August 30, 2024 / 26 Av 5784
A pair of verses chock full of questions stands at the center of Parashat Re’eh –
Children are you to YHWH your God!
You are not to gash yourselves, you are not to put a bald-spot between your eyes for a dead-person.
For you are a people holy to YHWH your God;
[it is] you [whom] YHWH has chosen to be for him a specially-treasured people
from all the peoples that are on the face of the ground.
[Deuteronomy 14:1-2]
Here are the opening words of the passage in Hebrew – בָּנִ֣ים אַתֶּ֔ם לַיהֹוָ֖ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶ֑ם לֹ֣א תִתְגֹּֽדְד֗וּ – banim atem ladonai eloheikhem, lo tit’god’du.
In a spectacular act of willful misreading, the early rabbis connect the word tit’god’du (gash yourselves) to the word agudot (factions or groups), and understand the verse to mean ‘don’t divide yourselves into factions.’ You, God’s children, specially-treasured people, need to stay united. The Talmud’s example involves a prohibition against multiple rabbinical courts in one city; Maimonides well summarizes the discussion:
This commandment also includes [a prohibition] against there being two courts which follow different customs in a single city, since this can cause great strife. [Because of the similarity in the Hebrew roots,] the prohibition against gashing ourselves [can be interpreted] to mean: “Do not separate into various different groupings.” [Laws regarding Foreign Worship 12:14]
In just a few weeks time we’ll join together in these words: ויעשו כלם אגודה אחת – v’yei’asu kulam agudah ahat – make of all of us one faction/group. Do we have to wait until Rosh Hashanah to get started on that project? Parashat Re’eh invites us to get on it right now.
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi David
