Last night I took my eldest daughter to see a newly-discovered comet, C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS), just after sunset. I would not have known about it except I happened to catch a random news bulletin on the radio (random because my car radio is malfunctioning -- a story for another time).
The timing was perfect, since we were coming back from her band practice. According to the news report, one had to look west about 45 minutes after sunset. We chose the Pacific Palisades bluffs, which have a clear view over the ocean from about 200 feet above the beach and Pacific Coast Highway.
We could not have anticipated the beauty of the setting -- nor what happened next. My daughter exclaimed: "There's neon in the water!" And sure enough, when the waves crashed, they were bioluminescent. That's rare enough -- the last time we saw that here was almost five years ago -- but with a comet!
The images I managed to capture on my iPhone were incredible. Interestingly, the comet was discovered by astronomers in China and South Africa, and I've actually been to the telescope in South Africa. It's near a remote town in the Karoo desert called Sutherland, a place spectacular in its stark beauty.
This is the portion that all journalists should love: the Torah tells the story of the 12 spies, only two of whom tell the truth when the other ten shade it in a negative away (perhaps to suit a political agenda that is opposed to Moses).
It's not that the ten "lying" spies misconstrue the facts about the Land of Israel; rather, they interject their opinions that the land is impossible to conquer, which strikes unnecessary terror into the hearts of the people.
We have many examples of such fake news today -- from the Iranian propaganda outlets spreading false claims that they are winning the war, to California politicians spreading false horror stories about ICE raids in L.A.
The people realize, too late, that they have been fooled, and once they are condemned to die in the desert, they try to rush into Israel -- only to be defeated by the inhabitants, as the spies predicted that they would be.
But as consolation, God gives the people new commandments -- focused on things they must ...
This week's portion discusses the procedure for lighting the menorah, the holy seven-branched lamp, in the Tabernacle (and later the Temple). It also describes an episode where the people crave meat, and God punishes them by giving it to them in excess. We also read the story of Miriam, Moses's sister, who is punished with the spiritual skin blemish of tzara'at for speaking about her brother, thus violating the prohibition against lashon hara (evil tongue).
I heard a fantastic sermon this week about the lighting of the menorah: that while only the priests were qualified to clean and purify the menorah, anyone could light it. A reminder that each of us can inspire others along the way.
This week we study the vow of the Nazirite; a reminder that sometimes trying to be too holy is excessive, and the best we can do is to be the best that we are.
https://www.chabad.org/parshah/torahreading_cdo/aid/2495720/p/complete/jewish/Naso-Torah-Reading.htm
