Torah Study Blog

Our summer hiatus has ended! 

Anti-Semitic tropes portray Jews as scheming or devious. Our own Bible has been used against us for examples of supposed Jewish scheming. In one biblical story, our patriarch Abraham claims to be the brother of his beautiful wife Sarah in an effort to tempt Pharaoh into a relationship with Sarah. Pharaoh pays a handsome bride-price to Abraham in order to claim Sarah. However, God soon makes it clear that Pharaoh has overstepped into a relationship with someone God had set-aside. Pharaoh tells Abraham and Sarah to go away, and take their ill-gotten gains with them. (Genesis 12)

In another story, Jacob, who had been laboring for his father-in-law for 14 years, has decided to move on and requests as payment the newborn livestock that were streaked, speckled or spotted. Jacob used strips of poplar wood, in some sort of an undetailed magical maneuver, to make it so that all the sturdy baby livestock was born streaked, speckled or spotted. Jacob took the study livestock and he “became exceedingly prosperous.” (Genesis 30)

And, when the Israelites were freed from slavery to the Egyptians, God said to Moses, “And I will dispose the Egyptians favorably toward this people, so that when you go, you will not go away empty-handed. Each woman shall borrow from her neighbor and the lodger in her house objects of silver and gold, and clothing, and you shall put these on your sons and daughters, thus stripping the Egyptians.” (Exodus 3:21-22) This clearly states that the gold and silver were borrowed. But we know that these items were never returned.

The Talmud, the foundational document of the Jewish religion, records conversations between the ancient rabbis trying to come to a deeper understanding of the Torah, even when it comes to morally questionable stories like the ones just outlined. In a story recorded around 500 C.E., the rabbis image that a group of Egyptians petitioned Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.E.) to get their silver and gold back. They say, about the Jews, “You claimed that you were borrowing it and you never returned it.”

The man sent to argue to the case for the Jews replied to the Egyptians, in front of Alexander the Great, “it is stated: “And the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was 430 years” (Exodus 12:40) during which they were enslaved to Egypt, engaged in hard manual labor. Give us the wages for the work performed by the 600,000 men above the age of twenty who you enslaved in Egypt for 430 years.”

Alexander the Great waited for a response from the Egyptians but, instead, the Egyptians “abandoned their fields when they were sown and the vineyards when they were planted, and fled.” In this case, not only did the Egyptians abandon their claim to get the gold and sliver back, but they abandoned their fields and vineyards – leaving even more wealth for the Jews.

As part of Rabbi Jaech’s professional development this summer, she attended a trip to civil rights sites in Alabama with a group of about 50 Reform rabbis. You may be familiar with the “1619 Project,” which is a series of articles published by the New York Times marking the 400^th anniversary of the landing of the first slave ship in America. Rabbi Jaech was struck that the 400^th anniversary of American slavery is so similar to the 430 years the Israelites were said to be in bondage to the Egyptians.

The fact of America taking what is not ours as a source of our nation’s wealth is well documented. In the labor stolen from the slaves, and the land stolen from the natives, and in the natural resources stolen from other countries.

Given that our High Holidays are coming up, including Yom Kippur when we are supposed to atone for our sins, Rabbi Jaech took this opportunity to look at the teachings in the Talmud about what is the right thing to do when you have profited from something that was originally stolen.

In one example, someone steals a beam and builds a house with it. According to Shammai, the entire building must be destroyed and the original beam must be returned to the owners. However, Hillel says that the injured party should only get the value of the beam. Hillel was more practical. The fact is that, if destroying your house was required, no one would ever admit to wrongdoing and atonement would never be made. By requiring repayment, the ability to make it right again is within reach, making it possible that repayment would actually happen.

For decades there has been a bill in the US Congress to study the issue of reparations for wrongs done to the African American community. Hard questions are being asked and answers will not be easy to reach. Rabbi Jaech pointed out to us that although the question may be difficult to answer, it is shameful that the bill, a bill just to study the issue, has never been brought up for a vote.

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misquotes or misunderstandings in what Rabbi Jaech taught us are the responsibility of Tara Keiter