The Blogs: A Different Approach to the Weekly Portion

I try to read the weekly Torah portion every Thursday or Friday night in advance of Shul on Shabbat morning. Each year, I also read from a different Torah commentary. This year, I’ve been reading along with Volume I of Rabbi Jack Moline’s Different Chapter, Same Verse, hoping that Volume II would be available before we get to Numbers.

Well, Volume II is now available, just in time for Hanukkah. The novelty of Rabbi Moline’s approach is that instead of tackling the entire Torah portion or even a major theme from the portion, he focuses on the same verse in each chapter of the Torah and lets the chips fall where they may. This idiosyncratic approach allows Rabbi Moline to look at verses that otherwise might be overlooked and apply them to the lives we live today.

Rabbi Moline is the Rabbi Emeritus of Agudas Achim Congregation in Alexandria, Virginia, having served as rabbi there for nearly 27 years.

I interviewed Rabbi Moline about this approach to Torah commentary:

Sheffey: How did you think of this approach?

Rabbi Moline: I think a lot of rabbis look for a theme or a detail to provoke their explorations of the weekly parasha. I decided to test the notion that nothing in Torah is superfluous by letting the verse speak to and through me. I was delighted, though not surprised, to discover right from the beginning that every verse in Torah has the power to inspire. I make no claim to the authority of the Sages, but my own attachment to the text in these days at this time was renewed.

Sheffey: Did you know when you started doing this that you would eventually put it in book form?

Rabbi Moline: Actually, it was the remarkable Rabbi Jack Reimer who said from the first time he read my blog that I should compile the columns into a book. It took me more than four years to consider his advice. At one essay a week, with a few breaks, that’s how long it took to write 187 of them!

Sheffey: What do you hope readers will get out of these two volumes?

Rabbi Moline: Elasticity. Some of my themes might be considered quite a stretch, but the wisdom of Torah is no more limited than its source. In fact, a friend of mine in public life said to me that the first volume taught him to look to the Bible not for justification, but rather for inspiration. That comment made the whole endeavor worthwhile.

Sheffey: Shifting gears just a bit, what do you think is the appropriate role of pulpit rabbis in elections and politics? Some argue that Judaism is a “this world” religion and that Judaism has something to say about political issues here and in Israel. For a rabbi to avoid politics is to avoid helping their congregation understand what Judaism teaches them in the moment. Others argue that the rabbi must be the rabbi for all of their congregants and that taking a political stand risks dividing the congregation or making some members feel unwelcome. They argue that shul should be a place to get away from political conflicts and that while the rabbi is an expert on Judaism, the rabbi is not necessarily an expert on the issues of the day. Where on this spectrum are you?

Rabbi Moline: I am not short of opinions on the public life of our people and the places we live. If I can’t ground them in the values I am charged with promoting, then my opinions need to stay off the pulpit and away from my title. But I don’t see any difference between reminding people not to eat treif, even if they like it, or of honoring Shabbat, even if they have great playoff tickets, or of remaining faithful to their partner, even if our culture celebrates a less strict standard, and reminding them that human equality, the pursuit of justice, compassion, and respect for the natural world are clear expectations in the same covenant. If someone disagrees with my understanding, they should feel free to challenge me on the same basis: What does being a faithful Jew mean? But I always expected that my congregants were both smart and wise, which means I never pandered to a lower standard of integrity or offered them pabulum in place of substance. I offer respect, and presume it in return.

Sheffey: Returning to your book, have you changed any of your views on Judaism or Torah as a result of going through the process of writing these commentaries?

Rabbi Moline: I changed enormously, and I describe much of it in my columns. I was no longer working in a primarily Jewish context as I wrote. My interfaith work demanded that I check my attitudes and perceptions constantly. A dear Hindu colleague asked me when I thought they could reclaim their sacred swastika symbol. My Muslim partners faced a ban on immigration and the threat of a registry. Christian denominations asked my help on both sides of essential issues like abortion, evangelism, and so-called non-Abrahamic faiths. Through it all, the Torah values I cherished became elasticized to respond to a culture that was not just theoretically diverse. I learned the truth of a teaching of a young Muslim woman, Noha Mahdi: We prefer to be understood when we should prefer to understand.

Sheffey: If the Rabbi Moline of today could give the Rabbi Moline who just graduated from the Jewish Theological Seminary three pieces of advice, what would they be?

Rabbi Moline:

Listen more, talk less.
Come back to texts and ideas you think you know as if for the first time.
Do not neglect yourself while caring for others. You can attend to both.

Sheffey: Aside from your books, what three books would you recommend that people read?

Rabbi Moline: Judaism is About Love, by Shai Held; The Book of Hours, by Ranier Maria Rilke; and….the Tanakh.

Sheffey: For those who want something shorter than a book to read, what is your favorite weekly pro-Israel political newsletter?

Rabbi Moline: It comes to my inbox every Sunday from a guy named Steve Sheffey!

He’s right! If you like what you’ve just read, you too will love my free weekly Sunday morning newsletter on pro-Israel politics. You can read about it here and sign up for it here.