Hello to all...
It's my 48th birthday on Friday. I realize I've once again managed to do the Torah portion of the week at the wrong time (i.e. last week's portion turned out to be this week's portion). So let me try a different tack.
What a crazy year it's been. In some ways it has been the best year of my life. I put almost all of my self-published e-books on Audible, and one of them -- on Zionism -- will be coming out in print in the fall. I traveled to Israel several times and had incredible experiences. My wife gave birth to a robust baby boy. I'm in the best shape I've ever been in; I've lost 25 lbs. since November. And Trump won the election, again -- which, to me, is an amazing miracle.
But perhaps you know the rest -- the neighborhood destroyed by fire, the home still standing but inaccessible, the frequent moves around L.A., which I have discovered is largely unlivable outside my old Pacific Palisades town.
My wife has moved to D.C. with our baby, ahead of the rest of us. She's the new Chief Economist of the Department of Labor. She's already doing an incredible job and having an amazing experience. I'm very proud of her.
I'll be playing a supporting role, keeping my job at Breitbart but also being the "on call" parent for the kids. There was some talk about my accepting a role in the administration, but things happened in a different way; that's OK.
I'm living in the four corners of my own experience and my responsibilities, and it's actually a very fulfilling way to live. Looking back at the last 30 years (really), I'm struck by a pattern that I can only see now, from this point.
That pattern is this: what I have always wanted most is to be accepted for who I am, not what I do or what position I hold. I have just wanted to relate to people in an authentic way. I'm finally able to do that. It feels ... incredible.
I'm still exploring it. I know there will be new challenges -- I don't really want to leave California, and who knows what is coming down the pike. We have to fight to save our home from insurance company shenanigans. Not easy.
But as I told a friend once: these are the struggles I want. These are the fights that I choose. And when you're in a fight, you just have to trust your practice and you instincts, and push yourself beyond what you once thought possible.
So, here's to birthdays, that magical day of the year for each of us.
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
