This week's Torah reading is very dramatic. It covers Jacob's wrestling with an angel; the fateful reunion between Jacob and Esau, the story of the rape of Dinah by Caananites, and the death of Rachel with the birth of Benjamin.
My favorite of these is the wrestling match. Jacob wrestles with an angel, with God, and also with himself. He is wounded, but earns a new identity: "Israel." This means "strives with God." It defines the essence of faith as a struggle.
The story of the rape of Dinah is a difficult one. Simeon and Levi take revenge on the local townspeople, tricking them into mass circumcision and then killing them. Jacob worries that this act will turn the peoples of the land against him.
But the opposite happens, in fact: the staunch defense of their only sister makes the people of the land fear and respect Jacob, who becomes respected and remains unbothered by the local population after the violent episode.
Here we have two classic positions on dealing with antisemitism: one suggests accommodation and persuasion, while the other suggests fighting hard. It is not always clear which is the best option, but it's a reminder that this is an old issue.
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
