Vayhi binsoa ha’aron
vayomer Moshe, Kuma Ado-nai ve’yafutzu oy’vecha mi’panecha…
We recite this pasuk, this verse, as we take out the Torah
to read and study.
We equate the Torah moving from one place to another with
taking the Torah from the Ark, the aron, and carrying it around the sanctuary
for everyone to see and touch.
Why at this moment does Moses say, “Advance O Lord, and let
Your enemies be scattered, may Your foes flee before you!”?
At this moment of hope for the Israelites, finally we will
be moving from Mount Sinai, at this moment of beginning for every Torah service
for us, why is there talk of enemies and war?
We know that our enemies in the past have taken Torahs,
stolen them, burned synagogues down, trampled and defamed the Torah
itself.
The Torah itself cannot be a shield, but the people of the
Book can be a shield, can keep and grow its influence whether under oppression
or, please God, through many generations of peace ahead, peace to study, to
live, and to sing out our prayers in full voice.
As I’ve said many times before, we live in a climate of
fear. There is a sense that danger is
around the corner – whether in the car, and we’re wondering whether a driver is
texting and not paying attention, or the lone-wolf terrorist, the more rapid
spread of disease via airplane flights, and now the uncertainty about the
future of Europe as one of the Union’s biggest names pulls out, there is a
sense of fear that infuses our everyday life and thinking.
Of course, my parents hid under desks during potentially
nuclear air raid drills, and nuclear missiles were armed and ready to fly from
Cuba in 1962. Fear is nothing new, but
at least back then the battle lines were a bit clearer, we believed we knew who
was the ‘us’ and who was the ‘them’.
The beginning of the Torah service Vayhi binsoa that is part
of our Torah reading tomorrow is a reminder that we must not let fear drown out
the Presence of God, of hope, of joy in our hearts. Rashbam, Rashi’s grandson, explains Moses
says Kumah Ado-nai, Stand up God, be Present God since at the moment the Ark of
the Covenant moves the Shechinah, God’s indwelling Presence, disappears from
above the Ark itself.
And so when Moses says Kumah Ado-nai, he is asking just as
we do for God to be present, for there to be the possibility of courage, of
vision, and of insight that can help us put our reality into a new frame, a
frame that does not dismiss the possibility of danger, rather, a frame that
accepts danger and evil as part of this imperfect world and gives us the
strength to bring blessing and be a blessing for each other no matter what
danger appears on the horizon and no matter, as the Shadow said, no matter what
evil lurks in the hearts of men…
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