Parshat Ki Tavo: Sticks and Stones

 

Lovingly dedicated to the memory of our friend, mother & grandmother

Sherril - Sarah bat Chaim Eliezer, aleha hashalom

 

When I was growing up my knowledge of our collective history consisted of the Bible stories I had learned in school through studying the Torah.  When I write 'Bible', as far as I was concerned, this only consisted of the Torah as we didn't look much at the other two books of the Old Testament.  Yes, I knew about David and Goliath and of course was aware of other historical events connected to our calendar, such as the Books of Ruth and Esther and the destruction of the Temples, but to be truthful, the many books that were included in Neviim (Prophets) and Ketuvim (writings) were a mystery to me. 

 

I understand why Jewish schools don't (or in my case, didn't) teach Tenach.  Many of the episodes are distinctly unsuitable for a young audience.  You can therefore imagine my surprise as I slowly delved into these tomes and expanded my knowledge.  Moses died in the very last chapter of the Torah, but that didn't mean that the people who he brought out of Egypt 'stayed put' by the banks of the Jordan River.  The Book of Joshua immediately takes up the story of our nation upon the death of Moses…literally! It is the Haftorah of the last Parsha which we read on Simchat Torah.  It would be wrong to consider it a sequel to the Torah, but it does continue the narrative started in the last two books of our Divine gift.

 

A case in point can be found in this week's Parsha:

Deuteronomy 27: 1-5

Moses and the elders of Israel gave the following instructions to the people: Keep the entire mandate that I am prescribing to you today.  On the day that you cross the Jordan into the land that Gd your Lord is giving you, you must erect large stones and plaster them with lime.  When you then cross over, you shall write on them all of this Torah.  In this manner you shall come to the land that Gd your Lord is giving you, the land flowing with milk and honey that Gd, Lord of your fathers, promised you.  When you cross the Jordan, you shall set up these stones that I am now describing to you on Mount Ebal, and you shall plaster them with lime. There, you shall then build an altar to Gd, your Lord.  It will be a stone altar and you shall not lift up any iron to it.

 

The Torah continues by listing the curses and blessings that would be shouted out by the Levites to the Tribes, six of whom were on Mount Ebal (the curses) and the other six on Mount Gerizim (the blessings) but there are different interpretations as to the exact manner in which this was carried out.

 

Sure enough, we read the following in the Book of Joshua:

Joshua 8: 30-32

Then Joshua built an altar to the Lord, Gd of Israel, on Mount Ebal, as Moses, the servant of the Lord, had commanded the Children of Israel, as is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones upon which no man had lifted up any iron.  They offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord and brought sacrificed peace offerings.  And he wrote there upon the stones, a copy of the law of Moses which he wrote in the presence of the Children of Israel

You may be surprised to know that it is possible that this altar still exists on the very site described in both the Parsha and the Book of Joshua!

 The late Israeli archaeologist Adam Zertal (who died in 2015) and his team excavated a number of sites in the Mount Ebal area of Israel in the early 1980s.  They unearthed a number of 'foot-shaped' structures known as 'Sandalim' and 'Gilgalim'.  This altar, which was built on the bedrock was divided into two strata, both dated to the first Iron Age.  They found the remains of charred animal bones inside the depression in the middle of the structure.  The monumental alter, which was traced to a later level measured 23 by 30 feet and was 10 foot tall with a 23-foot-long ramp leading up to it.  The altar contained a large number of burnt bones and pottery, again dating back to the first Iron Age.

 Zertal claimed that the altar was cultish in nature and controversially added that it was indeed Joshua's edifice as described above.  There was a great deal of opposition to this view amongst his peers and the debate still rages as to its exact status.  There does seem to be general agreement that this was an early Israelite cultish site and the jury is still out on whether it was indeed Joshua's altar.

In February of this year, the Palestinian Authority destroyed part of the outer wall to use the stones as gravel for a road they were building below the structure.  This brings to mind the desecration of historical Jewish sites, such as the Temple Mount in order to change and amend the narrative linking Jewish presence in the Land of Israel over three millennia.  One does not need to look too far back to find people trying to deny our legitimacy, both in recent or ancient history, as witnessed by the recent and worrying growth in Holocaust denial.  As King Solomon famously wrote in Kohelet/Ecclesiastes, “There is nothing new under the sun."

Last week, a friend invited me to join him on a visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum.  He is a member and had obtained a ticket for the current ‘Epic Iran’ exhibition and very kindly invited me to come along as his guest.

I have a particular interest in this topic as I was fortune enough to visit the Shah’s Iran as a child and have always held a deep and abiding interest in the country and its history.  It also doesn't hurt that the Book of Esther is one of my favourite Biblical texts.

The exhibition, which is open until 12th September, is promoted on the museum's website using the following text:

‘Exploring 5,000 years of art, design and culture, Epic Iran shines a light on one of the greatest historic civilisations, its journey into the 21st century and its monumental artistic achievements, which remain unknown to many.’

Most of the exhibits are on loan from a private collector as well as from institutions such as the Ashmolean in Oxford and the British Museum.  It is well worth visiting and we both enjoyed our time there.

That is, except for one glaring omission - the complete absence of the 'J' word.

Walking around the various exhibits, you would be forgiven for wondering if there had ever been a Jewish presence in the country that is now called Iran. 

That there was a significant and influential Jewish community dating back to the Babylonian exile was completely excised from the narrative. 

Not a single reference.

When displaying maps of the countries which encompassed the Archemid Empire (as per the Book of Esther), Judea was notably absent.  It was as though we had never set foot in the country despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary, not least the presence of ancient shrines, such as the tombs of Mordechai and Esther and numerous synagogues.

It was obvious from placards detailing the country's recent history (from the early 20th Century) that the curators had a particular message to share with visitors and there could have been an element of fear involved in their decision to preclude our people from their depiction of history.  Perhaps, one day, when the country hopefully returns to its former glory, the title of the exhibition will truly reflect its content.

'Epic Iran' is sadly a misnomer when the Persian Empire which prided itself on its inclusiveness is so woefully represented in the heart of London.

The Parsha of Ki Tavo contains the Tochacha - the warning to our people about what would happen should they choose to take a different path to that detailed in the Torah.  History has demonstrated that this was not an idle threat but a very real portent of what was to come.  That we now have a Jewish State to return to, where Joshua's altar may or may not be situated is a testament to our survival against so many foes.  In a similar vein, whether or not an exhibition on Iran misrepresents its history by ignoring us does not change the facts on the ground.

Returning to my original theme, when the Rabbis canonised the Bible and chose the return to Zion and rebuilding of the Temple as a cut-off point, I suspect that they knew the story of the Jewish people would be ongoing.  This, despite the sometimes dire consequences brought on by the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE.

For that is what we do.  Beyond cultish altars and Persian Cylinders, we survive and flourish, because sticks and stones have broken some of our bones but the many names our foes have chosen to call us (or even worse, ignore us) - don't really hurt us.

 

Am Yisrael Chai and Shabbat Shalom.