The whole of the Book of Deuteronomy is written as though it is Moses’ farewell address as he prepares to die, unable to accompany the Israelite people into the Promised Land, Canaan.
It unsurprisingly includes a review of Israelite history, particularly a retrospective of the 40 years wandering in the Wilderness. It then sensibly moves on to examine what will be required of the Israelites once Canaan has been conquered.
Parashat Re’eh deals first with the sanctuary, the place of worship and sacrifices, and arguably makes one of Deuteronomy’s most radical changes. The earlier Biblical narrative provides evidence for local shrines but Parashat Re’eh offers a single place to become a venue for animal sacrifices, tax on agricultural produce, voluntary offerings and the donation of first born animals – all methods of fiscal support for the cult.
Do not worship the Eternal your God in like manner but look only to the site that the Eternal your God will choose amidst all your tribes as the Divine habitation, to establish the Divine name there. There you are to go, and there you are to bring your burnt offerings, your tithes and contributions, your votive and free will offerings, and the firstlings of your herd and flocks. Together with your households, you shall feast thee before the Eternal your God, happy in all the undertakings in which the Eternal your God has blessed you.
(Deuteronomy 12: 4-7)
It is suggested that these verses support a royal centralisation of the Hebrew cult and its power in the 7th century BCE under King Josiah who seeks to give the reforms authenticity by attributing the changes to Moses by the miraculous discovery of a Mosaic scroll in the wall of the Temple as recorded in the Books of Second Kings 22 and 23 and the Second Book of Chronicles 34 and 35.
Moses goes further, warning against Canaanite pagan practices, demanding rejection of ‘false’ prophets and dreamers, and cautioning about subversion.
Moses then returns to a familiar theme: what makes Israel ‘holy’ or special or separate from others, and here he opts for how Jews undergo mourning and what Jews might and might not eat. It is in chapter 14:3-11 that the forbidden species are largely repeated as from Leviticus 11.
At the end of Parashat Re’eh there is a description of the three Pilgrimage Festivals (Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot) and other miscellaneous cultic matters.
The section of Parashat Re’eh which most finds Progressive Jewish favour is chapter 15: 1-18 which proposes measures to protect the poor, to practice economic justice and to close the gap between the richest and the poorest in a society. Measures include: remission of debts, favourable lending to the poor, and the release of indentured slaves who represented one of the most vulnerable groups.
This Liberal rabbinic author reads the Torah because it represents our spiritual history and is a work of great literary value: poetry, song, law, narrative and fable. Nevertheless, my overwhelming objective of studying Torah is not about the past but about the present and the future, and here I seek to be political but not party political.
The United Kingdom has a new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, and his central theme has been the requirement to devolve power to regions, Mayors, local authorities and even community groups. This possibility has received a sympathetic hearing, not least because it may offer effectiveness, financial efficiencies, democratic authority, and the possibility that residents may become involved in societal organisation if they can see on their own doorsteps change they have supported.
The new Government has also repeated the mantra of economic growth for the benefit of all inhabitants, and there needs to be a public debate about how the poorest in our society can be sustained but more importantly assisted to fulfil their potential.
In his work, Mishneh Torah, the famous 13th century medieval philosopher, Moses Maimonides, remarked about Tzedekah (charity):
There are eight levels of providing tzedakah, each one superior to the next…. The supreme level – above which there is no higher one – is one who strengthens the hand of a member of Israel who has fallen on hard times, by granting him a gift or a loan, or entering into a partnership with him, or finding him work, in order to strengthen his hand, so that he will not have to beg from other people.
The seventh level is to give tzedakah but with the receiver and the donor knowing where the donation came or went. To give tzedakah anonymously is the highest form of palliative tzedakah because the donor gives only for God to know about it.
The sixth level is when the donor knows who they are giving tzedakah to, but the recipient needs to know who gave it.
The fifth level, the donor does know to whom they are giving tzedakah, but the receiver knows who is helping.
The fourth level is when both the donor and recipient are aware of each other, but the donor gives tzedakah before the poor ask for help.
The third level is when the donor gives the recipient tzedakah after they are asked for help.
The second level is the donor gives the poor recipient less than they need but does so eagerly.
The first and lowest level is when the donor begrudgingly gives to people experiencing poverty. It is the lowest form of tzedakah and the most embarrassing.
The modern welfare state is not the same as individual acts of tzedakah but some of Maimonides’ concepts may have application.
For the sake of us all most citizens wish any Government well but the new Prime Minister may well be measured on whether the devolution of power leads to a better sharing and its more effective impact, and how the balance between the protection of the poorest and the unshackling of enterprise can enable a society to be richer in means but more importantly in values and commitment.
No 10 – whether in Whitehall or Manchester – might well start its research in Parashat Re’eh!