by Michelle Scheinkopf In this week's Torah portion, Shoftim (Deuteronomy 16:18-21:9), Moses reviews the justice system for the Israelites and instructs them to appoint judges and law enforcement officers in every city. According to The Torah: A Women's Commentary, this "parashah focuses on organizing the community and establishing rules that will promote justice within it." In Shoftim, rules are set up to make sure that everything is fair and just in the system. One of the verses states: "Justice, Justice shall you pursue." Not only is this necessary for legal systems but also for individuals. Organizing ourselves to pursue justice is central to Jewish teaching. It is a Jewish calling—an obligation, if you will—telling us to pursue and be engaged in activities that seek justice for all.

by Linda Ferguson Parashat R'eih begins with "see" and not with "sh'ma"—"listen"—as one would expect when they are about to hear a powerful challenge from God to the Israelite people: "See this day I set before you blessing and curse: blessing if you obey the commandments...and curse if you do not obey the commandments... (Deuteronomy 11:26-28)." From that point, the parashah begins the longest section of Deuteronomy and one of the longest in the Torah, with the laws and general principles for the people to live by in the new land.

“And if you do obey these rules and observe them carefully, your G-d will maintain faithfully for you the covenant made on oath with your fathers (Deuteronomy 7:12, The Torah: A Women’s Commentary)." So begins this week’s Torah portion, Eikev. These seem like pretty straightforward directions, right? However, on closer reflection, perhaps they’re not so simple after all. In our modern society, we often choose to not to follow all of the commandments and, in fact, can’t follow all of the original ones handed down at Sinai. My husband and I were married in the Reform congregation in which he grew up in Alexandria, VA and made a commitment at that time to have a Jewish household and pass Judaism on to any future generations. Not being Jewish by birth nor feeling particularly religious, I did not convert at that time. It was while helping our oldest son, Nate, study this parashah, Eikev, in preparation to become a bar mitzvah that I decided to become a Jew-by-choice. I already had a lot of friends in the sisterhood of our northern California congregation who had embraced me and made me feel welcome in the temple. They played a huge role in my decision to become a full member of the Jewish family.

This week, Parashat Va-et’chanan (Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11) gives us the foundation for living a Jewish life by presenting text and images that remain the nucleus for our Judaism to this very day. It begins with Moses asking our ancestors to reflect on their past experiences and learn from them. Moses stresses to his people and their leaders the importance of keeping God's commandments when they enter the Promised Land. The Ten Commandments, the Sh'ma, and the V'ahavta—the center of the Jewish proclamation of faith—are included in this text. Playing the role of teacher, Moses reminds our ancestors of the great things God has done for them in the past and that they, as well as their children and grandchildren, are responsible for continuing to obey God’s laws. Education and the responsibility of women to raise and educate the next generation in ancient Israel are emphasized in this Torah portion.

by Laurel Fisher

The bush is aflame, I hear the call Like Moses, I hesitate But through the journey, I find my voice Yes, I am a leader

As this week’s Torah portion opens, I am struck by the power of words to develop and define a leader. Before we dive into D’varim (Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22), let’s first reflect back on Moses’ early conversations with God. While out tending his flock in Midian, Moses comes across a bush burning unconsumed and he is given the instructions to return to Egypt and confront Pharaoh. Like many of us, Moses questions his ability to lead, partially out of modesty and partially out of fear of how he will be received and whether he will be successful. He has many concerns, most of which center around the ability to communicate: Why me? What should I say? What if they don’t listen to me? Moses’ final objection is voiced in Exodus 4:10: "Please, O Lord, I have never been a man of words, either in times past or now… I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

by Rozan Anderson This week’s parashah, Matot (Numbers 30:2-32:42), continues the story of Moses and the people as they near the end of 40 years in the desert, on the “eve” of entering the Promised Land from the east side of the Jordan River. The central themes revolve around the making, keeping, breaking, annulment, and alteration of vows or obligations to God, ourselves, and others.

“Birth is a beginning and death a destination; But life is a journey, a sacred pilgrimage.” So goes the poem written by Alvin Fine. If it sounds familiar, that’s because it is part of our Yizkor liturgy. This week’s parashah is called "Masei" which means "journeys." This is of course associated with the segments of the journey of the Israelites out of Egypt to the Promised Land. The parashah, however, tells us not so much of the "journeying" but rather of the stops they made along the way–42 in all.  Egypt was called "Mitzrayim" by the Israelites, meaning "a narrow place, or a place of confinement." Thinking in personal terms, these steps or stages can be said to mirror our own lives as we journey on our own personal "exodus from Egypt" toward our destination, which would be the spiritual counterpart of the Land of Israel.

This week we celebrate our foremothers Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah, the daughters of Zelophehad, whose model of advocacy for social justice still stands thousands of years later. Zelophehad has died in the wilderness, leaving no son to inherit. Traditionally, land was inherited through the male line but Zelophehad had died leaving five daughters and no sons. When the allocations were being made to the tribe of Manasseh, the Torah says that the daughters of Zelophehad came forward and, “stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the chieftains, and the whole assembly, at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting,” and they said in part, “Our father died in the wilderness…he has left no sons. Let not our father’s name be lost to his clan just because he had no son! Give us a holding among our father’s kinsmen (Numbers 27:2-4)!"

by Rachel Lambermont This week’s Torah portion Balak contains the story of Balak who hires Balaam to curse the Israelite people because they are getting too large in number. Balaam sets forth to locate the Israelites on his donkey and along the way, the donkey swerves three times and tries to turn around to change their path. After Balaam then beats the donkey, God intervenes and allows Balaam to see the angel that has been placed before the donkey, which allows him to learn that God does not want him to curse the Israelites but rather to bless them. This story resonates with me because the donkey’s actions offer different perspectives. This is something that comes up in our sisterhoods all of the time, and even comes in our lives. How many times are we put in a position to make a decision and we only think of one way of doing things? Maybe it is the voice in our heads saying it’s never been done this way before. Or maybe it is self-doubt at our own abilities to rise to a new challenge. Only when we look to our peers do we see that there may be another way and that others have a different perspective on the situation that may be important.