Maureena’s Torah Reflections
Parashat Re’eh. Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17
See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, (Deut. 11:28).
These words in Deuteronomy presume we have the ability to know the difference between good and evil. In the garden of Eden, Eve and her husband, Adam, seemingly did not have that ability. The gift was given when Eve who heard God speaking to her through the words of Satan, and seeing that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, dared to choose to eat of its fruit, and gave some to her husband.
And behold, they became like God knowing good and evil. (Gen 3.22).
Adam, astounded at what his wife had done, called his wife, Eve (Life) because she was now the mother of all living (Gen 3:20).
This Sabbath, as we rejoice that we have the ability to choose between good and evil, let us remember and thank our foremother, Eve. It was a difficult choice—she and her husband were expelled from the Garden, and she was, and continues to be blamed for it. The choices we have to make between obeying the commandments (the divine urges within us) can also make us unpopular and even lead to our death!
This week, as we try to be alert to the divine Voice speaking, urging us to act, let us honor, Eve, the first person to make a human choice and didn’t die (reference: pages 13-16, Redeeming Jesus’ Name).
Prepared by Prof. Sr. Maureena Fritz nds
Fritz, Maureena Redeeming Jesus Name, 2023 (available Wipf and Stock)
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“Since the spiritual patrimony common to Christians and Jews is thus so great, this sacred synod wants to foster and recommend that mutual understanding and respect which is the fruit, above all, of biblical and theological studies.”
Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions: Nostra Aetate, No. 4