Parashat Shoftim

September 6, 2024
3 Elul 5784
PARASHAT SHOTFTIM
Deuteronomy 16:18 - 21:9

Dear Friends,

For the last year we have been engaged in looking at the intersection of the spirit and that which we call science, through our grant from Scientists in Synagogues. As we come to the end of the Jewish year and the life of our grant, it is a good moment to pause and reflect upon what we have learned, or at the very least what I have learned through this process.

Working and studying with the three scientists within our community (Dr. Farnoush Safavi, Dr. Daniel Wolf Savin, and Howie Waldman) has alleviated some of my sense of incompetence when it comes to the sciences. Even more then learning about their three distinct disciplines, they reminded me through their presentations that the search for knowledge is a never-ending process and one that demands respect of the subject or area that one is exploring.

From a Jewish perspective, why is this such an important lesson? It is the sense that the final destination is just out of reach and demands that we grapple and wrestle with the data that we have thus far and try to find a systemic approach to uncovering its secrets.

When put into a Jewish lens, this is what we do when we study text. There are manifold answers waiting to be discovered and with each discovery, further inquiry is demanded. Science teaches us the power of complexity. When Daniel, an astrophysicist, took us through one aspect of how stars are formed, many of us realized there was so much more still to be discovered and at the root of all, there was mystery. When Howie, teacher of biological sciences, explored the way in which species come into being, what we had learned previously no longer applied. It was not a simple equation. I invite you to go to the zoo and read the descriptions of which animals are related. In all likelihood you will discover that there are connections you could never have imagined.

This process of discovery is ongoing. We now know that birds and dinosaurs are linked to one another. And when Farnoush, a research physician, shared elements of the mysterious and complex systems that it takes for us to simply breathe, we were indeed left breathless.

In all our sessions with our scientists, we confronted that which could not be explained. Yet, that did not stop any of them from pushing beyond what they already knew to look more deeply and more widely.

Thus far, they have given us a wealth of understanding not just of science but how to live in the world. Their work as scientists and teachers provides us with the example that there is always more to learn and understand and most importantly, to not fear complexity.

It is interesting to note that this week’s Torah portion Shoftim, Judges (Deuteronomy 16:18 – 21:9) not only deals with justice, but also with magic and the occult and the forbidden nature therein. These practices depend upon scarcity, evil, and death. Science comes at the problems of life from an entirely different direction. It is the wonder of existence that spurs the scientist from the smallest element of creation to the largest.

As we prepare for the Yamim Noraim, our task is to grab hold of that sense of awe and wonder as we ponder the complex and wonderous nature of life.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Linda Shriner-Cahn