|
Asking the Right Questions
Analysis: What to say and how to find it
The first thing is to identify the topic or the issue for your
dvar Torah. One way to start is if there is an issue relevant
to the community, or to recent current events or of particular
interest to you because of specialized knowledge. You may be able
to find a 'hook' to the topic in the Torah portion. The other
approach is to find something unusual, troubling or interesting
in the Parashah.
Read the Parashah
Whether you're looking for a grain of sand or a hook (see sidebar),
the first thing you should do is read the entire parashah. (Rafi
Zarum recommends twice in English and once in Hebrew if possible!)
How do you know the parashah in six months from now? Use a Jewish calendar to find out what the parashah is (Typically one gives a dvar
Torah on the upcoming Parashah).
Check what immediately precedes the Parashah and what follows
also. Sometimes these 'links' serve as jumping off points.
Eg. Immediately after the Akedah (Binding of Isaac) the next week's
Parasha begins, 'And Sarah died.' In the Rabbi's fertile imagination,
Sarah died when she learned of Isaac's [near] death experience.
This opens a whole discussion about Sarah's relationship to Isaac
and Abraham, or how involved we are with our parents/children.
Similarly, glance at the Haftarah (Prophetic reading) which the
Rabbis paired with the weekly Torah reading. There is always a
thematic or linguistic link between the two readings. Maybe there
is some material there that will be useful. Why did the Rabbis
choose a passage from Zechariah that says, "Not by might, Not
by power, but by My spirit, says Adonai" for the Shabbat in Chanukah?
Understanding the Parashah
Maybe there is something that calls out for investigation. As
you read the text, try to work out what the text is about. Generate
as many questions as you can about the text. Here are some general
questions (courtesy of Rafi Zarum) that apply to probably every
portion to get the ball rolling:
- Context: What is the context to the story or issue in the text?
- Characters: Who are the central characters/ Who is missing?
- God: How is God involved/or not?
- Resolution: How does the text end: what is questioned, learned
or resolved?
- Alternatives: How else could we read this/what other ways could
it have turned out?
- Laws: What laws/rituals are derived from the portion?
- Principles: What moral/ethical lessons can be learned here?
Grains of Sand
The rabbis read the biblical text with a magnifying glass! By
that I mean they were extremely sensitive to not only what the text says, but how the text says it. In addition, there are biblical Hebrew words
that are no longer understood, passages that are ambiguous, and
narratives that are morally problematic. Because the Rabbis assumed
that the text, authored by God, was perfect, any apparent ambiguity,
duplication, omission or contradiction was an opportunity for
'midrash.'
Here are some textual features/problems that the rabbis explored
that you might also investigate:
- Meaning: A word or verse that we don't understand. Words that
only appear once in the Torah (hapax legomenon) or difficult grammar.
- Missing Information: Something is missing; a word, sentence or
important detail is not told. This is very common.
- Duplication: The Torah tells us the same thing twice, or tells
us something we already know.
- Theme/Number Word: A key word repeated 7 or 10 times in one story.
- Extraneous Information: The Torah includes information that doesn't
seem important.
- Compare & Contrast: The Torah (or a character) repeats what happened
or what was said with small but important differences (omissions,
additions or changes).
- Ambiguity: The Torah says something that could be understood in
more than one way.
- Contradiction: The Torah says one thing here, another thing there.
- Metaphor: The Torah uses a word or a phrase that isn't meant literally,
but is figurative.
- Echo: A word or phrase repeated in two stories that link the two
stories.
- Something Wrong: The Torah tells us something that is morally
problematic or a character does something that isn't right.
- Juxtaposition: Two seemingly unrelated topics follow one after
another. A new idea is created by the juxtaposition of the two
verses or stories.
- Symmetry: The Torah writes words or verses in a symmetrical pattern
(sometimes like an X).
- Out of Order: The sequence of events is unclear or out of order.
(For more detailed information on the above categories with examples,
see how our example page in our Torah Study course)
Hooks
Every portion will relate to one or more themes or issues. Here,
for example, are a few of the kinds of issues that a typical portion
might relate to:
interpersonal dynamics and psychological insights
our relationship to the environment
good and evil
role of ritual
Here are some trigger questions that might apply to your parashah:
How does this section/prohibition relate to modern times?
Eg. Does the prohibition of mixing diverse seeds relate to bio-genetic
engineering?
What does the Torah say about cloning?
How has this observance changed?
Eg. Why do we have white threads in our tzitzit when the Torah
clearly states 'a blue thread?' or Why do we have two sets of
dishes when the Torah says, 'Do not seethe (boil) a kid in its
mother's milk?'
How can we relate to a text that conflicts with our values or
modern ideas?
Eg. Women's vows should be subject to a male relative's approval.
Once you've collected a whole bunch of questions, problems, and
issues, the next stage is to narrow down the field. Which of these
is the most interesting right now? Is there one issue that relates
to your life? (Save the extras for another time; a common mistake of many divrei
Torah is that they try to cover too much.)
When you feel like you have identified a key issue to talk about,
the next step is to find some answers?!
|
The Pearl and the grain of sand vs. The hang your coat on the
hook
There are two very distinct methods for finding an issue in a
given Torah portion. I call the first, the pearl and the grain
of sand method. As you know, a grain of sand irritates the oyster
which coats it with nacre (mother of pearl) and forms a pearl.
The 'irritant' is responsible for this beautiful pearl. Similarly,
textual, linguistic, or philosophical problems within the biblical
text may 'prompt' a question and the exploration that you will
guide the listeners will serve as an illuminating dvar Torah.
In this method, one 'finds a problem in the text.' We will discuss
in detail how exactly one does this below.
The second method is the hang your coat on the hook method. The
premise of a dvar Torah is that the Torah speaks eternally, so
the weekly Parashah includes a message regarding an important
issue being dealt with by the Board, a theme of the upcoming holiday,
or some relevant current event that has effected the world or
your particular community. Or, the individual may bring some specific
expertise or interest in a particular topic that relates to the
parashah. I have heard interesting divrei Torah given by lawyers,
real estate agents, and psychologists/family therapists who used
their specialties to find new insight into the Torah's narrative.
The trick is to take something you are passionate about, or that
you are thinking about, a message that is important and worthwhile,
that you can link or 'find' somehow in the Torah. That's the 'hook.'
For this method, take a few minutes before you begin to decide
if there is something 'on your mind/on your community's mind'
that you think might be appropriate for consideration.
Either method is equally valid, and both were used by the Rabbis
of old. Take a minute to decide whether one approach or the other
seems more appropriate. (And often the two methods interact. You
might say, hmmm, not much going on, let me look in the Parashah
for something, and then some issue jumps out of the text that
makes you actually reflect on a current issue. Don't be concerned
with 'which method you're using- it's just helpful to understand
the two approaches.)
|
