Miketz 5786 - Blood reckoning | What is the value of a life?

ByRabbi Anita Josefa Barzman MD Founder, micro-mishkan.net

I am writing this commentary erev my father's thirty-second yahrzeit, 1 Tevet; my father Israel (Sol) Barzman z"l, and I honor his memory with these ideas and questions.

Asking questions, probing, exploring, interrogating, turning it and turning it, wrestling with the most deeply challenging ethical matters: the most Jewish of characteristics.

The word for "search, probe, question" is the word that is at the precise center of the 79,976 words in the Torah:

ויקרא י׳:ט״ז

(טז) וְאֵ֣ת ׀ שְׂעִ֣יר הַֽחַטָּ֗את דָּרֹ֥שׁ דָּרַ֛שׁ מֹשֶׁ֖ה וְהִנֵּ֣ה שֹׂרָ֑ף וַ֠יִּקְצֹ֠ף עַל־אֶלְעָזָ֤ר וְעַל־אִֽיתָמָר֙ בְּנֵ֣י אַהֲרֹ֔ן הַנּוֹתָרִ֖ם לֵאמֹֽר׃

Leviticus 10:16

(16) Then Moses inquired about the goat of sin offering, and it had already been burned! He was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s remaining sons, and said...

Yes, a word whose semantic cloud includes "seeking, inquiring, searching after" - and has a root meaning of "rubbing / beating / stamping with the feet" is not only at the very center of the Torah; it is doubled, emphasized, effectively underlined / bold type / "this is important".

The verb here: verbal root √דרש

As human beings engaged with living ethical lives, this seeking and asking is woven into the fabic of our lives.

A question, perhaps one of the most fundamental and crucial: What is the value of a life?

From Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5:
Therefore, Adam the first manwas created alone, to teach you that with regard to anyone who destroys one soul from the Jewish people, i.e., kills one Jew, the verse ascribes him blame as if he destroyed an entire world, as Adam was one person, from whom the population of an entire world came forth. And conversely, anyone who sustains one soul from the Jewish people, the verse ascribes him credit as if he sustained an entire world.
לְפִיכָךְ נִבְרָא אָדָם יְחִידִי, לְלַמֶּדְךָ, שֶׁכָּל הַמְאַבֵּד נֶפֶשׁ אַחַת מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל, מַעֲלֶה עָלָיו הַכָּתוּב כְּאִלּוּ אִבֵּד עוֹלָם מָלֵא. וְכָל הַמְקַיֵּם נֶפֶשׁ אַחַת מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל, מַעֲלֶה עָלָיו הַכָּתוּב כְּאִלּוּ קִיֵּם עוֹלָם מָלֵא.

Admittedly and problematically this passage from Mishnah Sanhedrin refers to the profoudn value of a Jewish life. Many commentarors have wrestled with this, as I do - as a physician, a Rabbi, a human being, and a Jew.

ויקרא י״ז:י״א

(יא) כִּ֣י נֶ֣פֶשׁ הַבָּשָׂר֮ בַּדָּ֣ם הִוא֒

Leviticus 17:11

(11) For the life of the flesh is in the blood...

Do we want to hold onto this notion, that Jewish lives are intrinsically more valuable than others' lives? Don't we hope that others will ask this about our lives, just as we ask about theirs?

How are we engaged in mutuality, in the consideration of the consequences of our actions on others? This question is a most urgently pressing one at this moment in history.

In this week's Torah portion, Parashat Miketz, the dramatic and complex narrative arrives at a moment when Joseph's brothers are in his presence in Egypt, and are experiencing a dawning awareness of the depths of the injustice they wrought on him years before. The narrative of Joseph and his brothers may be the best chance we have, as we study Torah, to deeply feel the humanity of the ethical questions raised.

In Parashat Miketz, the engine of consequentiality is in motion.

How are we engaged in mutuality, in the consideration of the consequences of our actions on others? This question is a most urgently pressing one at this moment in history.

We see that Joseph's brothers are allowing themselves to be aware of the suffering they caused to Joseph, and to consider the consequences to themselves of those actions:

בראשית מ״ב:כ״א-כ״ב

(כא) וַיֹּאמְר֞וּ אִ֣ישׁ אֶל־אָחִ֗יו אֲבָל֮ אֲשֵׁמִ֣ים ׀ אֲנַ֘חְנוּ֮ עַל־אָחִ֒ינוּ֒ אֲשֶׁ֨ר רָאִ֜ינוּ צָרַ֥ת נַפְשׁ֛וֹ בְּהִתְחַֽנְנ֥וֹ אֵלֵ֖ינוּ וְלֹ֣א שָׁמָ֑עְנוּ עַל־כֵּן֙ בָּ֣אָה אֵלֵ֔ינוּ הַצָּרָ֖ה הַזֹּֽאת׃ (כב) וַיַּ֩עַן֩ רְאוּבֵ֨ן אֹתָ֜ם לֵאמֹ֗ר הֲלוֹא֩ אָמַ֨רְתִּי אֲלֵיכֶ֧ם ׀ לֵאמֹ֛ר אַל־תֶּחֶטְא֥וּ בַיֶּ֖לֶד וְלֹ֣א שְׁמַעְתֶּ֑ם וְגַם־דָּמ֖וֹ הִנֵּ֥ה נִדְרָֽשׁ׃

Genesis 42:21-22

(21) They said to one another, “Alas, we are being punished on account of our brother, because we looked on at his anguish, yet paid no heed as he pleaded with us. That is why this distress has come upon us.” (22) Then Reuben spoke up and said to them, “Did I not tell you, ‘Do no wrong to the boy’? But you paid no heed. Now comes the reckoning for his blood.”

וְגַם־דָּמ֖וֹ הִנֵּ֥ה נִדְרָֽשׁ

"Now comes the reckoning for his blood." What does this mean?

I suggest alternative / more expansive translations:
"A process is unfolding in which his blood נִדְרָֽשׁ..."
"His blood" is the subject of this phrase. The verbal element here is a participle in the niphal binyan; and in fact, this is the only occurrence of this form of this verb in Tanakh (although this verbal root appears hundreds of times altogether in Tanakh).

So "his blood" is the subject of this phrase. What is it, that "his blood" is doing? It is doing something in the niphal binyan of the verb √דרש; this binyan (form of a verb) usually brings a passive or reflexive voice, showing something was done to the subject or happened to the subject (e.g., nikhtav - "it was written"), but it can also express a middle voice (the subject acts on itself, or even simple action, depending on the root and context. Thus, this binyan contains within it a particular dimension of con

Niphal of √דרש:
to allow oneself to be enquired of, consulted (only of God), to be sought, be sought out, to be required (of blood)

The brothers' allowing themselves to start to think about the suffering they caused Joseph opens their imaginations to the need to engage with the consequences of their actions:

"now... look, now... our brother's blood [how we may have harmed our brother] is allowing itself to demand of us that we inquire"...

We are reminded of Cain and Abel, and Cain's inability to engage in a consideration of the consequences of his actions:

בראשית ד׳:ח׳-י׳

(ח) וַיֹּ֥אמֶר קַ֖יִן אֶל־הֶ֣בֶל אָחִ֑יו וַֽיְהִי֙ בִּהְיוֹתָ֣ם בַּשָּׂדֶ֔ה וַיָּ֥קׇם קַ֛יִן אֶל־הֶ֥בֶל אָחִ֖יו וַיַּהַרְגֵֽהוּ׃ (ט) וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יהוה אֶל־הַ֔יִן אֵ֖י הֶ֣בֶל אָחִ֑יךָ וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ לֹ֣א יָדַ֔עְתִּי הֲשֹׁמֵ֥ר אָחִ֖י אָנֹֽכִי׃ (י) וַיֹּ֖אמֶר מֶ֣ה עָשִׂ֑יתָ ק֚וֹל דְּמֵ֣י אָחִ֔יךָ צֹעֲקִ֥ים אֵלַ֖י מִן־הָֽאֲדָמָֽה׃

Genesis 4:8-10

(8) Cain said to his brother Abel … and when they were in the field, Cain set upon his brother Abel and killed him. (9)יהוה said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” (10) “What have you done? Hark, your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground!

In this moment in Parashat Miketz, there is a dawning possibility that Joseph's brothers are hearing Joseph's blood calling out to them.

I suggest that it is crucial for all of us to hear these cries, to be deeply engaged in exploring the consequences of our actions.

This is a better understanding of "a reckoning of his blood". This does not mean we shed more blood. It means, we inquire, and consider, and expand our awareness of the humanity of others.

https://alyhalpert.bandcamp.com/track/ayeka