Rabbi Lance J. Sussman, Ph.D.
This week’s Torah portion is Ha’azinu: Deuteronomy 32:1 – 52
Nobody likes to be criticized. In my fifth year of rabbinic school, I was required to write and deliver a senior sermon that was printed and distributed to the entire faculty and student body and also videotaped for posterity. The following week, my sermon was critiqued in an open forum led by my academic advisor. Every aspect of my remarks was analyzed, from word choice to the literary structure of my sermon to my delivery. It was a rite of passage dreaded by every rabbinic student. I was lucky. Not only did I survive, but I won an award for “The Best Short Sermon,” which proved to be of immeasurable value in my future career, although I was never known for my brevity in the pulpit.
This week’s Torah portion Ha’azinu, is the second-to-last Sidra in the Torah. It begins in Deuteronomy 32 with a biting discourse by Moses. He starts with his prophetic message of praise of the “Rock of Israel” and the Eternal One’s “perfection.” But then in 32:5, he turns to the people of the Exodus and calls them “a generation crooked and perverse.” In verse seven, Moses encourages the people to “remember the days of old [and] consider the years of generations.” He then continues on to call Israel a “vile nation”(32:21) who should expect sweeping divine punishment for its sins.
Today, no Jewish leader could deliver such a message without being severely criticized, shunned or finding him or herself unemployed. In fact, it was typical of the prophets to take the Jewish people to task for their shortcomings, apostasies, sins and misbehavior. By contrast, today we expect to hear messages of encouragement and pleas for unity.
Anything less might be characterized as self-hating or giving aid and comfort to the many real enemies of the Jewish people.
If we step back from the text and look at it from a psychological viewpoint, we can see that the Torah is embracing the idea of criticism. Criticism is a complex phenomenon, and the fact of the matter is that nobody likes being on the receiving end of a rebuke or critical analysis of performance or behavior. If we can get past our understandable defensiveness, it would seem that criticism is an absolutely necessary part of our experience.
It begins in childhood. Parents “criticize” and reprimand their children in order to help them grow up as good people. In turn, teenagers critique their parents as a way of establishing their independence. As we grow and attend school, we are constantly evaluated by our teachers and, at some point, we get to evaluate our teachers in course surveys and in college as part of the tenure process.
How we handle criticism generally involves how we understand the reason for criticism. Is it constructive criticism to help us improve ourselves or is it a form of aggression meant to hurt or undermine us? In time, we must learn how and when to be critics. Is it better to be gentle or firm? Is it better to say something or remain silent?
At a societal level, free speech may also be understood as a collective form of criticism. Are current government policies on the right track, or are they harmful? Is my political opponent a bad person or a good person with the wrong ideas? And turned around from the other direction, when should a government be allowed to curb its critics? For better or worse, these are questions we are facing today at a very deep level in America, with respect to Israel and around the world. Have we earned the admonition of Moses in Deuteronomy Chapter 32, or should we stand by and let things take their natural course?
I believe that the Jewish tradition is ultimately a prophetic tradition, which believes in the pursuit of justice and which inherently includes the necessity of criticism. In a world filled with injustices, we need to take the example of Ha’azinu to heart and stand up against wrongdoing and injustice. As Moses emphatically urged, “Justice, justice, you shall pursue.” (Deuteronomy 16:20).
Lance J. Sussman, Ph.D., is rabbi emeritus of Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel and a past chair of the Board of Governors of Gratz College. Currently, he is a vice president of the Board of Rabbis of Greater Philadelphia.
