Deuteronomy 28
SOME of the most disturbing passages in the Hebrew Bible occur
in the verses that we read from the end of the book of
Deuteronomy.
The basis of the relationship between the Israelites and their
God is the covenant. A covenant is at one level a legal contract
between two partners. So the obligations of the two partners have
to be detailed, but also the penalties that will apply if these
obligations are not met. In two places in the Torah, a series of
increasingly more severe penalties are spelled out if Israel fails
to live up to its obligations. We find them at the end of
Leviticus, and here.
All that the Israelites own, their homes, their crops, their
families, will be damaged or destroyed or taken from them with
violence. As the final blow, they will be sent into exile from
their land. What happens to them in exile is described in Leviticus
26.36-37: "As for those of you who are left, I will send faintness
into their heart in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a
driven leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as one flees
from the sword; and they shall fall when no one is pursuing them.
And they shall stumble, each person over his brother, as if before
the sword, when there is no one pursuing; and you shall have no
power to stand before your enemies."
In Deuteronomy 28.66, a further dimension is added: "And your
life will hang there before you, and you will fear night and day,
and have no trust in your life. In the morning you will say, if
only it were evening, and in the evening you will say, if only it
were morning, because of the fear in your heart that you fear, and
because of the vision before your eyes that you see."
This picture of a debilitating fear that makes life unbearable,
and positive action impossible, has been at times the fate of the
Jewish people in their experience of exile. But it has also
universal resonance. Throughout history, and throughout the world
today, because of government suppression or civil war, political
extremism or urban brutality, private vendettas or family violence,
people know only too well the terrors described in these verses:
the fear of the threat of violence even when it is not actually
present. To those kinds of fear we now witness, on a growing scale,
a new element: the random murders and maiming of innocent people by
terrorists.
What is needed is a consistent attempt to build bridges between
the different communities within our society. One approach is
through interfaith dialogue. It was once seen as an interesting but
peripheral activity for a few interested people; today, as a
growing movement, it has to be recognised as an essential tool in
the safeguarding of civil society.
It works alongside other activities that encourage people to
meet across boundaries at a deeper level of understanding and
respect. Such activities will not remove the threat of terrorism.
But, by promoting and extending this kind of dialogue, we prevent
our becoming the psychological victims of terror.
Moreover, we come to see who are our true "brothers" and
"sisters" in the pluralist societies that are emerging in Europe.
The warnings in Leviticus and Deuteronomy of a society
disintegrating out of anxiety then cease to be just a threat to be
feared. Instead, they become a challenge to be overcome.
This is the second of four edited extracts from A Rabbi
Reads the Torah by Jonathan Magonet (SCM Press, £19.99 (CT
Bookshop £18); 978-0-334-04913-5).