|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2007 12:54 pm
Basically, in synagog the ninth grade had to lead a service. So I had to write the dvar torah, or basically sermon, for it. Tell me what ya think? Here it is...
The portion for this Shabbat is Shemot, or names, and is the beginning of the book of Exodus. It begins by explaining that after Joseph died, the Jews multiplied, and became numerous. The portion then leads into a very well known part of the Torah, the story of Moses.
All of us know who Moses was. Born a slave, became a prince. Burning bush. Ten plagues. Let my people go. We all have heard the fundamentals of his life. Moses was a prophet who, with God’s guidance and his brother’s help, lead the Jews out of Egypt - to freedom. Yet he also had his faults, which is one of the reasons he was such a good leader. He was the common man, but also distinguished by growing up as a prince. Moses stuttered, which was why Aaron spoke for him. He had a mercurial temper, and killed an Egyptian overseer because of it. Moses was also afraid, and even went as far as to ask God to choose someone else to stand up to the Pharaoh. He was a man of faults, but became the leader of an entire nation.
And yet that’s not the only story of Moses. In Sunday school this year, we have been learning about various religions, and the cultures guided by them. Monotheism is the belief in one God, and there are three main monotheistic religions. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Each accepts Moses as being a prophet and an important part of their own religion, and yet each view him in a different light.
Judaism holds Moses in a high regard. After being freed from Egypt, Moses led the Jews to Mount Sinai. It was here that God told Moses that the Jews were his chosen people. It was here that our laws were passed down to us, through Moses. Moses was then our leader for forty years, and brought us through the exodus to Israel. He is revered in our history.
In Christianity, he is thought of differently, but not by much. He is the prophet from the Old Testament most referred to in the New Testament. He is still considered very important. Many Christians compare Jesus’s life to Moses’s, because there are many parallels in what happened to them. For instance, Jesus was meant to be killed at birth by decree from Herod, and Moses was meant to be killed at birth by decree from the Pharaoh. Both of them survived.
The most prominent mention of Moses in the New Testament is the Transfiguration of Jesus. According to The New Testament, while in the presence of three of his apostles, Jesus conversed with Moses and Elijah. What the conversation was about was never recorded, but Luke stated that he thought it was about Jesus’s future death. Some Christian scholars believe that the Transfiguration of Jesus was a metaphor, and that Moses represented Law. This ties into the fact that he presented the Jews with The Ten Commandments.
What is also interesting about the Christian view on Moses is that he represents everything that Jesus was not. Moses was vengeful. He killed all of those who worshiped the golden calf at the base of Mount Sinai. The message of Jesus, as recorded in The New Testament, is the exact opposite. That message was one of forgiveness, as long as people changed their ways.
The Qur’an and the Bible are very similar in the history of Moses. Some names and events are changed, but the main story is the same. The main differences come after being set free from Egypt. According to Islamic belief, after going to the top of the mountain and receiving the stone tablets, Moses comes back to find his people worshiping the golden calf. Yet they were worshiping it in the false belief that it was the god of Moses. Moses threw down the tablets in sadness, and not in anger. He only punished the man who had insisted that everyone create the golden calf, al-Samiri, and made him into an untouchable. He did not punish those who had worshiped the calf. Another difference is that the promised land was called Palestine, and not Israel.
In all three of the religions, Moses was a leader. God spoke to him directly, and he is revered for the fact that he followed God’s commandments. That is what I think is so amazing about him. He had a hard life, and time and time again all he had was God, and his faith in God. It was faith that got him through everything.
Various times his own people turned against him. It was not just the instance with the golden calf. From the very beginning of his journey, his life became hard. He killed the overseer in an effort to help someone, but was then going to be executed. Moses was forced to run from his home.
When he returned to Egypt and demanded that the Pharaoh release his people from bondage, the Pharaoh responded by not allowing the use of straw in the construction of bricks. He also made it clear that the number of bricks made could not go down. Moses was blamed.
Many times he was blamed for what happened. After the parting of the Red Sea, when there was no water, Moses was blamed. God told him to throw a piece of wood into the water, and it was made sweet.
While in the desert, the entire community blamed Moses for their lack of food, and many said they would rather have died in Egypt where there was food to eat. That was when God rained down quail and manna. Later, when there was no water again, Moses was blamed. He struck a rock, which is what God told him to do, and there was water for everyone.
There were even times he was rebelled against. At one point Moses and Aaron were accused of raising themselves above everyone else. God killed all of those who opposed Moses. And yet his own people did not always trust Moses, or believe in him. Even after the many times it was proven that they could.
The one thing that held firm in Moses was his belief in God. It never faltered, and never changed. Even after everything that happened to him, he never got to enter the promised, the land of milk and honey. Israel. He was able to see it, but never once stepped foot in it.
I think the greatest thing that Moses can teach us is to have trust in God. He was a man of faith, and a prophet, and one of the greatest leaders in all of Judaism.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 4:00 pm
Perhaps someone who is religious would be in a better position to comment this text, but if I may... here's an atheist's view.
I have no idea if there is supposed to be a certain structure in these sermons or not (and I'm really not that interested in researching that, sorry), but I rather liked the order in which the subjects were approached. First an establishment of the theme, then elaboration and lastly the adaptation of this theme into everyday life, turning the ordinary man into someone who could be not-that-different from this untouchable figure.
I also liked the parallel you drew between Judaism, Christianism and Islamism. It's a very important point, especially nowadays with all the tensions caused or fundamented by religion on a worldwide scale. It seems to me that the proximities between the three are never really explored when I hear people discussing inter-religious tolerance and acceptance. So, I liked how the theme was expanded in that direction.
Concerning the second paragraph, I thought that it was perhaps a bit too long. The two "voices" are a nice effect, but it can become a little tiring after a while, especially because the paragraph was more or less a listing of commonly known facts. I'd suggest you synthethise it a bit.
That said, using small font (and no line breaks) in long texts are two things that I really don't recommend if you care anything about your poor readers' eyes... I had to copy and paste it to Word so I could read it comfortably.
Hope this was helpful.
Happy writing! wink
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 7:48 pm
Thanks for the input. I hadn't realized my line breaks didn't paste right... Meh.
Yeah, when I wrote this I was kind of freaking out over it a tad. It was the day before I was supposed to speak it in front of the congregation (procrasination seems to be my trademark) and I didn't know how to approach it without boring everyone. I also had no idea how to write it. All my teacher had told me was 'Compare the views of Moses of the three major monotheistic religions'. So it was up to me to decide what to put next. I was actually freaking out more than just a little bit... Heh.
The listing of common facts was for the huge chunk of people in my congregation who I was almost positive had forgotten all about Moses. I kind of disliked putting it in there myself, but I'm fairly certain it helped to jog more than just a few peoples' memories in my congregation. >>;
Thanks for telling me what ya think. I'll keep that in mind the next time I have to write a speech... ooh, I hope I don't have to. Although then at the same time I kind of do. During the practice I read through it really really fast. But then my teacher made me practice it in the fifteen minutes we had left, and I ended up reading it really well. Jeesh... I haven't been that nervous for a while. A lot of people were coming up to me after the service and telling me what a good job I did. I didn't screw up! HUZZAH!
But yesh, thank you very much for the honest input. biggrin
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 8:19 pm
Haha, well I'm glad everything went well! rofl
Hmm... procrastinating... yes... the bliss... cool
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
