Parashat HaShavua - Yitro

וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ אֶל־הָעָ֔ם הֱי֥וּ נְכֹנִ֖ים לִשְׁלֹ֣שֶׁת יָמִ֑ים אַֽל־תִּגְּשׁ֖וּ אֶל־אִשָּֽׁה׃ (שמות י״ט:ט״ו)

And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day, do not go near a woman.” (Exodus 19:15)

There is a custom when reading publicly from the Torah to read the aliyot containing curses (in Parashat Behaalotkha and Parashat Ki Tavo) quickly and quietly because of the upsetting nature of the content contained in these readings .  More recently, some have taken on this custom when reading the verse in Leviticus that says that sex between men is a תּוֹעֵבָה — usually translated as an abomination. 

And what of the verse in this week’s parasha that reminds us that actually women did not witness the revelation at Sinai per Moshe’s explicit instructions to the men?

As Judith Plaskow observed in Standing Again at Sinai over 30 years ago:

The need for a feminist Judaism begins with hearing silence.  Hearing silence is not easy.  A silence so vast tends to fade into the natural order; it is easy to identify with reality.  Over time, we learn to insert ourselves into the silences.  Speaking about…the great events at Sinai, we do not look for ourselves in the narratives but assume our presence, peopling the gaps in the text with women’s shadowy forms.  It is far easier to read ourselves into male stories than to ask how the foundational stories within which we live have been distorted by our absence. 

These are strong words, suggesting that the sacred tradition we have received is distorted by the absence of women’s voices.  But to put it another way, it is definitely a true statement that the texts that we study and revere and look to for guidance in our lives were written absent half (give or take..) of the voices and perspectives of the people they were being written for.  We have no idea what a Torah that was written by women and men (and people of all genders) would look like, what new revelations it might include.

And yet, the Torah that we will receive today in Parashat Yitro is the Torah that we have, it is our Torah, about which we are taught that we should Turn it, and turn it and reflect on it and grow old and gray with it. Don’t turn from it, for nothing is better than it (Avot 5:22)

So we find ourselves, as my grandmother used to say, in a bit of a pickle.  Rabbi Amy Kalmanofsky in her forthcoming book, the Power of Equivocation, offers a beautiful and powerful way of relating to this difficulty:

The Bible is not uncomfortable with contradiction or inconsistency…[rather, it] is comfortable with narrative and ideological complexity and, I argue, welcomes them…in fact, I assert that the Bible intends to be polyvalent and welcomes inconsistencies.  [It] invites what I call equivocal readings – readings that do not reach neat conclusions.  I am an equivocal reader of the Hebrew Bible, particularly its stories in which women have an important role.  At times, I am a generous reader who marvels at the strength and impact of the women of the Bible.  Other times, I am a suspicious reader who reveals the Bible’s patriarchal ideologies and strategies.  Often, I am aware of both perspectives while reading a single text.  

There are many ways of talking about what pluralism means at Heschel.  One important aspect of pluralism, I would argue, is giving our students the ability to read the Tanakh while holding two truths in two hands.  We want to teach our students to read our sacred texts generously, lovingly, and with devotion.  We also want to give them the courage to express doubt, confusion and even disappointment in the hopes that their questions will lead to the creation of new Torah that can people the silences in the tradition we have received.  As we receive the Torah this weekend, which Shmot Rabbah teaches was split into 70 voices so that everyone could understand it, it is with the hope and intention that both our devotion and our questions can lead to new voices being heard and new ways of hearing the Torah that we have received.

Rabbi Anne Ebersman
Director of Jewish Programming N-5 and Director of Hesed (Community Engagement) and Tzedek (Social Responsibility)