How to talk Torah

The JC- featured essay

13 October 2006

Sitting around many a Shabbat table, I hear about the rabbi’s sermon, but the remarks are more about the style of delivery style (and efforts at humour) rather than the content. And I am always told who the rabbi is getting at, rather than what they are getting at.

At other tables I listen as the host reads out a piece about the weekly sidrah (Torah portion) that they have downloaded or seen in the Jewish press. But most of the time I hear no Torah at all.

Doesn’t an open Chumash belong on a Shabbat table alongside the challahs and wine? Tradition teaches us to talk some Torah when we eat together, but somehow we have ceded that responsibility to the rabbis and scholars.

The revelation at Sinai was experienced by an entire people and not just a select élite. This implies that every Jew is divinely empowered to find meaning in the text. Everyone has the right to comment on a biblical verse, and to take it personally.

What is stopping us? As a teacher, I have found that the primary impediment to this democracy of Jewish literacy is the worry people have that they just will not be able to do it. So here is a straight-forward five-point plan for saying a brief — five to eight minutes — word on the sidrah at your own Shabbat table. A do-it-yourself dvar Torah (Torah talk) for the New year.

Step 1 — Choose your text

Skim through the sidrah and choose a short piece that you like, makes you uncomfortable, or intrigues you. Next Shabbat we restart the Torah so I have chosen a few strange lines from Genesis chapter 6 to demonstrate the approach. The episode occurs 10 generations after Adam but before Noah takes centre stage. The Hebrew and two translations are above.

 

Step 2 — Ask your questions

It is the way the text is written that holds the key to deeper meaning. What words stand out? What is unusual in the sentence construction? Most of us work in translation so try to find at least two to compare and you will immediately notice subtle differences.

What is the difference between “face of the Earth” and “ground?” Who are the “sons of God?” Or are they “sons of rulers?” (The Hebrew here is bnei ha’elohim.)

Then ask your questions: what kind of weird cross-breeding is going on in our text? And how come the men got their pick of the women? And just how “fair” or “good” were they? Who would play them in the screen adaptation?

Mull over your questions and think as openly as you can about different ways of responding to them. Remember that the more questions you ask, the more you will open the text up to greater meaning.

Step 3 – Read a commentary

Or two. Both the Hertz Pentateuch and Artscroll Stone edition give a few explanations, but these are secondary sources and they will not always tell you the whole story. Today, many of our traditional commentaries have been translated and elaborated in English.

Commentaries by Rashi, Ramban, Sforno are all readily available. The Zohar, too: mystical it may be, but it is written as a commentary on Torah and has many accessible parts.

Do the commentators answer your questions? Let them refocus you if you think they have better ones.

Rashi has two explanations. The bnei ha’elohim are either (a) sons of princes and rulers, or (b) angelic messengers from God who became mortal. Two very different readings. Is this story about ruthless rulers who would rape any woman they wanted, married or not, from the population they governed? (That is how the movie “Braveheart” gets going — yes, we can even learn from Mel Gibson).

Or is this an out-of-this-world story about fallen angels? That is the Zohar’s take. They were called Aza and Aza’el and they rebelled against heaven, convinced that they could live on Earth and not be overly tempted by desire.

The Ramban says that the bnei ha’elohim were Adam and Eve because they were God’s children and handiwork whose descendants descended fast. In which case, this text is a retelling of the Garden of Eden and its aftermath.

Who is right? In Torah study a multiplicity of approaches is a virtue, not a threat to “the truth.”

Once you have looked at the classics, you might surf the web for a modern interpretation. Without much work I found this illustration (left) on Google Images. It is American sculptor Daniel Chester French’s portrayal of our text from 1923. French is famous for his colossal figure of Abraham Lincoln that presides over the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. His portrayal here seems to follow the Zohar’s reading. The angel is in a romantic pose but the girl does not seem keen.

This is not Rashi’s rape.

If you have a printer, then why not print off a suitable picture before Shabbat to use at your table? Teenagers especially can be drawn into your talk through a striking image.

And your local rabbi is a living commentary. You could email or call for an opinion. It is their job to respond.

 

Step 4 — What do you think?

Now you are ready to join in the great conversation that spans the centuries and links us with our past. What is your take? Do you want to contrast two commentators or give a creative re-reading of one you have found already? Maybe Rashi’s two readings are linked and the text is about the fall of the divine image within ourselves?

Step 5 — Be prepared

Make a few brief notes. Try your dvar Torah out alone at least once. Know your audience and what they will sit through. Will leading a discussion work better for you? Be informal and do not go on for too long.

This five-point plan is about empowering ourselves to be talkers of Torah instead of always being passive listeners. When our tradition is open to us all, then its transmission becomes that much more compelling and multi-faceted. One classic source I love teaches that every time a person comes up with a new idea in Torah, it rises right up to heaven where God kisses it and crowns it. I cannot think of a more assertive and intimate affirmation of our efforts to study Torah.