Our Torah portion this week, which we will read again on Yom Kippur morning, makes two astonishing assertions, that were quite radical for their time and still resonate with us today.
First, we are told, in 29: 9 – 14:
You stand this day, all of you, before Adonai your God —your tribal heads, your elders, and your officials, every householder in Israel, your children, your wives, even the stranger within your camp, from woodchopper to waterdrawer— to enter into the covenant of Adonai your God, which Adonai your God is concluding with you this day, with its sanctions; in order to establish you this day as God’s people and in order to be your God, as promised you and as sworn to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I make this covenant, with its sanctions, not with you alone, but both with those who are standing here with us this day before Adonai our God and with those who are not with us here this day.
Just think how amazing this must have been – the covenant was not just for the men, not just for adults, not just for the rich or the intelligentsia. It was for everyone. It was even for the stranger in your midst, for all who threw their lot in with the Israelites to live among them were equally covered under these laws and teachings. Additionally, it was not even just for that generation physically present at Sinai, but for all time. The Rabbis of the Talmud said even the souls of those who would later convert to Judaism were present that day.
Our portion goes on to say, in 30:11-14:
Surely, this Instruction which I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. It is not in the heavens, that you should say, “Who among us can go up to the heavens and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?” Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who among us can cross to the other side of the sea and get it for us and impart it to us, that we may observe it?” No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to observe it.
Another incredibly radical statement. In a time and part of the world where sacred texts were solely the purview of the priests, here was a new idea – the Torah is not just for the Israelite priesthood, not just for the Levites, but for everyone. And not a mystery religion or esoteric, but simple and easy for everyone to understand and follow.
Radical thoughts, in a radical time!
-Rabbi Bonnie Margulis
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