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.

Life is a journey that starts at conception and ends when our soul is returned to its Maker.  Yet in between those two poles are numerous journeys that we undertake during our lifetimes.   Bamidbar, the name of the Torah parasha this week, is about one such journey.  In fact, the name Bamidbar, means “in the desert.”  This forth book of the Torah is all about the journey that the Jewish people undertook as they traveled through the wasteland of Sinai in search of their ultimate freedom in the Land of Israel. At the outset the Jewish nation is numbered: they are counted by each contributing one shekel, a small amount of money.  In all there were 603,550 people.  That is the same number of letters in the Torah. What this means is that every Jew is represented by a letter in the holy scroll.  All are needed.  All are necessary.  All are vital.  If a letter of the Torah is missing it...

Time is the centerpiece of this week’s Torah parasha, B’har.  The scene takes place on Mt. Sinai.  Moshe Rabbenu stands before God and listens as God delineates the meaning of time.   The clocks ticks, seconds pass and that time is never returned to us.  Yet, God indicates that time well used gives meaning to our actions and our lives.  We are told from the outset, at the start of Genesis, that one day of the week is holy, Shabbat.  It is to be treated as such.  God, like any good teacher or parent, indicates how we ought to behave to showing us hat not to do on Shabbat.  He ceases from all manner of creative work. Moshe Rabbenu is then directed to teach the people to leave the corners of their fields (peah) to the poor whenever they harvest their crops.  Then each seventh year is declared a year of replenishment of the earth.  The ground cannot forever yield its good ness without it...

VAYECHI , And He Lived When some one great passes from this world it is insufficient to say they died. Their vitality and contributions to the richness of life is long-lasting. Their values, principles and teachings live on in generations yet to be born. That is why like Mother Sarah, Father Jacob’s passing begins with the words, “And he lived.” There is an anomaly in this week’s Torah portion. It is not separated from last week’s Torah portion. That is, there is no space between the end of last week’s parsha and the beginning of this week’s parsha. In the Amida and other prayers we invoke the names of the progenitors of our faith, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The fact that there is no separation between their lives the new beginning of the Israelite nation teaches that the chain of tradition remains unbroken from the patriarchs and matriarchs and the new chapter of Joseph and the subsequent enslavement in Egypt. So may it be said of us when we are...