A few weeks ago, I saw a note posted on Facebook by a colleague
from my Navy days. It was to inform us
that a second colleague was blogging, and that his blog was “worth checking
out.” So of course, out of curiosity I
looked up his blog and began reading. The
blog is about his travels. He is retired
and peripatetic; he and his wife live on a boat in Malaysia in the winter, and
in an RV in the USA in the summer. During
this part of the year they travel about the Western states, but also take
advantage of the superior health care in the USA to get the ongoing health
issues of middle age taken care of.
I sat and read about three weeks’
worth of almost daily posts on the blog.
It was interesting after a fashion because I knew this guy years ago and
was curious about what he’s up to now.
On the other hand, I haven’t become a follower of the blog because in
all honesty it is more than a little dry.
It is about how he goes from place to place, what routes he takes, what
the traffic and weather is like, how he finds his nightly parking places, how
he communicates with family on the road.
It chronicles his health issues and doctors’ appointments. It talks about the difficulties he
experiences in keeping his journal that serves as the basis of his blog. It reads somewhat like the intelligence
reports we used to write in the day. In
short, his blog is…well, boring.
Whenever I interview someone who
wants to pursue conversion to Judaism, I use part of the interview just to chat
with the person and learn what they’re about, not specifically to talk about
Judaism. A question I’ll often throw in
is: What was your favourite book that
you have read? Sometimes, if I don’t
know the individual, they approach the interview with more than a little
nervousness. That’s understandable. After all, I have something they want, and
they want to make a good impression. But
I always roll my eyes when they answer the question about the book: The Torah.
(Alternative answer: The
Tanakh. Most of these individuals at
least know not to call it, The Old Testament!)
Look, it’s not that I don’t think
The Torah, or the Tanakh, is a good and worthwhile book. I would say that I would have to think
so, to be in the ‘business’ I’m in, except that some of my colleague expend
much effort denigrating our holy texts.
So I don’t have to think they’re great books, but I do. But neither the Five Books of Moses, nor the
Tanakh as a whole, is really compelling as literature. They’re far too laconic. Like my friend’s blog, they focus on the
physical actions, and leave so much detail out.
It’s those details that make good, compelling reading. That’s why I devour the books of Tom Clancy, and
Dan Brown, and Faye Kellerman, and John Grisham to name several of my favourite
authors. All the above really weave a
compelling narrative and riveting dialogues.
The Torah and Tanakh? Not so
much. That’s why we have to discipline
ourselves to study Torah. The text doesn’t
magnetically draw is in.
I hope you don’t think I’m
committing heresy by saying this. Or criticizing
the Torah. I’m only trying to be
honest. And judging by how many Tanakhs
are quietly gathering dust on your bookshelves at home, I think I’m in good
company.
Take this week’s Torah reading as an
example. We have a double portion this
week: Mattot-Masei. The latter portion opens with the
words: These are the journeys of the
Children of Israel who went forth from the land of Egypt. And then, for the next 48
verses, we read the most prosaic travelogue imaginable. The children of Israel journeyed from Ramses
and encamped at Sukkot. They journeyed
from Sukkot and encamped at Etham, which is on the edge of the wilderness. They journeyed from Etham and it turned back
to Pi-hahirot, which is before Ba’al-tzefon, and they encamped before
Migdal. And that’s only three
verses! Imagine reading this
narrative as it continues for 48 verses! Why doesn’t the Torah tell us some more
detail about what happened in those places, what the people experienced, how
they reacted and felt? Why isn’t there
more of a story??!
Rabbi Dr Benjamin Apple from
Sydney, in his e-mail lesson this week, offers a good explanation. He points out that many of those details have
been chronicled elsewhere. The itinerary
of the Israelites’ travels is chronicled here with so little detail, because
the text’s only purpose is to remind the Israelites of how far they’ve come, or
how torturous a path they’ve travelled. They
know, and it is chronicled elsewhere, what happened and what they experienced
there. The entire itinerary is
reiterated here in very laconic form, simply to set the scene for what’s
happening in the larger text.
And what’s happening, if you read
onward from the end of the little travelogue, is a long set of specific
instructions. On how the Israelites were
to conduct themselves once they had taken possession of the land. In other words, to me, the repetition of the
itinerary is a literary device to remind the Israelites of how far and long
they have come to possess the land. As
if to say: You didn’t just waltz in
from Egypt. You therefore must take your
possession of the land very seriously. You
must be good stewards. You must remember
all you’ve been taught of what G-d expects of you, and maintain those standards
when you are in your land. It is the
wilderness that has forged you into the nation you are today, but the reason
you have been so forged is to create in this land a light to the nations.
In other words, at least at this
reading, the emphasis is on the destination – not the journey. And that’s okay. I know that I emphasise the journey, but the
two foci are not mutually exclusive. Sometimes,
it is important to see the journey as preparing us for some end. And to focus less on the details of the
journey itself.
So my colleague’s blog – which is
totally about the journey and the banal details along the way – is not in any
way an inferior narrative. It simply has
a focus that is perhaps difficult for the casual reader to see. But then, it doesn’t seem to have been
written with the casual reader in mind. Rather,
it is written for close friends and family members, who want to read
what, to someone who doesn’t know this man and his wife, might seem
uninteresting.
Likewise, on the surface the reading
that opens the Torah portion Masei, the chronicle of where the people
Israel have travelled in their wanderings from Egypt until shortly before their
entrance into the land of Israel, is not really for the benefit of the casual
reader who happens upon it. Rather, its
purpose is to remind the Israelites of how far and long they have travelled to
their present place, on the cusp of their entry into Canaan. It’s as if Hashem is saying: See what a long road this has been…don’t
screw up now!
Looked at thusly, this seemingly
prosaic travelogue really sets the stage for an epic account of an incredible
adventure to come. But you have to keep
reading to get there. So…keep
reading! Shabbat shalom.
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