Yesterday I explored the city from the wealthiest neighborhoods to the poorest. I took a long, 7-mile run through the Bo Kaap, over Signal Hill, and down into Sea Point, taking in the spectacular views of Table Mountain and the bay. It was thrilling to see how lively the city is in the morning, as people take their morning exercise. My gauge of the degree of personal safety in the city is whether you see women walking alone. And though Cape Town still has some of the same crime problems that plague the rest of the country, there were plenty of women running or exercising alone along the seawall -- as well as older people and families with young children just taking a morning stroll.
Later, I went to Khayelitsha, one of the poorest townships in South Africa. It has been transformed by housing policy in the Western Cape, which departed from nation policy in that it gave grants directly to community groups to build housing, rather than waiting for the national government to take charge. As a result, areas that were once shantytowns have many permanent homes and structures. There is even a new shopping mall in Site C, where I used to teach and volunteer. I visited the home of the late Vicky Ntozini, who started a little bed and breakfast but was murdered by her husband. Her family is still there, headed by her daughter, Malandi. They are struggling, but they have hope.
I headed back into town for lunch, tea, and dinner with various and sundry friends, whom it was delightful to see. The garden at the Vineyard Hotel is a particularly dramatic setting. As Malandi told me: even if you live here, the beauty of Cape Town never ceases to be amazing on an everyday basis.
I also stopped my by (graduate) alma mater, the University of Cape Town. It is still spectacular, despite recent ups and downs, and it was fun to watch students practicing rugby. I took in the empty cube where the statue of Cecil John Rhodes sat until it was torn down at the behest of radical students. The "Rhodes Must Fall" movement gave birth to the contemporary "woke" phenomenon. We are still living with the consequences -- a bit of ugliness amid the beauty here.
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This week'd portion begins the book of Numbers. Interestingly, the Hebrew name for the book is "In the Desert," not "Numbers." The portion, which happens to be my bar mitzvah portion, focuses almost as much on the names of the princes of each tribe as the number of soldiers it fielded. It also focuses on the configuration of the tribal camps around the central Tabernacle and the Levites.
So why "Numbers" instead of "Names" or "Places"? The numbers are, to be sure, a unique feature of the opening of this Biblical book -- but they are not the focus of the rest of the narrative. The Hebrew focuses on the place where the events in the book take place, because essentially this is the narrative of the Israelites' wanderings from Egypt to Israel, across 40 years. We move from the giving of the Torah and the construction of the Tabernacle in Exodus and Leviticus, to the final valediction of Moses in Deuteronomy -- Bamidbar is the story of wandering that happened in between.
The question of ...
This week's portion begins with the laws of the Sabbath and the Sabbatical year, and the Jubilee year that restores all land to its original (tribal) owners. It also explores laws of property and labor that will apply in the Land of Israel, and the laws of vows and inheritance.
The Israelites are presented -- not for the last time -- with the essential moral choice that they must face, and the rewards for choosing well, along with the consequences for choosing poorly.
We learn that doing good things will earn God's protection from enemies. That does not mean that victims of terror, God forbid, were sinful. But it does mean that we can respond to evil by committing ourselves to a higher path.
This week's portion describes the major sacrifices that are to be offered by the Jewish people, including those that are offered only by the priestly Kohen class, and physical requirements of the people (men) who serve in that role.
Inter alia, there are interesting commandments -- such as an injection to treat animals with respect and care, first, by letting a mother animal nurse her offspring for a week before being offered in any sacrifice; and second, by refraining from slaughtering an animal and its offspring on the same day.
The commandments regarding animals remind us of the purpose of those regarding human beings: to uphold a divine connection, through ritual.
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/111878/jewish/Rabbi-Isaac-Luria-The-Ari-Hakodosh.htm
