{"id":52312,"date":"2019-03-27T19:22:58","date_gmt":"2019-03-27T17:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=52312"},"modified":"2022-10-19T22:42:12","modified_gmt":"2022-10-19T19:42:12","slug":"are-we-doomed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/are-we-doomed\/","title":{"rendered":"Are We Doomed?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This chapter, largely consisting of a poem known as <\/span>Haazinu<\/span><\/em>, is one of my favorites. In most synagogues I\u2019ve been to, people aren\u2019t encouraged to actually understand the words that are being read from the Torah, so the violent drama and the radical theology of this chapter is often overlooked. Put very simply, the poem tells of God getting furious at the people of Israel, allowing other nations to destroy them, and then getting furious at these other nations, and destroying them too. It\u2019s not clear who survives this story, if anybody.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a very gloomy future. What should we do with it? Do we have any chance, given such a dark and definite promise? There\u2019s a beautiful midrash that plays with the opening words of our chapter, \u201c<\/span>Give ear, O heavens, let me speak; Let the earth hear the words I utter!\u201d<\/span> (32:1). The heavens and earth are seen in Deuteronomy as two trusty witnesses to God\u2019s promise.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the midrash (Sifrei 306) challenges the certainty of this violent future:<\/span><\/p>\n

In future times, the people of Israel will say before the Holy One: Master of the Universe, my witnesses, the heavens and the earth, are here to testify against me. He will say to them: I will replace them! This is the meaning of the verse (Isaiah 65:17), \u201cBehold, I am creating a new heaven and a new earth!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As with all prophecy in the Torah, the way to take it seriously is as a poetic possibility. We aren\u2019t being told what <\/span>will<\/span><\/em> happen. Our rational minds can\u2019t accept that. We are being warned, in a language that should shake us up a bit, that our relationship with God, like all relationships, is based on mutual trust and actions with consequences. <\/span><\/p>\n

But the midrash takes this further. Relationships change. Even God isn\u2019t bound to old promises made in anger. If the old witnesses are tying us back to a failed relationship of mistrust and anger, then we are free to take the story of our lives into our own hands, and change it to a new and positive narrative.<\/span><\/p>\n

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