Is Something Missing...?

This reflection is part of the ongoing Forest Hills Haftorah Series. The rest of the content can be found here: https://www.sefaria.org/groups/FHJC-Haftorah-Series .

Imagine reading through the 5 books of the Torah for the first time, which tells one long, continuous narrative from creation of the universe until the death of Moses. Upon completion, what would you say was the climax?

There is certainly a beginning - the creation of the cosmos; And there is certainly an end - the passing of what might have been our greatest leader and prophet.

But what was the "apex," or the pinnacle? The most seminal and formative of moments?

There is not just one straightforward and easy answer to this question.

For some, the immediate inclination would be to point to the יציאת מצרים, the Exodus from Egypt -When God revealed to the world His strong hand, His outstretched arm, and His willingness to use them when His people are suffering.

This is certainly a reasonable answer.

Or perhaps the exodus was a mere means towards a moment of much greater importance; The experience of the Israelites at Sinai/Horeb - now that is what everything had been building towards; When the Israelites, with one heart and one mind declared We will do and we will listen! When God's relationship with Israel was formalized, literally carved into stone. What more appropriate peak could there be for the Isrealite Histories than when God, occupying the summit of the desert mountain, made Himself known to His people?

But then again, in the ancient world, it was common for creation myths to climax with earthly beings (humans) building a Temple to serve as the home for the highest of the deities. The most famous example of this is the Enuma Elish, the great, ancient Mesopotamian Epic, which tells the story of the conflicts of the gods throughout the cosmos before the dawn of humankind. After a celestial war, the Babylonian god Marduk emerged as the Supreme amongst the deities. As the epic comes to a close, the lesser gods build him Babylon to serve as his earthly Temple, and human beings are created to maintain the Temple and bring sacrifices. This story might go back 2,000 years before the common era!!!

What's amazing is that there is evidence throughout the Torah that our Israelite ancestors were very much aware of these Mesopotamian myths. Additionally, the Torah uses a literary technique called inclusio between Genesis 1 and the end of the book of Exodus, when the portable Temple, the mishkan, is completed and God takes His seat on the Ark of the Holy. (I.e., the syntax and vocabulary are very similar, and one of these clearly alludes to the other.) Could this in fact be The Climax, if there can be said to be one? Dwarfing even the exodus and revelation?

Yes, it very well could be.

Of course, by virtue of the question (i.e., What is the climax specifically of the books of Moses?) the possibility of the answer being entering into the land of Israel is not an option, for Deuteronomy ends before this happens.

But wait a second... Isn't this strange? For when we are first introduced to Abraham, the land of Israel is referenced in Genesis 12. Then in Genesis 15, Abraham is told it will be given to his descendants:

This is then repeated, or confirmed, to Abraham's heir Isaac:

And then, of course, to Isaac's heir Jacob:

In fact we see this promise revisited and reinforced, repeatedly, throughout all the rest of the five books! From Genesis 15, and continuously onwards, we are looking forward to the fulfillment of this promise, wondering when, when, when?

\Even after the sate of panic and rebellion induced by the spies (which we read about this week), extending our wait-period for yet another 40 years, we are continually reminded of this inevitable, ever-approaching moment:

And then suddenly the Pentateuch - which is generally considered to be one long unit - abruptly ends when our ancestors are on the outside of the borders looking in! And the moment we've been anticipating for nearly two-hundred chapters (since Genesis 15) never happens!

In Jewish tradition, we are so used to "The Torah" ending with Moses death, and we are never surprised when we reach the end of Deuteronomy and the Israelites have still (!) not entered the land - but if we try to approach the Torah critically, detached from preconceived notions and traditional assumptions - this should raise a few eyebrows.

There is an interesting theory which I'd like to share.

The beginning of the TaNaKh was meant, upon canonization, to be read as a Hexateuch (6-parts), not a Pentateuch (!!!), with our ancestors' entering the land being seen as the ultimate climax which everything else had been pointing forward to . For only then could it truly be said that at long last, God has shown Himself to be true to His word, the word He gave to our forefathers so long ago. (For more on this Hexateuch theory, Marc Zvi Brettler has a phenomenal article that can be found here: https://www.thetorah.com/article/is-the-torah-a-pentateuch-or-hexateuch).

This week's Haftorah portion, taken from Joshua chapter 2, is one of those pivotal chapters in the "Entering-Israel" narrative.

In many ways, it is the counterpart to our Torah-portion, beginning with the sending into the land of spies. Though while Moses sent in twelve, Joshua sends but two. They end up at the house of woman immediately labeled by the narrator to be a harlot, named Rahab. She volunteers to help, lies to the King of Jericho on their behalf, and professes awe and fear of the God of Israel, as well as recognition that the land will surely be delivered over to the Israelites.

Here are Rahab's words:

This is a remarkable statement of conviction in the power of God. Compare this with what we see in the Torah-portion, by some of the Israelites themselves who saw God's wonders first-hand:

Having these two episodes paired as the Torah-portion and its Haftorah drive home such a powerful point about the magnitude of failure of the stubbornness of the generation of the desert. And it's all the more powerful with one more piece of background information.

This probably won't be a surprise, but the TaNaKh generally does not speak so favorably about the profession of harlotry. In fact, in some of the prophets' harshest criticisms, the Israelites are spoken of metaphorically as a harlot who sold herself to other gods, betraying all of the trust and kindnesses of God. (Jeremiah 3 and Hosea 7 are two examples. And in Proverbs 7, we see a father desperately warning his son about the dangers of being led astray by harlots.)

When we first meet Rahab, therefore, we are primed to be suspicious of her motivations and sincerity from the get-go. Surely she will profess to take the two Israelites in, but will immediately turn around and hand them over to the Canaanite king - don't trust her!

But then, in starkest contrast to the fearful and doubting spies, she has no doubt in her heart whatsoever that the God of Israel is beyond challenge, and is trustworthy. If He declared that the land of Canaan will go to the people of Israel, it is as good as done. And not only she, but all of the Canaanites are watching and waiting, with baited breath, to see what wonders the god who had bested the Egyptian pantheon has in store for His people next.

Rahab's convictions and statement above would set the whole tone for the rest of the book moving forward; Joshua leads a confident, faithful and trusting people back home with their heads held high, God goes before them in battle, and days of slavery, wandering, and cynicism of God's will and power are a thing of the past. (Of course, there will be major steps backward in the book of Judges, but that's for another time...)

So going back to the question above - I personally see nearly the whole book of Joshua as the climax of a Hexateuch (and quite a dramatic and glorious one at that!), rather than the "sequel" to a Pentateuch.

Here's a question I'll leave you with; Even if we can include our entering into the land of Israel into our consideration for pursuing the most important and/or climactic of moments - would you still choose another? How about if we expanded our lens even more, and looked at the rest of the "Deuteronomistic Histories," which would take Judges, Samuel and Kings into account? (For in fact, some have suggested categorizing the beginning of the TaNaKh as an Enneatuch, which would be nine parts (!!!), from Creation of Genesis to the Babylonian Exile at the end of Kings).

What, in effect, would you nominate as being the seminal moment in our early Israelite history? Jewish tradition seems to lean towards the revelation of Sinai. Do you agree?