siyyum torah

[cellio]

On Shabbat mornings, in addition to the service, we have torah study. Rather than trying to cover the weekly portion (badly) in too little time, this group started with the first letter of the first book (B'reishit) 20 years ago (and a few months), and every week we pick up where we left off. Sometimes we spend weeks (occasionally months) on a passage before continuing. The beauty of this format is that we can stop and explore things when we want to.

Yesterday we finished, and had a big party (called a siyyum). We also started right back in at the end, because you're never really done. :-) I can tell that my rabbi is really pleased by the progress the group has made, and we got congratulatory letters from assorted important people, including Rabbi Eric Yoffie (head of the URJ). (Yeah, yeah, someone must have solicited those letters else how would the like of Rabbi Yoffie even know, but still... nice.)

Our newest rabbi coordinated the festivities, and he asked five congregants (one per book) to speak. I was the first one he asked, so when he said "pick your favorite book" I actually could, though the decision wasn't immediately obvious. (One favorite?) His instruction was: five minutes, talk about something in the book that speaks to me, involve specific text, and leave them with a question to discuss at the individual tables. Here's what I said:

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The book of Sh'mot chronicles Israel's journey from slavery to Paro to partnership with God. It's a remarkable story; it says to me that we can never sink so low, be so far out of touch, that we can't be redeemed. It says that we can choose a relationship with God, which particularly speaks to me as a convert. And being in a covenant with God is unusual, perhaps even unique among the religions of the region at the time. Other gods demanded obedience; ours issued an invitation. What a story!

Not only did God issue an invitation, but let's look at how the people responded. Upon their arrival at Har Sinai, before God spoke, the torah tells us:

Moses went up to God. God called to him from the mountain and said, 'This is what you must say to the family of Jacob and tell the Israelites: 'You saw what I did in Egypt, carrying you on eagles' wings and bringing you to Me. Now if you obey Me and keep My covenant, you shall be My special treasure among all nations, even though all the world is Mine. You will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation to Me.' These are the words that you must relate to the Israelites.'

Moses came [back] and summoned the elders of the people, conveying to them all that God had said. All the people answered as one and said, 'All that God has spoken, we will do.' Moses brought the people's reply back to God.

Did the people just sign a blank check? They don't even know what God will demand in this covenant, and yet they agree to it. How many of us are willing to do that? Anyone?

Now let me ask this: how many of us have ever installed software on our computers and just clicked "I accept" on the license agreement? Show of hands? And how many of us have signed a mortgage agreement or credit-card application without reading every word?

Why is that? Do we trust Bill Gates and MasterCard more than we trust God?

But maybe that's not fair: in these cases we have the documents available, unlike when the people spoke at Sinai. Ok, we have them, but do we understand what they say? I actually did read every word of my mortgage agreement before signing it (the realtor thought I was a freak), but I certainly wouldn't say that I fully understood it.

The people make another affirmation after Moshe comes down from the mountain:

He took the book of the covenant and read it aloud to the people. They replied, 'We will do and we will hear all that God has declared.'

"We will do and we will hear" -- na'aseh v'nishma. The rabbis pick up on the order of the words: we will do first, even if we don't yet understand. And it's pretty clear that most people don't intuitively understand the whole torah even after reading it cover to cover, or we wouldn't have such a rich body of commentary and interpretation.

Na'aseh v'nishma. We do, but we also hear. We wouldn't be celebrating today if we weren't willing to hear, to inquire, to study. Both the doing and the hearing are important.

This idea of doing, even without full understanding, speaks to me, which came as a surprise. I try to be a rational sort; I want to know what I'm signing up for and how things work before I commit. But this text says to me: maybe you don't have to be that strict all the time. Maybe you can trust a little more and be open to exploration. Maybe you'll like the results.

Today our community doesn't necessarily speak with one voice. We are each free to seek our own relationship, our own covenant, with God. Rather than na'aseh v'nishma, "we will do and we will hear", we can cast this as e'eseh v'eshma, "I will do and I will hear".

What will I do and hear?

The torah gives instruction in many areas. Sometimes we might think of it as being mostly about ritual, but it also speaks of treating others fairly, of respecting parents, of speaking the truth, of not taking advantage of the weak, of resting one day in seven. The aseret ha-dibrot, the "ten commandments", focus more on how we treat each other than on how we treat God, though both are important. And there's a lot more than just those ten to work with; we have the whole torah. We certainly don't understand it all, but that's the beauty of e'essh v'eshma -- we don't have to understand it all before we can do any of it.

So the question I leave you with today is this: what would it take for you to be willing to say e'eseh v'eshma, I will do and I will hear, and what might you be willing to say it about?

Comments

[cellio]

In as much as Gates (as a merchant of items) has an obvious and comprehensible economic incentive not to screw over his customers too much, or even to appear to be doing so, lest they stop buying his products.

Really? At this point (as opposed to when they were starting out), do you think either customer base could really be cracked?

God doesn't have to fear bankruptcy, law, or anything else really, and trying to apply human motives doesn't work. It's not that Gates is trusted more than God, but rather that the required trust is far lower because of their differing situations.

Or, perhaps, that their power to affect you is more limited. That's fair.

[dvarin.livejournal.com]

do you think either customer base could really be cracked?

Cracked is the wrong term--I'm not sure how well a third party could lure customers away, but it's definitely the case that MS could lose them. There was some of that when Vista came out, with businesses just refusing to upgrade. But really, almost by definition, they can't do anything beyond their customers' tolerance. For an exaggerated example, they can't add to the contract a right to copy everybody's hard drive back to MS HQ for data analysis and later select public exposition.

their power to affect you is more limited.
Also, your power of revenge is greater. Even though Gates is extremely well defended, God is outright immune.