Shoftim: In This New Year...

No, there wasn't anything wrong with your browser or your Internet connection; I haven't written a blog post for several weeks. I apologize. I needed a hiatus, a break, some time away, but it was ALWAYS my intention to return to Take on Torah on the other end. I hope I haven't lost you, dear readers - due to my absence online or any other reason. I should have put up an Away-message... but I didn't. I'm sorry. Right now, we are in the Jewish month of Elul, which begins the Season of Repentance and preparation for the High Holidays at the end of the month. So saying "I'm sorry" feels appropriate to the moment, and it also helps me transition into what I wanted to say to you this week, as my Take on Torah blog gets back on track and looks forward into this new year:

"I wish we could just go back to the way it was!" How often don't we hear this phrase, either uttered by someone around us or perhaps quietly whispered inside our own

heads. The past was stable, known, comfortable, and free of surprises. Well, at least in our nostalgic minds it was! And sometimes perhaps things WERE easier or simpler in a bygone era. Regardless, however, of whether we're excited, worried, eager, trepidatious, or feeling some amalgam of emotion; change is inevitable. "The way it was" is frozen in time (and in memory) and is returned to no more easily than it would be to time-travel and visit earth in the Jurassic Period. That isn't always easy to hear or to accept, but it IS true, and the Torah tries to express this sentiment to its readers, just as I'm saying it to you here.

I'll admit, the quote I am about to share is taken *slightly* out of context, but I'm invoking rabbinic license here! Our Torah portion, Shoftim, cautions our ancestors against appointing a king to rule over them. It's a bad idea... and it won't end well. Nevertheless, God acquiesces to their request for a regent, though with many stipulations, restrictions, and guidelines that must be followed. (And a few red flags to watch out for, as well...)

In the middle of this section, the Torah states: "Moreover, he [the king] shall not keep many horses or send people back to Egypt to add to his horses, since Adonai has warned you, “You must not go back that way again” (Deut. 17:16). Again, I will admit (sort of) that the context is referring to Egypt. And another reader might insist that what the text *means* is that no future king may sell his own subjects into bondage in Egypt, in exchange for personal enrichment. But isn't that oddly specific? I mean, our previous "visit" to Egypt wasn't because a king sold us to Pharaoh. So the origin is off. And why does the text emphasize that the monarch can't send people back in return for horses, as if other forms of wealth would be ok?? Or as if it would be fine to do so, as long as it was for the betterment of the country, for national security or communal prosperity. Would it be fine to behave this way, as long as the circumstances were different??

I hope you agree, that the answer is emphatically "NO!" The text isn't actually referring only to Egypt, nor to horses, or even to an unnamed king who will some day try to pummel you into submission. No, I believe it is actually offering us a universal truth:

You can't go back to the way things were. In fact, the Hebrew states, "Derech Ha-Zeh," which literally means "This road"; you can't go back down THIS path, attempting to retrace your steps or recapture some former glory. Life is about moving forward. Yes, we absolutely need to learn from the past, and grow wiser and more considerate with each new experience. We can mourn the past or celebrate that it's finally over. We can feel however we want about it, and those quiet voices inside us may STILL wish, wish, wish that time will move in reverse, and we can go back to "the good ol' days." Eventually, however, we have to face the reality that our only option is to move forward.

So as we prepare for the New Year, and endeavor to use our time in the month of Elul wisely, one concept we need to grapple with is, where are we heading? Is repentance about saying, "let's forget this ever happened!" Can we ever really reset, and just continue as if nothing changed? No, not really. Even Return, Teshuva in Hebrew, is actually about moving forward but with more contemplation, sensitivity, and humility. Learn from your own mistakes, as well as the mistakes of your leaders. We can't go back down a path once taken; but we can learn to tread a bit more carefully and conscientiously with every new step that we take. I'm sorry if that's hard to hear.


CC images in this blog post courtesy of:
1. ДиБгд on Wikimedia Commons
2. dimitrisvetsikas on Pixabay
3. CLcreate on Etsy
4. Fry1989 on Wikipedia