In thinking about Israel's strike on the Houthis, I've been considering why it is that the Palestinian cause has been the reason for so much misery in the world -- including onerous airport security requirements, made necessary by the spectacular and destructive Palestinian practice of hijacking airplanes (which was perfected by Palestinian terrorists before it was taken up by Al Qaeda).
Presumably, a Palestinian advocate would retort that it was Israel that had caused so much misery -- that the reactions from Israel's enemies was only natural and to be expected, and that with Israel's disappearance, the death and destruction would disappear as well. This is a point of view that abdicates all responsibility or agency for Palestinians and the broader Arab/Muslim world.
I believed as recently as last September that there might be a resolution to all of this -- that the Arab and Muslim world were slowly reconciling with Israel, and that the Palestinians had despaired of destroying it. How wrong I was to indulge that hope or expectation. We may yet have peace, but it will only be with a crushing defeat of the evil powers that motivate and fund the hatred.
I have been thinking about a story from the Talmud, which explains the fading of the prophets from the world as a parallel movement with the disappearance of idolatry. Once the evil of idolatry was gone, there was no need for prophecy, only instruction. Perhaps Israel, as good as it is, has entered the world in parallel with the evil of Palestinian terror? Perhaps there is a balance, somewhere?
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
