Deuteronomy 7:12-11:25 - Isaiah 49:14-51:3 - John 20:19-29

This week's edition of The Set Table contains:

Questions and Commentary on Shabbat Eqev
Chayyei Yeshua - A Devotional Commentary on the Besora Reading
In Summary
Looking Ahead

Questions & Commentary on Parashat Eqev

1. In this week's Torah portion, we read about the mitzva of tefillin, "Therefore impress these words upon your very heart. Bind them as a sign on your hand, and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead" (Deuteronomy 11:18). What do tefillin signify? Did Yeshua wear tefillin?  Should we? Traditionally only men lay tefillin, but today it has become common in more progressive branches of Judaism for women to wear them. Do you think there is support in the text and tradition for this practice?

Rabbi Jason Sobel

First, tefillin are meant to symbolize redemption. This point is clearly communicated to us by Exodus 13:19, which says, "It shall be as a sign on your hand and as frontlets between your eyes, for by strength of hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt." It makes sense that the yad (arm) and rosh (head) tefillin are meant to be a memorial of our redemption from Egypt since God brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with great signs (Exodus 13:9, 16). Every time we, as members of the Jewish people, lay tefillin, we should remember the great redemption that God wrought for us and our ancestors by his mighty hand through Moses and through Messiah Yeshua.

Second, tefillin are meant to symbolize our covenantal relationship with God. When donning tefillin, we first wrap the yad tefillin seven times around our left arm. According to tradition this action is reminiscent of the seven times the kalla (bride) circles the groom during the wedding ceremony. Then, after putting on the rosh tefillin, we wrap the leather strap of the hand tefillin around both the middle and ring finger. According to tradition, as we do this we recite the biblical verse from Hosea 2:19-20 which says,

Everytime Jewish people put on tefillin, they publicly identify as God's chosen people. It is also important to remember that the unique relationship of the Jewish people implies a unique responsibility to serve God. Thus tefillin also symbolize the Jewish people's unique role and divine calling as a Mamlekhet Kohanin (Kingdom of Priests; Exodus 19:6).  Hopefully understanding some of the deep symbolism of tefillin will cause us to perform this mitzva with greater kavvana and meaning. 

Though tefillin were discovered at Qumran (an archaeological site near the Dead Sea inhabited during the time of Yeshua), it is uncertain whether or not Yeshua himself embraced the practice of laying tefillin. Yeshua certainly spoke with great reverence for one of the biblical practices contained in tefillin (Deuteronomy 6:4; cf. Matthew 22:38) and the practice of laying tefillin was common in Judaism of the period.

According to the Mishna in Berakhot 3.3, "Women, slaves, and minors are exempt from Shema (a time bound mitzvah) but they are obligated in Tefilla/Amida, Mezuzua, and Birkat HaMazon (Grace after Meals)." However just because the Mishna says that women are "exempt" it does not necessarily mean that they are prohibited from voluntarily performing these mitzvot. What it means is that they are not obligated to perform these mitzvot. 

The Talmud seems to support this position when it says,

For it was taught: Michal the daughter of the Kushite wore tefillin and the Sages did not attempt to prevent her, and the wife of Jonah attended the festival pilgrimage and the Sages did not prevent her. Now since the Sages did not prevent her it is clearly evident that they hold the view that it is a positive precept. the performance of which is not limited to a particular time.

b. Eruvin 96a-b

The Tosafists (prominent medieval commentators on the Talmud), commenting on this passage, permit women both to perform positive time bound commandments and also allow them to recite the accompanying blessings. 

Yosef Karo, the author of the Shulchan 'Arukh (1564), the Rema, the author of 'Orekh Chayyim (1569-1571), and the 'Arukh HaShulchan (1903-1907), some of the most influential and important halakhic decisors, all agree that women should not be allowed to fulfill this mitzva.

However, other prominent rabbis such as Rashi, Rabbenu Tam, Rambam (Maimonides) and Rashba allow women to voluntarily fulfill positive time bound commandments and do not hold that tefillin are an exception, like the other decisors mentioned above. Rashi allowed his daughters to wear tefillin. Today many Conservative, Reconstructionist, Reform and even some Orthodox Jewish women are wearing tefillin with the support of their rabbis and halakhic scholars.In light of these facts, there seems to be substantial halakhic and historical support for women to voluntarily fulfill the mitzva of tefillin.

2. Why are we commanded in this week's parasha to bless the LORD after eating (Deuteronomy 8:10)?

Rabbi Jonathan Kaplan

In Judaism, it is considered a matter of course to offer thanks to God before the consumption of wine, bread, fruit and all manner of foods. A similar practice of "saying grace" exists in the various traditions of Christianity at well. Jewish practice also includes giving thanks to God for food we have eaten after the meal. This postive commandment is based on Deuteronomy 8:10 wherein the Jewish people are instructed "When you have eaten and are satisfied, give thanks (uverakhta) to the LORD your God . . ." Grammatically uverakhta can either refer to an action you undertake in the future unrelated to the consumption of food or an action you are obliged to undertake because you have eaten and are satisfied. The Hebrew in this verse can be understood in either way, but, as Jeffrey Tigay points out in his comments on Deuteronomy 8:10, the interpretation of this verb as an obligatory action is probably correct based on the context of this chapter.

Traditional Jewish interpretation has also understood the practice in the same terms and has mandated the praying of grace after meals, based on this verse. In traditional interpretation, the longer form of grace after meals, Birkat Hammazon, is recited only after meals that begin with the blessing over bread. In cases when bread is not consumed (but other kinds of food or drink are)  two shorter forms are used, depending on the type of food consumed, for the after meal blessing.

But this still leaves the question of why we are commanded to offer thanks to God after we have eaten and are satisfied. Our verse tells us that we are to give thanks "for the good land which God has given" us. Ovadiah Seforno, the great 16^th century Italian Jewish commentator, understands that we are to give thank to God "in order that [we] remember that what [we] have comes from" God. Seforno's observation reminds us that food is basic to our existence. If we stop to thank God for our food, we will also pause to consider all of the other great gifts we have received from God.

Nachmanides, the 13^th century Spanish commentator, has a more restrictive view of God's command to give thanks for food. He understands this commandment as being intimately tied to God's gift of the land and our experience of journeying from slavery in Egypt to liberty in the promise land. He writes,

"When you have eaten and are satisfied, give thanks" so that you will remember the slavery of Egypt and the travails of the desert, and when you eat and are satisfied in the good land you will bless God because of it.

Nachmanides, living most of his life outside the Land, mandated that, though this practice is fundamentally tied to the Jewish people's life in the Land, Jewish people are obligated to perform this commandment in every place we live - inside or outside of Israel. Thus, even when outside the land, Jewish people remember that the sustenance they receive is a gift of the one who brought them out of bondage in Egypt and brought them to live in the land he swore to give to their ancestors.

Ultimately as Yeshua reminds us in Matthew 4:4 (quoting Deuteronomy 8:3), the existence of the Jewish people is not merely dependent on food but on God's provision for us in all aspects of life. Praying after we have eaten and are satisfied gives us the opportunity to express our dependence on God not only for food but also in all aspects of life, especially for God's mightyacts of redemption on behalf of the Jewish people and the whole world.

Rabbi Jonathan Kaplan

John 20:19-29 - Seeing is Believing!

We often depend upon signs before we will believe in the reality of God's work in the world. A classic example of this is the exodus from Egypt. In Exodus 15, Israel rejoices at the capacity of their divine warrior king to destroy the Egyptian army and lead them from bondage in Egypt. In Exodus 16, they are already grumbling for food, doubting that God will be able to provide for them. They want God to show them.

Thomas is like us and like our ancestors in the wilderness. He has seen Yeshua's miracles. He helped to feed thousands with only a few loaves and fishes. He watches countless people healed and even some resurrected through Yeshua. In this week's reading, we encounter Thomas, incredulous, listening to the report of the visitation Yeshua had paid his followers in their locked room in Jerusalem.

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Yeshua came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Yeshua said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

John 20:19-23

Thomas hears the report of the disciples encountering their risen Lord who entered a locked room to visit them. He hears how they saw his wounds and that he is alive. He hears Yeshua's sending of them and the gift of the Holy Spirit empowering them for their work of forgiveness and reconciliation. Yet, Thomas does not believe. He wants the same experience the other disciples had received or he "will not believe" (John 20:25). What are we to make of Thomas' doubt? Is it out of jealousy for the experience of the other disciples? Or does he, like our ancestors, not trust the capacity of God to do such a wondrous thing even when others tell him? In fact, Thomas did come to experience the risen Lord one week later.

Much has been made of Thomas' doubt and the belief of those in later generations who had not seen, yet believed. But are we really that much different than Thomas? Many of us indeed continue to seek signs to encourage our faith, but that should not distract us from the task of following Yeshua's mandate and sharing the news of our risen Messiah. Certainly, this was not a task that Thomas and the other disciples forsook. For after having seen the risen Lord they began the task of proclaiming the good news with their whole heart. How much more should be who have not seen, and yet believed, live out the commission of our Messiah!

NEXT WEEK'S READINGS - PARASHAT RE'EH