Kareen Hartwig

This week’s Torah portion, Vayishlach, is a filmmaker’s dream. It is filled with intrigue, reconciliation, lust, revenge, violence, birth, and death, a virtual hodge-podge of life. “And Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.” It is from this part of the parashah that Anita Diamant found the seeds to create her bestselling book, The Red Tent. A book that preceded the WRJ Torah: A Women’s Commentary, and gave voice to Dinah, one of the voiceless woman of the Torah. Was Dinah’s encounter with Shechem, the Hivite prince, a vicious sexual attack, as presented in the portion, or was it the loving consensual relationship that is presented in The Red Tent by Leah herself? Were the violent actions of Dinah’s brothers necessary to avenge the crime that they saw, or did their actions leave Leah grief stricken and totally alienated from her family? There is certainly lots to ponder in this small section and I challenge you to find a partner and study it further; we are lucky to now have the WRJ Torah: A Women's Commentary and its Study Guides to help.

Tucked at the end of this week’s parsha, Sh’lach L’cha, we find two mitzvot and according to Halacha, women are commanded to perform the first and in many circles, women are forbidden from doing the other. These are the commandments of chalah and tzitzit. In Numbers 15:17-21 we are commanded to set aside one piece of dough from each batch we make, “…when you eat of the bread of the land you shall set aside a portion for God.” The concluding section of the parsha describes the tzitzit and how they are to be worn and their significance. In Numbers 15:39 we read, “And it shall be to you for a fringe, that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of Adonai and do them…” There is so much to say about these passages and endless d’vrei Torah have been written about them, but I would like to emulate the great commentator Rashi and examine what seems wrong to me here.

“You shall be holy for Adonai your God is holy” are words so important that they are read from the Torah two times during the year; this week in Parashat Kedoshim and on Yom Kippur afternoon. Not only does God command us to be holy, but what follows, often called the Holiness Code, is a veritable guide on how to live that holy life. This one portion exemplifies Jewish tradition and Jewish ethics. Listed in this short section, to name but a few, are mitzvot concerning: ritual observance, care for the poor and physically challenged, fair treatment of workers, and legal justice. We learn that our relationships with each other can, and must be, as holy as our relationship with God. In essence, “You Shall Love Your Neighbor as Yourself.” For the past almost 100 years Women of Reform Judaism has taken these words to heart. Through advocacy and fund raising, WRJ works to bring justice and fairness to our world and strives to keep Reform Judaism flourishing. Whether fighting for human rights or making sure that there is a place for our teens in the Reform Movement by creating NFTY or contributing $90,000 to the Campaign for Youth Engagement, Women of Reform Judaism is there.