Torah Interpretation דברי תורה
I Wanted to be an Arab City: My 50th anniversary Bar Mitzva Speech • Deutoronomy 31:22
My original bar mitzvah took place at Beth Tzedec synagogue on September 26, 1970, when I chanted the same VaYelech Torah portion, and the same Isaiah haftarah; and afterwards, before the sit-down Kiddush luncheon, I gave a short speech, which I wrote myself...“Rabbi Rosenberg, honored guests; all my life I wanted to be an Arab city. When I was four, I wanted to be Cairo; when I was eight, I wanted to be Damascus; and perhaps when I am 18, I will want to be Baghdad. But today - today is my bar mitzvah. Today, I am - Amman.”But of course in reality, I was not a man. I was 13 years old. I was in Grade 8.
Standing, as the river at the Ford of Jabbok,and your fleeing heart, and your deceitful talk, are flowing.Messengers sent, arrive, return from the place of Red, to where you return,
to the land where you are going.You’re a lord, you’re a servant, you’re the younger brother in fact And your story is revealed in the words you speak, and how you act.
Jacob as Israel redefined: Strive-with-beings-human-and-divineOh! Jacob, Isaac’s son.
Creation of Man and Woman, and of Marriage • Bereisheet ב א / Genesis I, II
Bereisheet, the very first chapter in the Torah, is an immensely deep and rich text, with many fascinating sub-plots, and a correspondingly enormous amount of interpretation through the ages. But in honour of the aufruf, I would like to focus today on the creation of man and woman, and the creation of marriage.Under the chuppah, the bride will circle the groom seven times, and some say it symbolizes the seven days of creation, because the bride and groom are creating a new world together.And under the chuppah, there will be recited the sheva brachot, the seven blessings of marriage, also reflecting the seven days of creation. And in 5 of these blessings is the word Boreh, Barah – “creation”; or Yotzer, or Yatzar, which also means “to create”.
Choosing a path of interpretation • b’Shallach • Exodus 13-17
Every Friday night, at Kiddush, we say: “Zecher leYitziyat mitzrayim” “in remembrance of our going out of Egypt”. And this is it! This is the founding myth of Jewish peoplehood. It is just after Exodus, the big event of Passover, and the Israelites are leaving Egypt. “... Now when Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, although it was nearer; for God said [not to anyone in particular, God just said]: “The people may have a change of heart when they see war, and return to Egypt.” So God led the people roundabout, by way of the wilderness at the Sea of Reeds... Lots of plot! Lots of causation! Wild swings of mood, from triumph at departing, to panic at the sea, to exultation at deliverance, to grumbling at the difficulties. Liberation, looming catastrophe, victory, thirst, hunger, war, remembrance.Our tradition is to read our texts, and to interpret them.
Parshat Vayigash begins in the middle of the drama. Fearing the worst, the eleven sons of Jacob are all gathered before the vice-regent of Egypt, who unbeknownst to them, is their own brother, Joseph. Innocent Benjamin, the youngest brother, who never speaks – and who some identify as a child with special needs – has been framed for a crime he did not commit. Judah pleads not to take Benjamin as a slave, but instead to take himself, Judah, else it would break the heart of their aging father. Now comes the climactic moment, one of the most dramatic scenes in literature, when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. Joseph weeps, so loud that all Egypt hears, and he says: “I am Joseph. Does my father yet live?” Seeing his brothers still afraid, Joseph provides a reassuring interpretation, and says: “It was not you who sent me to Egypt, it was to save life that God sent me here ahead of you.” Joseph crying, and his interpretive speech of self-revelation to his brothers, is the climax of the Joseph story, and, I would argue, the climax of the entire Book of Beresheet, for three reasons: First, the great drama of the story itself; second, it marks the completion of the main arc of narrative of the Book of Genesis; and third, by using interpretation of prophecy to give meaning to his brother’s human actions, Joseph provides a central motif in the structure of Jewish identity: and with that “interpretation of prophecy”, the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob come into history; the children of Jacob become B’nai Yisrael, the Israelites.
We reconfigured Temple ruins:Dug concept wells, filled thought lagoons.The sacred words we set to tunes:dayenu
We offered up our smokeless praise:Acrostic hymns, in rhymed word plays,In our trademark tongue, our standard phrase:dayenu
We stained a sea of pages, linedwith how to search for what we find. Built great cathedrals of the mind.dayenu
The year of inquisition’s painColumbus sailed the sea’s blue stainWe sang upon the Spanish plain:dayenu
The fidelity of our virgin looksEach first time we re-read our books.Stone soup made by mystic cooks.dayenu
Regenerate in every ageA poet, leader, scribe or sageput ink-black words on moon-white page:dayenu
Since Weimar we’ve never had so goodin thousand oaks and forest woodin ivy leagues and hollywooddayenu
Beyond the Pale, outside the foldour outstretched reach exceeds our holdA parking spot on the streets of gold.dayenu
We offered up our smokeless praise:Acrostic hymns, in rhymed word plays,In our trademark tongue, our standard phrase:dayenu
We stained a sea of pages, linedwith how to search for what we find. Built great cathedrals of the mind.dayenu
The year of inquisition’s painColumbus sailed the sea’s blue stainWe sang upon the Spanish plain:dayenu
The fidelity of our virgin looksEach first time we re-read our books.Stone soup made by mystic cooks.dayenu
Regenerate in every ageA poet, leader, scribe or sageput ink-black words on moon-white page:dayenu
Since Weimar we’ve never had so goodin thousand oaks and forest woodin ivy leagues and hollywooddayenu
Beyond the Pale, outside the foldour outstretched reach exceeds our holdA parking spot on the streets of gold.dayenu