Mishpatim
One of the things I find a little challenging when interacting with
Christians -- quite aside from matters of doctrine -- is the expectation
of free-form prayer. When I went to an inter-faith gathering and the leader
asked me if I would lead us in a prayer before the meeting, I was stumped
and declined. I once read about a Jewish student doing a clinical
internship (hospital visits, etc), and a Baptist patient asked her to kneel
down on the floor and pray with her -- a befuddling experience for the
student. I understand fixed prayer and I understand prayer around a
framework, but I don't really understand this. What am I supposed to say?
It's too uncertain, too free for me; I feel the burden of creativity.
We've been reading in the book of Sh'mot about how the Israelites were freed from Egyptian slavery -- but it's not complete freedom, it's freedom to serve God. How were they supposed to do that? It was explained at Sinai; the revelation provides the structure.
When we think of Sinai we think of the Aseret HaDibrot, the "10 utterances". They're a pretty vague lot when you think about it. Don't murder? What consitutes murder -- does self-defense count, does abortion? Honor your parents -- what does "honor" mean, and what if your parents are, heaven forbid, rashaim, evil people? Guard Shabbat -- what does that mean? As somebody just learning the ropes years ago I initially found the idea of Shabbat to be kind of confusing.
But we don't just pay attention to the words God spoke to the whole people. The revelation continued for forty more days, and a lot of that is what this week's portion covers. In Parshat Yitro we got the grand ideas; in Parshat Mishpatim we get a lot of the details. Even more of the details come from the oral law that was given alongside the written torah.
I was relieved, not alarmed, when I learned more about Shabbat. I didn't know how to "guard Shabbat", but I could learn the details that the rabbis understand. Light candles and say the appropriate blessing? Check. Make kiddush to sanctify the day? Check. Attend worship services? I could learn. Some concept of rest? Further education needed, but I'm game. Havdalah, the ritual to formally end the day? Sure. The unconstrained creativity of "guard Shabbat" was paralyzing; the details and structure opened a whole new world and a path to God.
Unconstrained creativity was bad for Israel too; it led to the golden calf. Worship God, one of the Dibrot said? Sure, let's make one! Um, no. We had to get both the broad directives and the many details, and it was after all that that Israel said na'aseh v'nishma, we will do and we will listen. Note the order, by the way.
I'm not saying that creative interpretation is always bad. Look at all the ways we tell the Pesach story at the seder to engage people of all ages. Look at the variety of music we use in worship. Look at our Shabbat morning minyan. Look at the range of understandings on any page of talmud. Creativity isn't bad; unconstrained creativity is. (For us; I understand that our Christian friends have a different covenant.) We need to understand the foundation on which we're building, the Dibrot that we're working out the details for. Na'aseh v'nishma means do first and then listen and understand; only after that can we responsibly vary what we're doing.
This is my problem with many of the left-page readings in Mishkan T'filah (the new Reform prayerbook) and with the vast majority of "creative" services. [1] The connections between these alternate texts and the themes we're supposed to be addressing in our prayers to God seem...tenuous at best. Maybe they are clearer to those who have mastered our liturgy, but I am not nearly learned enough to depart that far. I need the foundation, the details we were given, not the freedom to make up my own thing. My goal is nishma -- not a golden calf.
We risk making a golden calf if we jump straight to doing our own thing without understanding the foundation. I've been talking here about prayer, but it applies to any mitzvah -- the idea of eco-kashrut is nice but it doesn't substitute for proper slaughter, pursuing social justice is meritorious but does not free us from obligations to give financial tzedakah too, making Shabbat a delight by spending it with friends is a great goal but we can improve on going to a restaurant to do it. For whatever mitzvot we're talking about, the lesson of Parshat Mishpatim is: do first, try to understand, and only then start adapting. This is a path that, I believe, leads us to God.
[1] "Creative" services typically happen when some group -- youth group, sisterhood, brotherhood, social-action committee, etc -- is put in charge of a service (like a Shabbat evening service) and is allowed to add poetry, replace fixed prayers with interpretive readings that fit their theme, and so on.
We've been reading in the book of Sh'mot about how the Israelites were freed from Egyptian slavery -- but it's not complete freedom, it's freedom to serve God. How were they supposed to do that? It was explained at Sinai; the revelation provides the structure.
When we think of Sinai we think of the Aseret HaDibrot, the "10 utterances". They're a pretty vague lot when you think about it. Don't murder? What consitutes murder -- does self-defense count, does abortion? Honor your parents -- what does "honor" mean, and what if your parents are, heaven forbid, rashaim, evil people? Guard Shabbat -- what does that mean? As somebody just learning the ropes years ago I initially found the idea of Shabbat to be kind of confusing.
But we don't just pay attention to the words God spoke to the whole people. The revelation continued for forty more days, and a lot of that is what this week's portion covers. In Parshat Yitro we got the grand ideas; in Parshat Mishpatim we get a lot of the details. Even more of the details come from the oral law that was given alongside the written torah.
I was relieved, not alarmed, when I learned more about Shabbat. I didn't know how to "guard Shabbat", but I could learn the details that the rabbis understand. Light candles and say the appropriate blessing? Check. Make kiddush to sanctify the day? Check. Attend worship services? I could learn. Some concept of rest? Further education needed, but I'm game. Havdalah, the ritual to formally end the day? Sure. The unconstrained creativity of "guard Shabbat" was paralyzing; the details and structure opened a whole new world and a path to God.
Unconstrained creativity was bad for Israel too; it led to the golden calf. Worship God, one of the Dibrot said? Sure, let's make one! Um, no. We had to get both the broad directives and the many details, and it was after all that that Israel said na'aseh v'nishma, we will do and we will listen. Note the order, by the way.
I'm not saying that creative interpretation is always bad. Look at all the ways we tell the Pesach story at the seder to engage people of all ages. Look at the variety of music we use in worship. Look at our Shabbat morning minyan. Look at the range of understandings on any page of talmud. Creativity isn't bad; unconstrained creativity is. (For us; I understand that our Christian friends have a different covenant.) We need to understand the foundation on which we're building, the Dibrot that we're working out the details for. Na'aseh v'nishma means do first and then listen and understand; only after that can we responsibly vary what we're doing.
This is my problem with many of the left-page readings in Mishkan T'filah (the new Reform prayerbook) and with the vast majority of "creative" services. [1] The connections between these alternate texts and the themes we're supposed to be addressing in our prayers to God seem...tenuous at best. Maybe they are clearer to those who have mastered our liturgy, but I am not nearly learned enough to depart that far. I need the foundation, the details we were given, not the freedom to make up my own thing. My goal is nishma -- not a golden calf.
We risk making a golden calf if we jump straight to doing our own thing without understanding the foundation. I've been talking here about prayer, but it applies to any mitzvah -- the idea of eco-kashrut is nice but it doesn't substitute for proper slaughter, pursuing social justice is meritorious but does not free us from obligations to give financial tzedakah too, making Shabbat a delight by spending it with friends is a great goal but we can improve on going to a restaurant to do it. For whatever mitzvot we're talking about, the lesson of Parshat Mishpatim is: do first, try to understand, and only then start adapting. This is a path that, I believe, leads us to God.
[1] "Creative" services typically happen when some group -- youth group, sisterhood, brotherhood, social-action committee, etc -- is put in charge of a service (like a Shabbat evening service) and is allowed to add poetry, replace fixed prayers with interpretive readings that fit their theme, and so on.