September 8th: Nitzavim
THIS WEEK IN THE TORAH
Rabbi David E. Ostrich
Did you know that Reform and traditional Machzorim/High Holy Day prayer books have different Torah portions for Yom Kippur? Our more traditional Mahzor Hadash (black) has the atonement rituals of the ancient High Priest (Leviticus 16)—with the “scapegoat” ceremony as its dramatic climax. Two goats are brought before the High Priest, and lots are cast to decide the fate of each. One goat is chosen for sacrifice on the altar, and the other has the sins of Israel “put on his head” by the High Priest. With these sins, the second goat is sent out into the wilderness—l’Azazel, to Azazel.
The traditional afternoon portion is a list of prohibited sexual practices and relationships (Leviticus 18). The sexual urge is powerful, and the Rabbis who assigned the Torah portions apparently felt that people need warnings on days they take God and Judaism most seriously.
Contrast these with the Reform Movement’s Yom Kippur portions. In the afternoon, we read the “Holiness Code” from Leviticus 19. Beginning with, “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy,” the passage continues with a list of ritual and ethical ways to live a holy life—its ethical climax reminding us, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” While the traditional approach is to warn people of prohibited behaviors, the Reformers decided to encourage commanded behaviors and the spiritual goal of holiness.
Reform replaced the morning passage about priestly rituals with a description of a different kind of ceremony—one set in the wilderness before the Israelites enter the Promised Land.
“You are standing here this day, all of you, before the Lord your God; your tribal captains, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and the stranger who is in your camp, from the hewer of your wood to the drawer of your water; that you should enter into covenant with the Lord your God, and join in an oath which the Lord your God makes with you this day.” (Deuteronomy 29.9-11)
The emphasis is on one’s membership in a holy community. We enter into a covenant with the Lord God, and this relationship—both with God and with the other members of the covenantal community—calls for us to behave with righteousness and reverence.
The Reform Machzor then jumps a chapter to Deuteronomy 30.11-30 in which we are reminded that godliness is doable—within our reach—and that choosing the path that God sets in front of us brings blessings. “Choose life that you and your descendants shall live!”
Though these Deuteronomy passages are soon to be read on Yom Kippur, they are also read in this week’s Torah portion, Nitzavim.
I do not know why the early Reformers made the changes, but I can see a logic in their decisions. As important as the ancient rites of purification and atonement were—and as important as the priesthood was in the ancient Temple, Judaism has progressed beyond this kind of religion. Righteousness is still important, and immorality is still sinful, but Judaism has developed other ways to acknowledge our sins and reach atonement with God.
For us, teshuvah/repentance is not achieved with sacrificial rites or goats. Our atonement involves four steps: (1) we acknowledge our sins before God and resolve not to repeat them, (2) we go to the people we have wronged and ask for their forgiveness, (3) we try to correct or make up for the damage we have done, and (4) we do general acts of good deeds so as to increase the goodness in the world. If we go about this teshuvah sincerely, we are taught that God forgives us. If we repent, we can be forgiven and begin the new year with a clean slate.
As for the covenant ceremony, I see in it an awareness of the realities of modern life. Though many are born into Jewish families, the act of being Jewish—participating in Jewish life and thinking in Jewish terms—is a choice we make over and over again throughout our lives. We live in a world of religious and affiliational autonomy; entering and remaining in the covenantal community involves continual affirmation. We are always, as it were, entering the covenant and always, as it were, choosing the Jewish path to godliness.
Over the years, there has been an interesting conversation about the place of gerim/converts in Judaism. The Halachic position is that, once a person converts, she/he is a full Jew. They should not even be referred to as gerim anymore. In fact, the ancient Tractate Gerim (4.1) warns us against reminding a convert of his/her non-Jewish past and uses the colorful phrase, “Do not remind them of the pig flesh between their teeth.” That being said, some moderns are concerned with converts’ lack of childhood and ancestral Jewish experiences and want to assist them in feeling at home in Jewish life. In order to help, we need a word to identify their situation and plan programs. In this spirit, some may still refer to converts as such, but others are unhappy with the word convert because of the way it was originally understood in Latin and early Christianity. To replace it, Reform Judaism came up with a new term, Jews by Choice, and it has been used extensively for some forty years. It is a bit of a mouthful, but it does speak of former non-Jews choosing the Jewish path. On the other hand, are not all Jews who participate in Judaism and Jewishness choosing to do so?
When I look at the people involved in Jewish life—religiously, culturally, and philanthropically, I see people who choose to be Jewish and to do Jewish things. Whether or not they were born Jewish, they are attracted to something in our covenant community and choose to be part of it. In other words, we are all Jews by Choice—a fact that makes the Deuteronomy Covenant Ceremony a profound symbol of our religious and cultural identity and a statement to be declared on our most holy of days. “We are all here this day to enter into covenant with the Lord our God.”