Korach: aydah and Daath

Korach: aydah and Daath

The Aydah (actually there are several aydoth) surrounding Korach have strong opinions ( Dayoth).  Some would even die for their opinions ( like those who ate the tree of daath). Some are saved by the incense ( rayach), most are saved by the prayers of Moshe and Aharon, who fall on their faces ( like the Nachash). 

Gd's recognition of one sibling's ascendancy over another is always  dangerous and sometimes lethal ( Kayin and Hevel).

Parshath Korach is like war and Peace.  It is about the quest for meaning in world where everyone is doomed and revolutionary new ideas abound.  The wealth of Korach [ the meidrash says that Korah was the richest person in the world {the Yiddish phrase for an extremely wealthy person is "reich vie Korach"}]means nothing if he does not impact history.  

 Korach and his congregation are holy and their firepans ( of death) become the condom for the altar.

Shelach: Tzitzith

Shelach: Tzitzith

 

Tzitzith You extend beyond your expectations.

Keep them out of the toilet.

Be careful of what you do with the body parts they cover.

String used to be expensive, maybe that is why women didn't wear them

Shelach: revision

Shelach: revision

 

 

 

 

Preparations are made to bring Gd's promise to fruition.  The people prepare to enter the land.  Spies are sent and they return with a report that conquest by ordinary military means is impossible. The people are despondent.  They should have just been desperate.

 When should one believe that Gd will perform  ( a miracle) for him?  Maybe when there is no alternative!  The Israelites in the wilderness, following a cloud, did not have an alternative.  The consequence of the report about the land was that they cried.  The alternative would have been a miracle. Lismoch geulah letefillah

The Gd of last resort.

 

 When they  get up the next day to conquer the land, they are beaten down, told that it cannot be done anymore and their support is withdrawn.  Their act of correction is not acceptable. Gd's will is not in their control.

The presciption for forgiveness... bulls and goats, grain, oil, wine, priests ...  only works prior to the irreversible verdict.  Yes, Gd can make a stone that Gd cannot move, Gd just wouldn't do that.

 

 

Behalosecha: enlightenment

Behalosecha: enlightenment

 

Where does the plan come from? Moshe gets instructions from Gd, but sometimes the human aspect is askew.  Moshe is not like other prophets ז לֹא-כֵן עַבְדִּי מֹשֶׁה  בְּכָל-בֵּיתִי נֶאֱמָן הוּא, all the more so, not like other people.

 

Aaron is distressed that he is not included in the initiation of the Mishkan and comforted by the daily kindling of the Menorrah (near the place where Moshe gets communiques from Gd).  But the people don't really understand Moshe כִּי-זֶה מֹשֶׁה הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר הֶעֱלָנוּ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם לֹא יָדַעְנוּ מֶה-הָיָה לוֹ. and Moshe doesn't rally understand the people.  he does not understand human frailty so deeply that he becomes depressed ... helpless and hopeless even suicidal  וְאִם-כָּכָה אַתְּ-עֹשֶׂה לִּי הָרְגֵנִי נָא הָרֹג אִם-מָצָאתִי חֵן בְּעֵינֶיךָ וְאַל-אֶרְאֶה בְּרָעָתִי.  He asks for help and gets it, a board of directors.  The old institutions, the princes, the Levites, do not work.  The brilliant gentile  ( Hobab {Jethro?}) rejects him.

Aaron ends the parsha with an appeal for understanding human frailty.  He describes a malformed infant  אַל-נָא תְהִי כַּמֵּת אֲשֶׁר בְּצֵאתוֹ מֵרֶחֶם אִמּוֹ וַיֵּאָכֵל חֲצִי בְשָׂרוֹ. - he appeals to  human innocence and  ( what appears to be) Gd's cruelty. 

 

heaven help us all.

Naso: sotah, Nazir, wine

    

Naso: Sotah, Nazir, wine

  

The word sotah is related to Satan, the obstructor, the misleader ( see Balak) Someone is misled in the sotah situation ... the husband  by his unfounded suspicion, the wife by her expectations from her husband and/or lover.What motivates infidelity? Or should the question be what motivates fidelity? The answer to this is tied to the cause of jealousy.

Does the husband not satisfy the wife's notion  of how her life should be and she looks for some element of that fulfillment elswhere?

Does the husband recognize his inadequacy and therefore suspect his wife?

 

The word Nazir  is related to Zar, stranger.  The Nazir is estranged from humanity, his self imposed sanctitiy is strange and alienating.  He cannot mourn with his community, he cannot drink with his buddies ( what does he do at the Seder?)  ( Jeramiah 35:5)ה וָאֶתֵּן לִפְנֵי בְּנֵי בֵית-הָרֵכָבִים גְּבִעִים מְלֵאִים יַיִן וְכֹסוֹת וָאֹמַר אֲלֵיהֶם שְׁתוּ-יָיִן.  ו וַיֹּאמְרוּ לֹא נִשְׁתֶּה-יָּיִן  כִּי יוֹנָדָב בֶּן-רֵכָב אָבִינוּ צִוָּה עָלֵינוּ לֵאמֹר לֹא תִשְׁתּוּ-יַיִן אַתֶּם וּבְנֵיכֶם עַד-עוֹלָם.  The nazir is one of the Rachavim, descendants of the Zona and wife of Joshua, striving, in some ways successfully,  to be holier than the Cohanim. It is said that one who sees the Sotah ceremony is tempted to become a Nazir.  The son of the zona (Rachav) with the the name that includes Nadav ( son of Aaron)  will never drink wine