yisro: be ready and be gay
hey cats,
This email is a bit late and a bit short because I have been overwhelmed by the three-pronged trident of starting a new semester teaching, [redacted ongoing personal disaster], and job hunting. Ironically, as a friend pointed out, this Torah portion opens with Yisro informing Moshe that he can't keep doing everything himself and he needs to delegate. Unfortunately, I don't have 70 israelite elders available to handle my minor tasks!
To be honest, I also don't have a lot to say about the revelation on Mount Sinai that wouldn't just be a poor summary of Benjamin Sommers' "Revelation and Authority" and Heschel's "Torah min Hashamayim." Both of which I highly recommend! But I need another year or two before I'd feel comfortable talking too much about the subject.
However, I am a Certified Expert in Logical Reasoning (how embarrassing!) and there is some absolute rabbinic nonsense in this portion that I would like to cover real quick here.
In addition to Moshe delegating to the Elders, this portion also features haShem delegating to Moshe.
יֹּאמֶר יְהֹוָה אֶל־מֹשֶׁה לֵךְ אֶל־הָעָם וְקִדַּשְׁתָּם הַיּוֹם וּמָחָר
וְהָיוּ נְכֹנִים לַיּוֹם הַשְּׁלִישִׁי
HaShem spoke to Moshe: Go to the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow...
Let them be ready for the third day
When Moshe goes to the people, he tells them
הֱיוּ נְכֹנִים לִשְׁלֹשֶׁת יָמִים אַל־תִּגְּשׁוּ אֶל־אִשָּׁה
be ready for the third day, do not go near to a woman
"Let them be ready for the third day" has turned into "be ready for the third day, do not go near a woman." Quite the addition from Moshe! You have to wonder if he even bothered going to all the people, or just (cough cough) Certain Genders.
The Mekhilta d'Rabbi Ishmael engages in the most absurd reasoning to explain this. Here's the logic:
It is true that in the first verse, HaShem does not mention "do not go near a woman"
However, the principle of gezeirah shava applies: when an identical phrase appears in two different verses, particulars contained in one verse apply to the other
Therefore, since the second verse says "be ready" and the first verse also says "be ready", the particulars of the second verse ("do not go near a woman") apply to the first.
In other words, we know that haShem did in fact intend the phrase "do not go near to a woman" simply because Moshe added it, and so those particulars apply retroactively by verbal analogy. I get that there's no time in Torah, but this is circular reasoning taken too far! To be fair, the Rabbis realized how ridiculous this technique is. You can tell they realize this, because, unlike the other rules of exegesis, this is limited: you can only use a gezeirah shava that is part of received tradition (from the Rabbis). In other words, the most ancient rabbinic sages get to use it, but we don't.
(But they can't stop me! Be ready....and be gay! What? G-d said it! Verbal analogy!)*
But anyway, two takeaways:
a non-circular reading of this supports a minimalist view of prophecy -- that haShem spoke to or gave some insight to prophets, but the words they transmitted to us reflected their own understanding
the circular Rabbinic reading of this supports the view that okay, all the words prophets speak are literally the words of haShem, but only because anything they do add is retroactively the word of haShem because He Just Can't Let Go
What. a. rollercoaster.
A final note about the giving of Torah. I just finished studying Psalms 40 with my psalmsvrusa. There's an absolutely beautiful pair of verses in that Psalm about the moment of revelation at Mount Sinai:
You made room in my body for me to understand:
You do not delight in sacrifice and meal-offering
You do not beg for burnt or sin offeringsAt that time I said: behold, I come with a scroll-narrative written about me.
good shabbos,
ada
* This is what the kids call "a joke". I am not claiming to be Moshe or any other sort of prophet. Or, clearly, a comedian.