70 Faces of Torah
Rabbi Shira Freidlin, Yom Kippur Evening, 2023
A beloved and brilliant teacher of mine, Rabbi Elliot Dorff, once wrote about an experience he had with a group of Evangelical Christians who requested his wisdom at a conference on the religious implications of stem cell research. They explained why it appeared to them that the Jewish Bible, commonly referred to as the Old Testament, indicates that God creates human souls at the point of conception or, at least, as soon as a fetus resembles a human in shape. They quoted their Biblical sources and asked Rabbi Dorff for his opinion. In a very gentle and kind way, Rabbi Dorff led them to see what Jews have taken for granted from the beginning, and what Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s Musical, The Book of Mormon, articulates with the bluntness one would expect from the creators of South Park, “It’s a metaphor, stupid!” The stories in our Torah are metaphors. The important question is not, did they happen, did God really part the waters of the Reed Sea for Moses and the escaping Israelite slaves, but what is the truth in the story of the Exodus?
A perfect example of the fundamental importance of the use of metaphor as truth in Judaism is the midrash of the seventy faces of the Torah. We’re to imagine the Torah as a precious jewel with seventy polished facets that each represent a valid interpretation of Torah. We’re to imagine this precious jewel as one that we are each privileged to hold in our hands, turning, slowly, holding each facet up to the light to add its own unique gift to the world. It should be noted that the rabbis use the number 70 as a substitute for the concept of the “infinite”. The rabbis believed that the Torah holds an infinite number of legitimate interpretations. Not all interpretation will be granted equal weight, especially when it comes to Jewish law, however, there is an inherent understanding that our core text is a string of metaphors gifted to us by God to instruct us about how to live lives of meaning, purpose and dignity.
I love the image of Torah as a beautiful, multi-faceted jewel in my hands, in your hands, that we can slowly and lovingly turn and turn, that the more we turn it, the more beauty and understanding it can bestow upon us. I love the idea that we, all of us, have access to this gift. We can all share our understanding of Torah with each other to make all of our lives richer and deeper.
There are, of course, specific interpretations that will speak to us more than others, that will help us move forward in our lives. It is our responsibility to continue to turn the Torah until one facet flashes bright enough to speak to us. We can then dive into our exploration of Torah through that facet until it fades. Then we turn the jewel again to find a new way in.
According to a teaching attributed to the Ari, Isaac Luria, the originator of Lurianic Kabbalah, Jewish Mysticism, in the mid-16th century in Safed, “Every year on Rosh Hashanah, everything returns to its very beginning. Creation is renewed. All that was created in the beginning comes into being again. Thus, each Rosh Hashanah the world is re-created.” Every Rosh Hashanah, the world is re-created. I imagine God gingerly holding the multi-faceted Earth in divine hands, turning and turning it, to see which facet’s reflection will pull Divine attention. Maybe there are 70 or an infinite number of ways that God can interpret the teachings of the world.
This mystical story implies that right now, on Kol Nidre, the holiest day of the Jewish year, the world is just ten days old… again, after the recreation that God exacted on Rosh Hashanah. Over the next 25 hours, our tradition teachers that God pays particular attention to us, to our thoughts and our actions. We are instructed to be extra pious, extra generous, extra good. Can our behavior during the next 25 hours affect how God will continue to re-create the World this time around? What if our behavior today could affect the fate of the world for the next year? Would you do anything differently?
You’ve heard of the popular Cognitive Behavioral Therapy technique called, the “reframe”? Reframing is used to identify automatic negative thoughts and replace them with more balanced and optimistic ones. Since persistent negative thoughts can immobilize us with anxiety and depression, halting our forward progress, reframing our automatic reactions to challenge can free us up to grow. In fact, LAUSD, the Los Angeles Unified School District is now employing a strategy called “Growth Mindset” with its students. My children are taught that instead of saying, “I can’t do this” if they say, “I can’t do this yet” it opens them up to learning instead of shutting them down.
According to our tradition, Kol Nidre, the beautiful liturgy that Cantor Toby and the choir led us through at the beginning of our service, is about annulling our vows from the past year. We make promises in earnest to ourselves all the time, but it is impossible to fulfill all them. Each one of us is only one person and although our dreams and wishes are limitless, we all must bow to the finite nature of our existence. There simply is not enough time, energy, or resolve to fulfill every promise. In order that the weight of the guilt and disappointment of these unmet vows, do not crush our souls, the rabbis instruct us to wipe the slate clean every year with Kol Nidre, the annulment of vows. In order to do so, we must acknowledge those vows privately and publicly. We know that shame loves the dark of denial but cannot survive in the bright light of truth. We must throw back the curtains on our shame and name it.
I’ll start. Our congregation, the Santa Monica Synagogue, used to be big. At our height we were 250 families strong. We had a thriving Hebrew School that met on multiple days of the week, with a staff and multiple grades. I’ve been told that hundreds of people congregated yearly for High Holy Days services. Young families used to be the norm. That is not our current reality. Many of us have strong feelings about this change. Some see it as a failure. Many of us are scared. What does it mean for our future? The front page of the Jewish Journal from last week says it the best, This Is Not the End of the Synagogue. Just because something has changed does not mean it’s gotten worse. Shame hates the light and the words releasing shame of unfulfilled vows on Kol Nidre need to be shared aloud. We have nothing to be ashamed of. We want to be big but we are small. We want to thrive but we’re not there… yet. Yet.
Just like the 70 Faces of Torah, there are infinite interpretations of our challenges, too. Let's keep turning and turning the multi-faceted jewel that is The Santa Monica Synagogue, until we find a sustainable way to thrive. We are privileged to recreate our synagogue every year just like God recreates the world every Rosh Hashanah. We are the people who, with God's help, move through the dark, constricted places to come out into the light of freedom and responsibility. From slavery to freedom to the gift of the Torah on Mount Sinai.
We have legitimate challenges as a community; we have significant needs, but we do not need 250 families. We do not need a Hebrew School that mirrors one from the 90’s. We already have the most important things: people with big hearts, who value life-long learning and service, who roll up their selves and get things done, people committed to bringing us all together. We are not out of the darkness yet, we have quite a way to go, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I can see the Promised Land. We’re going to have so much fun! G’mar hatima tova.