Two Minutes of Torah: VeZot HaBracha (Deuteronomy 34:1-12) - Passing on the Baton

Parashat VeZot HaBracha
Passing on the Baton
(Deuteronomy 34:1-12)

Throughout my teenage years I was involved with RSY-Netzer (the Reform Jewish youth movement), and while at university I assumed various leadership roles in the movement. It was somewhat inevitable that when I completed my studies I went to work for RSY. The position was for one year. There were four of us, and we had just 365 days in which to run the movement. Following that we would hand over to the next cohort of office workers and our time in the youth movement would be at an end.

I had a great year. But as we reached the summer and my departure grew imminent there was a sense of frustration about what I had yet to achieve. I was not entirely ready to hand over and break my connection. It was not easy to say goodbye.

This week, in the final portion of our Torah, we have the ultimate goodbye as Moses bids farewell to the Israelites. Moses has known for sometime that he will not enter the Promised Land, and it is now that his separation from the Israelites, the people he has led for the last forty years is completed. The solitary walk up Mount Nebo marks his physical separation from the people – his community, with just God beside him. 'Moses went up from the steppes of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the summit of Pisgah, opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed him the whole land' (Deuteronomy 34:1).

It is hard to even imagine what Moses thought as he looked out upon the Promised Land, the land he had been journeying towards, the land he would not enter. What regrets did he have? What business was still unfinished? What dreams were yet to be fulfilled?

I like to think that from the top of Mount Nebo Moses looked forwards but also backwards. He looked down at the Israelite camp and the people he had led from slavery to freedom. He gazed upon the dwelling places of Israel and admired the progress they had made since leaving Egypt. He admired the community he had helped to build.

We may feel sympathy for Moses, but we know that the journey did not end with his death. As the Torah makes clear; 'now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom' (Deuteronomy 34:9). Moses had to pass the baton on to the next generation to continue the journey to the Promised Land. It is the same for all of us, eventually the baton is passed and the next generation assumes the mantle of leadership. It is not easy stepping back or stepping aside, but it is part of the cycle of life.

Two Minutes of Torah: Nitzavim-Vayelech (Deuteronomy 29:9-28) - Responsibility for the Future

There is a famous native American proverb: ‘We do not inherit the world from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.’ I have always been taken by this proverb and the idea within it. We are currently the guardians of the world, but we are also links in a chain which stretches backwards and forwards. Often this is stated in connection to the environment and the way in which we use and abuse the natural world. But it extends beyond that; with the massive government borrowing, which has taken place to combat the global economic downturn, we have debts which will be paid off by our children, and many commentators have talked about mortgaging our futures.

At my age I find myself in an interesting transitional stage. I used to relate to this proverb as one of the children from whom the world is borrowed. But as my friends begin having children, I am increasingly aware that I am part of the group currently possessing the world and borrowing it from our children. And as such I am beginning to relate differently to the world and my role in it.

In this week’s Torah portion we have a Jewish version of the proverb, as God reaffirms the covenant with the people, on the eve of entering the Promised Land. The text stresses that everyone was present, standing before God: “your tribal heads, your elders and your officials, all the men of Israel, your children, your wives, even the stranger within your camp, from woodchopper to waterdrawer” (Deuteronomy 29:9-10). However, it also includes: “I make this covenant, with its sanctions, not with you alone, 14 but both with those who are standing here with us this day before the Lord our God and with those who are not with us here this day” (Deuteronomy 29:13-14). The covenant reaches back to Abraham, but also includes future generations who will ultimately uphold the covenant and join it.

These future generations were not present at the agreeing of the covenant, they were unable to suggest any amendments or changes, their parents and their parent’s parents made the commitment for them – and essentially for us.

Today, while we may not be entering into covenants with God, we are the guardians of the Jewish tradition, and we will eventually pass our Judaism on to future generations. As inheritors of a Reform Jewish tradition we have the ability to engage and challenge what it means to be Jewish. My parents were born into a Judaism which lacked female Rabbis and was not fully egalitarian, by the time I was born there were women Rabbis, and increasing openness to all members of society regardless of gender or sexual orientation. What will the Reform Judaism that we pass on to our children look like?

We will never forget where we have come from, and we will respect and honour our traditions. But at the same time we must be true to our name Re-forming Judaism when it is necessary and important. This is not a covenant which we only make with God, it is a covenant which we must make with each other as members of our community, ensuring that we will protect our heritage so that we can be proud of what we pass on to our children.

The decisions we make will have implications for generations not yet born, and will determine what type of a Jewish community our children are born into. If we consider our Judaism as something we simultaneously inherit from our ancestors, while also borrowing it from our children we will be able to fashion a dynamic and engaging Reform Judaism.