Gates Of Repentance Book

For the longest time I was following the Torah schedule pretty regularly, give or take a couple of weeks. I'd read about a month of sermons in a batch. But sometime in the summer, I fell off the hobby horse. To be fair, it turns out that I did finish this collection in a year, which is the span of when these portions are discussed in synagogue.

I decided to start this book because I was tired of how "the Old Testament" was summarily excused as one dimensionally brutish. To be sure, there's patriarchy, and male authors with an excessively sexist gaze about them. But surely all forms of religion, save for the most extreme fundamentalism, would have died out if there was nothing else there. I grew up in progressive Judaism, under a slew of female (and gay, just to put it out there) rabbis. I wanted to hear what they had to say.

The portions are divisions within the Hebrew bible, the Five Books of Moses, which Jews study sequentially throughout the year. In modern practice, rabbis often write sermons, or d'var Torah, about various themes. One thing I realized when I actually read the portion during its respective week and then went to synagogue, is that there's actually a whole lot to talk about. The rabbi in the book and my rabbi on the bimah barely sent ripples in each other's directions. That's a whole lot of substance to just label as stupid without further study. Even taking into account how much Jews love to kibbitz. :P

54 individual rabbis tackled the parshot, so of course there's a variety of vantage points, as well as a diversity of ground covered. Some women could tease out female side characters or Hebrew words with complex meanings that could be shaped to be more inclusive. Some had to rely on modern metaphors and transitions away from the literal text. Some brought up Midrash--a reminder that interpreting and guessing at different meanings in the text didn't just start with feminism, but has been part of our tradition since the start. I certainly agreed with some interpretations more than I did with others. But at the end of the day I can't help but count this as a success for progressive thinking, because these were WOMEN RABBIS, with power and education, grappling with the texts.

My own commentaries on the commentaries changed with time as well. In the beginning I was actually pretty sparse, but by the end I was making several notes per page. I was also more plaintive in my commentary early on, hoping for representation and questioning the words shyly, but by the end I was cracking wise and playfully mocking the old Sages. :P Many of the modern rabbis encouraged me to understand historical context and what their words meant within their own time, and I did, but Judaism has always been pretty clear that people are fallible, too. Just look at what happened to Moses, our most famous prophet.

Anywho. It was a bit of an exhausting project, but this is probably a book that I should re-read and re-interpret. Who knows if I'll even be able to read my own handwriting anyway. :P I'm so grateful that Rabbi Elyse Goldstein and Jewish Lights compiled this compelling and inspiring Jewish lady scholarship. :D