A tallit-and-tefillin-wearing woman in a traditional Conservative synagogue?! An unorthodox—and non-orthodox—perspective on Jews and Judaism from a perpetual misfit. This blog, welcoming the entire Jewish community, is dedicated to those who take Judaism seriously, but not necessarily literally.
posted by Shira Salamone at 5:05 PM
Once upon a time, I belonged to a left-wing egalitarian Conservative synagogue, where I was one of a number of women who wore a tallit—and one of the few members who used an Orthodox prayer book (adding the Mothers, of course). Having moved since then, I now belong to a right-wing traditional Conservative synagogue, where I’m almost always the only woman wearing a tallit—and one of the few members who adds the Mothers. I seem destined to be forever . . . on the fringe.
10 Comments:
Maybe that's why Moshe got honked off and struck the rock.
Makes sense to me.
Jack, I'm glad you think so. I was hoping it might make sense to someone other than me. :)
I think the B'nei Yisrael/Israelites were acting like a kid whose parent is sick but who still expects to be taken care of in the same manner as usual. Kids don't make allowances for anyone else's problems. Neither did B'nei Yisrael.
i can see that too.
Steg, maybe this reminds you of a tough day at the "office." :)
I received this via e-mail from Elie:
I am sometimes able to sneak a comment in by logging in as "other", but even this isn't working today. Boy I miss being able to get to blogger from work!
Please enter the following comment under my name:
Shira: I think you have a very interesting insight. It also somewhat contrasts and somewhat dovetails with a view I spoke about at my minyan this part Friday night. Namely, that Moshe's punishment was necessary because his leadership style was no longer optimal for a what Israel needed to become: a more mature, self-reliant nation.
Note that throughout this sedra we see them beginning to assume that independence. E.g., while Moshe sends the initial message to Edom, it is Israel who continues the correspondence. When it comes to a similar overture to Sihon, Israel themselves initiate the exchange this time. We also see Israel, not Moshe, making a vow relating to their war with the king of Arad.
Moshe's leadership approach was to treat the Israelites as children - as indeed they often behaved. That is symbolized by his yelling at them, and hitting the rock instead of "reasoning" with it. While Israel may still have been somewhat "asking" for this approach as you noted, it was no longer the right approach for a nation about to leave the shelter of God's miraculous protection in the desert, for the real-world of the land of Israel. Thus, the time had come for Moshe to step aside. In this view, God's decree that Moshe could not enter the land was less a punishment than a "forced retirement"!
Elie, Woodrow, of Conservadox is thinking along the same lines. He said
in his post on Balak that “the Torah is making the case for term limits.” :)
I received this via e-mail from The Shaigetz:
It is a much discussed, why was the Almighty so bothered that some insignificant stone got clobbered? To the best of anyone's knowledge there are relatively few nerve endings in rock...
After all, if you believe in miracles you might as well keep talking to the bloody thing and if not, hitting it is hardly going to help...
You are probably on the right track when you suggest that the problem He has with Moshe is his expression of irritation when things do not go as planned. Also it was the first time that Moshe publicly displayed bad leaderhip qualities and it resulted, ultimately, in him not leading them into Israel.
The lesson, if you want to lead the jews it must be done rationally, humanely and with kindness.
T.S.
" . . . if you believe in miracles you might as well keep talking to the bloody thing and if not, hitting it is hardly going to help..."
:)
" . . .if you want to lead the jews it must be done rationally, humanely and with kindness.:
Beautifully put, T.S.
Indeed, Elie, Moshe *was* treating the Children of Israel as if they were still children. It was time for a leader who would treat them as adults. I can tell you from personal experience that you can't speak to a 24-year-old the way you spoke to him when he was 14. (Oy. You're hereby forewarned, Elie. :) )
Here's an e-mailed comment from :
TYhere are tons of commentaries on the
death of Miriam and how it effected B'nei Yisroel. I do remember
seeing sometghing along the lines you have written, though I can't
place the source, and definitely did not see terminology which
includes: "honked off." I guess such language was not around during
the time of the Gaonim:)
Well done.
Robert J. Avrech
Er, I haven't the remotest idea how I managed to make Robert's entire comment clickable, but at least you won't have any trouble finding his blog. :)
As I said to Robert via e-mail, I'm not surprised that the rabbanim got there first. :)
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