Tetzaveh: A Different Way to Attack a Problem

Sometimes things that seem so simple are far more complex under the surface. It's true in our modern world, and it was also the reality in the ancient world of the Bible. I'll use one example that clearly bridges 

the gap between our ancestors and today: politics. In our Torah portion, we learn of the installment of the High Priest, Aaron. He was the top religious leader in the community, but also a political player in the community. Our Torah portion clearly states, "You [Moses] shall bring forward your brother Aaron, with his sons, from among the Israelites, to serve Me as priests" (Exodus 28:1). It also follows this up by saying, "The sacral vestments of Aaron shall pass on to his descendants after him, for them to be anointed and ordained in" (Ex. 29:29). Pretty straight-forward, right? You avoid conflicts by making it SUPER clear who the leader is and who shall be the successor - there's nothing there for anyone to challenge, right? Wrong. Of course wrong...

The position of High Priest was hotly contested and bitterly disputed throughout all the centuries that the Temple stood. Even Moses' leadership was questioned, as we know from the attempted coup d'état of Korach in the Book of Numbers. 

And throughout the Bible, we hear frequent stories of kings appointing their own High Priests, and prophets denouncing the new appointees. It all seemed so simple in our Torah portion; what went wrong? Well, for starters, it was a position of tremendous power. If you know anything about human beings, are you at all surprised that an influential, well-respected, (most likely high-paying) job was coveted by so many? It is also a stark reminder to us all that we, as a species, simply don't know how to disagree. 

Arguments are tough. We spend a large amount of time, throughout our lives, avoiding conflict like the plague. It's uncomfortable, 

it's messy. What if someone gets mad at me? What if someone HATES me? Instead of talking through our problems and learning to appreciate the positions and opinions of others, we either just walk away and shut down emotionally... or we go to war - either way, we've avoided talking about our feelings. This cycle can continue throughout our entire lives. But we can also choose to stop it. We can end all the conflict-avoidance and the broken relationships, and instead step INTO the discomfort and grow as people. It's a novel concept, I know.

This week, a minor holiday was observed, but probably missed by most of us. The 9th of the Hebrew month of Adar commemorates an infamous day in Jewish history, when two schools of religious scholarship, Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel - that were otherwise known for their peaceful disagreements - literally went to war over several legal disputes. According to Tradition, 3,000 students were killed! Again, we might ask, what went wrong? 

There is a Jewish organization that was inspired by this question, and they have appropriately called themselves "The 9Adar Project." In short, the 9Adar Project aims to create "constructive conflict," where people learn to argue in a more productive way, and to disagree while remaining in relationship. My colleague, Rabbi Kelilah Miller, just recently introduced me to this fascinating organization. I encourage everyone to learn more about the 9Adar Project along with me, and perhaps more generally to think about how YOU react in conflict situations and deal with tension and disagreement. Feel free to write a comment on this blog post about how you are challenged by conflict, or how you handle these kinds of difficult situations. The answer isn't to attack one another, or to stage coups to seize power. Our Torah, and our Jewish history, is trying to subtly teach us how to disagree more agreeably, and find better ways to fight. Can you take the hint?

Photos in this blog post:

1. CC image courtesy of SteinsplitterBot on Wikimedia Commons

2. CC image courtesy of Daniel Ventura on Wikimedia Commons

3. CC image courtesy of Bifalcucci on Wikimedia Commons

4. Image of the 9Adar logo - www.9adar.org