Va'etchanan

Va’etchanan – Shoshana Bloom

Shoshana is a passionate Limmudnik and is Co-Chair of this year’s Limmud Conference and previously co-chaired the 2005 Conference. Professionally she works for Norwood as their head of Jewish Culture developing informal Jewish education programmes for people with learning disabilities and supporting them to become proud, active and contributing members of the Jewish community. She is also a member of the ROI community.

Following the terrible scenes that occurred in London and across the UK during the last week, one of the questions being asked is where is the leadership and guidance for these young people. How could they reach a state of such disregard for those that they share their communities with? What is it that was potentially lost to allow this complete breakdown of the social contract?

What does this week’s parsha have to say? In Va’etchanan, Moses continues his speech to the children of Israel by entreating the people to not only remember that they have received “ordinances and statutes that are just” but that they must make them known to “your children and your children’s children”. 

By stressing the importance of educating the generations, Moses is pleading for those around him to give their children the opportunity to avoid repeating the mistakes that they themselves had made.  We hope to use traditions and received wisdoms to create what Hannah Arendt, the influential German political theorist from the last century, refers to as a guiding moral “bannister” to hold on to.This can only be achieved through education and by showing respect for the generations both before and after us. This does however need to go beyond just mere words. Va’etchanan is found in the book Devarim. The Hebrew word Devarim can be translated to mean both “words” and “things”. From this you could argue that this if “words” and “things” are essentially the same then we must understand the importance of turning words into actions and vice versa.

We cannot just tell future generations what we expect of them but we must also show and guide them through our actions. And conversely, we cannot just rely upon actions but must also take the time to explain them in a way that resonates and educates.

This comes through strong, responsible and sustainable leadership which will nurture and support the generations that follow in our footsteps. This desire to think beyond ourselves and take collective responsibility for one another has truly been taken beyond words and into action as part of the Summer of Change held in Jerusalem and Sweden this summer. Spaces exist for social activists and innovators to come together from around the world to share ideas, passions and dreams for building a Jewish community that we can be proud of and one that can be passed on to generations past and present.

Limmud also creates a space for us to do the same through a Limmud community made up of people from all over the world, of different generations, religious outlooks and perspectives. We do not just think about what we need to pass on to our children and our children’s children but we also allow them the opportunity to teach us too. Through mutual respect across the generations we will hopefully ensure that Moses’ words are not wasted.

So, as we saw in communities across England this week following the riots including Limmudniks who contributed bedding, clothes and toys following Executive Director Raymond Simonson's appeal over social networks, let’s pick up a broom and take collective responsibility for one another by placing value upon education, respect and community allowing each generation to grow wiser and wiser. L’dor v’dor. From generation to generation.