This week's Torah portion is one of the most beautiful and haunting. It is a poem, calling on Heaven and Earth to bear witness to the Covenant between God and the Jewish people. The additional reading, from II Samuel, is another poem -- this one, composed by David, after God delivered him from the hand of Saul.
The theme of the Torah portion is one of warning: be careful, lest you stray. The theme of the additional reading is one of deliverance, as if comforting us, as if we have fulfilled the confidence that God placed in us.
Are we worthy? Am I? I struggle with these questions all the time. Even after Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, when we are given a clean slate and a fresh start, old issues remain. Life is a constant struggle -- which makes it worth living. Heaven and Earth are witnesses against us -- and yet it is our task to harmonize them, ,to bring Earth up to Heaven and vice versa. Hence the tension, and the challenge.
This is the portion that all journalists should love: the Torah tells the story of the 12 spies, only two of whom tell the truth when the other ten shade it in a negative away (perhaps to suit a political agenda that is opposed to Moses).
It's not that the ten "lying" spies misconstrue the facts about the Land of Israel; rather, they interject their opinions that the land is impossible to conquer, which strikes unnecessary terror into the hearts of the people.
We have many examples of such fake news today -- from the Iranian propaganda outlets spreading false claims that they are winning the war, to California politicians spreading false horror stories about ICE raids in L.A.
The people realize, too late, that they have been fooled, and once they are condemned to die in the desert, they try to rush into Israel -- only to be defeated by the inhabitants, as the spies predicted that they would be.
But as consolation, God gives the people new commandments -- focused on things they must ...
This week's portion discusses the procedure for lighting the menorah, the holy seven-branched lamp, in the Tabernacle (and later the Temple). It also describes an episode where the people crave meat, and God punishes them by giving it to them in excess. We also read the story of Miriam, Moses's sister, who is punished with the spiritual skin blemish of tzara'at for speaking about her brother, thus violating the prohibition against lashon hara (evil tongue).
I heard a fantastic sermon this week about the lighting of the menorah: that while only the priests were qualified to clean and purify the menorah, anyone could light it. A reminder that each of us can inspire others along the way.
This week we study the vow of the Nazirite; a reminder that sometimes trying to be too holy is excessive, and the best we can do is to be the best that we are.
https://www.chabad.org/parshah/torahreading_cdo/aid/2495720/p/complete/jewish/Naso-Torah-Reading.htm
