On Time
It is a cumbersome and repetitious verse whose very construction seems to invite confusion.The iconic verse will be read tomorrow as part of the reading for Succot, Vayikra 23:2
דַּבֵּ֞ר אֶל־בְּנֵ֤י יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ אֲלֵהֶ֔ם מוֹעֲדֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֔ה אֲשֶׁר־תִּקְרְא֥וּ אֹתָ֖ם מִקְרָאֵ֣י קֹ֑דֶשׁ אֵ֥לֶּה הֵ֖ם מוֹעֲדָֽי׃
Speak to the children of Israel and say to them; These are My fixed times, the fixed times of God, that you shall proclaim as sacred occasions.
What is the purpose of the tautology, speak and say? While this is common, the continuation directing us to state, more, call the “Times of God”, Mikraei Kodesh, Holy occasions is also very enigmatic.
When we encounter the term, used in the Book of Bereishit, it describes specific times, not festivals, often referring to the times of birth, particularly when the expectating…has been protracted. In the Book of Shemot, and Viyikra, the expression is frequently used to describe the “Tent of Meeting” אֹ֣הֶל מוֹעֵ֔ד. When the word takes the plural form of Moadei, as it does for the first time in this passage, the meaning takes on deeper significance, “Times of God”. What is the meaning of this bewildering expression? Can such times be quantified or specific? Surely if in the same way, God cannot be assigned specific space, as the psalmist declares לה׳ הארץ ומלואה The whole world and its surrounds is full of God. How is it conceivable to restrict God’s Time, granted they will refer to festivals, but the concept is surely broader and the almost unfathomable expression only invites this uncertainty.
If the written script is confusing, the oral one, hearing this without necessarily having the text in front of us opens all the more profound possibilities. Mo’ed means an appointed time. But mikra and mikreh are close enough in sound to invite us into an astonishing discernment. Mikra kodesh is a sacred occasion, a time we are called upon to proclaim and make holy. Mikreh מקרה with a heh rather than an aleph, can suggest an occurrence, an event, something that happens, perhaps even something that appears accidental or random. And perhaps that possibility matters especially now, as we approach October 7th and once again encounter that date through the lens of Simchat Torah. We are confronted with a time that shattered our assumptions about time itself. A day that had been anticipated, declared, as a festival became a marker of trauma, grief, fear and uncertainty.
What happens when mikreh an event that appears random, inexplicable and without rhyme or reason enters the world of mo’ed, of appointed time? The Torah’s language may not offer an explanation, but an invitation. Call these My times, says God. Not because every event is easily explained. Not because tragedy can be reduced to providence.Not because we can know why a particular moment occurred. But perhaps because even those moments we cannot comprehend do not have to become moments devoid of holiness, memory or meaning. We mark time. We name it. We return to it. We gather around it. We tell its stories. And sometimes, in doing so, we transform the time that happened to us into a time that we can inhabit. Perhaps that is part of what it means to call them Mo’adei Adonai, the times of God. Not that we know what God is doing in every moment. But that even, especially, in the moments whose meaning eludes us, we refuse to surrender time itself to randomness. We proclaim it. We remember it. We make space within it.
Is such an approach comforting? Perhaps time will tell.
