Minyan Replay with Rabbi Steven — Parashat Yitro

The Children of Israel are known for being "stiff-necked" G-d wrestlers. So why are the newly-freed Hebrews so quick to accept G-d's commandments before even hearing them? 

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Transcript

Transcript

Rabbi Steven Philp  
so good morning everyone. Nice to see you all here today. We were doing a bit of Torah study we are in Parshat Yitro, just in the book of Shimon, the book of Exodus, and we'll be reading a few verses from chapter 19. Today before we begin, I'd like to do the blessing for studying Torah together which is love soak buddy Bray Torah, baroque a Tai Chi mo he knew Melaka alum, I share kushana But myths was hot, Fitzy Vanu last soak buddy Ray Torah blessing Are you source of all things who brings holiness into our lives through our actions asking us to study words of Torah. So to set the stage a little bit for what we'll be reading today, we have just read the partial note the Torah sections that are about the Exodus from Egypt. So we've seen the 10 plagues, we've seen the flight of the Israelites from Egypt to the Sea of Reeds last week, we read about the splitting of the sea, and how they cross through the water on dry land. And then they sing songs of freedom on the other side, was not an easy start to their freedom as a people. First they're worried about water, they are in the wilderness after all, then they're worried about food. And so we have the miracle of mana appearing. And then they are beset by an unknown enemy, which we later learned is unlike, and who targets the weakest, the those who fallen behind as they journey forward. And in a harrowing battle, Israelites have emerged victorious, but there's many lives lost. And so they finally, in this parsha come into the wilderness of Sinai, where they stand before mountain and they'll experience revelation when we get the 10 commandments. And this week's portion will not be reading from the 10 Commandments today because I'm actually really curious, the question I have is this, we're gonna see in just a moment and these verses that the Israelites reach Mount Sinai, God comes down and says some words to them, which don't really contain much in terms of content. And the Israelites respond by saying, Great, we'll do everything you say. So I guess my question is for such a stiffnecked. And complaining people were often questioning why in the world, God has brought them out of Egypt to wander through the desert. Why are they why are they so amenable to whatever God is about to say, are they agreed to go with God about to say, Are they are they reflecting on the past? Like, what are they responding to here? Because it's a very, it's a very curious kind of arrangement of the texts you'd expect for them to say, Great, we'll do that after they actually hear what they're supposed to be doing. So we're gonna think upon that will reflect on that in just a moment both reads in Hebrew and English. We're in chapter 19 verse one. Moko dish Ashley she let's say plays for LM Eric meets Ryan by Yamaha Azuay but oh midbar CNMI by Sue Marek Fuddy in via vo meet DEVAR Sinha by by new buy me buy buy onshore Mr. Negative haha Ooh Masha Allah at El Elohim by Keira i love i don't know i mean ha ha like more call to ma la vida COVID Again, lead needs time right time. I share our city limits right him. But as far as him I'll convey Nisha dream. That IV a term a lie. That our time inertia Shamala Tishman Oh backhoe Lee who short term at BT by Tim Lee sigla me Cohanim ke li call her I read that AT T Hughley. Mum lachat. CO Halim, they go Kadosh la had the dream I share to the bear Elburn a US via vomo che by Accra, the ixnay. They say lifting their hands. That's Quadri Ella, I shared Siva who Adonai they knew co Yes. Via yo Maru call, share the burden. I know I say faiyaz shirt mache Ray. I don't so Hmm. On the third new moon after the Israelites had gone forth from the land of Egypt on that very day they entered the wilderness of Sinai having journey from refuge Diem, they encountered or they entered the wilderness of Sinai and camped in the wilderness, Israel and camped there in front of the mountain. And Moses went up to God. And God called to him from the mountain saying, thus shall you say, it's the house of Jacob and declared the children of Israel. You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagles wings and brought you to me. Now then, if you will faith, obey me faithfully, and keep my covenant, you shall be a treasured possession among all the peoples. Indeed, all the earth is mine, but you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words, God says to Moses, that you shall speak to the children of Israel. And so Moses came in some of the elders, the people and put before them all that God had commanded him. All the people answered as one saying, all that God has spoken we will do, and God brought back the word, the people's words to God. Okay, so he'd help me figure this out. Seems like God really only says, I've brought you out to Egypt. And I want you to be a treasured nation to me and a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, by obeying my covenant, which is what I'm about to tell you more about in a second. But Moses goes back to the elders and says, This is what happened. And then all of the people, just the elders say, Great, we'll do it. So I'm just curious, like, what? What's up here? Like, why are the what are the people answering to like? What are they agreeing to? What are the terms of this contract? Because we're about to get a lot more detailed, just a second with the 10 commandments, and then the many, many, many meats vote that come after that. So I'm just curious what what struck people about these passages here?

Speaker 1  
Well, maybe it's maybe it's easier to commit to the kingdom of priests and holy nation that before you actually get in fine print. Okay, maybe we're just a little over enthusiastic.

Rabbi Steven Philp  
All right. Okay. So essence maybe over enthusiasm, okay. And they did being a kingdom of priests only nation. Sounds nice. And Nicole.

Speaker 2  
So I've been reading Ki Tisa, the golden calf portion. And I think what's interesting to me is that this relates to that, and that at the top of the mountain after they've made the calf, God says to Moses, your people have been acting up, Moses as people, when just now the people of Israel have pledged to be God's country, essentially, God's nation and kingdom, God's place. And Moses points out to God, you know, very politely, that we can't really, you know, you can't be going take back season, we've accepted your nation ship, right. So I think that the people are just accepting that they have a reciprocal familial relationship with God.

Rabbi Steven Philp  
Beautiful. So it seems like there, it's not necessarily the content of the covenant that the people are accepting in this moment, which as Elizabeth is asking the chat, right, like all that God commanded, like what like, beyond just telling the people this particular phrase, like What else was there? But really, I think the core you're pointing to is, it's maybe the Accepting of being in a particular relationship with God, which is going to come with particular terms, and demands and needs and and also benefits. Almost in some ways, I guess it's kind of like, when you DTR right to find the relationship with somebody you're dating, right? I mean, you say like, Okay, we're gonna be partners, we're gonna be you know, boyfriends, girlfriends, whatever it might be. You don't lay out all the terms, what it's gonna look like, right over the next couple decades. In that moment, you recognize that there's going to be things there's I mean, needs that arise that will be defined later. I like that, Clint.

Speaker 3  
I have two thoughts. One is the I mean, what we know from later is the people cycle between moments of being complaining and and not having faith and then moments of having great faith. And if this is one of those moments of great faith, and God says, you're going to be my treasure nation, and they're like, oh, yeah, we're all in. This is, you know, this is a moment of high faith. But the other thing that I noticed, as you were reading this time as he's got the message from God starts out with, you saw what I did to the Egyptians. So is there some implicit threat Have you? I mean, and what he did, what God did to the Egyptians is pretty awful. I mean, you know, all their food is destroyed, their water is not drinkable. And then the firstborn are killed, which implies a lot of other people could have been killed. You know, was there some threat of gee, you don't do this, and the same fate may befall you. Given that choice, yeah, there'll be the treasure nation.

Rabbi Steven Philp  
It's, you know, there's, there's a great Midrash about how the people gather, they say, I think Takahara, like, like the word is often translated to like at the base of the mountain. But it literally means like under the mountain, which leads to a really interesting Talmudic interpretation, that God actually lifted the mountain above the people's heads and said, you will accept my covenant, or I'm going to drop this mountain on you, and essentially squash you. And so of course, the people say yes, yeah, absolutely. We will. We will do this. Like, I mean, why wouldn't we and the rabbi's are really do. I guess the other kind of gathered rabbis are really disturbed by this, because I like that this is not a great, you know, look for us that we only accepted this covenant because we are under duress or coercion, or in this case, right, Glenn, as you're pointing out, because we're remembering what God did to people who God did not like or wasn't as was not on God's good terms. And, and then the rabbi's say, Well, no, no, it's okay. It's okay. Because actually, we see, and I believe is the story of Esther, right? That we willingly take on the Covenant as a people like we willingly, willingly accept these these statutes. And in a way, shovel the holiday of shovel the holiday of revelation becomes kind of a reaffirmation of accepting this particular relationship in a different place. Right, that we're no longer this people caught in the wilderness, we're no longer you know, standing under the mountain, we are a free people, and we're able to more freely accept the the particulars of this relationship and to be in the relationship itself. Leah,

Speaker 4  
I'm thinking about what everybody has said before. And also thinking about the fact that not only is this sort of a familial relationship that the people of Israel and Hashem are entering into, but it's also a beloved relationship. And it's also a working relationship, right? You know, God says that right here in the text that you are going to do this for me, you're going to be my favorite people, you're going to be a nation of priests. And that has me thinking about how, in previous employment situations, I have often gotten a reputation for being

Unknown Speaker  
in a subordinate.

Speaker 4  
Because I really need to understand the why behind the what. So if you tell me to do something, if I don't understand why you want me to do what you want me to do, candidly, I'm not going to do it. And it's not like, at least for me, in the moment, it never feels like it's coming from a disrespectful place. It's coming from a place of needing to know, needing to know why I'm doing what I'm doing, so that I can do it to the best of my ability. And I am just wondering if that is perhaps, and motivation we can sort of retro actively superimposed on the people of Israel for all of their suppose it's stiff neck SNIS their concerns are always legitimate. And it's always like basic, like run to rung one on Maslow's hierarchy, food, shelter safety that they're clutching about. So I'm wondering if in this moment, the the penny drops, because the Israelites are understanding for the first time why they are going through all of this mishegoss that there is a bigger picture at play, and that they have an important role to fill in the world at large.

Rabbi Steven Philp  
And it's beautiful in this field. Thank you. I think there's, I think sometimes we misunderstand the Israelites because we look at them we're like, Well, why wouldn't you just like Why do you complain? You know, why are you so difficult? Why do you have this kind of vacillation between great faith and intense doubt? And, and in many ways, I think those are actually expressions of them trying on their freedom. And, you know, an enslaved people doesn't get to complain. But a free people does get to complain. And, you know, the ability to choose the ability to be picky. The ability to have preferences, right, those are all actually expressed sins of, of our own agency and, and our own in our humanity in some ways. You know, I always I always think about moments. No I worked in I worked in social services for a while helping people who are unhoused. And, and how really like one of the ways that we try to provide dignity in those situations is to give people choice, say, you know, to say like, we actually have like an array of food for you to choose from, we actually have, you know, different, different winter coats for you to try on, we're not just going to shove one in your hand and say, You should be grateful. Because one of the ways that we express our humanity, I think, is through agency and the agency of choice and having preference and actually being able to be like a little picky, a little Capeci. That's a sign of, you know, that is a sign of freedom. And, yeah, no, I really, I really appreciate that idea. I want to point to also just one very sweet feature at the end here, you know, when when the people say, you know, we will do this, we'll enter this particular relationship, it says, Moses, Moses returns to God and says, you know, and reports back. And some of the rabbi's were like, well, why in the world would would Moses need to report back to to God who is clearly present and, you know, maybe omniscience and we're not really quite sure that, you know, Jewish theology goes back and forth on whether God is omniscient and omnipresent or not. There there's definitely theologians with the guests and it's the only thing now but Rashi comes in among other commentators and says, it's actually just good manners This is Moses go back to God is just teaching us good manners. So I was loving the sweet moments, where the Torah is there just to teach us how to be wrenches in the world. Amazing learning with you, folks.