Bechukotai: Is It True?

Picture it: It's the end of the Torah service on Shabbat morning. We have just chanted the eighth, and final, aliyah, known as the Maftir. An honoree, called the Hagbah, is invited onto the bimah to hoist the Torah into the air. While s/he holds the scroll aloft, we all sing

together, "v'Zot Ha-Torah asher sam Moshe lifnei B'nai Yisrael, al pi Adonai, b'Yad Moshe" - "This is the Torah (Teaching) that Moses set before the Israelites; from the Mouth of Adonai, through the hand of Moses." The first part of this quote comes from Deuteronomy, 4:44... which is NOT found in our Torah portion. But I mention it here because many of you are probably familiar with the song, and because the last verse of OUR Torah portion - which happens to also be the last verse of the entire Book of Leviticus - echoes a very similar sentiment. Both verses are daring us to ask the question, "Is it true?"

Leviticus ends with the following statement: "These are the commandments that Adonai gave Moses for the Israelite people on Mount Sinai" (Lev. 27:34). It is also stated OUT of context, by the way, which also invites us to ask what it's doing there. The previous verse

concluded a short section on redeeming and substituting tithes for the Temple, and then all of a sudden the text blurts out: "These are the commandments...!" Soooo, is the sentiment true??? Did God really give us all the commandments, and were they given on Mount Sinai via Moses, and were they literally spoken out loud for Moses to jot down? Honestly, who knows? Can one entirely - with 100% certainty - rule out the possibility that the text is reporting a factual occurrence? No, I suppose not. But I will tell you this; I don't believe it. I don't personally believe that God spoke these words to Moses on Sinai, and that our Torah, our ancient Teaching, comes directly from God. There, I said it!

Luckily for me, I'm not alone. In the back of our Conservative Movement Chumash, the Etz Hayim, there is an article written by Jacob Milgrom, in which he indicates that as far back as the Talmud, two thousand years ago, rabbis questioned whether the WHOLE Torah was written by Moses. Throughout our history, religious leaders

and scholars have identified contradictions, inconsistencies, and ethical problems in the text that make it hard to accept the assertion that Moses literally wrote it all down, and/or that every word of the text comes directly from God. But I also encourage us to wrestle with the word "true." It doesn't have to be a synonym of the word "factual." I don't believe God would command stoning a rebellious child, subjugating women, or permitting slavery, so I cannot accept God's authorship of the text. BUT I also believe the Torah reflects the human desire to feel God's imminent Presence. It reflects the morals of the time, and a desire to find God in everything that we do. And in that sense, the text definitely can be - and to me IS - true. It is culturally true and valid and inspiring and essential... but still not fact.

At the end of his essay, Milgrom writes, "Revelation was not a one-time Sinaitic event. It behooves and indeed compels each generation to be active partners of God in determining and implementing the divine will." And this, dear reader, is why we can still sing "v'Zot Ha-Torah..." at the end of the Torah service!

Because we aren't making a statement of fact. We're acknowledging that ours is a legacy of engaging and dialoguing with God that goes back millenia. We are still engaged, today and tomorrow, in figuring out what God wants of us; it is an eternal partnership. When we can see it that way, we realize the facts don't actually matter. Sinai doesn't need to be a physical place where SOMETHING happened, and the "commandments" that God gave Moses are the values, ethics, and mitzvot that we continue to re-understand and redefine all the time. That is how we continue to be God's partners in creation, and that is how we can continue to experience Revelation in every generation. Really and truly.

Photos in this blogpost:
1. CC image courtesy of Adiel lo on Wikimedia Commons
2. CC image of "Moses on Mount Sinai" by Jean-Léon Gérôme courtesy of KenjiMizoguchi on Wikimedia Commons
3. Image courtesy of magicvalley.com
4. CC image courtesy of Sterkebak on Wikimedia Commons