Last Shabbat, at about 11:15 in the morning, I sat in my makom kavuah – my regular place of davening (Beta Quadrant, Red Chairs, Left Aisle, near the door) as we concluded our reading of Tol'dot at the Library Minyan. Isaac's servants had just dug a well in a place they called Rehoboth (actually, a town 30km from the current city of Beer-Sheba, not the similarly named town in Central Israel). Jacob and Esau were young (well, they hadn't yet turned 40) men, living at home with their father. Oh, and Esau was still in position to be the spiritual heir to his father.
At about 4:05 in the afternoon last Shabbat, I was in my makom kavuah for Shabbat mincha (what we would have called Gamma Quadrant only hours before, near the front of the pews) as we resumed reading the Torah, with parashat Va-Yetzei and Jacob's departure from Beer-Sheba.
What a busy afternoon it had been: while we davened musaf, had Kiddush, ate lunch and did the dishes, we missed Isaac's remaining journey to Beer-Sheba, God's revelation to Isaac there, Isaac's pact with Abimelech, Esau's marriages, Jacob's connivance to acquire the blessing that rightfully belonged to Esau, and Jacob's decision to flee from his brother's wrath.
The system of triennial Torah reading may seem such a relief in the times of year that we learn the minutiae of building the Tabernacle, or study laws whose meaning seems contrary to our deepest sense of equality. But for the first 17 weeks of each year – through what is commonly understood as the "good parts" of the Torah – many of us ask whether we really get the better of the bargain.
For Conservative Jews, the basis for the triennial cycle is found in a teshuva adopted by the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly, which can be found at http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/teshuvot/docs/19861990/dorff_reading.pdf and in the appended teshuva containing further historical information, prepared by Rabbi Lionel Moses (http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/teshuvot/docs/19861990/moses_triennial.pdf).
If we look at Rabbi Moses' teshuva, we learn that there is authority dating back to the Talmud for a triennial cycle of Torah reading. In fact, it is particularly appropriate that we in California follow this practice, as we read in Megillah 29b: "The people of the west…[read] the Torah in three years." Now, some would argue that the Talmud spoke of the "people of the west" from the Babylonian viewpoint, referring to the Jews of Eretz Yisrael, but we know that it was really a prescient reference to the Library Minyan!
But is that really the best way to teach Torah?
Let me start off by saying that I do not mean to impugn the judgment of our fellow Library Minyan member and our teacher Rabbi Elliot Dorff, who was the author of the Law Committee's rationale; everyone – including I – know that I am not qualified to do so.
Rabbi Moses, in his teshuva, writes that "the underlying thesis appears to be the assurance of the orderly teaching of Torah". He goes on to say that "R. Yochanan ben Nappaha directed the shortening of the haftarah whenever there was an official…sermon, apparently in order not to weary the congregation by too prolonged a service." He continues, noting that "Since the ostensible purpose of reading the Torah in the first place was pedagogic and since currently the purpose of the sermon ideally should be to teach Torah and make its message more understandable, there seems to be additional justification for abbreviation…Moreover, wearying the congregation by prolonging the service may take away from the aesthetic appeal of the service and thereby discourage people from participating regularly in public worship."
To sum it up, the rationale was to keep it short, so that people stay interested and come to shul.
Is that reason valid for us, in the Library Minyan? Maybe the Library Minyan as a community has been selling itself short? Maybe – for once – we have been underestimating our own abilities?
We, as a community, are fortunate to have many skilled teachers and speakers. They can deliver a sermon without boring the kahal. We have skilled leyners, who can chant the Torah reading with the proper trope and at a good tempo, too. And, we have perhaps the single most educated community of Conservative Jews anywhere in the world – able to understand the teaching of Torah in its original text without the amplification of a sermon.
At our Double Chai Celebration earlier this month, we heard about the need not to rest on our laurels, and to continue to take a fresh look at what we do, in order to chart a new course for ourselves as a community. Maybe we need look no further away from the Library Minyan than the Lainer Library, successor to our birthplace – where this week, another group of highly educated young Jews will read parashat Va-Yetzei; but at PicoEgal, they will read the entire parasha. If we work at it, as a community, we can keep services short (well, not let them get any longer), keep the kahal interested and coming, and still follow the full reading of the Torah each year.