and their parents) tell
the truth?
c7)