In his great wisdom, King Solomon stated in the beginning of Ecclesiastes “There is nothing new beneath the sun.” Since human nature does not change over time, the way modern man deals with current events is no different from how past generations handled the events of their time.
This week’s Torah portion, Balak, records another formative event that took place toward the end of the Israelites’ 40-year stay in the desert. The Torah reading begins by introducing us to Balak, the king of the neighboring country of Moav. The narrative relates, “Balak became terrified and disgusted because of the Jewish nation.” (Bamidbar 22:3). This poses two questions: Why was Balak afraid of the Israelites and why was he disgusted by them?
One of the challenges to learning Chumash is the style of the text. Events are mentioned in a terse way. Often time is condensed leaving us with the impression that the recorded events happened one right after the other. This week’s Torah portion, Chukat, contains this kind of structure. The event is the death of Miriam, Aharon and Moshe’s older sister.
In this week’s Torah reading, Parashat Beha’alotcha, we come across an oddity in the actual Torah script. Two verses are bracketed by an inverted and backward Hebrew letter נ, “nun.” (Bamidbar 10:35-36). The Oral Law, Talmud Shabbat, 116a discusses this issue. “These brackets indicate that this section is in the wrong (contextual) place. Where does it belong?
The only blessing that uses the expression “with love,” באהבה is used is recited by the Kohanim right before they bestow God’s threefold blessing on the congregation. “Blessed are You, Hashem, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with the holiness of Aaron and has commanded us to bless His people Israel with love.” What’s love got to do with it and why does Aharon merit a special mention?
What is it, exactly, that we are celebrating on Shavuot? All of our Yomim Tovim celebrate ideas. What, then, is the central concept that we should take away from our commemoration of “the time of giving our Torah, זמן מתן תורתנו?”
Recent Comments