Chukath: Hostages

In the middle of this week's parsha, between the red hefer, the death Miriam and Aaron, the mortal sin of  striking  the rock ,  failed negotiations with Edom and Moab, the conquest of Sichon and Og - there is a brief passage about the Canaanite(?) king of Arad taking (a) captive from Israel.  This event is followed by a war that vanquishes the offending nation and leaves their cities sanctified (pursuant to Israel's vow).

Rashi quotes the Yalkut  Shemoni, saying that the captive was a servant girl. Perhaps this measn that no matter how low the societal status of the hostage, her capture justifies all means, including war, for their release. 

But then the Ramban (and Sifthei Chachamim) turn defensive.  They say that Arad's captive had to be a servant girl  because an Israelite is rescued only if there is impending harm. ( the nature of this impending harm, whether to the individual or the nation is not clear to me).  In this less heroic approach ( Jews are not ransomed) I hear a defensive tone of their times.  It is a disincentive to the  Jew kidnapping business. It says that there is no profit in it. 

I think that the modern state of Israel has changed the way people feel about war and soldiers.  It has made the loss of every individual, civilian or soldier, a tragedy that extends form the family to the nation.  I think that this approach helped end the Viet Nam war and limited the US  operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.  It brought back Bergdahl.  In Israel, it freed Gilad Shalit.  It will free the three captured teenagers (soon).

הִנֵּה לֹא-יָנוּם, וְלֹא יִישָׁן--    שׁוֹמֵר, יִשְׂרָאֵל.	4 Behold, He that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleep.

Korach: what do they want?

Korach: what  do they want?

What is this conflict about? We have followed Moshe  from his birth, through the rebellion of his foster mother, his personal rebellion, his confrontation at the burning bush, his reluctance to become a leader. his confrontations with pharaoh,  After the exodus, he is repeatedly challenged by the Israelites. 

We have seen the story from Gd's and Moshe's side  What that looked like to  the Israelites was probably quite different. 

They saw unfamiliar food, a frightening desert.  Promises that had not been fulfilled turn into promises that would not be fulfilled in their lifetimes.  It was probably hard for the people to see where Moshe's opinion ended and Gd's opinion began  The Korach rebellion makes sense only if  the rebels believed that they would have some control over the Law.  Perhaps they would bring the era of Rabbinic interpretation.

But the rebels do not know how dangerous it is to come close to  Gd and things holy.  These are lethal rituals and places.  Only the chosen and initiated can survive  All others are rejected with extreme prejudice. 

Those who are not selected must make the best of their lot. Those who are selected bear their lot as well.  To strive for the inappropriate is a death. Who ever thought that death is fair?

Shelach: Seeing is Believing

Shelach: Seeing is Believing

At the beginning of the parsha,  שְׁלַח לְךָ אֲנָשִׁים וְיָתֻרוּ אֶת אֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי נֹתֵן לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל  

The men are sent to explore (tour) the land that ...has been given to Israel.

The parsha concludes with a paragraph that is liturgically repeated several time daily.  That paragraph contains: וְלֹא-תָתוּרוּ אַחֲרֵי לְבַבְכֶם, וְאַחֲרֵי עֵינֵיכֶם, אֲשֶׁר-אַתֶּם זֹנִים, אַחֲרֵיהֶם. You shall not explore (tour) after your hearts nor after your eyes...

A great deal of the human brain is dedicated to vision. The actual perception of quanta  of (what we call ) light [electromagnetism  within a certain small spectrum] is the least complicated part.   The brainpower goes into interpreting the images.  This involves a process called feature recognition, fitting the array of light impulses into a category, what we call an object: a face, a hand. a wall, etc.  The basics of many objects are preprogrammed in the brain There is an element of believing that precedes seeing.  The range of visual stimuli that a person ( or animal) can understand  is predetermined.  There is a strong biologically defined force that limits and guides the human perception of the world

"When it comes to moral judgments we think we are scientists discovering the truth, but actually we are lawyers arguing for positions we arrived at by other means.” Johnathan Haidt (OnBeing)

is interesting to contrast Moshe's spies with Joshua's.  Moshe asked the spies for  details about the land, its geograpy, fruit , people, fortifications.  Joshua's spies are sent in (textual)  silence  and return with a simple  (but most relevant) statement: 'Truly the LORD hath delivered into our hands all the land; and moreover all the inhabitants of the land do melt away before us.' Perhaps the detailed questions are Moshe's  and Israel's transgression. 

In all this, what are we saying when we utter this most unAmerican statement: "do not follow your hearts and eyes."  Perhaps we are simply recognizing how unreliable our senses and (certainly) opinions are. 

Our innermost core is biological, the most universal and provincial of concepts. Leap before you look, we all believe before we see. 

Behalothecha: D Day

Behalothecha: D Day

Today is the anniversary of D-Day, the establishment of  an anti Nazi beachhead in Europe 70 years ago. The rescuers arrive.

אוּד מֻצָּל מֵאֵשׁ.a brand plucked [rescued] out  of the fire, a line from this weeks haftorah is inscribed on my mother's gravestone.  This is the common signal  that the interred was a Holocaust survivor. 

From my perch as the son the ur-survivors, I see everyone in my my generation as the children of survivors:  war  veterans, fugitives, survivors of the depression,  survivors of guilt, survivors of all the travails  of their generation.  All are hardened and tempered by their fires. 

And my generation: soft; complainers. Who will give us meat?  Who will do things that a reasonable person would consider impossible for us? No request is beyond asking. 

Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men that were upon the face of the earth.—וְהָאִישׁ מֹשֶׁה ענו [עָנָיו] מְאֹד מִכֹּל הָאָדָם אֲשֶׁר עַל פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה.

The word  ענו is related to the idea of poverty. Moshe's descent from the royal house of Egypt to the status of exiled fugitive tempered him. 

Moshe was the most  ענו person in history.  My father was the most  ענו man I have ever known.