The Torah does not define Shavuot as “the time giving of our
Torah,” and does not specify an exact date for the revelation at Mount Sinai.
The rabbis calculated the date based on Exodus chapter 19, that begins the
Shavuot Torah reading: “In the third month after the exodus of the children of
Israel from the land of Egypt, on this day, they came to the wilderness of
Sinai (verse 1).”[1] Rashi
focuses his commentary on one seemingly simple word “this”: “It ought to read ‘on
that day,’ what does ‘on this day’ mean? It implies that the words of Torah
should be new to you each day, as if God gave them today.” Every day we must
receive and study the Torah the same excitement as we receive a valuable gift.
Without honest and engaged reading, Torah loses its vitality, and contracts.
In that spirit, I would like to look at the verses in which the
Torah does describe Shavuot, Leviticus chapter 23:16-22. The beginning of the
section is familiar to many because it is sung before counting the Omer: “You
shall count until the day after the seventh Sabbath: fifty days. And you shall
bring forward a new grain offering to the Eternal.”
The text goes on to command bringing the firstfruits, lists the sacrifices of
the day and concludes, “And when you reap your land’s harvest, you shall not
finish your field’s corner when you harvest, and you shall not gather your
harvest’s gleaning. You shall leave them for the poor and for the alien. I am
the Eternal, your God.” What does
the agricultural gifts have to do with Shavuot?
In an agricultural society like the one in which the Torah was
first heard, connection is clear. The verse is meant to remind landholders,
successful farmers of means that their obligations do not end with bringing
offerings to God in the Temple, rather they must also take care of less
fortunate closer to home.
For us, it is an invitation to study these commandments with new
eyes and interpret the Torah being given today in our very different
social/economic reality. The landowner – for example, Boaz – who farms and
leaves the mandated agricultural gifts for the poor – for example, Ruth and
Naomi – supports the needy every time he produces food for himself and his
household. How can we translate this commandment to our commercial food supply
system? If we were to forget a particular item in the supermarket, it would not
help anybody. I first wrote that sentence nearly 18 years ago. I claimed then,
and I claim now, that we must invert the commandment 180°. Instead of
forgetting and leaving, we should remember and take (buy) extra food every time
we shop, and then remember to donate the extra item to the needy, either by
placing it in the basket for Melo Hatenne (a volunteer organization that
distributes food baskets to the needy in Kfar Saba once a week) near the door
to the small garden, or through some other channel.
That indeed has been my practice ever since but the Torah is given
new every day, and I have learned some things in the interim. First, from the
reports of Leket Israel, I have learned about the tremendous quantity of food
that is lost and wasted in Israel every year, and the relatively easy and
inexpensive ways it could be saved and transferred to the needy. Leket is
indeed doing excellent work saving food, and seeing that it reaches the people
who need it. But their efforts and those of other organizations, no matter how
successful, cannot change things on the systemic, national level.
Which leads me to the second thing that I have learned, from Rabbi
Dr. Ariel Picard.[2] The
systemic level is indeed a concern of Torah in our day. Picard approaches
questions like mine, about keeping the commandments concerning gifts to the
poor with a far broader perspective, focused on the structural differences
between the biblical world and our world. The difference between most eras
before the Industrial Revolution and those thereafter are not merely industrial
and technological. The pre-industrial economy was based on relationships
between individuals, living under a sovereign, usually a king, who did not get
involved in economic management so long as taxes flowed into his treasury. In
that world, the Torah established system that functions on level of the
individual and family.
Today, citizens are sovereign and exert their sovereignty through
national mechanisms that play a key role in managing society and the economy.
Picard wrote:[3]
It is impossible
to learn from halakha how to actually maintain a just and equitable
society in our times. Jewish tradition throughout the ages can give us sources
of inspiration and fundamental directions, but not a relevant state policy. This
is the deep meaning of the concept of “Torah speaks in human language.” Human
language is not only words but also cultural, historical and social contexts.
On the immediate, personal level, I do not see a replacement for
donating food and money. We must allow people to be hungry while we look for
systemic solutions to the loss of food, ensuring healthy nutrition for the
entire population and distributive justice generally.
But,
we must not fool ourselves into thinking that donations are enough. Torah that
speaks in human language must strive for systemic economic solutions,
particularly now that we are sovereign people in our own land. I do not know
what the solutions are, but I have no doubt that we are obligated to seek them
out.
Shoshana Michael Zucker, Hod veHadar
[1]
Biblical verses translated by Richard Elliott Friedman, Commentary on the
Torah.
[2]
Director of the Kogod Research Center for Contemporary Jewish Thought at
the Shalom Hartman Institute
[3]
Published in the Shabbat supplement, Makor Rishon, 15 Av 5775,
31.7.2015 http://tinyurl.com/jdde6sq
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