Radical Torah

What’s Israel’s favorite wine? “We wanna go back to Egypt!” Now that we’ve finally left Sinai and are on our way to Canaan it’s complain, complain, complain. The Hebrews demanded dietary diversity! Though for us it’s hard to figure why they needed the extra foods since manna tasted like whatever the eater wanted. We’re not sure why YHWH believes that Moses needs prophetic help, especially since, as far as we can tell, he doesn’t do much prophesizing himself. The lesson of this parsha is clearly, “Be careful what you wish for.”

- SHABBAT SHALOM! - a & s

“May ADONAI bless and protect you. May ADONAI shine (God’s) face upon you show favor to you. May ADONAI turn (God’s) face to you and grant you peace.” –Parashat Naso (Numbers 6:23-26)

One of the most notable aspects of the three-part Birkat Cohenim (Priestly Benediction) is its use of the metaphor of “God’s face.” The final two blessings utilize this image in two different ways: in the second blessing, the “light” of God’s countenance bestows acceptance or grace (in Hebrew, chen); in the third and final blessing, the “turning” of God’s face expresses Shalom – peace, wholeness, fulfillment.

The metaphor of God’s face is used throughout the Bible, often to convey the powerful and immediate experience of the Divine Presence. For instance, Moses’ unique relationship with God is driven home when we read that “God singled him out face to face” (Deuteronomy 34:10). On the other hand, the concept of hester panim (the hiding of God’s face) is often invoked to convey divine anger and punishment. (See Deuteronomy 31:18). This metaphor is also used in a powerful and poignant way during the reconciliation of estranged twin brothers Jacob and Esau. Upon their reunion, Jacob says to his older brother:

Please, if you would do me this favor, accept from me this gift; for to see your face is like seeing the face of God… (Genesis 33:10)

This use of the metaphor suggests that Godliness is particularly manifest in the act of conflict resolution - when former enemies find the wherewithal to “turn their faces” to one another. In this regard, we might well view the Birkat Cohenim not merely as a blessing of well-being but as a spiritual imperative. How will God’s face shine upon or turn to greet us? When we turn to one another in acceptance and peace.

Postscript: This imperative is particularly endangered in a world where extremism too often eclipses the faces of moderation on all sides. The OneVoice Movement in Israel/Palestine is one inspiring example of an effort to empower the forces of acceptance and peace on a widespread, grassroots level. By their own description:

OneVoice aims to amplify the voice of the overwhelming but heretofore silent majority of moderates who wish for peace and prosperity, empowering them to demand accountability from elected representatives and ensure that the agenda is not hijacked by forces of militant absolutism.

Want to be inspired? Visit their website and view the OneVoice video.

YHWH demands that women suspected of adultery be brought before Her. It’s surprising, since last week’s parsha condemned any non-priest approaching YHWH to death. We have a theory of what was up. Practically speaking, we imagine the woman standing in the courtyard before the curtain of the Tent of the meeting. YHWH would dwell behind the curtain and pass judgment from there. This is also the Rastafarian parsha. It describes the rules for Nazirs, people vowing to dedicate themselves to YHWH for a specific period of time. The bible’s most famous Nazir was probably Samson, who was also the world’s first suicide terrorist.

Also in this parsha (but not our comic) is the priestly blessing, the finger arrangement of which was popularized by intergalactically famous Heeb, Leonard Nimoy.

- SHABBAT SHALOM! - a & s

Editor’s note: This weekend we welcome guest blogger Megan Beller of Rochester, NY

Today we begin the fourth book of torah, B’midbar. The portion opens with God speaking to Moses saying “se’u et rosh kol adat b’nei Israel” or lift the heads of the battalions of the people Israel. What follows is a litany of numbers as each tribe records its battle ready men. The translation in most chumashim is “Take a census of the whole Israelite Community” but they are careful to note the literal translation “lift the heads”. When we think of census taking in our own time, of someone coming to the door or filling out our tax forms, it doesn’t seem nearly as inspiring as a command from God to lift your head and be counted. Every Israelite male over the age of 20 is being counted here for the purpose of preparing to enter the land and do battle. How can we lift our heads and be counted for an equally divine purpose?
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As we begin Parashat Bamidbar - the first portion in the book of Numbers - we read:

God spoke (vaydaber) to Moses in the wilderness (bamidbar).

It’s notable that the Hebrew verb “to speak” and the word for “wilderness” share a common root: d-b-r. The Torah may be suggesting here an important connection between the wilderness and speech - and more specifically divine speech.

There are, in fact, numerous Biblical descriptions of Godly encounter that take place in a deep wilderness setting. Before Moses discovers the burning bush, for instance, he drives his flock “achar hamidbar” - “beyond the wilderness. ” In 1 Kings 19, the prophet Elijah encounters the still, small voice of God after traveling “bamidbar derech yom” - “a day’s journey into the wilderness.”

It is not difficult to understand why the desert habitat has been regarded by many spiritual traditions as a natural locus of divinity. At first glance, the wilderness might seem to be a wasteland - a “God-forsaken” environment unable to support life. But desert biomes are actually vital, and dynamic ecosystems teeming with a wide array of geological variety as well as significant plant and animal biodiversity. Anyone who has ever lived in a desert will surely attest that this world is truly a living, breathing environment.

At the same time, the wilderness may be symbolically regarded as elemental terrain - an existential place far from the “noise” of culture, artifice and ego. This form of spiritual experience is indeed available even to non-desert dwellers: a mindfulness or way of life that seeks to strip away these outer layers so we may discover, like the ancient Israelites, the divine word that dwells at the elemental core.

In the end, the journey into the wilderness is one that leads both inward and outward: to the outermost reaches of experience and the innermost reaches of the human soul - the place where the voice of God may truly be heard.

Postscript: In honor of Shabbat Bamidbar, I encourage you to learn more about the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, a regional center for environmental leadership located in the Arava desert (in Southern Israel). The Arava Institute is an important learning center that encourages environmental cooperation between Israelis, Palestinians and other peoples, promoting peace and sustainable development on a regional and global scale.

“When you buy or sell…to your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another.” — Leviticus 25:13

This week’s Torah portion, Behar-Bechukotai (Leviticus 25-27), contains numerous commandments to the Israelites to create a society based on principles of economic equity: the Sabbatical and Jubilee years, the equitable redemption of land, fair interest rates, the “tax scale” for funding the sanctuary, etc.

It is particularly appropriate that this parasha should coincide with World Fair Trade Day (May 12) - the global day in which we celebrate the efforts to create a more equitable world economy. Fair Trade empowers farmers and farm workers to lift themselves out of poverty by investing in their farms and communities, protecting the environment, and developing the business skills necessary to compete in the global marketplace. In the spirit of Shabbat Behar-Bechukotai and World Fair Trade Day, I encourage you to learn more about how you can support the global Fair Trade Movement.

Chazak, Chazak, Ve’nitchazek! Strength, strength, and may we find the means to strengthen one another…

This week YHWH lays down the law concerning Her “friend,” arguably the most desireable character in the Torah, Koran and Christian bible, with whom She shares a mysterious relationship. We are instructed concerning, among other things, some of the Torahs’s most radical ideas, including the impossibility of permanent land ownership and the wildly idealistic Jubilee year, which some scholars insist was actually practiced.

We are now more than half way through the Torah and this double portion ends the book of Vayikra/Leviticus. - Mazel Tov!

Chazak, Chazak, V ’nitchazeik! - SHABBAT SHALOM! - a & s

Listen up all you suburbanites with your perfectly manicured lawns: it’s time to let the edges run wild!

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“One shallow babe,” is how we might describe our god in this parsha (were we not so respectful). She lays out the rules for the kohenim, or priests, of Her temple — rules which have no spiritual or moral requirements whatsoever. YHWH’s priests just need to be high gloss. Having established that, She takes Her merry Hebrew band on the road (are we interpreting it too literally?) Then, the half-Egyptian son of an Israelite woman commits the Torah’s first case of BLASPHEMY. There was no specific law against blasphemy at the time, but YHWH swiftly declares one, for which the punishment is… three guesses.

SHABBAT SHALOM! - a & s

Shalom and welcome to Tikkun Tips, a monthly nugget of eco-Jewish thought from your friends at the Teva Learning Center. Nearly three weeks ago we celebrated the holiday of Passover by gathering around the table and retelling the story of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt. The path from slavery to liberation. Many of us also spent the weeks leading up to Passover in a frenzy, thoroughly cleaning our homes and looking for any last remnants of chametz, or the bread products from which we are commanded to abstain for the weeklong celebration.

Many Hasidic Rabbis have drawn metaphorical lessons from the Passover story and the rituals associated with it. One commonly taught idea is that the Hebrew name for Egypt, Mitzraim, comes from the root tzar, or narrow. Egypt was a place of narrowness for our people; slavery was more than a physical reality, it was a state of mind as well. The exodus from Egypt was a move from a place of narrowness to the expansiveness of the desert, the freedom of openness.

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The Lord spoke further to Moses: Speak to Aaron and say: No man of your offspring throughout the ages who has a defect shall be qualified to offer the food of his God.

No one who has a defect, Torah tells us in parashat Emor, may offer the korbanot, the offerings which draw us near to our Source. No one who is blind, or lame, or has a limb too short or too long; no one with a broken limb, neither a hunchback nor a dwarf, no one with a growth occluding his eye, no one with a scar. No one who has suffered from scurvy or had his testes crushed. Such a one may eat the the bread set-apart to God, the holy and the most-holy — but he may not draw near to God.

These verses make up a kind of list-poem, an incantation of physical maladies, bookended with the refrain reminding us that anyone who has a defect of any kind must not play a role in making offerings to God. This is forbidden, and would profane the holiest place.

It’s tempting to read these verses allegorically. No one who is blinded to the difficult realities of suffering, one might say — no one who is unwilling to walk a mile in the shoes of another — no one who twists her being into imbalance may be permitted to make offerings to God. No one who understands himself to be irredeemably broken. No one hunched by anxiety and fear, no one shrunken of spirit, no one whose vision is impeded by the unwillingness to see. None of these people may act as priests on our behalf, because they do not allow themselves to be whole.

That’s certainly one way to read this passage. It’s one I even like. But it doesn’t feel like enough.

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