Beha’alotekha

by Rabbi Michael Pitkowsky

R. Joshua b. Levi said, “When Moses came down from before the Holy One, blessed be He, the Satan came and said before him, ‘Lord of the world, where is the Torah?’ “He said to him, ‘I gave it to the earth.’ “He went to the earth and said to Read More >

“Dealing With The Enemies In Our Midst”

By Rabbi Dorit Edut

As we open the Ark to remove our Torah scrolls every Shabbat, we recite these lines which come from this week’s parashah, Numbers 10:35:

“When the Ark was to set out, Moses would say:

Advance, O Lord!

May Your enemies be scattered,

And may Your foes flee before You!”

Around this verse and the next one are inverted letter nuns, something which is only seen here in the Torah and seven times in the Book of Psalms. Our Sages of the Talmud, Tractate Shabbat 115b-116a, discussed this and said that these lines are either an insertion meant to go elsewhere or actually form their own separate book of the Torah – which would mean there are really SEVEN books of the Torah, not five!

Yet I think these verses are really very integral to this portion and speak to us very personally today. First we must imagine the scene Read More >

Someone gives you a gift and says, “Here, I was saving this for just the right moment.” That is what I love about discovering new insights in the Torah; it was there all along just waiting for the right moment to be revealed. The first paper I wrote in rabbinical school was based on a few verses from this week’s parashah, Beha’alotkha; Numbers 11:24-29 to be exact (see these verses below). Consumed with both the concept, reality and authenticity of prophecy as I was at that time, here was a treasure trove of material. We do not sometimes see the words that can change our lives, we are not given the meaning until it means something to US. Well, that’s the whole point, that’s why we keep at it. Now, after years of rabbinic training and more years of life experience, I see something I missed back then; what I could not Read More >

Parashat Beha’alotekha
By Barbara Rosenthal Birnbaum

Until I learned the methods and strategies of feminist reading of the Bible, I would avoid rereading narratives such as the one about Miriam at the end of this week’s parashah -Beha’alotekha. This story (Numbers 12) is complex. It engenders many questions. It is fascinating.  But it always made me feel queasy, anxious, and disheartened. Both Miriam and Aaron question the prophetic authority of Moses. But only Miriam gets punished (with a skin disease). Why? Read More >

Be Careful What You Ask For
By Gary A. Kabler

In this week’s portion the people complain to Moses that the manna
that G-d has provided so abundantly for them to eat no longer satisfies them. Like
petulant children, the people whine, “If we only had meat to eat! We remember
the fish that we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons,
the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. Now our gullets are shriveled. There is
nothing at all! Nothing but this manna to look to!” (Num. 11:1-6)

Obviously the people have forgotten that to get the foods that they
were whining and complaining about they had to do back-breaking slave labor in Egypt, but
apparently that was seen as a triviality when compared to actually having the
food. Apparently it was far easier to recall the meager struggle of walking
freely towards a place that Moses has assured the people was, and would
eventually be, again their Read More >

Parashat B’ha’alotekha
By Rabbi Aryeh Meir

In his translation of the Five Books of Moses, Everett Fox introduces this section of Sefer Bamidbar (the Book of Numbers) with the title, ‘The Rebellion Narratives.’ The nation, exhausted, hungry (for meat) and thirsty, hurl a series of complaints against their leaders, most harshly against Moses. When the people complain about the quality of the food (since leaving Egypt they had been on a steady diet of Manna in the wilderness), Moses loses it:

Where should I get meat to give to this entire people . . . I am not able, myself alone, to carry this entire people, for it is too heavy for me!

God then tells Moses to gather seventy elders and bring them to the Tent of Appointment and there God will ‘extend from the rushing spirit (ruah) that is upon you and place it upon them; then they will carry along with Read More >

By Cantor Jaclyn Chernett

The troubled Moses cries to God in his loneliness.
How can he continue to cope with the constant
complaining and irresponsible behaviour of his people!
He is worn down by his burden, but at no time does
he seek to relinquish leadership. For Moses, the
leader, the prophet, the only alternative would be
death.

The calling of the prophet is indeed a lonely one.
Prophecy has been described in many ways during
the long years of our literary tradition. The prophecy
of Moses is a paradigm of the most intense
relationship with God ‘ nobody else ever experienced
it this way: With him I speak mouth to mouth,
plainly and not in riddles, and he beholds the likeness
of the Lord. (Num. 12:8)

Miriam and Aaron, in the same text-breath, are, too,
accredited with the prophetic relationship with God
but not in the same Read More >