The story of Jacob's flight -- and his adventures in the household of his uncle Laban -- is one of the most compelling in the Bible, one I related to strongly as a younger man as I left home and college to live on my own for the first time.
Jacob has his dream of the famous ladder, in which God promises to return him back home, to the place he is sleeping -- which, according to tradition, is the future Temple Mount. He then meets Rachel and falls immediately in love.
The story is familiar: he works seven years for Rachel, but Laban swaps Leah in at the last moment, under the veil; Jacob must work seven years more for his beloved. (According to an interpretation in the Talmud, Rachel actually knew her father was going to cheat Jacob, but went along with it because of her concern for her sister's sense of self-esteem. She is praised for her sensitivity, even if she caused her future husband some grief and seven years' more labor.)
Rachel and Leah then compete to bear children, and Jacob begins to strike out on his own, taking what appear at first to be inferior flocks and breeding them so successfully that they multiply rapidly into a strong and valuable herd.
Laban's jealousy causes Jacob to flee, as he pulls a trick of his own (a repeated story in Jacob's life). Laban pursues the family and there is a confrontation, leading to a deal: you on this side, and I on the other. Boundaries are good!
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
