Parasha of the Week

Mida k’neged mida .   It is an old Hebrew expression, which might have been borrowed by William Shakespeare, as it means “measure for measure.”   In this week’s Sidra, Hukkat , we learn about a red cow that was offered up as a sacrifice to purify those who were tainted by impurity.   Impurity is a word we are unaccustomed to using but when we relate it to feeling bad when we have not lived up to our expectations, that is a kind of impurity.  We have let ourselves down.  In biblical times, in some sense, it was no different.  After all, times changes but human nature remains the same. In an unforgettable earlier episode the newly freed slaves crafted a golden calf, which they worshipped as an emblem of the god that redeemed them from Egypt.  It was wrong.  They knew it was a bad idea.  When Moses returned and found what the people had done there needed to be some recompense for the wrongdoing...

They made up their minds. Moshe rabbenu dispatched twelve princes, spies, to determine their foothold in the land that God promised.  On the way as well as on the return trip ten of the twelve princes expressed their worry about the Canaanites in the land. Describing them as descendants of the giants of old they declared to the Israelite nation that the land was beautiful and fulsome but unattainable. (Hafetz Hayim) They declared with certainty that they would be squashed like gnats by the giants. Two, Joshua and Caleb, went with an open mind and came back fully optimistic that the land was theirs, just as God ordained. The people listened to both narratives and naturally agreed with the ten. Against the will of Moshe, and Joshua and Caleb, the people voted to wander for forty years.  All because ten men had already made up their mind. We are taught many lessons by this sidra.  One of the most vital is to curtail our pre-judgements...

The Torah reading for this week, Nasso, contains the blessing given by the Kohanim.  The first sentence is just 3 words.  It drops like a gentle rain,  “May God bless you and guard you.”   Simple.  Hopeful.  Necessary. The second verse is 5 words, and it lifts us up to the Divine light can shine.  “May God’s presence shine on you and be favorable.”  This blessing is at once personal and broad; it is meant for you while you ask God’s blessing for everyone else. The third contains 7 powerful words.   This blessing contains the ultimate request of the Almighty.  Here we are asking God’s Face, hidden from even Moses!  to bring us to an even higher level.  “May God’s presence rise into your life and bring you peace.”   What a perfect series of blessings for our time.  May we find inner peace and become purveyors of peace. 

From the Midrash: Rabbi Yose bar Rabbi Hanina said: The Divine Word spoke to each and every person according to his particular capacity. And do not be surprised at this idea. For when manna came down for Israel, each and every person tasted it in keeping with his own capacity—infants in keeping with their capacity; young men in keeping with their capacity; and the elderly in keeping with their capacity . . . On Shavuot we celebrate the moment when God gave His Torah to the Israelite nation at Mt. Sinai.  Each year on the anniversary of that event we reread the biblical section and allow our hearts to be fully exposed to the majesty of those words and the timelessness of Revelation.  As Rabbi Yossi implied, we can receive the Torah today just as our ancestors did millennia ago.  All that is required to open that closed space and allow God in.