Shabbat short takes

[cellio]

Friday night we had a service to honor our congregation's veterans. It was very moving, including some memories from as far back as WWII. I was surprised to learn how many veterans we have, and those just the ones who responded to a request to self-identify. Seeing a good number of them there, some in uniform (or at least parts thereof), felt indescribably special.

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Thought from the beit midrash (study session) after morning services: "sh'ma yisrael..." (ending "God is one") is a core tenet of Judaism and prominent in liturgy. We say this all the time. And toward the end of every service we say Aleinu, which says of the messianic era: on that day God will be one. I've wondered about the contradiction for a while and still have no answer after this discussion. Understanding this as "on that day everybody will finally agree that God is one" doesn't feel quite right to me. Does this bother anybody else?

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I heard an excellent d'var torah from a fellow congregant Saturday that I've been meaning to write about, but this short note will have to do for now. The torah tells us that Yaakov loved Rachel pretty much right away, enough that he was willing to work an extra seven years to marry her after Lavan pulled a switch under the wedding canopy and slipped Leah in in Rachel's place. But the torah never actually gives us any reason to believe that she loved him. Did she? If she didn't love him, she might have been willing to help in that switch. The midrash says that she taught Leah the secret signs that she was supposed to make so that Yaakov would know it was here; the midrash's explanation of this is that Rachel was sparing Leah's honor, but another explanation might be possible as well. Interesting idea that had not occurred to me before.

Comments

[hlinspjalda.livejournal.com]

on that day God will be one

Yes, I used to wonder about that one a lot. Nowadays I tend to interpret it as referring to a time in the future when the separation of Adonai and Shekhinah will be ended. I suppose I picked that up from the chasidim, maybe Nachman of Bratslav?

[zevabe.livejournal.com]

In fact, in all of Tanach there is only one woman who is said to love her husband. It is Michal bat Shaul.

I have often wondered what motivates the Midrash to tell us that they set up signs, but Rachel gave Leah the signs.

[dsrtao]

On Aleinu: I think it refers to the disappearance of all other religions, actually.

[baron-steffan.livejournal.com]

Certainly the Torah acknowledges the existence, and the worship, of other gods (albeit perhaps with the understanding that they are "false gods"). The real God is one. Now, that statement has many meanings. First, there is only one real God. Second, there is only one God for us. Third, the only real God is unitary: none of this triune business from the Catholics (and Wiccans, perhaps). Fourth, I agree with hlinspjalda that it may refer to the wish for the unification of God and the Shekhina (which, I admit, rather contradicts the last). And finally...that although we know all this to be true, the rest of the world does not...but someday they will, and on that day, "God will be One"...in all senses.