Late Summer Paths
This has been such a beautiful summer, and I've managed to squeeze in some great hikes and road trips. (Hopefully many of you have too!)
Last weekend, at the Kavana Camping Trip, a group of us gathered on Shabbat morning for prayer, song, and discussion. The Torah and haftarah readings brought us to the theme of paths -- which felt like a particularly appropriate topic to be talking about in the woods! The stark choices offered by Parashat Eikev and the imagery from Isaiah 40 of smoothing out a road had us considering the metaphor of life as a journey.
This week's Torah portion, Parashat Re'eh, picks up on the journey theme. The Israelites, who have been traveling on foot together since they left Egypt nearly 40 years prior, are now about to enter into the promised land. The parasha opens with these lines (Deuteronomy 11:26-28):
רְאֵ֗ה אָנֹכִ֛י נֹתֵ֥ן לִפְנֵיכֶ֖ם הַיּ֑וֹם בְּרָכָ֖ה וּקְלָלָֽה׃ אֶֽת־הַבְּרָכָ֑ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר תִּשְׁמְע֗וּ אֶל־מִצְוֺת֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֧ר אָנֹכִ֛י מְצַוֶּ֥ה אֶתְכֶ֖ם הַיּֽוֹם׃ וְהַקְּלָלָ֗ה אִם־לֹ֤א תִשְׁמְעוּ֙ אֶל־מִצְוֺת֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֔ם וְסַרְתֶּ֣ם מִן־הַדֶּ֔רֶךְ אֲשֶׁ֧ר אָנֹכִ֛י מְצַוֶּ֥ה אֶתְכֶ֖ם הַיּ֑וֹם לָלֶ֗כֶת אַחֲרֵ֛י אֱלֹהִ֥ים אֲחֵרִ֖ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר לֹֽא־יְדַעְתֶּֽם׃ {ס}
See, this day I set before you blessing and curse: blessing, if you obey the commandments of Adonai your God that I enjoin upon you this day; and curse, if you do not obey the commandments of Adonai your God, but turn away from the path that I enjoin upon you this day and follow other gods, whom you have not experienced.
The Israelites are then told that as they enter into the land, they will pass between two mountain peaks -- Har Gerizim and Har Ebal -- from which blessings and curses will be announced. It is easy to imagine our ancestors as a group of hikers passing through a saddle point, with mountain peaks on each side that represent the choices they have and the two very different directions they might take. In the parasha, choosing blessing means staying on the path, following God's commandments, and being part of the community. On the other hand, veering from the path is defined a few verses later, in Deut. 12:8 which reads: "You shall not act at all as we now act here, each of us as we please" -- in other words, the curse enters when people act with only their own selfish interests in mind, rather than thinking of others.
On a personal level, I will say that I don't always resonate with the binary nature of the stark choices offered in the parasha. In my experience, there's often a lot more gray zone, and more pathways in life that involve some blend of "blessing" and "curse" elements. Still, I very much appreciate the metaphor of the life journey offering us the opportunity to travel down profoundly different pathways. (The language of our Torah portion does remind me of the many signs I saw this summer reminding hikers to "stay on the trail" -- an act which does good by minimizing our human impact on natural places, protecting fragile ecosystems, preserving areas for wildlife, and preventing erosion.)
Hebrew texts offer us lots of different language for paths, which may enhance our understanding of this metaphor. Here are a few examples:
Derech literally means "way," "path," or "road." It appears in our liturgy -- for example, when we sing the words in Etz Chayim, of Torah: "d'racheha darchei noam" - that "it's paths are paths of pleasantness." The phrase "derech eretz" (literally "the way of the land") refers to ethical behavior and basic human decency. Echoing Re'eh's warning about "turning away from the path," one colloquial phrase used in more observant communities today is the term "off the derech" ("OTD") to describe an individual who has abandoned their path of religious observance.
Nativ or Netivah - means "path" or "lane." It too appears in our liturgy (the very same line of Etz Chayim cited above continues with the words "v'chol netivoteha shalom" - "and all of its paths are of peace,") and is also a Hebrew name. At the Jewish summer camp in Colorado where I spent time in July, this word also appeared in the chosen theme verse for this summer: "נֵר־לְרַגְלִ֥י דְבָרֶ֑ךָ וְ֝א֗וֹר לִנְתִיבָתִֽי" - "Your word is a lamp to my feet, a light for my path" (Psalms 119:105).
Halacha refers to the whole system of Jewish law, but the word is derived from the verb "holech" meaning "to walk" -- so it really means something closer to "the way of walking." As someone who appreciates thinking about how my individual path intersects with the journey of the Jewish people, I have always found this notion of Jewish law as a collective pathway to be a helpful concept.
In addition to reading Re'eh this Shabbat, Jewish communities everywhere will also announce the new month of Elul, which begins with a two-day Rosh Chodesh this Sunday and Monday. Elul is the month of spiritual preparation for the High Holidays and the new Jewish year. During the month to come, each of us is prompted to reflect on the life paths we have taken, the decision points we've encountered, and the choices we have made over the past year, all of which will also inform the decisions we will make and the paths we'll plan to take as we chart our course for the coming year.
Here at Kavana, several years ago, Traci Marx introduced us to the music of MaMuse (an acoustic folk duo), and specifically their song "Oh River," which now regularly runs through my head this time of year. Its lyrics, too, pick up on the journey theme, although in this articulation it's a more cyclical journey of becoming:
Part 1: Finding my way (x5), finding my way back home. Finding my way (x5), finding my way back home.
Part 2: Oh river, I hear you, feel you calling me. Oh river, who will I be when I reach the sea.
I hope you are planning to join us tonight for our final Shabbat in the Park of this summer season, where we will sing those words together. And, as we move through these final weeks of summer, I wish you lots of beautiful hikes and meandering, so that the month of Elul might afford you time to reflect on your life paths: past, present and future; individual and collective.
Wishing you a Chodesh Elul Tov (in just a few days), and a Shabbat Shalom. May all of our paths be paths of peace, prosperity, and blessing!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum
