Chukath

1. Chukath is the middle of the three ק parshioth, parshoth  named after words in which the ק is prominent: Horach, Chukath, Balak.  Chok, the root of chukath, is the law, you can take (kach)  it or leave it.  It is invariant (chok velo yaavor)  unless it is erased ( mochek) by the lawgiver (mechokek).

2. Hillel says: be like the students of Aaron. When Aaron becomes useless ( the Red Heifer service is done by Aaron’s son, Elazar), he surrenders the priestly vestments ( expensive clothing) and dies (voluntarily?). Euthanasia.

3. The conquest of Sichon and Og are portrayed as defensive wars. The Israelites ask for passage and they are attacked.  Sichon and Og are interlopers, so their conquest does not violate the ancestral rights to the land.  Their status as conquerors  is established by independent sources... like the Book of the Wars of Hashem.

The victor writes the history and transmits the laws.


I did a better job last year.

2009 

2007 

Korach:Democracy 2011

Korach:Democracy

In this weeks parshah,  a new appellation of Gd appears [Numb27:16}:  הָרוּחֹת לְכָל-בָּשָׂר .  When Moshe  pleads to rescue the people from destruction on the basis of their misguidance by an individual, Gd’s power over the winds, Gd’s mastery over the capricious, is invoked. The same appellation is used when Moshe confronts the need for  a  successor.  Perhaps the leader knows how to sail using the capricious winds of democratic ideas?

I am reading LEAVES OF GRASS, By Walt Whitman. The book contains poems about the American [Korach experience?] civil war. BOOK XXIII , By Blue Ontario's Shore  the first stanza ends:

“And sing me before you go the song of the throes of Democracy.

 (Democracy, the destin'd conqueror, yet treacherous lip-smiles everywhere,
 And death and infidelity at every step.)”

The conqueror calls itself democratic.
Yet, out of ideas of democracy comes the persecution of the oppressed and the minority.
The Confederacy was an exercise in democracy. So were the Nazis.
What Americans treasure now is the spirit of the will that drives democracy tempered by warmth of caring.

Shelach: heritage

The spies are sent to scope out the promised land, the land that was promised to the ancestors, the land that will be a heritage for future generations.They reject the inheritance, it is not worth the fight, the odds are not good enough.

There is an eternal battle between the generations.  The young, it seems naturally, rebel against the plans laid by the old. It is the job of the new generation to find the faults in the old ways and overthrow them. There is also a variance of interests. “It's always the old to lead us to the war, It's always the young to fall ,”(Phil Ochs).  Social security systems use the working young to support the retired old.

Religions connect the generations. The national dreams are reinterpreted, but they remain a force... both for unity and division.

When the rebels in our parsha say: Let us return to Egypt, they could mean that they would be slaves again, or they could conquer the devastated land, or they could come to a negotiated settlement with the people there. I think they meant all of these, and had they returned to to Egypt, they would have fought over which solution is best.

The real heritage is the argument.

2011

 2010

2009: Tzitzith 

2009 

tourism 2008 

Joshua 2008 

2007 Aydah 

Shelach: precedents 2010

Shelach: precedents

Sometimes the parsha is called Shelach lecha. This leads to a contrast with 2 other parshioth that share the words: Lech lecha and Vayishlach.
In lech lecha, Gd tells Avram to go to the promised land, the land promised to his descendants, not to him ( as it ends up for the generation of shelach lecha). Avram goes to this foreign land and we are introduced to its motley population ( Sodom, Aylonei Mamre, Pelishtim, etc).  Rashi says that the Lecha in Lech Lecha  means that the move will benefit Avram.  In shelach lecha, the lecha means a battle of wills, as if Gd says,"Have it your way."
 
In Vayishlac, Yaakov anticipates his return to the land of the sojourn of his immediate ancestors.  He is afraid of the current occupier of the (adjacent) land, his brother Esav.  So he sends messengers  of appeasement before him.  Chazal report that he prepared to ease his passage by any and all means: diplomatic ( sending gifts), military and divine intervention. Unlike his descendants in Shelach  lecha, attempting to enter the land by ordinary means did not disqualify him. (Things change)
 
In Behalosecha, the parshah that precedes Shelach, we have Moshe doubting Gd's ability to deliver. A depressed Moshe taunts Gd by saying that all of the fish in the sea would not suffice to feed the People the meat that they are demanding.  And Gd answers  that Moshe will see that Gd can deliver.  For Moshe, at that juncture, his doubt was not a mortal sin.  A similar doubt by the people destines them to die in exile.
 
Do the right thing.

Shelach:rebellion and expiation 2011

Shelach:rebellion and expiation

The parsha begins with a communal loss of faith.  A group of representative spies are sent to tour the Promised Land and bring back a report.  The report includes a [ possibly  unsolicited] unfavorable military estimation of the situation.  The people lose faith in The Promise and are punished with a 40 year desert meander.  In the course of the story, the people come close to stoning the defenders of the faith (Moshe, Joshua, etc.)
This failure of faith comes in the context of Moshe’s doubting Gd’s ability to supply the meat promised to the people in the last parsha. Taught helplessness?
Perhaps Moshe’s depression added to the people’s motivation to appoint a new leader?

The announcement of the punishment is followed by a description of the  meal offerings and libations.  Elements of the sacrificial ceremony that required  -grain, wine and oil,-  that would be available after entry into the promised land. This constitutes a reinforcement of the promise to enter the land.  It is also put in to the context of expiation of sin - both communal sin and individual sin.

Then comes the story of the man who gathered wood on the Sabbath,  The people recognize the transgression, but which rule applies? Sacrificial expiation? communal repentance? …. STONING.  The stoning of the individual sinner, this human sacrifice, corrects the attempted stoning of the faithful. .

Finally, there is
וְלֹא-תָתוּרוּ אַחֲרֵי לְבַבְכֶם, וְאַחֲרֵי עֵינֵיכֶם, אֲשֶׁר-אַתֶּם זֹנִים, אַחֲרֵיהֶם

the warning against sexual tourism:

Behalothecha: what to follow

“Behaloth” appears twice in the parsha. (8:1) It introduces (and thus names) the parsha, describing the technique that Aaron, the high priest, should use to kindle the  Menorah.   The second appearance (9;22) tells us that when the cloud over the mishkan rose, the people would travel.  They would follow the cloud. In both cases, there is a sense of direction and ascent. The root of the word, al, means ascent ( as in aliya or kroban olah). Fire and clouds ascend.  They are more spiritual and spectral than ordinary stuff.  The light of the menorah allowed the High Priest to see a path.  The cloud over the mishkan determined the path.

Identifying the path is a major theme of the parsha. Sometimes, it is explicit. Moshe asks  his father-in-law to join the nation. Hovav (Jethro?) is ( at least) ambivalent.  He returns to his homeland. Miriam  says that Moshe is not the only possible authority.  Her insolence leaves her leprous and delays the travels of the people for a week.

The people’s request for meat brings up the question of which internal voice a person should follow.  The demand for a varied diet can be seen as physiological. People want a varied diet to supply the full range of nutrients their bodies need ( like chocolate and cake).  Moshe’s hopeless depression in this situation might come from a sense that there is some validity to the demand.  How far does a person follow an ascending wisp of cloud?

Of course, in the end, Gd can provide what is desired ( despite Moshe’s doubts) and Gd knows best what the human needs.  The meat makes the people sick, because it angered Gd (and Moshe).

The menorah is lit. The cloud ascends. Are they related? Is the perception of the divine generated by the (very special)  mortal?  Follow Moshe on twitter?

past 

2009 

2008 

Naso: embarrassment

One of the main subjects of the parsha is the Sotah ( the suspected wife).

The sotah ritual is embarrassing.  It is embarrassing to read about a ritual that includes a magic potion. Medically, I think that such a concoction of dirt from the Temple floor and dried ink in water would rarely  (probably never) cause the described symptoms of liver cirrhosis described as  the indicators of guilt. That is a comfort on this day when a Sudanese woman was stoned to death for adultery.  I am comfortable with the expiation of an ineffective magic formula.

The sotah is also embarrassed.  The written text  says that her hair is exposed.  The Talmud says more is exposed.  This indicates a relationship between exposure and embarrassment.  What is hidden is embarrassing if exposed ( or it least it was in earlier times).  Does this go back to the invention of clothing? Adam and Eve were embarrassed, so they clothed themselves. Is everything that we clothe embarrassing if uncovered? We clothe the Torah! Bob Dylan ( who won the Medal of Freedom this week) said, “ You’re invisible now, you have no secrets to reveal.”

Embarrassment is not fatal. I don’t think that the sotah drink was fatal either. Stoning... that’s fatal.  Maybe actual adultery is fatal, too.

Note the meaning of adultery.  It is a pollution ( adulterated).  Grown ups are the corrupted  people. 

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