How do we deal with troubling texts from our Jewish tradition? That’s an important question posed by the second sentence of this week’s Torah portion. See the whole portion here.
The Torah says:
On six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the sovereign; whoever does any work on it shall be put to death.
Ouch! How could our sacred text prescribe death for Shabbat violation?!
There are those who offer rationales suggesting that it doesn’t really mean death. However, the plethora of passages throughout the Torah that prescribe a range of non-lethal consequences for violations of mitzvot suggest otherwise. So, when the text says death here, this ancient writer likely meant “death.”
The simple and complex answer is context. When we recognize this text as the ancient and sacred ruminations of our ancestors, we place the text in context. We see it as the emphatic (and hopefully never applied) hyperbole of an ancient author whose passion exceeded their common sense. By taking the text as it is, with its difficulties, we can draw meaningful lessons from our ancestor’s zeal for Shabbat observance as well as the power of language.
We have passions for many things: love of country, commitment to Israel, passion for Jewish observance, our drive to achieve in our professions—you could add to my list. That intense human emotion is admirable and drives so many of our enduring accomplishments and yet, there are times when such emotion places blinders that hinder our ability to understand the perspectives of those who don’t share our commitment. This is precisely the time that we have to recognize our own context and open our eyes to the experiences of others and compel ourselves to empathy.
What are your passions? How do they drive your life? When do they blind you to the authentic and equally valid experiences of others? What could you do to open your heart so that you can appreciate the passions of others without judgement even if you don’t share them?
— Rabbi Ron Stern