I'm in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, where tonight I'll be on Tim Pool's podcast. I took the redeye from LAX to Dulles, and since I caught some sleep on the plane I thought it would be a good opportunity to visit this historic town and hike through the area a bit.
Wow.
First of all, the place is beautiful -- situated at the confluence of the Potomac and the Shenandoah, with the waters running gently over the rocks, and mountains stretching above, green and gold with the early foliage of spring. It's a spectacular gateway to the frontier.
The historic town itself, and the old armory site, are amazing. I especially enjoyed the monuments to Lewis & Clark: I had not known, until my daughter's school play a few weeks ago, that they had begun their exploratory journey by buying provisions in Harper's Ferry.
There is plenty of John Brown history, too, and the ultimate abolitionist radical is remembered in a number of places. But there are also Confederate landmarks, including a home once used by General "Stonewall" Jackson as an HQ, and now available as a B&B.
There's also a former black college, Storey; and a Catholic Church set beautifully on the hilltop, established when the Irish were building the railroads; and there's the spectacular Appalachian Trail cutting through the town and over the railway bridge, a magnificent walk.
There's so much of America in this one little place. So many different people, so many stories, so many ideas. One is reminded that our country is a place of humble origins and noble ideas. And also that there have been ages of struggle and conflict sharper than our own.
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
