Rabbi Linder 03272020
As a religious leader, there have been many questions on my mind over the past couple of weeks, as COVID-19 takes center stage across the United States, the latest stop in its unyielding pandemic spread. Foremost, for me, is the question, “How can our respective faith traditions help us navigate this crisis.” In these times of magnified disorientation, fear, loss, uncertainty, and instability, what does Judaism offer, to a solid foundation upon which to stand?
First of all, Judaism has never presented the world as a place of order and certainty. Quite to the contrary, our creation story dismissed from the start any illusion that life will be lived in the perfection of the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve, after a brief taste of the garden, leave that mythical place behind, and step into the real world of uncertainty and chaos. At the end of the day, the essence of Judaism is to use the agency we have, to respond to a world in which we have little control. To the degree possible, Judaism helps us to make order out of chaos.
That’s the purpose of the Vayikra, the Book of Leviticus that we begin this week. In the ancient world, day to day life was simply much more precarious ours today. All the more so living in the wilderness. Food supply, wild animals and disease presented everyday challenges. The Israelites, momentarily celebrated their first taste of freedom having safely crossed the red sea; with timbrals in hand singing mi chamocha. That party didn’t last long. Now, how that had to figure out how to survive in the world as a free people, fashioning living a holy life in relationship with the one God of heaven and earth. Before turning to the Book of Leviticus, the Israelites have just completed a portable sanctuary, a mishkan, a place for God to dwell. So God is always with the Israelites, whether they are encamped or moving. God is with them.
The first three words we read in this Torah portion are, “Vayikra el Moshe, The Lord called Moses.” That might not be curious to you, but it is to the rabbis over the centuries, trying to interpret the wisdom of Torah. Through the first two books of Torah, when God wants to speak, well, God just does that, he speaks, Vayomer Elohim, God said, let there be light, and, there was light. Vayomer Adonai El Avram, and God said to Avram, Vayomer Adonai El Moshe, and God said to Moses. When God want to speak, he does that, and well, the universe and people have now problem hearing him. But, here for the first time, God firsts calls to Moses, and it begs the question, Why. Why doesn’t God just speak to Moses like he always has, why now call to Moses.
One of the most profound interpretations comes from Rabbi Kalman Kalonymmus Shapiro. Rabbi Shapiro, one of revered 20th centuries Hasidic rabbis from Poland died in Rabbi Shapira's memory is revered, and he is held as an example of faith under enormous duress. He was murdered in the Trawniki concentration camp in Lublin, Poland. Responding to these words, “The Lord called to Moses”, Rabbi Shapiro, drawing from another midrash, images that God is like a human being who cries out to a friend, saying, “help me carry the burden.” Nobody would know more than Rabbi Shapiro, such a burden that God wants help carrying is our human suffering. God feels the suffering as we do. Yet, Judaism’s boldness believes in a God who needs our help in carrying and helping to alleviate human suffering. God takes comfort in not having to carry it alone. So like calling out to a friend, God calls to Moses for help.
And another midrash answering why God needs to call Moses, imagines that Moses is simply too far from God to hear him speak. God has to call out to him to get his attention “Moses, over hear, I’ve got something to say to you.” Perhaps Moses thought, after compl
