Rabbi's Sermon 29th March 2025 / 29th Adar 5785

Accountability is a Jewish value

The Yalkut Shmoni is a commentary on the Hebrew Bible, written probably in Germany in the 11th

Century, that focuses primarily on the narrative (parables & stories) and very little on the normative

(rules & commandments). It is a fascinating commentary, especially for its psychological insight.

It is surprising how Rabbis who lived (literally) one thousand years ago could have such a deep

understanding of human nature, centuries before contemporary psychology.

The Yalkut's commentary on this week's Torah portion is not just fascinating, it's also what makes anotherwise dull portion engaging and thought-provoking.

This week's Torah portion, if I may be frank, can be quite dry. However, the Yalkut's commentary

manages to make it relatable and understandable, bridging the gap between ancient text and modern understanding.

Pekudei. It means "the amount of", and in a word, it is accounting.

These accounts for the building of the Mishkan, the movable place of worship the Israelites carried while wandering through the desert.

We used that amount of gold, and it cost that; we used that amount of silver, and it cost that; we used that precious textile for the High Priest's clothing, and it cost that; and on and on.

Now, in this time and place (Southern England, early 21st Century), accounting is a very Jewish

profession. But it's hard to read this part of the Torah as a forecast for our current times. There must be something else.

And this is where the Yalkut Shimoni becomes useful.

The Torah says that Moses was very successful at fundraising, and raised a very high amount of

donations with whom he built the Mishkhan, a place of dwelling for God,

But now, says the Yalkut Shmoni, Jews were complaining. 'Look how well off Moses is. He must have

had a very good meal. And look at his clothes! Who paid for all of this? Where is our money? We want a detailed account!'

And so, poor Moses, what could he do? He could just write down the expense list, inscribe it in the

Torah, and make all the details public so that people would know he did not personally profit from the fundraising.

That is why we have this arid accounting, Accountability, to teach us that Moses considered it his duty, his religious duty, to be accountable.

In short, Parashat Pekuedi is very dull; it is a dry accounting of the expenses for the construction of the Mishkan, but Moses had to do it because, guess what, people demanded it.

OK, cut the jokes about accounting as a Jewish profession and Jews complaining against their leaders; that are apparently not only contemporary phenomenons.

Let this sink in for a moment; The Yalkut was written in the Middle Ages.

In those times, accountability was not a fact. It was a very hierarchical society in which you were born a peasant, and you remained a peasant, or even a slave, throughout your life. Questioning those in power was unheard of, unthinkable and impossible.

Taxes? You pay taxes, and you don't question it; that's it. Consider you blessed if the landlord does not ask you for more; that was the rule; that was the society.

And then comes this Jew, this anonymous compiler of Rabbinic literature from a remote corner of

Germany (of all places), and he explains that the Israelites valued accountability since Biblical times,

thousands of years before the Middle Ages.

They even dared to question Moses who, remember, spoke in the name of God, because they wanted to know what had happened, not only to their taxes but even to their donations!

And Moses agreed to their request. Literally, with God's blessing.

I find this astonishing; in the Middle Ages, accountability for those in power was a Jewish value,

perhaps even before! And a very strong value. God could have chosen to defend Moses's reputation in other ways. God is God, after all.

A couple of times in the Bible, God suggests to Moses, "I see you are tired of these people, always moaning, always complaining, well, Moishe, I am exhausted, too! I took them as slaves, I liberated them from Egypt, I defeated a superpower, I performed the most incredible miracle, parting of the sea and all the rest .... and they forgot me so quickly that they built an idol, the Golden Calf.

You know what, Moses, let's get rid of them; I am the Almighty; I know how to do it. Let's get rid of

these complaining Israelites, those ungrateful lot.

I will make you a leader of another nation, more decent and kind, and they will treat you, Moses, as you deserve."

But Moses refused. Moses does not ask for such a Divine intervention; God does not impose His will to defend the reputation of Moses; Moses complies and makes himself accountable, Accountability is a deeply ingrained Jewish value.

Whether it's been a part of our tradition since Biblical times or since the Middle Ages, as the Yalkut

Shmoni suggests, the importance of being accountable is undeniable.

And here, I am sorry, I have to become political. Another Jewish value, strictly connected to

accountability for those in power, is the judicial system's independence.

Judges must be free to judge the politicians; being a political leader does not give immunity nor

impunity, as Moses himself has experienced and as it is written in our Torah.

The seven Laws of Noah, the commandments given to all humanity, include prohibitions against

murder, theft, and adultery (all of which are obvious) and commandments dictated by compassion, such as the prohibition of eating flesh from a living animal.

They also include the obligation for every civilisation to establish independent courts of justice.

I am not a lawyer, I am not an expert in legal theory, nor am I familiar with Israeli legislation. I am just a Rabbi, and I know a bit of Rabbinic literature, And I may be totally, completely wrong.

But I see a general trend in Western democracies toward authoritarianism, toward autocracy.

I see political forces that want to eliminate accountability and give rulers the right to appoint judges so that they will be bound by personal loyalty to the ruler and not to the rule of the law.

I saw this happening in Italy under Berlusconi.

I see this happening in Hungary; growing movements demand this in Western Europe and the USA.

And I am sorry to see this happening in Israel, by the hand of Netanyahu, who, oh, the irony, belongs to the Likud Party, a Party for which the rule of law and the independence of the judges was a paramount value, and defended these values for decades.

The party of Menachem Begin, who throughout his life advocated for the strength of the judiciary and respected the High Court rulings even when they contradicted the policy of his government because, as he used to say, "there are judges in Jerusalem" yesh shoftim by-rushalaiim.

It is not my role as a Rabbi in Brighton to intervene in Israeli politics in times of war. But I want to call your attention to the current moment.

Israelis are taking the streets (again) to defend a cornerstone of Liberal democracy, the accountability of those in power, which is under attack all over the world, and that is, at the same time, a Jewish value, a profoundly Jewish value, since Biblical times.

And I know, I know.

It is not the first time that the Israelis have taken the streets to protest in favour of democracy and to defend the rule of the law and the judicial system, which, for all its faults, has served the Jewish people more than any political party in Western Europe, And I know, I know, like in 2023, there will be.

Already, there are those for which this extraordinary movement in defence of democracy is just a

propaganda device to divert the public attention from the real issue "the Palestinians".

Those cannot see anything good in Israel, and even when the Israelis are setting an example for all

Western democracies, they refuse to see it. As we say in Italy. There is no worse blind than the one who doesn't want to see.

And I know, I know, there are those for which Israel is a colonial power, those for which Israel carries an original sin, which we all should expiate by giving the Palestinians a right of return, which no other refugee population has.

But "original sin" is not a Jewish value. Accountability is. And we should be grateful to those Israelis

who passionately remind us what Jewish values are about.

Rabbi Dr. Andrea Zanardo, PhD