Moses: Teacher, Marketeer, Manager, Motivator, Organizer

Deuteronomy 30

We often think of Moses as a teacher. The final speech can be looked at as the 'ultimate lesson plan'. Moses uses every teaching technique to get his message to the people. He addresses the auditory learners, the visual learners and those who learn best by physical involvement.

Rabbi Marder pointed out that you can also look at Moses’ speech from the vantage of Social Marketing Theory and techniques implement mass behavior changes. He portrays the benefits of following the law, makes the offer attractive and gives the message in multiple ways and repeats the message often.

Then it was noted how Moses also used good management skills as he not only asked for blind obedience to follow the law, but he took the time to explain the reasons for obedience.

And also Moses’ showed good organizational theory in how the task is presented in various ways with ‘practical first steps’ to follow the law.

It seems from looking at Moses this way that his techniques give us an excellent role model for good practices and methods in many different professions. This speech could also be viewed as the 'ultimate motivation' seminar!

God is a Verb

R. Zweiback led Torah Study 4/21 - Deuteronomy 29:20-28

We were discussing why God cannot be anthropomorphic.

The discussion centered on Rambam's teaching of a transcendent God "without ears". The qualities we use to judge moral characteristics of people we tend to extend to thinking of qualities of God. We refer to God's actions in human terms but this cannot be taken literally and must be viewed as a metaphor. But we have to keep reminding ourselves of the transcendent God that is completely outside of and beyond the world.

Predicate Theology:
In the review of the book, “Evil and the Morality of God” by Harold M. Schulweis (Ktav, 1984), by Rabbi Morley Feinstein an interesting way of looking at our view of God is pointed out:

“We cannot prove to anyone what we know about God. But we have seen and experienced human kindness. We know what it is to do good, to love justice, to embrace compassion, to walk humbly, to care for another as we care for ourselves. These are the values that make life a blessing for the living. These are our realities. A proper belief system affirms these values as the actual subject — and God is the verb.

Let’s remember a grammar lesson. The subject comes before the predicate. But if we turn them around an insight emerges. Not God is just, but justice is Godly. Not God is compassionate, but compassion is Godly. Not God is loving, but loving another is Godlike. Thus, we have a new term called “Predicate Theology,” which emphasizes human interaction and responsibility. We have the capacity, Schulweis says, to experience, express and cultivate Godliness.
When evil occurs, the question should not be “O God, why did this happen?” For we have no answer and perhaps God is stunned to silence as well. Rather, we might ask, “What must be done for people to help one another, to act with the Godliness with which each of us is endowed?” Predicate Theology places the emphasis on people’s response to evil.”

Predicate Theology: Read the Article at This Link


I want to think about this concept more!

Deuteronomy: The Overall Picture

Last week with David Meir-Levi we reviewed the format of Deuteronomy and how it parallels the vassal treaties between the kings and their subjects. These type treaties were in existence for thousands of years. There were these types of treaties in the time of King Josiah, which is a clue that the book of Deuteronomy might have been written at that time. However it was discovered that the Hittite treaties from 1000 years previous also had similar structure. There are those who date the book in the 7th Century because the structure of the curses and blessings seemed so close to those in documents of their time. AND then there are those who still say that Moses wrote the book and it is plausible that he also was familiar with vassal treaties as he was a prince in Egypt where similar treaties were used. So the conclusion is, yes, the structure is similar to the vassal treaties, but there is no way to certify a definite date on the writing.


An Example: Outline of a Typical Vassal Treaty 15th Century BCE
I. Preamble -- "These are the words..."
II. Historical Prologue -- antecedant history: the events which lead to and now form the basis of the treaty.
III. General Stipulations -- substantive statements regarding the future relationship which is related to the antecedant history and which summarizes the purpose of the specific stipulations which will follow.
IV. Specific Stipulations
V. Divine Witnesses -- the gods are called upon to bear witness.
VI. Blessings and Curses -- what will happen if the covenant is kept or broken.
(from Quartz Hill School of Theology - not Jewish but a good outline! )


This week with Rabbi Marder we also talked about the structure of Deuteronomy. As Rabbi Marder pointed out that there are 3 major discourses in Deuteronomy:

The 1st speech: Review - Chapter 1: 6 to 4:43 is a retrospective summary of the journey and 40 verses on observing the law.

The 2nd speech: Laws - Chapter 5 to Chapter 28, reviews the commandments and details the Laws to live by in The Land. This is often referred to as the Covenant made at Moab. But this continues the detail and spells out the consequences for not following the laws.

The 3rd speech: Peroration – Chapter 29 + represents the summation, the concluding argument, the peroration that is Moses’ final opportunity to convince the Israelites to keep this covenant.

One other interesting point made based on the overall look at the structure and format of the book is that it speaks to all types of people and all types of learners. There are oral, visual and tactile messages in the laws to enhance the understanding. (a very sophisticated technique and observation)

Now as Moses prepares for his final arguments he tells the Israelites that they are now ready to understand. Now that they have listened and seen, they were given the insight needed to succeed. This marks a major turning point in the book!

Next week we will explore why all this took 40 years!

More on Deuteronomy Structure:

Deuteronomy a Constitution

JPS Torah Commentary: Deuteronomy
Author: Jeffrey H. Tigay

Excellent Review of the Speeches

A look at structure and parallels

Torah Study Tangent on Deuteronomy

Last session the tangent to discuss Deuteronomy structure as it parallels a vassal treaty was very interesting.
The format -
History and background
Listing of laws and rules
Description of the vassal or boundaries
Consequences and benefits

As this is the same as Hittite and Suzerain treaties of the Kings it helped the analysts to date the book and to better understand Deuteronomy from a historical perspective. I found an interesting (but more Christain) presentation on this subject on the internet:

http://faculty.pepperdine.edu/cheard/teaching/rel101/PP2E_Deuteronomy.pdf

Even Wikipedia refers to this format. Interesting! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deuteronomy

I also want to do more research on other topics covered last week: The Tractate on Eggs!, Why Chosen and for What?, and The Curse of Assimilation are topics worthy of more exploration!

I hope to get back to update the blog this week!