Kosher Bookworm: Pesach and Moshe's legacy

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Reviewed by Alan Jay Gerber

Issue of March 20, 2009 / 24 Adar 5769

Recently I came across a very astute observation that will serve as the theme and tone for the Bookworm essays for the coming holiday season. Written by Rabbi Dr. Francis Nataf, one of Israel’s premier young theologians and religious thinkers, it is as follows:

“We are now in the season of faith-building that begins at Purim and ends at Pesach. More than at any time in our calendar, it is a season when we remember the long term. It is a time of reading the Megillah and recounting the Haggadah. In this context, we may first be surprised to recall that these documents tell us about processes that pass through the darkest times in Jewish history. And yet there are few times that surpass the joy of these readings. Year after year, we are overwhelmed by the bird’s eye clarity of these presentations. Through them, we are able to see that the context of darkness was one of deliverance and unparalleled Divine revelation.

“As a people, being able to see a bright future throughout the worst of times has allowed us to survive. Knowing that there are generations that will follow and carry on our mission and lead mankind to communion with G-d has certainly given more than one Jew the sense that no matter how hard, there is reason to keep going, to have and raise children and above all to stay Jewish .

“It may not be an exaggeration to say that a key to Jewish longevity is the awareness of longevity itself.”

Herein we have that magic formula that has kept us a people who have survived, from Biblical times to this day. Being the only nation from those bygone days who still inhabits the same land, adheres to the same faith and speaks the same language, we have come to see longevity through the eyes of history as seen in the words of the Bible and in the writ of our holy liturgy.

The books to be reviewed in the next few weeks will reflect this theme. The holiday of Pesach is filled with the awesome story of the struggle for religious and physical freedom. This is played out in the actions of those who led us under divine guidance, the main player being Moshe son of Amram, the Levite. It was to be Moshe’s destiny to be our people’s liberator, lawgiver and arbiter of the very standards by which our faith is guided upon to this very day.

“Moses: Envoy of God, Envoy of his People,” (Ktav, Yeshiva Har Etzion, 2008) is a collection of essays, sermons and divrei Torah produced over the course of many years by Rabbi Moshe Lichtenstein of Yeshivat Har Etzion in Israel. Taken together within this one volume and thematically linked through the personality of Moshe, Rabbi Lichtenstein brings together the great leader’s spiritual impact and gives it a literary focus that few before him have ever done within the traditional mold.

Consisting of four sections, from the episode of the Burning Bush, the Golden Calf and the Revelation at Mt. Sinai, Rabbi Lichtenstein describes in sharp terms and images the history of that era and the personalities who inhabited the time, in terms of their spiritual impact upon our people’s history and the history of the world.

The interpretive method employed in this book is based upon a literary analysis of the sacred texts coupled with an informed exposition of the interactions between Moshe and the people. This human touch is what makes this study of the events of the Exodus so unique as compared to other cognate works. Of particular interest to the serious reader would be the last chapter, “The Midrash and the Text,” which is a methodological segment that details the author’s exegetical approach. His detailed philosophical take of the text utilize the approach of Midrash as well, as an interpretive tool in dealing with the text.

According to Rabbi Lichtenstein, the purpose of this study is to provoke serious thought and stimulate interest in the parshiot, and to encourage an approach that factors the human element into its perspective. This approach aims to accommodate even those who have minimal appreciation of our religious tradition, but who would value a sophisticated approach based upon real history and learning.

“Moses’ Women” (Ktav, 2008) is the next book dealing with another facet of Moshe’s life journey. Written in seven parts, this study uses great detail to describe — in a very respectful and scholarly manner — the role that various women played in Moshe’s life, including Batya, Miriam, Zipporah and Yocheved.

Their relevance to Moshe’s success and their influence upon his life and leadership style is given great attention. Based upon the classical sources and commentaries, from Radak, Targum, Rambam and Rashi, the authors also include the scholarship of such modern Jewish luminaries such as Rabbis Shaul Berman, Binyamin Lau, Adin Steinsaltz, Yehuda Nachshoni, and Yosef B. Soloveitchik, zt”l, as well as Dr. Nechama Leibowitz z”l and Dr. Aviva Zornberg.

The authors are Dr. Shera Aranoff Tuchman, who teaches a weekly class in Biblical commentary at Cong. Kehilath Yeshurun (RAMAZ), and Sandra E. Rapoport, a litigating attorney who also specializes in rare Hebrew books and manuscripts. They are to be commended for their high quality of scholarship, made readable for all to learn from.

Moshe’s longevity as a leader of the Jewish people served as the benchmark for what became the prime example of what defines religious and civic leadership for our nation. His longevity spanned the years from slavery to liberation, from the swamps of Egyptian servitude to the spiritual heights of Sinai and the borders of the promised land. No leader in Israel since has exceeded Moshe’s combination of grit and determination.

The Chumash reads as a litany of woe and travail. These books give us a better appreciation of Moshe’s legacy. Moshe was to prevail, as was the nation he led, to survive as a witness to G-d’s presence among us and our world.

Taken together, these two books make for an interesting and informative reading and learning experience, thus setting an appropriate intellectual tone for the upcoming Pesach holiday.