My grandmother, Esther Perkel (née Lampert), passed away early this morning.
There's so much to say, so many feelings to sort through. The children will be sad when I tell them. But that, in itself, is amazing: they knew, and had a loving relationship, with their great-grandmother -- a bond that transcended the enforced separations of COVID. My grief is accompanied by gratitude that we were able to overcome so many obstacles to see her this past summer.
I will share a bit of Talmud that is relevant, and which I studied just yesterday. The rabbis discuss the moral imperative of charity, and declare that kindness is an even greater virtue. Why? One reason is that charity involves money, while kindness can involve money and a personal relationship. Another reason is that charity benefits the poor, but kindness can benefit the poor and the rich. Finally, charity is for the living, but kindness is for both the living and the dead, whom we can show kindness by honoring them in burial and in memorials.
The lesson resonated with me -- not because my grandmother was fading, but because she was able to show kindness to my children, just last month, at the age of 101, with nothing material to give them, with the simple joy of her words and her smile and her love. So many people have been deprived of the chance to share those last moments with loved ones during this pandemic. I feel lucky and I will always cherish the memories we were able to create. Death is the way of all life, but I regard this as an example of God's enduring goodness -- the more so as the Hebrew date of her passing is 18 Elul, "Chai Elul," a special date on the calendar, with the number 18 representing the Hebrew word for "life."
I should add this: I remember, as a child, visiting Esther and my grandfather, her beloved husband, Abe, in South Africa. I remember her tears at the airport as she said goodbye to us, not knowing if she would see us again. She was then in her mid-sixties, and she and Abe would join us in the U.S. just a few years later. Grandpa Abe -- a great, kind, wonderful man -- passed away in 1989, and was dearly missed, but Esther went on to live another 32 years, working until her mid-eighties and enjoying the growth of her family around the world. I think of those tears at the airport: could we have known that we still had so much joy to share, that we would be together again? I pray that the tears of today herald a reunion in God's loving arms, one day, after this beautiful life must fade.
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
