Hello friends and welcome to Torah Thoughts from Adas Israel the Jewish Congregation of Northern Iowa, based in Mason City. Here, each week, we look at some of the lessons gleaned from the Torah and then attempt to find how these words can have an impact on our livest today. Hang with me on this...there so much to unpack. Let's get started!
This week we read from two areas of the Torah: Parsha Chukat-Balak (Numbers 19:1 - 25:9) and the stories are profound. In the first reading Chukat (Hebrew for "Decree") we read about the decree which the rabbis say is the "quintessential decree of the Torah". Meaning that the decree is beyond human understanding. And, what is that amazing decree? It is the story of the Red Heifer and the fact that anyone who becomes contaminated must be purified by the ashes of the red cow however, the people who engage in the preparations of the ashes become contaminated.
What the heck??
It makes no sense; even King Solomon said about the decree, "I said I would be wise, but it is far from me" (Ecclesiastes 7:23).
So, what's the point? At the base is that not everything must make sense. We are granted great intelligence yet when confronted by the supreme intelligence of G-d we become confused and try to explain, in our limited terms, what it means.
For example when G-d says we must not mix milk and meat together it doesn't make any sense. (Goodbye cheeseburgers!) But when we learn that the rational is that to do so takes a "life giving" substance, milk, and mixes it with a creature we have killed the action is in conflict. However, when we add chicken to the list (chickens don't produce milk) then it makes no sense. That is until we understand that people may confuse chicken with beef or lamb or goat and think it's OK to mix those meats as well.
Similarly a number of righteous people descended from wicked parents: Abraham from Terach, Hezekiah from Ahaz and Josiah from Ammon. How does that make sense and finally we are, as Jews, commanded to not drink blood yet the milk created by a mother that nourishes an infant comes from the blood of the mother.
The Talmud shares this bit of wisdom: Rabbi Yochanan told his students, "These laws are decrees from G-d and man has no right to question them." In other words, man's failure to understand truth does not make it untrue. Oh, but how that drives us to distraction.
Also in this portion we learn of the sin of Moses that, in the end, prevented him from entering the Land of Israel.
The people were protesting and blamed Moses for taking them out of Egypt where they had fruits and nuts and garlic (and slavery but...how soon we forget) and water.
Moses and Aaron pray for guidance and G-d tells Moses to, "...speak to the rock before their eyes that it shall give you its waters." But, what does Moses do? He makes the mistake of doing what he had done before and strikes the rock. The punishment is they will not live to enter Israel.
Pretty harsh huh? But, Moses didn't listen and he was angry and weary of the constant complaining of the people so he...hit the rock.
OK, so what is the lesson here? Once again it is the matter of trust and of being "in the moment". Often we lose sight of where and who we are. We react rather than stopping to pause and pay attention. Oh, how guilty I am of that. Jump to conclusions, make the mistake of failing to listen and to trust. Breath...take a moment and reflect rather than react.
Also in the parsha we learn of the attack from Amalek and then the people, once again, berate Moses and G-d saying, "Why did you bring us up from Egypt to die in this Wilderness, for there is not food and no water, and our soul is disgusted with the insubstantial food (manna)."
Welp, this didn't go over well and G-d sent "fiery serpents" against the people and many died. Only then did the people see their error and begged Moses to pray for peace. Moses did and G-d said to take a serpent and place it on a pole and those that looked at it would be cured. And, now you know where the medical symbol the Caduceus comes from. Oh, true, if you look it up you'll be told that it is a symbol from ancient Greece...but now you know differently.
Finally (sorry this is so long!) we have the next parsha, Balak (Numbers 22:2 - 25:9) which is the story of the gentile prophet, Balaam, created by G-d so that the non-Jews would not be able to contend that if only they had someone to speak to G-d they would be as righteous as Israel.
Then things go south. Balak the king engages Balaam to curse the Jews but each time he does so the curse becomes a blessing. Bummer for Balak.
Ah, but then the plot thickens as Balaam tells Balak that the only way to conquer the Jews is to infiltrate them and get their women involved so that they might convert the Jews to their idols: "Israel settled in the Shittim and the people began to commit harlotry with the daughters of Moab. They invited the people to their fiests of their gods; the people ate and prostrated themselves to their gods.:
Oh...the danger of assimilation.
In the end G-d creates yet another plague which killed 24,000. The deaths ended only when Phinehas killed both the Jew and the Midianite woman he was with who were "canoodling" at the Tent of Meeting. Ouch.
So much to unpack...and this is getting really long. The message behind all of this is that for there to be peace people must not only act in a peaceful manner but there must also be justice. We are seeing this played out even today. Where there is not justice there can not be peace. Where there is not righteousness there can be no promise of peace.
To be righteous we must be in the moment and listen to what G-d is telling us: Justice can only be brought about through righteous judgements and where do we get that direction? Yep, you already know the answer.
May you have a peaceful and blessed Shabbat and Happy Independence Day with the reality that we still must be dependent on what G-d tells us. Can we get an amen?
Comments