Baruch SpinozaParashat Ekev tells us not to bring a cherem into our premises (Deut. 7:26). Verse 2 commands the destruction (hacharem tacharim) of any prohibited object, especially anything idolatrous.
The cherem is an object which threatens the pure worship of God. Used as a penalty, it gave social and financial power to those who imposed it, by causing the exclusion of others from the community (though the person so designated was still obliged to observe the mitzvot). An outstanding example is the ban (excommunication) placed on Spinoza.
In Britain the early Reform congregation was placed under a ban by the rabbinate, though from the time of Nathan Marcus Adler in the 1840s no chief rabbi was empowered to impose a cherem on anybody.
The Dead Sea Scrolls contain a series of harsh punishments for offences which we in our age would probably regard as quite minor, such as giving hasty responses, showing bad temper, and walking out of a meeting or study session.
A significant feature of this week’s reading is the Shema, the command to Israel (Deut. 6:4) to listen to the announcement that “HaShem is our God, our unique God”.
This is not the only place in the Torah where we are told, “Listen, Israel!” Chapter 9 of D’varim is another example. The people are told to listen to the proclamation that when they cross the Jordan God will be with them and grant them victory over the local tribes.
Why are they being told to listen, and how can so many people hear without artificial amplification?
They are being commanded to listen with their ears and perceive with their minds.
Ramban explains that if they grasp and understand the message they will discover that no achievement is possible without God’s support.
In the Shema they receive a similar message, though this time it is not about military victory but spiritual progress.
The name Shabbat Nachamu derives from the opening words of the haftarah, Nachamu nachamu ammi – “Comfort, O comfort My people” (Isa. 40:1).
Many people think these words are addressed to the Israelite nation, who are being told, “Be comforted, be comforted, O My people”. But the fact is that the call is not to the people but to the prophets (a point made by Rashi), who are being commanded to console the people after the calamity of losing the Temple.
There are two problems even so. Which prophets are being addressed? Why does the word Nachamu come twice?
The plural command calls upon the entire corps of prophets, not to just one prophet. The doubling of Nachamu indicates a double tragedy, the destruction of both the first and the second Temple.
The consolation is the promise that a third Temple will be erected in messianic times (Haggai 2:9).
Tishah B’Av marks the destruction of the two Temples in Jerusalem and of other sanctuaries as well as countless individuals. It also commemorates the destruction of innumerable books.
The destruction of books is described in the dirge (kinnah), Sha’li S’rufah BaEsh written by Meir of Rothenburg in the 13th century. Books are regarded in Judaism as people, entitled to respect in life and after death.
The history of literary persecution culminates in the Holocaust but begins in the Bible with attacks on the record of Jeremiah’s prophecies (Jer. 36:23); Maimonides warns that those responsible would have no afterlife. There were many attacks on the Talmud (e.g. in Paris in 1233-4).
The perpetrators sometimes had a bad conscience; for instance, the executioner of the rabbinic teacher Chanina ben Teradyon threw himself into the flames (AZ 17a).
The attackers were often renegade Jews, accusing their former coreligionists of blaspheming Jesus. Such renegades were often abetted by Church Inquisitors.
Jews often went into exile carrying their books; as recently as the Holocaust, the survivors included books.
Our enemies feared our books, our ideas and our ethics. No matter how much force the enemy had, there would be a time when we would prevail and the world would listen to us.
D’varim, the final Book of the Torah, is mostly comprised of Moses’ summing up of his career and his farewell to the Israelite people.
He conveys his message in high-quality rhetoric even though in Egypt he said, “I am not a man of words” and was described as “heavy of speech and heavy of tongue”.
Can this be the same Moses? The answer is that a leader goes through many years of crisis and experience, and he develops a competency with words and becomes an orator. Many speakers are not naturally gifted with words, but time makes a difference.
What was it that made Moses “a man of words”? Not genes but life.
Rabbi Dr Raymond Apple zt”l passed away in January 2024. As an archive of the Rabbi’s written contributions across his many fields of interest, this site is a tribute to the man and his work. See the About section for more information on his life. Y’hi zichro baruch.
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