Torah Notes – September 2011

Torah Notes September

Here is just a taste of the Torah you can look forward to in the month ahead.  For the real thing, be sure to join us each Shabbat morning at 9 am for a lively discussion of the meaning and implications of the weekly portion.  All are welcome.  No previous experience required.

 

September 3                 Shoftim                                    Deuteronomy 16:18-18:5

This week’s Torah portion opens with the command to appoint judges and legal officials to carry out justice within the community.  A specific warning against worshipping other gods is given.  Two witnesses are needed in order to impose capital punishment.  Cases too difficult to decide in one court are to be transferred to a higher court.  The laws for choosing a king are presented, including the stipulation that this leader keep a Torah by his side at all times.  A miscellany of laws follows dealing with a wide range of subjects.  The parasha concludes with regulations for war and communal responsibilities for an untraced murder.

 

September 10               Ki Tetzei                                    Deuteronomy 21:10-23:7

This week’s Torah portion contains a mixture of seventy-two commandments, dealing with such diverse subjects as treatment of captives, defiant children, bird’s nests, loans, vows, charity for the poor and fair weights and measures.  At the conclusion, there is a final warning to remember how Amalek attacked the weak stragglers in the desert.

 

September 17               Ki Tavo                         Deuteronomy 26:1-27:10

Our parasha this week opens with “when you come into the land,” as a reminder that God is the giver of all, a fact that shouldn’t be forgotten once the Israelites are settled.  Tribute is made to God by offering our first fruits and others tithes.  Procedures for crossing the Jordan are next, the building of an altar, the alternating recitation of blessings and warnings, are all part of the renewal of the covenant played out now upon acquiring the land.

 

September 24               Nitzavim-VaYelech                    Deuteronomy 29:9-30:14

This year we have a double portion for this Shabbat.  Nitzvavim is always read on the last Shabbat of Elul, just before the High Holy Days begin.  Just as we stand on the border of a New Year at Rosh HaShanah, the Israelites are preparing to embark on a new stage in their lives in the Promised Land.  Moses tells the Israelites that God is making a covenant with them that extends from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to them and into the future to all generations to come who keep the commandments.  We, too, are the inheritors of this covenant!  If the covenant is forsaken terrible curses will result.  However–and here is the part that relates to the Holy Days–Moses promises that even if the people stray from God’s ways, they can always return to God (do teshuva) and God will forgive them, offering another opportunity to do better.  God places the choice before the people between life and death.  God tells them:  Choose Life!

In Va’yelech, Moses informs the people that, at 120 years of age, he will not accompany them into the Promised Land.  He assures the people that they will be successful and passes the mantle of leadership on to Joshua.  Moses transmits the Torah to the priests and instructs the people to gather every 7 years at the time of Sukkot to hear the reading of the Torah.  Moses then gathers the people together to hear his final poem, which will serve as a witness to all they have been taught.

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