Ekev
Shema Yisrael began our reading this week. But funnily enough, it wasn’t the Shema that was read. Although the second paragraph of the Shema comes at the end of this week’s portion, reminding us that we must live with responsibility and justice in the land, or we will starve.
For many years we have taught children the British sign language for the Shema. Shema means listen, so thinking about how we listen when we can’t hear with our ears is also a part of listening.
At a rabbinic training I attended some years ago, one of my colleagues raised an objection to one of the signs in the Shema – I wonder if you can guess which one:
[SIGN] SHEMA YISRAEL ADONAI ELOHEINU ADONAI EHAD
Why is Israel a bearded man? Couldn’t we find a better sign for the word? In fact I learnt yesterday that Jewish is the same sign as Israel (which raises all sorts of other interesting questions), and that Israeli sign language uses the same sign for Israel in the Shema. What sign would you choose?
Of course the answer to my colleagues innocent questions ‘couldn’t we find a better sign for Israel was, in fact. No. We can’t. British Sign Language is a language that spoken by an entire community. We don’t get to decide what that looks like.
As Jews who debate the ins and outs of every dot and vowel and emphasis and scribal flourish in the torah it is important to sometimes recognise that language is also a tool to enable us to express and communicate in all sorts of ways. In 2010 an incredible Israeli theatre company brought one of their shows to the Finchley Arts Depot and it has stayed with me ever since then. A company of 11 deaf or blind, and in some cases deaf and blind actors, created a show whose name also comes from this week’s portion: ‘Not by Bread Alone’. In Torah this verse is to teach us that we are not merely physical creatures, we need more than nourishment from food to truly live. The actors in many ways were riffing on this same theme. Through sign language, spoken interpretation and subtitles the actors told their stories to the audience whether they were themselves deaf, blind or neither.
It was the first time I had also seen audience members who were both deaf and blind. Their sign language was one that involved not vision but touch, with interpreters signing the play physically onto the hands, arms and faces of the audience members.
One of the deaf blind actors spoke about the loneliness of being alone – no communication through touch, just the silence and the darkness. Communication allowed a lifeline of human connection for him, and it was a moment not only of theatre but of life that will never be forgotten. Throughout the show the company baked bread, and the smell of baking filled the auditorium through the second half. All of our senses were engaged, an unusual experience in the theatre, and one that was also a piece of communication for all of us, not only those who were deaf and blind.
The company staging Not by Bread Alone are based in a centre in Tel Aviv that still puts on regular shows. The centre also runs a café where all the waiting staff are deaf and run intermittent signing classes for diners to help them order. They also have a restaurant called ‘Black Out’. There you can eat in absolute darkness, experiencing your food without being able to see it. Black out is always booked up so far in advance that I’ve yet to be able to dine there!
We instinctively know that we cannot live by bread alone, and that communication enables us to connect to one another in ways that heal, and in ways that harm. Our portion has its fair share of violence and fear as well as the wisdom of listening.
To some extent we are reminded in this week’s portion that we are not good listeners. We repeatedly ignore God’s commands, turn to idolatry, and generally drive our divine maker to anger. We are not promised the land of Israel because of our huge blessings or wonderful behaviour, but because of the sins of the current inhabitants. It seems humanity has become quite the disappointment to our maker.
Perhaps we also see God exploring modes of communication. Our Ancestors back in Genesis were promised the land, were promised descendants as numerous as the stars. By Deuteronomy that all seems so hopeful, while we are being begrudgingly promised a good life in the land, but only if we finally take responsibility, listen up, and build a righteous and equitable society. When we fail to do that, we sow the seeds for our own downfall.
In sharing their personal stories through the theatre of ‘By Bread Alone’ the Nalaga’at company highlighted ways in which we still have work to do to create this just society, and as the cost of living crisis looms ever larger, we know we will have to pay ever more attention that it is not the most vulnerable who are left behind. Torah is trying to remind us that when anyone is left behind, the entire fabric of society is broken, and we can’t expect things to go well for us.
Wittgenstein famously said ‘the limits of my language are the limits of my world’, and theologically I love this as a way of helping us understand how our own limited language limits God, however it is also a reminder that language and communication takes many forms, not only linguistic, and it takes effort to take everyone with us. But Torah expects us to make the effort to ensure no one lives by bread alone, but is a part of the rich tapestry that life can be.
May we all be blessed with those who understand us, and our needs, and the opportunity to involve those who would be a part of the whole, if only the door were held open a little further.
Shabbat Shalom
