Parents, Judges, Kings, and Levites

Rabbi Melanie Aron

Saturday, August 26, 2006

Every generation has its own brainteasers. My husband’s grandmother loved “Jeopardy” and his uncle does the New York Times crossword puzzle in ink. My brother-in-law was really into “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire”, and now it seems everyone is doing the soduku puzzles. For generations of Jews, finding hidden patterns in the Biblical text was the brain teaser par excellence and the book of Deuteronomy provided many great challenges.

Deuteronomy presents itself as Moses’ last speech to the Israelites, and imagining him as an old man, tradition tells us he lived to the perfect age of 120, the rambling nature of the text seems to fit. But for traditional Jews, everything about the Torah has to be perfect, and therefore what seems like rambling, must have a greater significance. One of the frames put on the text, is to understand Moses’ speech as an extended riff on the Ten Commandments. Last week’s Torah portion covered commandments 1-4 and next week’s will cover 7-10. This week then we are dealing with the fifth and sixth commandments, honoring your parents and the prohibition on murder. But wait a minute, you say, in all the different topics covered in this week’s Torah portion, which Amy outlined for us this morning, I don’t remember anything about honoring your parents. That’s because in this riff, respect for parents is respect for parents as teachers of values and as representatives of the community. By extension this includes other people of authority in the community, the judges, kings, priests and Levites, upon whom the portion dwells extensively.

What can we learn then about respect and honor for parents from the discussion of these parallel figures in society?

We are told a few things about judges. As Rabbi Fleekop mentioned last night, the charge to the judges is Tzedek Tzedek, and in this repetition, like the repetitions Sarah explained in the Haftarah, there is added meaning. The first Tzedek, is understood as justice as fairness, and the second Tzedek, is understood as justice as compromise. Perhaps that is where the rabbis give parents the freedom to improvise, because any parent with more than one child learns that fair is not always equal, and that our focus needs to be on the outcome as well as the process.

Another explanation tells us that Tzedek Tzedek is to seek justice in a just way, a way that is upright and compassionate and to do this the rabbis tell us, the judges must be leaders who embody these values in their own lives.

What can a parent learn from the laws of kings? In this portion we learn two important things about the Israelite monarch. He is not to amass horses, wives or wealth, that is not be self-seeking, and he is to write a Torah scroll when he first comes into office, which he is to keep, for reference and reminder, at his side at all times. From kings we learn that authority in Judaism is not absolute, and that those with power are not to use it for their own self-aggrandizement. We are reminded that we are servant leaders and benefit from outside counsel.

With regard to the Kohanim and Leviim, the priests and Levites, we are told not to deviate from their rulings neither to the right nor to the left. But does that mean what it seems to mean? For the commentary Sifre that does mean pure obedience; ”Even if they tell you what is right is left and what is left is right , you must always obey.” But the Jerusalem Talmud objects. Having read Sifre, or a parallel commentary, it states: One might think that you must obey them even if they tell you what is right is left and what is left is right. That is not correct. It is for this reason the Torah specifies “do not stray from the right nor left” in order that you may understand that it is only when they tell you about the right that is right and the left that is left, then you must listen to them.”

How did our tradition cope with these two very different readings? They compromised. Conformity was required in behavior, but it was frowned on in thought. The dissenter who follows the ruling of the majority, according to Massechet Horayot, knowing it is wrong, is told to bring a sin sacrifice, perhaps as a way of keeping in his own mind a remembrance of his true understanding. Though older authorities could command behavioral conformity of their younger colleagues, they were not to squash their spirits, and in fact, the practice was to have the younger colleagues speak first, so that they would not be inhibited by hearing the opinions of their elders. Perhaps it was because of this compromise, this knowing that behavioral norms would be observed, that so much latitude was allowed in debate and discussion.

The commandment to honor and revere our parents is the 5th commandment, placing it among the commandments that deal with our relationship with God, rather than the second five that deal primarily with our relationship with other people. In our children’s early years perhaps we are like God to them, providing all that is necessary for their survival. As they grow up we become judges and kings, priests and Levites, struggling to imprint upon them the values we hold so dear. Doing this well is one of our greatest tasks and in that each child is created betzelem elohim, in the image of God, how we do it is a reflection on our reverence and respect for God.