This week's Torah portion features the final episode in the departure from Egypt: the crossing of the Red Sea. It also includes the many fascinating stories that follow -- the manna from Heaven, for example, and the people's first war.
The additional reading, from the Book of Prophets, tells the story of Deborah, the judge and prophetess who ruled Israel for a time in the period before the monarchy was established. The connection: Miriam leads the people in song at the Red Sea, and Deborah leads the people into battle against evil Sisera.
Sisera, in turn, meets his end at the hands of Yael, who tempts him into her tent and kills him while he is asleep. The Bible hints that she actually seduced him.
The Talmud wrestles with this episode. Several years ago, I wrote to a friend:
"The relevant passage is from the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Horayot (Horayos), page 10b.
"The Talmud engages in a lengthy digression, which occurs in the midst of a discussion about the appropriate sacrifice to be offered by a leader of the nation to atone for certain kinds of sins. After wrestling with the fact that some righteous people suffer ill fortune and some wicked people enjoy good fortune, the Talmud eventually turns to the question of sins that are performed for noble purposes (i.e. the ends seem to justify the means).
"'Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak said: A transgression committed for the sake [of Heaven] is of greater merit than a mitzvah performed for ulterior motives.'
"The example they consider is that of Yael, whose story is told in Judges 4:17-22. According to the Biblical text, she entices the wicked general Sisera by offering him milk, then kills him while he is sleeping. But the Talmud suggests that Yael goes much further than that, suggesting that she has sex with Sisera seven times. The Talmud says that her transgression -- adultery -- is for the sake of Heaven and had a good result, and therefore is permissible. As to the question of whether she derives pleasure from her transgression, the Talmud decides that any pleasure she enjoys is incidental and not related to her actual motive. The Talmud concludes, carefully, that people should prefer doing good deeds even for ulterior motives; because eventually their motives will be correct. But it does excuse the rare example of Yael, among others."
An interesting thought contemplate -- though not, perhaps, to emulate!
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
