Yisrō & Tu B'Shvat / יתרו & דער חמישה־⁠עשׂר

This is a weekly series of parsha dvarim written by a frum, atheist, transsexual anarchist. It's crucial in these times that we resist the narrative that Zionism owns or, worse, is Judaism. Our texts are rich—sometimes opaque, but absolutely teeming with wisdom and fierce debate. It's the work of each generation to extricate meaning from our cultural and religious inheritance. I aim to offer comment which is true to the source material (i.e. doesn't invert or invent meaning to make us more comfortable) and uses Torah like a light to reflect on our modern times.

Content note: fascism, abusive power dynamics (both in abstract)

Following the advice of my good friend Lipe following their friend Natalie, I study Torah three times: as though it is literal historical fact; as though it is entirely metaphorical; and as a dialectic between these two positions, both of them true.

This is a parsha about binaries: leaders/followers, authority/subservience, consent/coercion. Binaries lend themselves nicely to dialectics. I also believe this week is also about the impossible, and the morally-necessary, and how those are often the same thing.

It opens with Moishe Rebeynu's father-in-law advising him to delegate. It's a short lesson on effective leadership and avoiding burnout, and an evergreen reminder: it is neither possible nor desirable for one person to do it all.

Moishe appoints "heads" of the people from among the chiefs. As an anarchist I don't love that the solution is hierarchical, but I think we can all take the lesson about collaboration and shared (if uneven) responsibility.