Bamidbar:envy

Much of chapter Bamidbar is a 12-fold repetition.  The tribes are named -  their princes identified, their populations stated, their positions in the camp located.  Boilerplate text is repeated for each tribe, in its entirety.  Most of the pasha could have been expressed as a spreadsheet,

The reason for this repetition is to generate  the illusion of fairness.  Each tribe receives the same full introductory sentence .  Every word that can be the same is the same, a level field,  a way to minimize and deal with the natural envy that arises in this geneological census. a census that has implications for the distribution of the Promised Land ( see Babba Bathra 117).

I grew up with the eyin hara (EH), the authentic belief that a  person could be harmed by the ill feelings of another person.  My sense of the eyin hara was transmitted to me directly from the Polish shtettle through my mother.   In was taught: that if something good happens, hide it, don't make it public because  it could lead to a destructive EH.  There is a close  relationship between envy and EH

I looked up the etymology of envy.  I was  directed to "invidious", which in turn comes from vide, Latin for "see."  Thus, envy is probably  derived form "invi", a verb formed from the adjective invidious.  Invidious  is derived from"seeing into".  This is the eyin hara.   Seeing another person's success can lead to a desire for equality by any means: the rise of the seer or the fall of the seen, Consider the Russian revolution or the   1%

The counting of Israel is forbidden.  In Ki Thisa, when the census is performed with the half shekel poll tax, Rashi  says that the reason for this prohibition is eyin hara. Perhaps, eyin hara, envy , is an inevitable consequence of  becoming aware, seeing, the gifts granted to other, the successes of others. The EH leads to disunity and revolution.  Perhaps this counting in Ki thisa precipitated the Golden Calf rebellion?

Spare me from the Eyin Hara.  Spare me from giving other  the Eyin Hara.

Poo poo poo poo poo poo  poo!

Behar- Hechukothai: irrelevant

The first Rashi of Behar, this weeks first parsha, has become  cliche: Ma inyan shmitah eitzel har Sinai: what is the  relationship between  the Sabbatical laws  and  Mount Sinai?  This  phrase has become a way to express irrelevance in modern Hebrew.  

Rashi  says that the mention of Sinai comes to validate the Sabbatical laws  that are stated here because they are not repeated by Moshe on the plains of Moav.  The mention of Sinai imputes the divine origin of these counter intuitive , self sacrificial rules. In our times, validation by textual claim is limited to the believer and, perhaps, the accepting doubter.  

The phrase, Ma inyan shmitah eitzel har Sinai, is still used in modern Hebrew to imply non sequitur, irrelevancy.  It takes some of its flavor form the continued study, by students of Torah and Talmud, of subjects  that have no reality in the modern world: the Red Hefer, theTalmudic  methods of capital punishment. etc.  The phrase evokes this ongoing activity, it questions the value of such esoteric study and, at the same time, validates it ...by its very use. 

The study of the irrelevant is the origin of much fundamental science,  The random motion of microscopic particles was one of the first phenomena explained by Albert Einstein.  The acceleration of falling bodies, previously described by Aristotle ( the Medieval  science equivalent of Sinai) was challenged by Galileo in one of the birth pangs of the science that gives us our modern world.   Prior to their  completely impractical exploration, these phenomena were irrelevancies. 

In a democracy and in science, this ironic question sometimes has an answer.  Sometimes the questioning  of obvious relevancy dissuades the depth of study needed  to realize important connections.  The study of  the planet Venus led to a vision of how the gases in Earth's atmosphere could lead to disastrous global warming. The study of leeches and snake venoms  taught us how the blood coagulation system works, 

I would not reject the question of relevance out of hand,  The answer could be a discovery

Emor: Perfect

Much of this week's parsha deals with the disqualification of the blemished. The sacrificial rite requires a flawless Kohen offering an unblemished animal with no deviation from the prescribed  procedure. Most of this perfection is not under human control, it is choosing from the available pool

The contrast between the sacrifices of Cain and Abel may be informative.   The story contrasts the sacrifices: 

Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering וַיָּבֵא קַיִן מִפְּרִי הָאֲדָמָה, מִנְחָה

 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof.  וְהֶבֶל הֵבִיא גַם-הוּא מִבְּכֹרוֹת צֹאנוֹ, וּמֵחֶלְבֵהֶן

 Abel offered the best, the most pefect.  Cain burned his rejects, his garbage.   If the criteria for the performance of the Divine service is relaxed, where does it end?  Does it become a way to dispose of rejects? 

It is the gravity of the service that demands the perfection of its parts.   The significant  ritual requires a flawless performance.  This is a high stakes activity.  Performed correctly, it brings expiation.  Errors can be fatal or lead to an early death. 

The sacrifice has an element of public performance. Hitting a wrong note in a concert, tripping in a ballet is not tolerable. It is painful both to the performer and the audience.  Flawless is the talent of the offering. 

The last story of the parsha, the half-breed blasphemer, the son of Shlomith ( the complete, the perfect one) curses with the Holy Name of the Gd of Israel His death sentence devolves from his membership in Israel,There is no exemption for the mixed lineage.  His membership in Israel is perfect enough to subject him to this law, which would not apply to an outsider. 

Only the perfect are fit to slaughter. 

Achrei Moth- Kedoshim ( Emor) 

 The names of these three parshioth is a Yiddish "joke:" " After their deaths (they are called) holy ones."  The joke  is a comment on the relationship between death and the strict observance of Torah   Was the failure to attend to the details the cause of death ( like the death of Nadav and Avihu referred to in Acharei Moth)?  Should we recall the observance of the previous, now past, generations as more stringent than our own, like the neo-Chareidim? 

This weeks parshioth contain  the Torah portion read on Yom Kippur.  This is the holiest and most dangerous of services. It is the single day in the year that Kohen Gadol entered the inner sanctum . It is a very unusual ritual that includes the banishment of a goat.  This service is incomprehensible and potentially lethal.  

This is the core of Yom Kippur, the holiday that my parents kept above all others.   The other holidays had been re-examined through the combined lenses of having experienced them in the shtetl and having survived the holocaust in death camp and buried alive.  They saw  customs of observance as a combination of tradition and deprivation.  But Yom Kippur was sacred. 

This is how I relate to the verse: 

אִ֣ישׁ אִמּ֤וֹ וְאָבִיו֙ תִּירָ֔אוּ וְאֶת־שַׁבְּתֹתַ֖י תִּשְׁמֹ֑רוּ

You shall each revere his mother and his father, and keep My sabbaths:

and the Haftorah:

וָאֹמַ֤ר אֶל־בְּנֵיהֶם֙ בַּמִּדְבָּ֔ר בְּחוּקֵּ֤י אֲבֽוֹתֵיכֶם֙ אַל־תֵּלֵ֔כוּ וְאֶת־מִשְׁפְּטֵיהֶ֖ם אַל־תִּשְׁמֹ֑רוּ וּבְגִלּוּלֵיהֶ֖ם אַל־תִּטַּמָּֽאוּ׃I warned their children in the wilderness: Do not follow the practices of your fathers, do not keep their ways, and do not defile yourselves with their fetishes.

I received the tradition from my parents.  Other teachings tell me to modify those beliefs and practices.  To my parents the use of electricity was forbidden on  Shabbos  because (poor) people did not have it!  To me, Shabbath is a needed and welcome  vacation from technology. 

They were  all holy before their deaths.  I just realize it better now.