This Week’s Torah Portion: B’midbar – בְּמִדבַּר (Numbers 1:1−4:20)
“And I will espouse you forever:
I will espouse you with righteousness and justice,
And with lovingkindness, caring and mercy” (Hosea 2:21 – Haftarah)
The relationship between God and us is like marriage based first and foremost on Lovingkindness, caring, compassion and mercy.
This Week’s Torah Portion: B’midbar – בְּמִדבַּר (Numbers 1:1−4:20)
The Book of Numbers begins here, the children of Israel are being counted, time and again, but not everyone is counted.
Human beings were all created in the image of God, we should count everyone, always. We should not discriminate against people based on their gender, or on anything else. Not counting someone is always offensive.
This Week’s Torah Portion: B’midbar – בְּמִדבַּר (Numbers 1:1−4:20)
Mazal tov! We begin a new book of the Torah, the book of Numbers. The people of Israel will be counted time and again. We must be aware that in this book not everyone is counted. Women are not counted. We should strive to create a society where every person counts!
This Week’s Torah Portion: B’midbar – בְּמִדבַּר (Numbers 1:1−4:20)
Today is the 43rd (out of 50) day of the Omer, and we enter week 7 of counting. This week is all about prayer. What is prayer? Prayer is everything and nothing, stillness and movement, silence and screaming. Prayer is our heart, soul, and kishkas (gut). The essential element is patience. Attune yourself inward to your world within and beyond, and you will discover all the abundance you require.
This week, I offer this prayer and practice by Franz Kafka:
Learn to be quiet.
You need not do anything.
Remain sitting at your table and listen.
You need not even listen; just wait.
You need not even wait; just learn to be quiet, still, and solitary.
And the world will freely offer itself to you unmasked.
It has no choice,
It will roll in ecstasy at your feet.
This Week’s Torah Portion: B’midbar – בְּמִדבַּר (Numbers 1:1−4:20)
Do you know your Hebrew name?
Is there a story to your name?
Torah Portions and Books of the Torah are named in Hebrew by their first significant word. Genesis is called in Hebrew B’reisheet, because the first word of the Bible is B’reisheet which means “In the beginning.” Exodus is called Shemot, “names,” because the first words of the book read, “these are the names,” and nobody wants to read a book called “These.”
Originally, the Hebrew name of this weeks Torah Portion was called Vayidaber, which means “And God said,” which tells us nothing because practically every Torah Portion begins Vayidaber, “And God said.” So the name of the Torah portion was changed to B’midbar “In the wilderness” which tells us not much more because Leviticus and Deuteronomy take place in this same wilderness.
In English we call this book Numbers, the English names of the books of the Bible were chosen to tell us what each book is about, however, if that was the plan, then this book should be called “Names,” because it begins and is filled with names. But, we already used that name for Exodus, Shemot. Most people skip over the names that begin the book of B’midbar, but names are important, names have meaning.
What’s in a name? Meaning. Take this name for instance, Nachshon. There is a story to this name. Nachshon is a name that appears on the listing of names of the Children of Israel who represented the tribe of Judah, Nahshon son of Amminadab. But, Nachshon is more than a name.
There is a story about Nachshon, a midrash from thousands of years ago. When the Children of Israel stood at the shores of the Red Sea and the Egyptian army was charging towards them to take them back into slavery, Moses called to God and God called to Moses, to do something to save them. Someone needed to take the first step toward freedom. Nachshon placed his foot in the sea. Nachshon was the leader who decided we were not going to be slaves again, and the Children of Israel followed after him. And when God saw, the Red Sea split. That is how we found our way to freedom. Someone had to take the first step. His name was Nachshon.
Do you know your Hebrew name?
Is there a story to your name?
There will be. You are writing it right now.
This Week’s Torah Portion: B’midbar – בְּמִדבַּר (Numbers 1:1−4:20)
There is a Jewish expression for something that can never change: Torah l’Moshe miSinai. It means that this tradition or rule or custom has been handed down to us literally as “The Torah of Moses from Mount Sinai.” That sounds pretty immutable, unchangeable… forever. But this week’s Torah Portion B’midbar tells of a different Torah, a Torah that changes and evolves even within itself.
In Numbers 3:41 God says:
“take the Levites for Me, Adonai, in place of every first-born among the Israelite people…”
and right before our eyes the Torah changes the rules within the pages of the Torah itself.
The original rule was that the God owned the first born of every family in Israel. This was a fair and just plan to provide for the religious needs of the community, through service to God. It harkens back to the Exodus from Egypt when the first born of all Israel were spared from the final plague, and it applied to everyone equally. But not every first born of Israel wanted to dedicate their life to Temple Service and so a “redemption of the first born” was written into the system which allowed every family to pay a set amount to the priests to fulfill this obligation. This system also worked, and was evenly applied, but it was based on value of paying money not to serve God.
So here in our Torah portion, the tribe of Levi steps forward, the tribe of Moses and Miriam and Aaron, who had always been know for their zeal to serve God. They offer to stand for all Israel, they choose to serve in the Tabernacle, and they relinquish all claims to a portion of the land. God accepts their offer and the Torah changes, it evolves to a new standard of law.
The Torah of Moses from Sinai evolves, that is what makes us a progressive faith, and we continue to progress that faith in every age.
This Week’s Torah Portion: B’midbar (Numbers 1:1−4:20)
We begin the 4th book of the Torah, Numbers; its Hebrew name is B’midbar -“in the wilderness”.
The Torah was not given in the land of its mission (Israel). Learning the lessons from the Torah is not dependent upon a specific land. The Torah, in the words of the Midrash, was given “in public domain”, a place not subject to ownership, a place belonging to all. “Whoever wishes to take it, let that person come and take it.” Or, in the words of another Midrash: “Just as the desert is ownerless property, so are the words of Torah free for all to take.”
We begin the 4th book of the Torah, Numbers; its Hebrew name is B’midbar -“in the wilderness”.
The Torah was not given in the land of its mission (Israel). Learning the lessons from the Torah is not dependent upon a specific land. The Torah, in the words of the Midrash, was given “in public domain”, a place not subject to ownership, a place belonging to all. “Whoever wishes to take it, let that person come and take it.” Or, in the words of another Midrash: “Just as the desert is ownerless property, so are the words of Torah free for all to take.”
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