This past Shabbat, we read the Parshat Matot (meaning rods) which tells the tale of Moses instructing the head of the tribes about oaths and vows. You can read it starting from BaMidbar (Numbers) chapter 30:2 till chapter 32:42. {Keep in mind that the Christian bible and the Hebrew bible arrange their books and number their chapters very differently.} So we read during this study about the many times in the Torah that treats women vastly different than men.
The man has only one verse dedicated to his oath taking: Basically, if a man makes a vow, its set. However, the next six (6) verses are all about how a woman can’t make a vow without her father or husbands approval. This is where we begin our chat.
For countless years, women have been treated differently than men. It dates back all the way, apparently, to biblical times. Women couldn’t pray with men, women couldn’t converse with a group of men, and so on. However, through all the Torahs many ancient laws, we must separate the then from the now. Today we must study Torah to enlighten our spiritual lives whereas our ancestors carried out the literal words of the Torah. Would you stone your child for back talk? Would you hang your neighbor for wearing cotton? The answer, I hope, is no.
Our ancestors were charged with a very rare and unique task; to keep B’nai Israel alive. Today, we are charged with keeping our WORLD alive. After the destruction of the Second Temple, ritual Judaism was destroyed too. We no longer needed to sacrifice the lamb for our wrong doings. Now we are charged with coming directly to G-d for our needs and confessions. No middle man needed. Our generation now has the task of repairing this broken world which our ancestors fought to keep alive. Our vows to the world should be kept to the best of our abilities so that we don’t end up like the planet Mars.
This generation is the only one we have and it should be sacred and protected. We must educate ourselves with the problems of the past so we don’t repeat them anymore in the future. Our world is a very precious one and it is the only one. Let us try to learn to understand the differences in the world, even if we don’t ever completely understand it. What a person believes, how a person worships or prays or how one lives one’s life shouldn’t be a concern of ours. Our own lives were given to us to perfect, not anyone else’s.
So let’s make our generation the generation of change. The generation that creates a more peaceful world for the generation to come.
The man has only one verse dedicated to his oath taking: Basically, if a man makes a vow, its set. However, the next six (6) verses are all about how a woman can’t make a vow without her father or husbands approval. This is where we begin our chat.
For countless years, women have been treated differently than men. It dates back all the way, apparently, to biblical times. Women couldn’t pray with men, women couldn’t converse with a group of men, and so on. However, through all the Torahs many ancient laws, we must separate the then from the now. Today we must study Torah to enlighten our spiritual lives whereas our ancestors carried out the literal words of the Torah. Would you stone your child for back talk? Would you hang your neighbor for wearing cotton? The answer, I hope, is no.
Our ancestors were charged with a very rare and unique task; to keep B’nai Israel alive. Today, we are charged with keeping our WORLD alive. After the destruction of the Second Temple, ritual Judaism was destroyed too. We no longer needed to sacrifice the lamb for our wrong doings. Now we are charged with coming directly to G-d for our needs and confessions. No middle man needed. Our generation now has the task of repairing this broken world which our ancestors fought to keep alive. Our vows to the world should be kept to the best of our abilities so that we don’t end up like the planet Mars.
This generation is the only one we have and it should be sacred and protected. We must educate ourselves with the problems of the past so we don’t repeat them anymore in the future. Our world is a very precious one and it is the only one. Let us try to learn to understand the differences in the world, even if we don’t ever completely understand it. What a person believes, how a person worships or prays or how one lives one’s life shouldn’t be a concern of ours. Our own lives were given to us to perfect, not anyone else’s.
So let’s make our generation the generation of change. The generation that creates a more peaceful world for the generation to come.
Baruch HaBa B'Shem Adonai
{Blessed is the Name of Adonai}
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