This week's portion continues the description of the service in the Tabernacle. It goes on to describe the cloud that covered the Tabernacle, and how it signaled to the Israelites whether to stay in one particular place or to pack up and travel.
Moses begs his father-in-law to stay, and to join them en route to the Promised Land, but he leaves and returns to his own home. The people cry out for meat, and God sends them an excess of it, such that they regret ever having asked.
At the end, there is a famous episode in which Miriam is punished with the skin affliction called tzara'at -- often mistranslated as "leprosy" -- for gossiping about Moses's wife. She meant no harm, but it is dangerous to speak about others.
What stands out for me in this portion is the question of coming and going -- when to stay, when to go; when to join a group or a conversation, and when to leave it. Moses would later be barred from the Promised Land; perhaps his father-in-law's strength in resisting an invitation to join the Israelites on their journey will give Moses strength, later on, to absorb the pain of not being able to join the Israelites as they cross the Jordan River and complete their journey.
This week’s portion launches the great story of Abraham, who is told to leave everything of his life behind — except his immediate family — and to leave for “the Land that I shall show you.”
There’s something interesting in the fact that Abraham is told to leave his father’s house, as if breaking away from his father’s life — but his father, in fact, began the journey, moving from Ur to Haran (in last week’s portion). His father set a positive example — why should Abraham leave him?
Some obvious answers suggest themselves — adulthood, needing to make one’s own choices, his father not going far enough, etc.
But I think there is another answer. Abraham (known for the moment as Abram) needs to establish his own household. This is not just about making one’s own choice, but really about choosing one’s own starting point. It’s starting over.
Sometimes we start over in fundamental ways even if much that surrounds us remains the same. Sometimes the journey we have to ...
The story of Noah is familiar; the details, less so.
Noah is often seen as an ambivalent figure. He was righteous -- but only for his generation. What was his deficiency?
One answer suggests itself: knowing that the world was about to be flooded, he built an Ark for the animals and for his own family -- but did not try to save anyone else or to convince them to repent and change their ways (the prophet Jonah, later, would share that reluctance).
Abraham, later, would set himself apart by arguing with God -- with the Lord Himself! -- against the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, saying that they should be saved if there were enough righteous people to be found (there were not).
Still, Noah was good enough -- and sometimes, that really is sufficient to save the world. We don't need heroes every time -- just ordinary decency.
Hi all -- as I noted last month, I'm going to be closing down my Locals page, at least for tips and subscriptions -- I may keep the page up and the posts as well, but I'm no longer going to be accepting any kind of payment.
Look for cancelation in the very near future. Thank you for your support!
