Torah for Christians: Entering Into a Covenant

TORAH FOR CHRISTIANS

 SEASON 4   EPISODE 3

 ENTERING INTO A COVENANT

 First broadcast on July 4, 2022

 God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am YHVH (Adonai).  I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, but I did not make Myself known to them by My Name YHWH. I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners.  I have now heard the moaning of the Israelites because the Egyptians are hooding them in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant.  Say, therefore, to the Israelite people: I am YHVH… I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession, I YHVH.”                                                                               

Exodus 6.2-8

          Having been there on a hot August day, I can easily imagine a bush burning in the Sinai Desert – but not being consumed? That’s a miracle.

          I’m Rabbi Jordan Parr and this is Torah for Christians.

MUSIC

What is a Covenant?  To put it simply, a Covenant is an agreement between a person or nation and God.  In return for Divine favor, the person or nation agrees to a certain standard of behavior.  Usually, the Covenant is stated in an “if … then” format: “If you follow all My laws and do them…, then I will give you (fill in the blank).”

          In the Book of Genesis, we find the beginnings of the concept of Israel as a chosen people and the attachment to the Land of Israel.  Beginning with Abraham, God makes two important promises: the promise of gaining the land of Canaan and the promise of becoming a great and mighty nation.  To fulfill his part of the bargain, Abraham circumcised himself and the male members of his household.  After this mass circumcision, the Covenant went into effect. Later, God renewed this Covenant with Isaac and then especially with Jacob, when he dreamt of his stairway to heaven.

          When Moses came upon the Burning Bush in Exodus, Chapter 6, God remembered and reiterated the covenantal Promise to return Abraham’s descendants to the Land of Canaan, now called the Land of Israel.  Just as important, God chose Moses to lead the Israelites back home.

          As leaders, it is critical that we learn how to make and keep covenants, agreements, with our families, our co-workers, our friends, and with our God.  The most important item that we bring to any negotiating table is not a list of yesses and no’s, it is our personal integrity.  There is nothing that can replace integrity.  Keeping our promises, our covenants, is the mark of our integrity. The person on the other side of the table has to know that when we agree to something, we will keep to that agreement.

          Integrity removes any doubt as to who we are or for what we believe.  If we speak in favor of a position 100 times – but suddenly recant the next time – we lose our sense of integrity.  If we preach fidelity in marriage, for example, and then have an extra-marital affair, we lose our integrity.  If we tell our children, “Do as I say and not as I do,” there is no sense of integrity in our relationships with our kids.  Without personal integrity, we are nothing.

          How many times have we said to yourselves, “He’s a nice person – but I just don’t trust him.”  It’s a gut feeling, perhaps, but often, future events will prove us correct.  

          Once, a person was angry at me because of a policy decision at a former congregation.  At a meeting, this person stood up and excoriated me while the rest of the congregation sat back and listened to him.

          I knew that this issue was going to arise, and I prepared for it.  The first thing I did was to examine the ramifications of the policy: was it enforced fairly and consistently?  The answer was an unequivocal “yes.”  I confirmed my analysis with others in a position to judge this policy, just to be sure.

          But I also knew that this person lacked integrity.  I knew that if I could remain calm and emphasize the consistency of my approach – without attacking this person personally – this person would either back down or explode in anger, causing the entire argument to collapse.

          I remained calm throughout this person’s entire presentation.  Afterwards, I calmly agreed with certain points and objectively disputed others.  As the debate wore on, I could tell that this person was escalating – so I forced myself to become even calmer so that perhaps this person would also calm down.  Finally, this person snapped and lost self-control.  Others rose to my defense and screamed back at this person as the entire room erupted.  I knew that there would be a lot of fences to mend later but for the time being, I could walk away with my integrity intact.  I was able to treat a bully with respect and still rebut this bully’s arguments objectively, without resorting to name calling or innuendo.  I was able to maintain my integrity while this person suffered a severe drop in communal esteem. Still, a few weeks later, I met with this person privately and we worked out the issue – which should have been the approach from the start.

          Integrity is a vital component of leadership.  Since we as leaders constantly interact with others, we must be cognizant of our sense of integrity at all times.

          Staying with the theme of clergy for a moment will provide us with another stunning example of the power of integrity.  The horrible pedophile scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church, the Rabbinate, and now the Southern Baptist Convention in the United States during the last few years are horrific.  Hundreds of men and boys, women, and girls, have come forward, claiming that clergy molested them when they were children or engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with their adult selves.  

Certainly, one case of pedophilia or sexual abuse is one too many; the sheer number of cases – and the institutional tepid response to these scandals – showed that there is a severe problem that is only now being addressed. In our Reform Movement, for example, three different independent investigations have taken place in the past year, one for each of our three major bodies: our Seminary, our Rabbinical Conference, and our Synagogue union. The reports have been gut-wrenching; all of us wonder how we could have enabled this horrific behavior for decades. We are working hard to punish the offenders, give solace to the victims and ensure that this behavior, if not impossible to defeat, will lead to severe consequences, up to and including referrals to law enforcement if warranted.

          We must remember though that most Priests, Ministers and Rabbis are decent and honorable people, men and women of great faith and integrity. But the collective integrity of all clergy has been damaged, not just by the relatively few pedophiles and sex offenders among us but rather because of cover ups and the shaming of victims that have occurred for far too long. These scandals have compromised the integrity of all clergy, sadly, and have turned people away from institutional religion.

          Consider what would have happened in this country if, after the Watergate break-in, President Richard Nixon had given a televised speech in which he told the American public everything about the break-in and announced that he was firing everyone involved, from the criminals who entered the office complex to his campaign manager, John Mitchell, and his top two advisors, H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman.  Nixon would have gone down in history as a man of great integrity – instead of being the first and only President to resign in disgrace. What if President Trump had apologized and resigned after the events of January 6, 2021? Would history view him more favorably?

          Integrity permeates everything that we do, from the contracts we negotiate to the bills we pay on time and in full, to the promises we make to our children.  As leaders, we cannot afford to break any of our covenants.  Clergy as well as Presidents Nixon and Trump present excellent examples of what happens when leaders lose their sense of integrity.  But it happens in the home, too, perhaps with even more devastating results.

          I am not, frankly, an animal lover.  I really don’t like to have pets around the house.  But I told my daughter that if she scored all “A’s” on her report card, I would buy her a dog.  This has been quite a motivator for her.  In college, she did indeed make all “A”s one semester. She was so proud of herself when she showed off her dog – and I was so proud of her.  But if I didn’t buy her that dog, she would never again have trusted me; I would have destroyed my integrity.  And that is a much higher price to pay than having to deal with a puppy. 

          In business, we have to negotiate and fulfill contracts with a sense of integrity – no matter the cost.  With our family, our children and spouses need to know that we stand by our word.  In the spiritual realm, we must be able to trust our clergy – and our clergy must be able to trust us.  In wealth creation, we must act honorably and be transparent in our dealings.  

          If our doctor says that we must take a little purple pill every day at breakfast, does he not trust us to do it?  And if we have questions about the medication, do we not have an obligation to speak with our doctor?  These are issues of integrity as well as health.  And when we have fun, are we not obligated to follow the rules of whatever game or activity we are doing?  Good sportsmanship is a matter of integrity, too.

          Moses knew that as a leader, he had to have a strong sense of integrity.  Standing before Pharaoh and throughout the desert wanderings, he maintained his leadership position because the people came to trust him and knew that when he said something, he meant it.  Later, we will see what happened when Moses violated that trust but that too is a lesson in integrity.  He demonstrated there, as my congregant demonstrated years ago, that the surest way to destroy your acquired leadership status is to lose your temper in public, destroying your integrity in the process.

          To maintain our integrity, then, we must do three things:

1. State what we are going to do clearly and succinctly.
2. Do what we said we would do within the time allocated for the task.
3. Affirm the humanity of every person, especially those who disagree with us.

We can also state what we are not going to do and then consistently not do it!  That too is an act of integrity.

If we can train ourselves to do these three things, we cannot help but become effective leaders.  Trust and integrity is the foundation of leadership.  As our integrity becomes stronger, so will our leadership skills – and our opportunities to exercise leadership will increase as well.

     Moses had ample opportunity to show his integrity.  We have learned here that Moses had to establish his integrity.  It was a difficult process but after he succeeded, even God had to respect him.

     God gave Moses the opportunity to lead the people at the Burning Bush. But it was only when Moses returned to Egypt that he could establish himself as a person of integrity; he had to prove his case – and he had to prove his worthiness to lead at the same time.

Let me then repeat these salient points about integrity:

·       State what we are going to do clearly and succinctly.

·       Do what we said we would do within the time allocated for the task.

·       Affirm the humanity of every person, especially those who 

These are easy lessons to learn but incredibly difficult to carry out. But if we are to walk in the footsteps of Moses, it is the only place to start.

This is the perfect time to announce that we have a new website, www.torahforchristians.com, where you can access previous episodes, including transcripts, write a comment or ask a question, catch up on my Substack columns, Wednesday Torah and Bible Stories They (Never) Taught You in Religious School – or even book me as a speaker. Soon, there will also be a membership opportunity, which will entitle you to a free e-book and members-only ZOOM talks, when we can interact in real time. There’s a lot on the horizon so sign up for our mailing list and become a part of our community.

          I want to thank you for listening to Torah for Christians. If you enjoyed this podcast, tell your friends, and spread the word. You are the reason for our success. And whether you identify as a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim or even as a skeptic, we are all in this together. So please remember: Hinei Mah Tov… L’hitra’ot, till we meet again. I’m Rabbi Jordan Parr and this is Torah for Christians.