Intro: In what ways is life fair?
1. (Summary of Covenant-Greenberg and Footnotes)
2. Master Story--Deuteronomy 11
3. Avot 4:2
4. Group exercise: Would you eliminate Deut. 11 from the prayerbook? Commentaries: Plaskow, Ellenson, Dorff (My People's Prayerbook)
Paragraph 4
The dream is perfection. The process of achieving the dream is the process of the covenant. The covenant is the binding commitment made by the Jewish people and by God to carry on until the perfection is achieved. Israel promises to be faithful to the Covenant: to walk the way of the Lord, which is to combine exclusive service of God with doing justice and righteousness, to teach the world the vision of perfection, to model it in its own community, and to work alongside others to bring it to its full realization throughout the world. The people promise to pass the covenant on from generation to generation without yielding. The Divine is pledged never to abandon Israel, to protect and safeguard the people and to help in the realization of the dream. The covenant includes the promise of eternal life to the Jewish people as long as it is the covenant people...
Since perfection cannot be achieved in one generation, the covenant is also a treaty between all the generations. Each generation will have to do its share of redemption and pass it on to the next generation until the redemption is complete...
The halacha (Jewish law; literally: the Jewish way) is the mechanism whereby the covenant is realized one step at a time.
| God | Israelites |
| Security | Serve God |
| Promised Land | Observe Mitzvot |
| Offspring | Teach children |
| Treasured People | |
(יג) וְהָיָ֗ה אִם־שָׁמֹ֤עַ תִּשְׁמְעוּ֙ אֶל־מִצְוֺתַ֔י אֲשֶׁ֧ר אָנֹכִ֛י מְצַוֶּ֥ה אֶתְכֶ֖ם הַיּ֑וֹם לְאַהֲבָ֞ה אֶת־יְהֹוָ֤ה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶם֙ וּלְעׇבְד֔וֹ בְּכׇל־לְבַבְכֶ֖ם וּבְכׇל־נַפְשְׁכֶֽם׃ (יד) וְנָתַתִּ֧י מְטַֽר־אַרְצְכֶ֛ם בְּעִתּ֖וֹ יוֹרֶ֣ה וּמַלְק֑וֹשׁ וְאָסַפְתָּ֣ דְגָנֶ֔ךָ וְתִירֹֽשְׁךָ֖ וְיִצְהָרֶֽךָ׃ (טו) וְנָתַתִּ֛י עֵ֥שֶׂב בְּשָׂדְךָ֖ לִבְהֶמְתֶּ֑ךָ וְאָכַלְתָּ֖ וְשָׂבָֽעְתָּ׃ (טז) הִשָּֽׁמְר֣וּ לָכֶ֔ם פֶּ֥ן יִפְתֶּ֖ה לְבַבְכֶ֑ם וְסַרְתֶּ֗ם וַעֲבַדְתֶּם֙ אֱלֹהִ֣ים אֲחֵרִ֔ים וְהִשְׁתַּחֲוִיתֶ֖ם לָהֶֽם׃ (יז) וְחָרָ֨ה אַף־יְהֹוָ֜ה בָּכֶ֗ם וְעָצַ֤ר אֶת־הַשָּׁמַ֙יִם֙ וְלֹֽא־יִהְיֶ֣ה מָטָ֔ר וְהָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה לֹ֥א תִתֵּ֖ן אֶת־יְבוּלָ֑הּ וַאֲבַדְתֶּ֣ם מְהֵרָ֗ה מֵעַל֙ הָאָ֣רֶץ הַטֹּבָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר יְהֹוָ֖ה נֹתֵ֥ן לָכֶֽם׃ (יח) וְשַׂמְתֶּם֙ אֶת־דְּבָרַ֣י אֵ֔לֶּה עַל־לְבַבְכֶ֖ם וְעַֽל־נַפְשְׁכֶ֑ם וּקְשַׁרְתֶּ֨ם אֹתָ֤ם לְאוֹת֙ עַל־יֶדְכֶ֔ם וְהָי֥וּ לְטוֹטָפֹ֖ת בֵּ֥ין עֵינֵיכֶֽם׃ (יט) וְלִמַּדְתֶּ֥ם אֹתָ֛ם אֶת־בְּנֵיכֶ֖ם לְדַבֵּ֣ר בָּ֑ם בְּשִׁבְתְּךָ֤ בְּבֵיתֶ֙ךָ֙ וּבְלֶכְתְּךָ֣ בַדֶּ֔רֶךְ וּֽבְשׇׁכְבְּךָ֖ וּבְקוּמֶֽךָ׃ (כ) וּכְתַבְתָּ֛ם עַל־מְזוּז֥וֹת בֵּיתֶ֖ךָ וּבִשְׁעָרֶֽיךָ׃ (כא) לְמַ֨עַן יִרְבּ֤וּ יְמֵיכֶם֙ וִימֵ֣י בְנֵיכֶ֔ם עַ֚ל הָֽאֲדָמָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֨ר נִשְׁבַּ֧ע יְהֹוָ֛ה לַאֲבֹתֵיכֶ֖ם לָתֵ֣ת לָהֶ֑ם כִּימֵ֥י הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃*(בספרי תימן הָאָֽרֶץ׃ בצד״י גדולה) {ס}
(13) If, then, you (plural) obey the commandments that I enjoin upon you this day, loving your God יהוה and serving [God] with all your heart and soul, (14) I*I will grant the rain for your land in season, the early rain and the late. You shall gather in your new grain and wine and oil— (15) I*I will also provide grass in the fields for your cattle—and thus you shall eat your fill. (16) Take care not to be lured away to serve other gods and bow to them. (17) For יהוה’s anger will flare up against you, shutting up the skies so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its produce; and you will soon perish from the good land that יהוה is assigning to you. (18) Therefore impress these My words upon your very heart bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead, (19) and teach them to your children—reciting them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up; (20) and inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates— (21) to the end that you and your children may endure, in the land that יהוה swore to your fathers to assign to them, as long as there is a heaven over the earth.
2. Drash. Give a contemporary example.
3. Does this hold true today as an explanation of suffering?
4. What do you do with this potentially troubling text?
(ב) בֶּן עַזַּאי אוֹמֵר, הֱוֵי רָץ לְמִצְוָה קַלָּה כְבַחֲמוּרָה, וּבוֹרֵחַ מִן הָעֲבֵרָה. שֶׁמִּצְוָה גּוֹרֶרֶת מִצְוָה, וַעֲבֵרָה גוֹרֶרֶת עֲבֵרָה. שֶׁשְּׂכַר מִצְוָה, מִצְוָה. וּשְׂכַר עֲבֵרָה, עֲבֵרָה:
--Ben Azzai said: Be quick in performing a minor commandment as in the case of a major one, and flee from transgression;
--For one commandment leads to another commandment, and transgression leads to another transgression;
--For the reward for performing a commandment is a commandment and the recompense for committing a transgression is a transgression.
A. David Ellenson, My People's Prayer Book, Vol. 1
The commentary in the present-day Reconstructionist Kol Han'shamah aptly describes the problem in this paragraph: Its detailed description of the "bountiful or devastating consequences of Israel's collective relationship to the mitzvot...offers a supernatural theology that many contemporary Jews find difficult." Simply put, it presents a doctrine of reward and punishment that most liberal Jews have found problematic, if not offensive. It has therefore been removed from most liberal prayer books in the modern era.
B. Elliot N. Dorff, My People's Prayer Book, Vol. 1
My own approach combines two doctrines of the Rabbis. I too admit that in the end, we cannot fathom God's justice: whether we are talking about individuals or communities, it is simply not true that the righteous always prosper and the wicked suffer and I do not know why that is.
I also believe that "the reward of performing a commandment is [the propensity and opportunity to perform another] commandment, and the result of doing a wicked thing is [the propensity and opportunity to do another] wicked thing" (M. Avot 4:2). That is, we should do the right thing because it is the right thing and not out of hope for reward, and we should avoid evil acts because they are evil and not out of fear of punishment.
This approach is a far cry from the direct, reward-and-punishment thinking of the second paragraph of the Sh'ma, and yet I recite the Sh'ma each day because it proclaims God's justice, and justice must be a critical element in the God I affirm. The calculus of reward and punishment articulated in this paragraph may be too simple and ultimately inaccurate, and, for that matter, it may be immoral in the first place to do the right thing and avoid the wrong out of concern for consequences...
The Rabbis too had problems with the doctrine of justice announced in this paragraph, but they included it anyway because they too had a deep faith in the ultimate justice of God as the metaphysical backdrop and support for human acts of justice.
Judith Plaskow, My People's Prayer Book, Vol. 1
[I]t is not necessary to read this paragraph of the Shema as a literal statement about divine reward and punishment. In a world whose survival depends partly on the human capacity to value creation and care for it wisely, it is possible to interpret the passage more naturalistically. If we are able to develop an ecological consciousness, if we treat the earth with respect, if we are aware that we are embedded in a great web of life of which God is the ultimate source and sustainer, then the earth will bear fruit for us and the rain will come in its season. But if we believe we can trample on or transcend the constraints of nature, if we forget the sacredness of all things and make idols of our own wealth and power, "the earth will not grant its produce." and both we and our world may perish.