Next week (July 25) with Jason Feddy and Noah Novick
Sunday morning,
July 18 at 10-11:30am PATHWAYS INTO JUDAISM Rabbis Noam Raucher and Marcia Tilchin invite you to join them Sunday mornings for a 20-week survey course on all things Jewish. Perfect for most of us who forgot what we learned as kids in Hebrew School. Registration is open and “rolling.” Learn more about this new program and RSVP HERE.
Tuesday, July 18 at 10am ADVANCED LEARNING INSTITUTE This week we will begin our learning with Dr. Reinhard Krauss who will lead a discussion of the film Same God. To view the film in advance, click hereto receive a free screening pass. Our discussion will address timely issues raised in the documentary. New students always welcome.
Sunday, July 19 through Thursday, July 23 at 6pm OC Egal An inclusive nightly, minha / ma'ariv service on Zoom. CLICK HEREto sign up.
Text reminders are sent to enrolled participants 30 minutes prior to each service. Last minute zoomers welcome!
It's more than a minyan.
It's a MITZVAH!
The Orange County Jewish Coalition for Refugees and the Jewish Justice Advocates of Temple Beth El are proud to join the Jewish Collaborative to co-host this special evening connecting Tisha B'Av to the refugee experience. Register here to join us online.
IKARON offers concierge Jewish learning for children grades K-6. Classes include in-person or online options. IKARON sessions for the 2020-2021 school year will begin the week of September 14th.
Two Endings to the Torah “These are the commandments and regulations that the Lord enjoined upon the Israelites, through Moses, on the steppes of Moab, at the Jordan near Jericho.” (Numbers 36:7)
“Never again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moses – whom the Lord singled out face to face, for the various signs and portents that the Lord sent him to display in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his courtiers and his whole country, and for all the great might and awesome power that Moses displayed before all Israel.” (Deuteronomy 34: 10-12)
The concluding parashah of Numbers (Mas’ei) brings Israel to the threshold of the Promised Land. From a logistical vantage point, it is the conclusion of the Torah narrative. The fifth book of the Torah – Deuteronomy - is Moses’ final oration – his interpretation and summation of the Israelite journey from liberation to the precipice of independence on the steppes of Moab.
The juxtaposition of these two different conclusions to the same story (in this case, the manifestation of how Israel became a nation that forged a relationship with a Redeeming God) is emblematic of how we measure any closure or transition – of a life, a business, a school and more. For example, while the structural details of our lives - where we were born, our place in family birth order, our schooling and work histories, etc… - are essential to painting an accurate narrative, in no way do they tell the whole story about us. In fact, they are merely the frame upon which we paint our truths.
The end of Numbers, beginning with chapter 33, reads like a AAA triptik (remember those?), beginning with: “They set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day ….” And ending with: “They encamped by the Jordan from Beth-jesimoth as far as Abel-shittim, in the steppes of Moab” (Numbers 33:3-49). The final book of the Torah, on the other hand, is an emotional rendering of Israelite truth as told through Moses’ eyes.
Moses appears to begin his Deuteronomic oration rather calmly. As he's preaching to the Israelites, by verse 9 of chapter 1, he becomes, at times, overcome with emotion and/or desperate rage. We see this fluctuation throughout the entire book, as he recounts his experience as God’s agent to shepherd the Israelites from slavery in Egypt to true freedom in the Promised Land.
That is the sum of it. Life is a constant dance between “the actual thing” or “factual detail” (in this case the closing chapters of the Book of Numbers) and the “meaning that it holds” for the person who values or remembers it (Deuteronomy).
As Jews, our memories are our greatest treasures. If the Torah (literally “Instruction”) had ended with Numbers, Judaism would have faded away in a matter of time. The fact that it ends with Moses’ interpretation of what happened teaches us that, to keep something alive and relevant is to remember it, get upset about it, wrestle with it, love it, cry over it, and make it our own. In Deuteronomy, Moses makes the Torah his story. After him, Joshua does the same. After Joshua, the community Elders, followed by the Prophets and ultimately the Rabbis.
After the destruction of the Temple, the rabbinic enterprise structured a system by which any person in any generation can learn “the facts or details” of Jewish memory, internalize them and pass then to the next generation. With Moses as our model, that is both our task and our privilege.
Shabbat Shalom u’mevorakh –
Rabbi Marcia Tilchin
The Jewish Collaborative of Orange County innovates, supports and collaborates on community programming that enriches the landscape of OC Jewish life and encourages individuals, couples and families to connect their passions and purpose with Judaism.
Jewish Collaborative of Orange County 2200 San Joaquin Hills Rd. Newport Beach, CA 92660
