Warning and Warming

Our friend and gifted writer Matti Friedman published two articles this week. Whenever Matti writes anything, it’s worth your attention. He only writes when he has something important to say. 

What I found telling about this week’s two pieces was their vast difference in focus. The first alerted us to an alarming norm: the price we’re paying for journalist’s confidence that they know better. The second reunited us with what we most treasure: our sacred books. The first warns us. The second warms us.  

As much as we need to become more adroit at defending ourselves and our values, our people’s beating heart is, was, and always will be, bringing Torah to life. 

This week’s portion of Torah finds two verses next to each other, saying different things. The first prohibits mixing wool and linen fabrics (Deut. 22:11). The second insists they blend together for the purpose of wearing sacred fringes (Deut. 22:12). The Sages conclude something important: when a positive instruction bumps up against a negative one, the positive prevails. Thou shalt outweighs Thou shalt not. Wearing your Judaism well, that is, means accentuating the positive.

And you’re the one who gets to decide how handsomely it fits. 

Matti’s first article laments a sad state of affairs. Huge swaths of people know who they’re supposed to support, but lack the tools to grasp what’s going on. His second piece quotes a curator commenting on the Afghani cave where our oldest known sacred book was found along with a Buddhist sanskrit manuscript: “This was a place where books were protected and revered as sacred.”

Well, this too is such a place. This being where you are right now. You’re going to spend a lot of time in the coming weeks with sacred books. May their regal words, beautiful words, words tender and authoritative, touch your spirit, stir your will, move your heart, and guide your steps.