I need a little more inspiration to get me through these High Holidays. Focusing only on my failings and foibles feels precariously narrow-minded. The Days of Awe are more awesome when we focus on the purpose of change. To truly improve, my inner work should serve something greater than myself.  The challenge is to embrace my status as an agent of God.

In the very last words, the Torah describes Moses as an agent of God, an Ish Elohim ( אִ֥ישׁ הָאֱלֹהִ֖ים ).  As an agent of God, Moses was humble. From shepherd of sheep to the nation’s leader, Moses served, focusing on grander goals and holy purposes. When Moses’ anguish got in the way of his leadership, his agency had to end.

Throughout Jewish history, seemingly ordinary people served as God’s agents. Joseph went from the pit to the platform of Egyptian power, ultimately saving his family from famine. Esther saved the Jewish people, challenging a King and confronting evil Haman to rescue the Jews from destruction.

People can still be agents of deliverance. I think of people like Marian Wright Edelman and the Children’s Defense Fund, or Bono and his commitment to end poverty on a global scale. Perhaps, the greatest agent of God in the twentieth century was Martin Luther King, Jr. In his final speech (reminiscent of Moses) Dr. King, stated “I just want to do God’s will.  And he’s allowed me to go to the mountain.  And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the Promised Land!  I may not get there with you, but I want you to know that we, as a people, will get to the promised land.” All of them came from relatively humble beginnings.

Each of us can serve as God’s agents in the world today. We don’t have to be big-name rock stars, lawyers, writers, or activists to be used by God. All we need is a willingness to undertake two pursuits. We have to be willing to serve as agents for a godly purpose. And we have to align with values of caring, compassion, decency and dignity.

When God chose Moses, he was an ordinary shepherd.  All he did was respond to the call of God. God provided the way for Moses to deliver the Hebrews. That is what God asks of us. The shofar’s fragmented blasts remind us that this world is broken and our hearts are breaking. The Torah reminds us that most ordinary of people might just be the agent of change that delivers a better world.

Rabbi Evan J. Krame

Autocrats and their minions rule five dozen countries today. What is surprising to me is that most were elected to govern. Judicious and freedom-loving people are baffled by the eagerness to be governed by a strongman. Perhaps, there is no surprise as that impulse to give away power to a dictator is as old as the Torah.

At the precipice of entering the Promised Land, Moses warns the people about giving power to a king.

כִּֽי־תָבֹ֣א אֶל־הָאָ֗רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֨ר יְהֹוָ֤ה אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙ נֹתֵ֣ן לָ֔ךְ וִֽירִשְׁתָּ֖הּ וְיָשַׁ֣בְתָּה בָּ֑הּ וְאָמַרְתָּ֗ אָשִׂ֤ימָה עָלַי֙ מֶ֔לֶךְ כְּכׇל־הַגּוֹיִ֖ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר סְבִיבֹתָֽי׃

“If, after you have entered the land that your God יהוה has assigned to you, and taken possession of it and settled in it, you decide, “I will set a king over me, as do all the nations about me,”  Deut. 17:14

Notice the subtlety revealed by the language. While addressing the nation, Moses notes that individuals will decide to have a king. This warning reminds us that individuals are complicit in delivering power to a ruler, just as the Germans elected Hitler. Subsequently, in history, dozens of dictators have used the electoral system to take power.

The Torah sets limits on the kind of person who should serve as king. The King should not have too many horses (wealth) or too many wives (greed and lust).  Rather, the King should keep a copy of the Torah at their side. “Thus he will not act haughtily toward his fellows or deviate from the Instruction to the right or to the left, to the end that he and his descendants may reign long in the midst of Israel.”

Of course, Solomon, the third king to rule, had a surfeit of both horses and wives. Both his wisdom and hubris were on full display. Perhaps it is also a character trait of those who would be rulers to consolidate and even abuse power.

While the Hebrew Kings were born to their station as descendants of David, modern autocrats most often pursue power through electoral processes. It has happened in Hungary, Egypt, Venezuela, Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia and Nigeria. Perhaps anyone who pursues power should be suspect. In order to establish a foothold, they manufacture crises to legitimize their rule. Then, these autocrats subvert democracy by weaponizing their public support. According to Alexander Matovksi, “By mimicking democracy – allowing multiparty elections, oppositions and somewhat free markets and media – they [keep] authoritarianism alive in most places across the world.” The electoral process should serve as a check on the impertinence and even despotic nature of some politicians. A free press questions their motives. Campaign speeches reveal their personalities. And a reported history of public service portrays their skills.

Once again, the Torah is a great predictor of our times. Some people living in a blessed land like the United States are willing to elect a self-styled King. The Torah warns us this time of year, corresponding to campaign season, that we should not give power to despotic rulers.

Rabbi Evan J. Krame

Judaism has a constitution: the Torah. The fifth book of the Torah, Deuteronomy, outlines rights, privileges, proscriptions, and constraints, all aimed at creating a God-centric society. Like any constitution, adherence to these rules requires commitment from its followers. This might explain why this week’s Parsha, Eikev, commands us nine times to “keep” or “observe” God’s laws.

Deuteronomy also predicts disloyalty among the people. It anticipates that they will forget the commandments and disregard God’s laws. Testing boundaries is part of human nature. Outright rejection of the rules is anathema.

Some people take the Torah at face value without interpretation. They are called Karaites. Karaites remain in the Middle East, resisting change. Their numbers are few.

In contrast, modern Judaism adopted a radical reinterpretation of the Torah. Judaism had to adjust after the destruction of the Second Temple. The rabbis recorded and codified their interpretation of the Torah laws, to suit a world without a Temple and Judaism in diaspora.

Despite the repeated demands for observance in Parshat Eikev, some rules are impossible to follow. Others are too esoteric or repugnant. For example, we don’t stone a wayward child, turn red heifers into magical potions, or stone a man to death for failing to observe the Shabbat.

The values of the Torah, expressed in Parshat Eikev, include: “And now, O Israel, what does your God יהוה demand of you? Only this: to revere your God יהוה, to walk only in divine paths, to love and to serve your God יהוה with all your heart and soul, keeping God’s commandments and laws, which I enjoin upon you today, for your good.” This relationship with God forms the foundation of the Jewish Constitution, the rules of observance an extension of those values.

Progressive Judaism focuses its observance on upholding the values expressed in the Torah. The Torah instructs us dozens of times to be kind to strangers, feed the hungry, and care for orphans. These value-focused mitzvot appear far more frequently than any other law. The principles upon which many Jews focus their observance keep them walking in Divine paths, sometimes lacking the rigor of ritual practice, prayer, and community connections that should reinforce our devotion to the core principles that serve humanity.

On the other end of the spectrum, the ultra-Orthodox community adheres strictly to rabbinic interpretations, demanding rigorous observance. These rules endure because observant communities choose to abide by them and reinforce them. Observance through daily routine and community norms is elevated above the principles undergirding the laws. For instance, if the Torah commands us to keep the laws as a sign between our eyes, small black boxes with straps are donned each morning. As the Torah says not to boil a calf in its mother’s milk, the community has agreed to prohibit cheeseburgers and veal parmigiana. The traditional Jew focuses on observance of the rabbinic rule of law as the Divine path ultimately upholding the values of being merciful and just.

Parshat Eikev offers both a directive to follow God’s laws and a guide to creating a civil and caring society. That is the nature of a constitution, a pact governing a community to uphold and protect foundational values through sanctioned behaviors.

Americans face similar challenges with interpreting the Constitution. Should we be originalists, strictly interpreting the document in the context of its authorship, or uphold its values while adapting its principles to modern times? Unlike the Divine connection central to the Torah, some in the U.S. read a Christian nationalism into the Constitution, while others see the Constitution’s precepts as suggestions rather than obligations. Originalists claim to believe the Constitution is immutable through interpretation. Progressives advocate reinterpretation to reflect modern realities. In practice, neither approach suffices. To sustain a constitution requires deference to the original structure  complemented by elasticity for the future.

Ultimately, our approach to the Torah or the Constitution reflects our understanding of observance. The progressive view understands observance as elevating the values embedded in legal language. Meanwhile, the conservative view focuses observances on closely adhering to the text’s stated intent. In a healthy society, neither approach should prevail, and both should be honored.

Observance binds people together with a common purpose. We cannot remain strictly confined to ancient words nor dissolve society into individualized practices. The key to understanding our civilization lies in maintaining the sanctity of our constitutional obligations, both the plain meaning and the inherent values.

Rabbi Evan Krame

In researching my family history, I discovered colorful if not disturbing aspects of my family’s history. This is no surprise. Stories of bad behavior fill Jewish history. These stories may change the way I remember family.

As we begin reading the fifth book of the Torah, Moses offers a recap of the travels through the wilderness. Moses’ report focuses mostly on the lapses of the Hebrews. He starts by describing the challenges of managing the Hebrews. Moses next recalls the episode of the spies when the people lacked faith in God, hesitating to conquer the inhabitants of Canaan. Because of their faithlessness, that generation perished in the wilderness. Toward the end of the 40-year sojourn, Moses waged military campaigns against various tribes in and around the Promised Land, resulting in a bloody and disheartening report.

I have often glossed over the difficult stories in the Torah about wars and the annihilation of populations. The text says this was God’s will, and our faith in God is mandated. These passages have been used to justify the idea that modern Israeli troops reclaiming our land, evicting hostile usurpers, and containing future threats are actions supported by Divine will.

For most of my life, the story of Israel was about immigration, battles, and miracles. More recently, a few Israeli historians have shared stories of disturbing Israeli aggression. Even as I learned the disturbing parts of Israeli history, my faith in an ascendant and triumphant Israel remained strong. If Israelis destroyed homes or killed Arabs, I believed these actions were in response to provocations. If Israelis wanted to live in their ancient lands, their rights were incontestable.

The current Israeli government and especially their response to the Gaza war has shaken my relationship to Israel. No one with Moses’ piety lives to tell us God’s will. No leader with Joshua’s conviction leads the troops. Instead, Israel is led by faithless, felonious, prejudiced, and power-hungry individuals.

We are familiar with the difficulties of creating and sustaining the modern Israeli state. Just as the Torah shares rebellions and cowardice, the full story of Israel includes details of displacements, massacres, and assassinations conducted in the name of maintaining Israel’s sovereignty and safety. Accordingly, Israel’s detractors characterize the salvation of Jews from Europe and Arab lands as colonization. Israel, a miracle of blooming deserts and a start-up nation draws greater attention for its inscrutable military intelligence and use of advanced weaponry. A nation in the legacy of the shepherd David may be remembered as militaristic as Goliath.

I now struggle to read Deuteronomy’s opening chapters as a positive reflection on our people’s wanderings, just as I find it challenging to read about Israel and remain resolute in my Zionist commitment to a Jewish homeland. The craven leadership and oppression of Palestinians is not the history I want added to our Jewish family’s legacy. While every Jewish family has saints and sinners, heroes and villains, I fear that Israel’s militant hardliners are branding our entire Jewish family in the 21st century.

Rabbi Evan J. Krame