Parasha Naso, The Nazerite Vow and the Tree; Numbers 4:21-7:89, Haftarah, Judges 13:2-25

In Jewish thought the etz ha-daat tov vara (the tree of knowledge of good) was about human awareness that would separate self from others, but not necessarily in a good way. Individuality is not a bad thing by any means, think of Betzalel or Aholiav who used their individual talents to help build the Mishkan, or the likes of Alexander Graham Bell or Mary Anderson the inventor of the Windshield Wipers, not to mention Sister Mary Teresa or Martin Luther King Jr, people who used their humanity in various ways to better the world around them.  Human contribution cannot, nor should be over looked.

Here in parasha Naso we encounter the Nazerite Vow (Num. 6:1-21), a vow that is very much tied into the tree of knowledge of good and bad, but how?  The tree for Maimonides is about Tikkun haNefesh v’Tikkun haGuf, the mending of the spirit and mending of the body.  For Maimonides the body was a corporate body of people, the first such body of people was Adam and Eve. But the result of the fruit of the knowledge gained was about their individualization of what was good and/or bad for each, or as Dr. Shaiya Rothberg puts it, “good is what you want and evil is what you don’t want,” each forgetting to comprehend what was good for one might be avoided by the other, and visa versa.  Remember Adam and Eve were naked and unashamed, their collective purpose was to tend to the garden and take care of the animals, they did not think about what they needed or how they looked, they were part of the equal diversity of creation. After they ate the fruit of the tree they indeed gained knowledge, but it was the knowledge of personal want, becoming aware of what was good for self to embrace and the bad to be avoided; Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the snake, both separating themselves from God and each other, a total breakdown of the corporate body, a broken individual spirit, hence the need for Tikkun haNefesh v’Tikkun haGuf.
     
Moses understood that this sense of individualization would hurt the community of Israel.  Thus after all the religious and governing ordinances were established for the entirety of Israel’s communal life while camped at Mt. Sinai for just over 2 years, their journey toward the land was about to begin with all its shared life and results, both good and bad.  Moses was surely concerned that distinction could create unhealthy division and difference would become the ultimate arbitrator of right and wrong, misplacing the redemptive nature of human love and kindness for each other, not to mention tolerance.  For Moses the answer was to elevate oneself to the better way of good rooted in the divine image within.  Now we circle back to the Nazerite Vow, something that was not for everyone, but made a statement to all.  Inherent to the Vow a person was to abstain from alcohol.  The avoidance of alcohol had to do with its  psychological” impact, according to The Torah - a Modern Commentary, as alcohol was to “contain or spawn supernatural powers that were in competition with the gods,” which is why alcohol is called “spirits,” allowing for a battle between self-interest and the ways of God.  This is the reason why the kohenim were told to avoid alcohol when they represent the people before God in the Mishkan (Lev. 10:8-10).

Things are not simple right now.  There is so much going on that has the ripple of implications in our country, let alone the world, which has also affected the diversity of the Jewish community not to mention each and every one of us in this way or that.  In part, like it was with Adam and Eve, what was good and true for one might me not be for another, and visa versa, thus in light of the teachings of Torah we ask ourselves how to deal with the broken diversity that surrounds us as well.  Nothing is easy, every issue is like pulling teeth to find middle ground, the word bipartisan seemingly operates as a thing of the past, not only in our own personal relationships with who we encounter daily but with our government for sure; however we just witnessed a rare case in our time of mutual agreement regarding the debt ceiling negotiated by a Democratic President and a Republican the House Speaker.  But here is our challenge.  We recognize the breakdown of the corporate body and the need to elevate oneself, the lesson of the Nazerite Vow, to help mend the whole, hence Maimonides Tikkun haNefesh v’Tikkun haGuf.

Yet, we are people of conviction and cannot stand idly by as we watch injustices upon our own family, friends or anyone, causing us to be angry and seeking separation from those who are viewed as wrong.  Yes, Moses dealt with different issues, but the same problems, the diversity of people and opinion.  The Torah admonishes us to come together, yet our humanity fights that battle, the Nazerite Vow reminds us to rise above what is normal and lead with the holy spark within, helping to mend what has been separated by the etz ha-daat tov vara (the tree of knowledge of good and bad), hence the Nazerite Vow and the Tree.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Adam

Reflections on Shavuot 5783; Exodus. 19-1-23, Numbers 28:16-21, Deuteronomy 14:22-16:17, Haftarahs Ezekiel 1:1-28, 3:12 and Habakkuk 3:1-19

Shalom, this week we interrupt or normal Torah reading to celebrate Shavuot, the feast of weeks. Other religions, particularly Christianity, refers to this day as Pentecost, which is the Greek translation found in the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible), and therefore the Christian Bible. I just wanted to take a moment to remind us about the holiday and our connection to it. 

Shavuot, one of the foundational Torah chagim (festivals) found in Leviticus 23 (cf. v.17ff), began as a grain harvest that followed the 49 days (7 weeks, hence feast of weeks) of counting the Omer that began on the second Day of Passover. The Omer was a measurement that was agricultural and tied into the bigger meaning of this day.  On this day Israelite men were to go up to Jerusalem and present an offering of the first-fruits of their harvest as a way to thank God.  It was yet another chagim that connected the earth, Israel and God together. 

Over time Shavuot would take on a different meaning.  For example, the early followers of Jesus say it was on Pentecost (the day of Shavuot) that the Holy Spirit came, the sign that a new age had begun.  In Judaism, while certainly farmers still continued, and continue to follow agricultural mitzvot in Israel, the Rabbis connected the day of Shavuot with the day God gave the Torah to Moses on Mt Sinai, both spoken about in Exodus 19 and Pirkei Avot 1:1 (For further reading you can see https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/77055.1?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en).  So important was this event of receiving Torah there is a beautiful Midrash in Avot d'Rabbi Natan where Moses was enveloped in a cloud for seven days in perpetration to receive the Holy Words of God.  Moses later admonishes the people regarding this day by saying, "But guard yourselves, and carefully guard your souls, lest you forget… The day upon which you stood before God at Horev [to receive the Torah]" (Duet. 4:9-10).  In Kabbalistic tradition the days of the Omer are now counted as we do a self check of our middot (our soul traits) leading up to the day of Shavuot where we celebrate the receiving of the Torah and how it impacts of lives.

In Torah on Shavuot we read about the Ten Commandments (Exodus) as well as the laws of tithing from the land and the importance of the seventh year (Deuteronomy), not to mention the reminder of the season that connects Passover to Shavuot (Numbers).  Our Haftarahs reflect the mystery and specialness of the words we read (Ezekiel) and a plea for God to always intervene in the lives of people (Habakkuk).  We also conclude this chagim with Yizkor to remember those who are no longer physically in this world although they live on in our hearts and memories forever.  

However you see these words, meaning they came directly from God to Moses or they were redacted later from people who were God-inspired, on Shavuot we all stand at our understating of Sinai and receive them as well. We are given the opportunity to take the words of tradition and make them our own, which is why Shavuot is also looked at as a perpetual marriage ceremony as well between Israel and God. But it is about the power of the words of Torah and what they mean and why we embrace them. Regarding words the author Evan Moffic writes, "Words give us a notion of past, present, and future. Words give us a way to describe and give meaning to our bodies, our surroundings, our sense of self." This is what we are supposed to discover on Shavuot, how do the words of Torah matter? 

Shabbat Shalom v'chag Shavuot Sameach,
Rabbi Adam     

Parasha B'midbar, The Story of the Sea and the Sand: Numbers 1:1-4:20, Haftarah, Hosea 2:1-22

It’s time to go! After two years and two months camped at Mt. Sinai Israel sets out for the land promised to their ancestors.  During that time we have encountered a particular family who became the foundation of a particular people that would become a nation. While at Mt. Sinai they received a sense of identity and mission, communal and personal laws to live by that spanned areas such as religious activity, family, business, legal, ethical and social relationships that helped to frame their new society and understanding of God unlike their past.  At Sinai they learned about the central roles of the Kohenim as well as the idea of holiness, which is defined by ones middot (character traits), meaning that human behaviors were to be rooted in the divine image within. They learned at Sinai that they would find God in each other, and were no longer captive to life’s unfair demands or injustices.  Upon leaving Sinai here in the fourth book of Torah, B’midbar – or Numbers in English – we travel with Israel from Sinai to Canaan.

The initial thing we encounter in the book of Numbers and in this parasha, B'midbar, is the first of  two censuses (first leaving Sinai and last entering Canaan) but also the roles of the Levities.  Unlike the rest of Israel we learn here that the Levities, those who descend from Levi, will be excluded from the census and later land rights (cf. Joshua 13). Regarding Israel the census reveals there are 603,500 men 20 years and older of fighting age for the battles they will encounter along the way (Num. 1:3, 46).  But just as important we also learn about the Levities and their role in the greater society to oversee all aspects related to the Mishkan in support of the Kohenim (Num. 1:47-52, 3:6).  In this case we are told there are 22,000 Levities (Num. 3:39) that are divided into three Levitical families. The family of Gershon encamped behind the Mishkan and were responsible for the coverings and the hangings of the tabernacle to take them down, transport them, and reassemble them.  The family of Kohath camped to the south of the Mishkan and were responsible for the ritual items like the Menorah, packing them up, their transportation and resetting them up when they reached their next stop.  And finally the family of Merari would encamp near the Mishkan to the north and transported the planks and posts that they took down and set up at each location along the journey (cf. Numbers 3:21-38). The Levities we are told belonged to the service God for this purpose (Numbers 3:10-12). 

Yet within all that distinction of purpose we find the following verse in Numbers 1:53 that says, “The Levities, however, shall camp around the Tabernacle of the Pact, that wrath may not strike the Israelite community; the Levities shall stand guard around the Tabernacle.”  Rashi in his commentary on this verse writes the following, therefore “If you act according to My commands there will be no anger, but if not, — i.e., that strangers take part in this their (the Levities’) service, there will be anger, just as we find at the incident with Korah.”  This reminds me of the story of when the waters upon the earth and in the heavens presented themselves before God, claiming they were the best of everything created.  God was taken back by their assertion, and attempted to set the waters straight, but the waters continued to proclaim their supremacy.  In response, God called upon the grains of sand to confront the waters, although the waters just bullied the grains.  An angel of God encouraged the grains to stand up to the waters, summoning the winds to fiercely swirl about in order to gather the grains together, in the end forming the shorelines.  As the grains bounded together in support of each other, they pushed the waters back, and back, and back, until one day the waters showed the grains of sand respect.

The Levities were like the grains of sand who got push back from the community, who were like the water. Rashi further reminds us of the Jewish Midrashic tradition that while all the first born were called into God’s service they lost that right do to the sin of the Golden Calf, but since the Levities did not participate in that sin, they were chosen to bear the holy duty to care for the Mishkan.  Remember the Jews had already received their identity and purpose at Sinai according to Exodus 19:6 being called “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation,” but now that role was appropriated to the Levities instead who regularly stood with Moses and incurred the community anger as well.  Probably the best known story of this type of opposition, which actually comes from within the Levitical ranks toward Moses himself, is with Korah and his followers who were unsatisfied with their role for all the wrong reasons that would end poorly for everyone, as we shall see in Numbers 17.  This dynamic in Israel's wandering happens more than once and almost became their downfall. But the Levities did not replace Israel as “a kingdom of priests," they simply had their own role to fulfill as partners.  

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, of blessed memory, writes that “the Torah reflects the Israelite understanding of God as the unity beneath the diversity.”  This infighting we will encounter can be like a plague.  There is so much we can look at today albeit politically, socially or religiously that divides us, unable to see or chose to look the other way as such differences continue to break apart family units and friends who sadly forgot how to love one another regardless. But we might even see this between the synagogue who is at odds with the synagogue down the street or internally a synagogue board is divided with their clergy, let alone what is experienced at the work place or social gatherings.  Its not that disagreements won't happen, it’s about what happens when the sea and the sand forget that they are partners with the same purpose even though they have different roles. The Torah is a book that sees people for what they are and in this case Moses foresaw those possible human power plays so he admonished Israel to remain unified on their shared journey despite their diversity.  Its time to go, ne'si'a tova, safe travels.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Adam