Waiting for Rain: Reflections at the Turning of the Year

Introduction

Introduction Waiting for Rain: Reflections at the Turning of the Year, a collection of meditations on the Jewish High Holiday season, began as “The Hoshana Rabbah Lectures,” delivered annually at Matan—The Sadie Rennert Women’s Institute for Torah Studies in Jerusalem. Matan served as the venue for these lectures and impacted greatly upon them. It is from the unique Torah that I learned and taught at Matan that these meditations emerged, carefully crafted. Matan spearheaded the revolution in women’s Torah learning today. As a yeshivah gevohah (a Torah academy), Matan affords women of all ages and walks of life the opportunity to engage actively in Torah study, participate in spiritual dialogue, and find their own voices. Through learning, women discover the emotional and intellectual themes that animate texts of Torah and resonate deeply within their own lives. Their perceptions, sensitized to human emotion through years of nurturing and caregiving, allow for an understanding of psychological subtleties and are reflected in new meaning revealed in familiar texts. Although Waiting for Rain began as the “Hoshana Rabbah Lectures ,” in the course of time, it developed to include the entire spectrum of holidays from Rosh Hashanah through Simchat Torah. The essays in this volume explore the interface between Bible and biblical interpretation, and the dynamic meshing of text and life. They also represent the points of contact between the Bible and the holidays. The method of interpretation that characterizes the essays in this volume is an integrative one, in which insights from contemporary biblical scholarship and literary studies are conjoined with fresh readings of traditional medieval and Rabbinic interpretation. The power and passion of Scripture are revealed in a new light and enable an evolving modern Jewish theology. The volume is divided into two parts. “On the Threshold of xxv Majesty” focuses on themes related to Rosh Hashanah, the 10 Days of Repentance, and Yom Kippur, and “Waiting for Rain” deals with Hoshana Rabbah, Shemini Atzeret, and Simchat Torah. Some of the biblical selections dealt with in the context of a given holiday are well known to readers, insofar as they play a central role in the liturgy, the Torah readings, or the haftarah readings. The connections of other scriptural passages to the holiday cycle are less well known. The story of Noah after the Flood and its link to Rosh Hashanah becomes a test case of a man judged and found wanting in his humanity. David’s last psalm recorded in 1 Chronicles 29 is transformed into the template for prayer during the 10 Days of Repentance. Joseph and his brothers provide the basis for understanding Yom Kippur, and the saga of Samuel at Mizpah serves to explain the customs associated with Hoshana Rabbah. Waiting for Rain is far more than a collection of meditations; it is a korban todah—an offering of gratitude to the people of the Book. For me, the people of the Book are first and foremost the biblical characters who are the key players in Waiting for Rain. These heroes and heroines emerge from the incandescent light of the ancient Bible. They are endowed with both spiritual grandeur and profoundly human qualities. Although they lived thousands of years ago, they play an active role in my life. For many readers of the Bible, these are the men and women whose inspired lives are compelling and demanding of investigation. But for me, as a student and teacher of Bible, their closeness guides me through enchanted pathways in life and allows me to call upon them for guidance. Waiting for Rain is a collection of memoirs of the people whom I most love and respect. It therefore gives me great pleasure to thank Noah for teaching me about hope, Abraham for teaching me about faith, and Isaac for teaching me about defiance. My heart goes out to Rachel who taught me about love, to Ezra who taught me about joy, and David who taught me the significance of prayer. Moses, our teacher, taught me about compassion, and Joseph gave me the ability to dream. From Samuel I learned about leadership, from Elijah, courage, and from Jeremiah the xxvi
Introduction prophet of doom, eternal optimism. It is Micah who defined humility, and Joshua who gave new meaning to the word devotion. In Waiting for Rain, I have embraced the well-known stories of these characters and engaged in explication de texte. The analysis of the biblical...