I'm on the El Al flight to Israel. It's almost full, just like the one I took 3 weeks ago. It was encouraging to see a giant pile of duffel bags and suitcases at LAX: donations for the war effort from friends of Israel.
I've been wrestling with this trip a bit. The last one was special; I cannot expect it will be the same. And I have also been enjoying my children and my wife a lot the past several days. It's hard to leave.
At the same time -- I know there are men deep inside Gaza right now who have left their wives and children at home for weeks, to fight a terror that not only threatens Israel, but all of us around the world.
I cannot sit this one out. I cannot stay at home and say, thankfully, that I and my loved ones are safe. I have to go; I have to write the story, at some personal risk. It is a duty, and it is worth the effort.
Something happened to me over the past two weeks that hasn't happened to me before: people have come up to me, over and over, and told me how closely they followed my writing on Israel.
I'm bearing witness in a way that I cannot simply do from afar. And so I must go. And I'm happy to go, happier still as the journey goes along. Happy to be there, to remind Israelis that they are not alone.
I don't know exactly what I will see. I'm starting in the north, then going south. There will be interviews, meetings, chance encounters. Maybe a rocket attack or two. We shall see. It will be worthwhile.
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
