No sooner had I finished my 450-page draft of the biography of Rhoda Kadalie, and sent it along on a path to the publisher, when I realized there were three blank pages between the table of contents and the acknowledgments. I had forgotten to put the dedication in before turning it in.
I was tempted to fix the problem (which I did) and send a new version (which I did not). I told myself: you have to let it go.
You have to let the publisher, and the editor, do what they do, and then you can make whatever fixes are needed. In fact, it's better to have at least one mistake that you know about -- a principle I learned from the holiday of Passover, when you leave a few pieces of leavened bread around the house the night before the holiday. The idea is that if you know there are a few crumbs that you will find, your awareness will be sharper to find those pieces of bread (forbidden on the holiday) that you don't know about.
It's done; it's in; it will continue to grow, in my mind and in the hands of the editor, but for now, I need to let that process happen by moving on, for now.
And I still have the monthly bills to do -- plus my taxes for 2021, ugh.
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
