Dvar Torah - Bamidbar 2012/5772

Bamidbar 5772/2012

“Herding Cats”

Rabbi Neil A. Tow©

The job of organizing and moving a huge group of people is daunting.  On most days, I am more than satisfied if I can get myself out of the house with all the things I need for the day ahead. 

The job of moving perhaps over a million Israelites, with their personal items and animals, then could be as hard as herding cats.  The Torah describes the people as they move as one large mass through the wilderness, but the march to the Holy Land cannot be as smooth or as easy as it appears in the Torah’s communal memory. 

The great Rashi teaches us that each tribe camps under its own flag, each with a different color flag so that members of the tribe will recognize their brothers and sisters.  Each flag displays the symbol that Jacob has given to each of his sons – the lion of Judah, and ox for Ephraim.  Abravanel thinks there are only 4 flags to make organizing the main tribes on each side easier, and the other tribes file in under these 4 flags.

Clearly, staying organized is important – we have discussed how God wants to teach the people to be independent and self-sufficient, that organizing in this way unifies the people and encourages responsibility and accountability.

There is more though going on here than a  deployment of people, overcoming the inertia of the crowd.

God wants the people, wants us, to plan for the future as best as we can knowing that the future is, at least in our eyes, unwritten.  God models for us the way to envision the journey and its end, knowing that along the way there will be events that spring up from the unknown. 

Sefer Bamidbar, the Book of Numbers, fourth Book of the Torah that we begin to read this week, is a Book of journey – the journey for our people as we leave Sinai and, at the end of the Book, end up on the borders of the Promised Land.  Along the way on this journey, the people scurry away from the path like a rabble of cats.  Moses and God try to herd them, knowing that, ultimately, God is guiding them and will guide them to the Land – that God will ‘bring in the herd’. 

In the end, when we look back on the course of the journey, we will notice that the cat-herding part of the story will be as significant as the well-ordered machine of the census and military style marching orders that we read at the beginning of the Book this Shabbat.  The routine, smooth sailing parts of any journey are usually not the stuff of memories.  Our minds are problem-solving mechanisms that tend to disregard the mundane (sometimes to our detriment).    

There are many across the world today who are trying to envision a future for themselves. Egyptians are voting for a president.  Syrian rebels continue their struggle.  Olympic athletes are gearing up for the London games starting at the end of July.  Students in school could not be more excited to study for finals…how well can we envision what we hope for in our lives?  How much can we open our hearts to not only visualize activities, but also to see ourselves in the way we interact with one another, in the way we hope to connect with other people?

This is the message and challenge of this week’s parsha and the whole Book of Bamidbar because, in the end, when we roll the Torah closed at the end of the fifth and final Book, the Israelites will still not be standing in the Promised Land, they will only be on its borders.  They will still only be able to envision crossing the Jordan.

Tazria-Metzora 5772/2012 - Jewish Spiritual Medicine

Spiritual Medicine

Dvar Torah Parshat Tazria-Metzora 2012/5772

Rabbi Neil A. Tow©

The idea that the health of the mind and the health of the body are connected is not a new idea.  Preventive medicine is not a new idea either.  The idea of a Jewish spiritual medicine is not a new idea either, but it is an idea that we need to update and remake into a more relevant and useful system of knowledge and practice.

This week we return to Tazria- and Metzora, and among other physical conditions that the Torah describes is the condition that scholar Baruch Levine calls ‘scale disease’, a condition that does not match any known skin disease whether it be psoriasis, favus, or vitiligo and for sure not leprosy/Hansen’s disease.  None of the known skin diseases compare to the symptoms, duration, or treatments suggested in the Torah.  Nor are these conditions contagious in the medical sense.  The Torah teaches us that the only reason we may separate out the person afflicted with the scale disease is to ensure that others are not exposed to the ritual impurity – the Torah is clear that the scale disease itself will not pass to others.

Levine summarizes all the material about impurity and explains the underlying principle this way:  “Bodily impurity stands for the forces of death that are countered and reversed by God’s covenantal commandments, the forces of life.”

Scale disease is linked to the ‘forces of death’ since the body ‘appears to be wasting away.’.(Levine, 129)

We can think of this idea then as a core idea of Jewish spiritual medicine – a field that seeks to fully connect the mind, body, and spirit of faith and tradition.  It is a path toward knowledge and healing that depends upon mustering our inner resources as we seek to live in more connected ways to each other, to the world, to God.

The mitzvoth, the commandments of the covenant, are a spiritual discipline, no different than any exercise program or diet.  They help us toward self-awareness, they push us to work for causes that seek to make the holiness of life real for all people.  As we complete a mitzvah we put positive energy into the world such that we fulfill the wisdom of the Rabbis that doing one mitzvah leads to another, mitzvah goreret mitzvah.

As I’ve been watching the World War II documentary by Ken Burns, I’ve been struck by the testimonies of the vets.  One vet spoke about how when he left home his Mother told him to ‘be careful’.  He said it is impossible to ‘be careful’, impossible that by attitude or technique one could have guaranteed survival.  In such an environment, physical survival is paramount.

Fortunately, we do not live in a country at war, and we can through attitude and the mitzvoth bring changes to ourselves and our communities that may reduce conflict and increase understanding and tolerance among people.  The unknown is out there and fear is powerful – if I were living in Syria or Sudan now, I would be thick and oppressed with fear.  I am afraid at times even here in our quiet North Jersey towns.

If we are to progress as a people, we need a system of spiritual medicine that can help us to turn the tide of negativity and fear, turn the tide of fads and other magical solutions and focus on wisdom that comes right from our holy books, perhaps somewhat disguised through ancient language and history, but clear in the goal of pushing forward the extraordinary qualities of life itself – and the life giving message of the mitzvoth, 613 opportunities to release holy energy into the universe. 

 

The Jewish New Year is, and should be celebrated, in the Spring

 There is significant evidence in the Torah and Rabbinic and other literature that the real Jewish New Year occurs in the spring month of Nisan, the Passover season.  The following sources bear out this idea and corroborate that while we could certainly recognize that linear time progresses from one year to the next in the fall, the spiritual 'Head of the Year'(Rosh Hashanah) takes place in Nisan in the spring.  The festival we call 'Rosh Hashanah', should return to its rightful place as a larger Rosh Chodesh (new month) celebration to start the 7th month.


Will the Real Jewish New Year Please Stand Up?
Rabbi Neil A. Tow
Source Sheet

• Beginnings:  Torah

א וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָֹה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֣ה וְאֶֽל־אַֽהֲרֹ֔ן בְּאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרַ֖יִם לֵאמֹֽר: ב הַחֹ֧דֶשׁ הַזֶּ֛ה לָכֶ֖ם רֹ֣אשׁ חֳדָשִׁ֑ים רִאשׁ֥וֹן הוּא֙ לָכֶ֔ם לְחָדְשֵׁ֖י הַשָּׁנָֽה:

Let this New-Moon be for you the beginning of New-Moons, the beginning-one let it be for you of the New-Moons of the year.(Everett Fox Transl.)

Targum Onkelos:
ירחא הדין לכון ריש ירחיא קדמאי הוא לכון לירחי שתא:
This month will be for you the first of the months for you of the months of the year.

ירחא הדין לכון למקבעיה ריש ירחייא ומניה תשרון לממני חגיא וזמניא ותקופתא קדמאי הוא לכון למנין ירחי שתא:
This month will be for you to establish the beginning of months, and from it you will schedule holidays, special times, and tekufot (solstice-equinox)...it is the beginning of the counting of the months of the year.

Rashi:
החדש הזה - הראהו לבנה בחידושה ואמר לו כשהירח מתחדש יהיה לך ראש חודש. ואין מקרא יוצא מידי פשוטו, על חדש ניסן אמר לו, זה יהיה ראש לסדר מנין החדשים, שיהא אייר קרוי שני, סיון שלישי:
“This month” - God showed him the new moon and said to him, “When the moon is new, it will be for you a new month.  But the verse follows its contextual meaning.  God spoke to Moses regarding the month of Nisan.  Nisan will be the beginning of the order of the months, so that Iyar will be called the second month, and Sivan the third.”

Rashbam (Rashi’s grandson):
ראש חדשים - כר' יהושע שבניסן נברא העולם:
לחדשי השנה - בכל מקום שאומר לכם בחדשים שמיני תשיעי, לחודש הזה הם. ולר' אליעזר האומר בתשרי נברא העולם, עיקר פשוטו כך. החדש הזה לכם. אעפ"י שאינו ראש חדשים לשאר אומות, לכם יהי' ראש חדשים למנות ששי שביעי שמיני תשיעי חדש שנים עשר הוא חודש אדר. ממנו תמנו להיות לכם זכרון [כי] בו יצאתם ממצרים. וכשנאמר בתורה ובחודש השביעי, לירח יציאת מצרים פירושו. וכן רגילים הפסוקים לקחת חשבונם ליציאת מצרים, כדכת' בחודש השלישי לצאת בני ישראל וגו', וכן בבנין הבית ויהי בשמונים שנה וארבע מאות שנה לצאת בני ישראל מ[ארץ] מצרים:

“Head of the months” - According to Rabbi Yehoshua who said the world was created in Nisan.
“For the months of the year” - We count all months from Nisan.  Rabbi Eliezer teaches the world was created in Tishrey...Even though Nisan is not the first month for other peoples, for you it will be the month from which to reckon...such that Adar is the 12th month (as it says in the Book of Ester)...And it is thew way of Torah verses to reckon timing from the Exodus...

Nahum Sarna (Exploring Exodus, 1986)

“Four liturgical calendars are listed in the Torah, and each commences with Passover...The predominant system in biblical literature of the pre-exilic period is to designate the months by the ordinal numbers.  Wherever it can be controlled, it turns out that the enumeration is based on a spring New Year reckoning...on the other hand, there are several biblical passages that indicate an autumnal New Year....”the Feast of Ingathering (חג האסיף) at the end of the year,” and with the dating of this same festival “at the turn of the year.”...Undoubtedly, the year was reckoned to begin at different dates for different purposes...Although the celebration of a festival at this season (spring) was quite common in the Near East, the Israelite version belongs to a wholly different category from its contemporaries in that the New Year is now grounded neither in nature’s renewal nor in mythology...but in a historic event.  Such a revolutionary phenomenon is without analogy in the ancient world.”(pp. 81-85)

What of “Rosh Hashanah”, the first day of Tishrey?

דַּבֵּ֛ר אֶל־בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל לֵאמֹ֑ר בַּחֹ֨דֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִ֜י בְּאֶחָ֣ד לַחֹ֗דֶשׁ יִהְיֶ֤ה לָכֶם֙ שַׁבָּת֔וֹן זִכְר֥וֹן תְּרוּעָ֖ה מִקְרָא־קֹֽדֶשׁ:
Leviticus 23:24 (Also 29:1)
“Speak to the Children of Israel saying, ‘In the seventh month, on the first of the month, there will be for you a Sabbath-ceasing, a reminder by horn-blasting, a proclamation of holiness...”(Fox)

Chayim Schauss:
“Jews...before the Babylonian Exile, observed neither Rosh Hashanah nor Yom Kippur....they observed only one festival at that time of year, the Festival of the Ingathering (חג האסיף)...That festival had many rites...now associated with RH, YK, and Sukkot....later...after the Babylonian Exile...[this] autumn festival was divided into three separate holidays.”(p. 113)

*How to reconcile Tishrey as New Year with Nisan as New Year?

“The usual explanation given...is that in older times Jews began the year in the fall, but they were later influenced by the...Babylonians who observed the New Year in the spring....the religious ceremonies in honor of the New Year, however, they continued to observe in the fall.”

However...
Josephus (Antiquities Vol 1, 3:3) says that the religious New Year comes in Nisan and the civil New Year in Tishrey.  Karaites observe the first of Nisan as Rosh Hashanah.

*Perhaps 1 Tishrey in the ancient world was a “more exalted New Moon observance” (horn would be played at the beginning of every month)....[and] exactly as the 7th day and 7th year were holy, so, undoubtedly was the 7th month.(p. 117)


The fall New Year though really was the 10th day (our Yom Kippur):

בְּעֶשְׂרִ֣ים וְחָמֵ֣שׁ שָׁנָ֣ה לְ֠גָלוּתֵנוּ בְּרֹ֨אשׁ הַשָּׁנָ֜ה בֶּעָשׂ֣וֹר לַחֹ֗דֶשׁ בְּאַרְבַּ֤ע עֶשְׂרֵה֙ שָׁנָ֔ה אַחַ֕ר אֲשֶׁ֥ר הֻכְּתָ֖ה הָעִ֑יר
In the 25th year of our exile, on Rosh Hashanah, the 10th day of the month, in the 14th year after the destruction of the City...(Ezekiel 40:1)

IN THE DAYS OF THE RABBIS - Post 2nd Temple:

ארבעה ראשי שנים הם באחד בניסן ראש השנה למלכים ולרגלים באחד באלול ראש השנה למעשר בהמה רבי אלעזר ורבי שמעון אומרים באחד בתשרי באחד בתשרי ראש השנה לשנים ולשמיטין וליובלות לנטיעה ולירקות באחד בשבט ראש השנה לאילן כדברי בית שמאי בית הלל אומרים בחמשה עשר בו:

There are four ‘New Years’:  1st of Nisan - New Year of Kings and Holidays, 1st of Elul - New Year for the cattle tithe.  Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon teach:  1st of Tishrey - 1st of Tishrey is New Year for years, shemittah, for planting and produce, 1st of Shevat - New Year of Trees (according to Beit Shammai), Beit Hillel teaches:  15th of Shevat.

*Does the “New Year (for Jubilee)” in Tishrey begin on the first day or the tenth day? (Referring to the last point in the previous section)

יובלות באחד בתשרי הוא? יובלות בעשרה בתשרי הוא! דכתיב +ויקרא כה+ ביום הכפרים תעבירו שופר!
Does the Jubilee begin on the first of Tishrey?  It is on the 10th day of Tishrey! As it is written, (Leviticus 25) “On Yom Kippur cause the shofar to sound...”(BT Rosh Hashanah 8b)


THE KUZARI - Judah Halevi, Spain - Israel (ca. 1075 - 1141 CE)
Kitâb al-Radd wa-?l-Dal?l fi 'l-Dîn al-Dhalîl (The Book of Refutation and Proof on the Despised Faith, 1140), commonly called The Kuzari, after the king of the Khazars, reported to have converted to Judaism in the 8th century.

“He [King of the Khazars]  then invited a Jewish Rabbi, and asked him about his belief.

The Rabbi replied: I believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, who led the children of Israel out of Egypt with signs and miracles; who fed them in the desert and gave them the land, after having made them traverse the sea and the Jordan in a miraculous way; who sent Moses with His law, and subsequently thousands of prophets, who confirmed His law by promises to the observant. and threats to the disobedient. Our belief is comprised in the Torah -- a very large domain.”

Atheists and Death in Toulouse - Dvar Torah Shabbat Ha'Chodesh 2012

Atheists and Death in Tolouse

Vayikra – Rosh Chodesh Nisan – Shabbat Ha’chodesh 5772/2012

Rabbi Neil A. Tow©

When I heard that the organization American Atheists were sponsoring a billboard advertisement in Paterson, a message targeting Muslims, I assumed this billboard would be in the part of Paterson where store fronts feature Arabic language and restaurants post ‘Halal’ on their signs. 

It turns out, the billboard is on top of a small two-story building at the intersection of 33^rd street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, right across from the august Temple Emmauel building.  This billboard – that has a twin on the Williamsburg Bridge – says, in Arabic, “You know it’s a myth, you have a choice.”

Too bad the American Atheists organization, that celebrates reason and science, did not do their research on the word ‘myth’.  While ‘myth’ might mean something like ‘fairy tale’ in common speech, its technical meaning is ‘a series of ideas that unfolds the worldview of a people.’  So, therefore, Atheism is as much a myth as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, or any faith or system of knowledge, such as science.  (The atheists flunked their English exam.)

The father and two children, and the girl, that Mohammed Merah shot and killed near the Ozar ha’Torah school in Toulouse all were involved in studying the deep truths of Judaism, the ‘myth’ of Judaism.  For them, as for us, we do not study this material to prove to the world that we are right and others are wrong.  We study it, grapple with it, annul some of it, and remake it because that is how the evolving process of a search for truth happens, even a search for scientific truth.  We may disprove older scientific theories, but we keep a record of them to see where we came from and to appreciate the contributions of those who came before us.

We mourn with Chava Sandler the wife of Rabbi Jonathan z”l and Aryeh and Gavriel z”l.  We mourn with Rabbi and Mrs. Monsenegro for their daughter Miriam z”l.   We mourn with them as parents, brothers and sisters, as people – people who are made of the same penetrable stuff.  All people on earth are, as Shakespeare wrote, ‘fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons.’  What we believe, what we cherish, what we work for, support, and sacrifice for and create is the stuff that makes us more than flesh and bone.

And so as much as I mourn the loss of life, I also mourn the loss of the potential for those lives to add beauty, meaning, and depth to the Judaism of which I am a part, of which this community is a part.   In a moving letter written by Chava Sandler she asks us, among other things, to continue on by encouraging our children, encouraging one another, to ‘be living examples of our Torah, imbued with the fear of Heaven, and with love of their fellow man.

If such dedication of oneself to study and to the good treatment of fellow human beings is what the American Atheists want to warn us against, then I ask them what do you offer me instead?  The Enlightenment ended neither war nor violence.  Soviet communism and national socialism were brutal regimes that themselves worshipped gods far more vile and bloodthirsty than any Biblical story, for example, might suggest. 

This Shabbat, Shabbat Ha’chodesh, the celebration of the first ‘chodesh’ the first month of our people’s freedom from Pharaoh, is a time to remind ourselves of a lesson we know well – that freedom has its privileges and its responsibilities.  Whether our Torah study may occur in the form of community service, participating in synagogue life, studying text, or discussing a book with others, it is our responsibility to engage with the Torah as a way of adding beauty to a world that so often challenges us with ugliness in words and actions.  We cannot bring back the dead, that is something with which I agree with the atheists and scientists.  We can though pick up and journey with the energy they gifted to the world during their short lives.

Our Judaism, our faith, is in fact a myth by definition.  The American Atheists say, “You have a choice.”  A choice to answer with word and deed whether it is a myth that moves me, inspires me, creates community, and makes me feel cared for and significant.  ‘You’ have a choice to say yes or no to this.  I proudly say “yes”.

Shabbat Shalom.

Vayakhel-Pikudey, Shabbat Parah 2012/5772

Vayakhel-Pikudey

Shabbat Parah 2012/5772

Rabbi Neil A. Tow©

There are Shabbatot when the parsha we read seems to fit in with what we are thinking about, with events and trends in the world, and then there are Shabbatot when we look at what is happening in our lives, in the world, and we scratch our heads in wonder at how we can take the time and energy to chant the Torah when the parsha appears to have no connection, in fact, it may even appear to contradict the reality that we are living.

We seem to find such a contradiction this week as we read of the general accounting of the Mishkan, a careful review of the materials, procedures, and construction of the Holy Sanctuary – both structure and holy items.  This is also Shabbat Parah – the Shabbat when we recall the purification ritual of the parah adumah/the red cow, a method for purifying individuals from contact with death.

We read these teachings while rockets are falling on our brothers and sisters in southern Israel.   Hundreds of rockets have fallen on civilian population, all the way to Gedera – 20 miles south of Tel Aviv.  200,000 school children were huddling in shelters rather than spending the day in school, now are returning to class. 

At a time of war – it seems unnatural to read about construction, about a ritual of purification.  Such things as beautiful craftsmanship and ancient rituals are luxuries at a time when Jewish people are under attack.  The goal is defense, survival, perseverance.  The necessities are shelter, food and water, fellowship, reassurance, and hope.

On second glance though, the material that we read about this Shabbat is relevant – relevant and worthy of attention.  As rockets fall, there is great fear, loss of control, confusion, and a breakdown of routines.

The accountings of the Mishkan, and the detailed ritual of the red cow provide something that on the surface, and in comparison with life’s necessities, does not seem important, but serves a sustaining function – a sense that God was present, is present, in the hands-on, in the slow and gradual building of faith, in the mystery of the unknown, in the hope of a renewed Holy Presence in the Holy Sanctuary of the Mishkan, in the hope of a renewed self by the cleansing ashes of the red cow. 

Renewal of the community, renewal of the self, or at the very least the possibility of these things continues to be important as the rockets fall. 

May our brothers and sisters soon have the ability to read about these holy matters in their usual spaces, at the usual leisurely pace, with time to think deeply and share their reflections with other community members as they walk about outside under clearer skies.

Amen.