Parshas Devarim: Holy Moses!

Before I share this week’s commentary on our Torah portion, I‘d like to take a few minutes to talk about Judaism, a most wonderful religion, the world’s first pro-life religion. I was born into it. My father of blessed memory imbued me with a love for it. I’ve never been called to leave it. This Judaism is a religion based upon life affirming moral principles in our foundational source, the Torah. This is the Judaism I love. It is the Giver of our Torah that I worship and serve. 

The Jewish religion today barely resembles the religion we received at Mt. Sinai. Instead, we now have a religion based, not on God’s word, but on the words of rabbis dating back to the first century of the Common Era and embellished upon for many centuries after that period. We now have a religion that requires allegiance to rabbinical legal opinion rather than to God’s law. 

Many of these opinions reflect the moral basis of the Torah. Some do not. In the area of human life in the womb, many of the opinions depart from the frequently stated laws in the Torah to protect innocent human life and laws prohibiting child sacrifice. So far have they departed, that now they are indefensible when juxtaposed with today's realities.

Irrefutable science proves life begins at conception. Available medical interventions respect the life of both baby and mother. Research shows that destroying innocent children in the womb poses a great medical danger to women, and causes long term serious psychological and emotional damage. Weaponization of legal abortion has mushroomed into a mass killing machine for profit and eugenics.

Except for a few wise Jewish authorities who remain loyal to Torah principles and for whom we are most grateful, to one degree or another, torturing babies to death in the womb is now viewed as a religious right/rite and a Jewish value by the majority of Jews and Jewish leaders.

These distorted legal norms may come from ignorance of the growth and development of human life in the womb, or misguided compassion for women and families, or corrupting influences meant to destroy Yiddishkeit.

Whatever the reasons, these judgements repudiate clear warnings from the Almighty that we find in the beginning verses of Deuteronomy Chapter 4, a prelude to the Torah readings assigned to the holy day of mourning, Tishah B’Av. This holy day occurs this weekend and recalls many tragic events in Jewish history that fell on this one particular date, the 9th Day of Av.

The Torah reading on this holy day is Devarim (Deuteronomy) 4:25-40. Chapter 4 begins with several crucial warnings to the people. They should follow all the laws and judgements given to us by God at Mt. Sinai. They should not add or subtract one word to the original law. They should refrain from Baal worship, a form of idolatry that includes child sacrifice. They should keep in mind the national devastation and wide scale loss of life that befalls Israel because of it. The people should keep the moral contract with the Almighty or perish. 

Our selected readings for Tishah B’ Av foretell of a future time when the Jews forget these warnings and suffer terribly, after which they reject arbitrary legal precedent, repent from following it, recommit to the moral contract they first accepted at Sinai and receive the blessings promised to them from doing so.

The Haftorah portion for the 9th of Av is Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah) 8:13 to 9:22. In verse 9:13, the prophet laments the generational moral decline of Jerusalem and the terrible suffering that will befall the nation of Israel because, they have followed the view of their own heart, and after the Baalim, which their fathers taught them (to worship).

Rather than try to excuse or justify the errant opinions and generational missteps that led to our current apostasy and suffering, we find it best to debunk and correct them, sincerely repent from following them, and recommit to the moral contract in our Torah that protects all human life from conception. 

In future newsletters, we will start looking at these problematic opinions. Now, onto this week’s pro-life Torah commentary.

Our Torah portion this week, Devarim (Deuteronomy) 1:1 - 3:22, begins a 37 day review of the lessons, laws, successes and mistakes of the past 40 years in which Moses repeats over and over a need for obedience to God's laws given at Mt. Sinai. 

In a general way, Moses reminds the Israelites of their complaining, their ingratitude for food, freedom, and protection, their doubt in God's providence, their shirking responsibility and blaming God and Moses for their problems, their falling back into idol worship and giving allegiance to mere mortals who lead them astray and into much trouble.

In this portion, Moses recounts why and how he appoints men of impeccable righteousness and moral rectitude to adjudicate legal matters in the Land of Israel. Regarding future judicial appointments and new legislation, he warns them to select only men who adhere to Torah principles upon which new laws will be based. Moses adds that God will redress perversions of justice caused by immoral legal decisions and laws. He goes on to caution that unscrupulous judges will bear the sin of those who follow their immoral laws and those not held to account for breaking just laws.

Moses is not lecturing on current rabbinic law, with its moral inconsistencies, indefensible interpretations, liberal allowances and creative nuances. He talks Torah principles in their purest form and teaches their application in human affairs in the Land of Israel. He translates his lectures into 70 languages so that people of all nations represented in the mixed multitude can study and learn Torah!

Despite all these human shortcomings, the Almighty keeps his promise to give the Land of Israel to the Jews and to multiply their numbers as stars in the heavens. He leads them into victory over seven of ten Canaanite kingdoms that must be conquered before they settle in the Land of Israel, leaving the last three of Ammon, Moab, and Edom to be conquered later. 

The Haftarah portion, Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 1:1-27, recalls the moral decline in Judah during the reigns of kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Uzziah and Jotham secure the borders and make trade agreements that generate much wealth and prosperity in Judah, leading to a rise in state corruption, moral decay and idol worship that escalates during the reign of Ahaz. Foreign invasions, moral degeneracy, child sacrifice and temple desecration prompt Isaiah's warnings of total national collapse unless rectified by personal and national repentance and legal reforms that restore justice as in the time of Moses. 

Moses' warnings and Isaiah's prophecies pertain uncannily to current affairs. Our politicians and policy makers invoke specious legal arguments concocted by biased, misguided judges to enact laws that destroy human life and human flourishing. Our religious leaders rely on outdated legal opinions accepted as normative and binding to allow child sacrifice and other unholy practices that conflict with life affirming principles in Torah. The historical record suggests catastrophe ahead.

Now, as in biblical times, our future depends upon restoring holiness both in our private lives and our religious observance, as well as in our national policy making. As Isaiah 1:26 foretells, "And I will restore your judges as at first and your counsellors as in the beginning; afterwards you shall be called City of Righteousness, Faithful City. Zion shall be redeemed through justice and her penitent through righteousness.”

Please share this post on your social media to amplify our message in this troubled world. Thank you.

Cecily Routman 

May there be abundant peace from Heaven, and good life upon us and upon all Israel. Amen.

Cecily Routman is the founder and president of the Jewish Pro-Life Foundation. She opposes abortion homicide in general and among Jews in particular and laments secular policy making in Israel that results in loss of Jewish life and delays the messianic redemption. She envisions a Torah based holy Land of Israel and a world that respects the life of every human being from conception.