Have you had mentors who energized and inspired you? I have been fortunate to have teachers, Rabbis and Hazzanim who inspired me. My dearest hope is to touch others in this way – if you touch the two flames together, they shine more brightly.
Moses was the greatest teacher the Israelites have had. Very soon, by the end of this week’s Torah reading, B’haalot’cha, we will see the foundation for insurrection. A rejection of Sinai, a desire to return to slavery and the old ways. A rejection of Manna which was heaven sent for cucumbers, leeks, and most of all meat. But at the beginning of the Torah portion, there is also much joy!
B’Ha’alotcha means raising up (the menora) to light the light. Moshe is like that light. Chapter 9 of Numbers begins so hopefully and positively. In some of the most dramatic trope I’ve read, the wandering Israelites “make the Pesach” festival. I imagine, since they took their flocks with them, they had meat offerings, and a feast. Followed by a “complaint” or question, by a few that who were tamei (ritually impure) because someone near them had died, or they were traveling and could not partake in the festival, and could not draw near to G8d with an offering as the other Israelites could. Unlike the complainers or the insurrectionists to come, these folks only wish to draw close to Sinai. Moshe treats them with absolute respect, taking their question right to the Holy One of Blessing, and getting the very first amendment to the Torah – they could participate in a Pesach sheni – a second chance to offer the sacrifices. !
Sources here Rashi interprets this questioning like a star student asking a great question, and says this is akin to prophecy!
Happy, indeed, is a human being (lit., one born of woman) who may so confidently rely that at any time when he wishes to do so he may speak with the Shechinah! — This section, in fact, ought to have been said by Moses, just as all the other sections of the Torah, only that these men were privileged that it should be promulgated through their intervention, because “meritorious deeds are brought about by worthy men”
By the time we get to Chapter 11 of Numbers, the situation of the complainers is so difficult for Moshe, he asks G8d for help, or, if not, for death! In Moses’ frustration with leadership challenges, G8d answers him by using Moses as a candle to light the flames of others. 70 elders, Eldad and Medad become prophets, to taste what it’s like to be so inspired. -“speaking with the Shechinah” as the midrash and Talmud allude to above. When Joshua sees Eldad and Medad ecstatic and running around prophecy-making, he tries to protect his boss (Moses) but Moshe (Moses) say – “would that all the people were prophets” The prophecy that Eldad and Medad were telling was that Moshe would not lead them across the Jordan, rather Joshua would! Just as my fondest wish – to pave the way for my replacement(s) by inspiring others!
Also, for fun, some gender bending commentaries about Moses and G8d being nursing mothers, for Pride month. This first Rashi is about the Manna. Perhaps God is the nursing mother, and the rebellion of the people is like the toddlers (Israel is a fledgling nation) being weaned. About the taste and texture of Manna:
Our Rabbis (Sifrei Bamidbar 89) explained it as meaning “breasts’ (i. e. just as the suckling imbibes, so to speak, every possible flavor with the mother-milk. so the Israelites found all flavors in the manna;
And about Moses: He imagines himself as a nursing mother, and then rejects that image for himself – but first he, and all of us, get to imagine it. Sources here
Sometimes I feel like I’m surrounded by darkness. Now is such a time. There is lack of empathy for the most vulnerable among us, immorality at the highest level of government, and a populace which supports and (in some countries) has democratically chosen such leaders. There is blindness to climate change, which is damaging our life support system, and is affecting us all, but is more devastating those who already have the least among us. In this darkness, where is the light?
The Torah portion read this week, parashat Bo, includes the final three “signs and wonders” which afflict Egypt, all of which involve increasing darkness, culminating in the darkness of death. Focusing on the ninth sign “choshech/darkness”, it is no ordinary darkness, but one which is substantial, can be felt. It is described as so dark that you could not,,,,, How would you end that sentence, perhaps: “see your hand before your face”? Rather, it is described as one in which folks could not see “their brother” or sister. This is a moral blindness, a complete lack of empathy. This was not inflicted by G8d*, our Source of Life and Light, but rather The Holy One transformed the invisible into a sign that could be seen by the morally blind. The moment the Egyptians took part in Pharoah’s genocidal decree and helped throw newborn boys in the River, they sowed darkness: no wonder the Nile turned to blood! G8d simply made it apparent, they did not recognize their own brutality. These signs were needed to illustrate a story for the generations, “Who lives, who dies who tells your story..” as Lynn Manuel Miranda wrote – Signs and wonders were needed to open hearts to the pre-existing inhumanity: perhaps in their slave mindset, even the Israelite victims took it for “the way things just were” and the Egyptians so blind so as not to see/care about their fellow human being. This narrative with its signs and wonders was important enough to illustrate dramatically so it could be passed to the children at the seder table.
In seeing the light within the darkness, the parashah begins with “Bo” come, rather than “go” Awareness, daat, intimate knowledge of the laws of decency, of who we are in relation to nature and one another were in exile. See my source page in Sefaria Bo is spelled Bet, Aleph, and the word “bet” means “house” The Aleph, according to Meor Einayim represents the light of G8d, to bright to experience with out the comforting shield of “bet”. The light within the darkness is hidden within the very first word that G8d says in this parashah.
Need more light? Leonard Cohen famously wrote, “there is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in” When we are in darkness, the cracks in ourselves and the world are places where light can enter. The pain we are feeling is a sign for where to apply the healing, and how urgently it is needed. And we don’t know with which broken parts of ourselves or our world we can help to liberate this light: so we must bring all we’ve got to bear upon it because we, and all nature is filled with G8d’s light. (See Mevo HaSh’arim on the source page)
There are “signs and wonders” today which point to injustice and lack of empathy. Rabbi Shai Held wrote, in 2017 book, (I had not yet read Naomi Klein’s This changes Everything, 2016″
“Imagine living in a world in which violating the laws of morality leads inexorably to consequences in the world of nature. .. the thought of living in such a universe can be frankly, terrifying.” ~ Rabbi Shai Held: The Heart of Torah, Volume 1:
Global climate change, rapid species extinctions viral plagues, are all signs in which nature herself is revealing the lack of care for nature, and lack of empathy for others, and blindness to own self interest! It’s not “the environment” but our own life support system, designed by G8d and infused with the Presence that we are harming. Yet, our hearts remain heavy, hard, and strong willed (my translation of the three adjectives describing Pharoah’s heart). What will it take for us to become aware?!
Perhaps awareness of the holiness in one another and in nature. I offer my setting of Shiviti,https://soundcloud.com/biomusicmm from psalm 16, which means we must set G8d before us always.
Shiviti Adonai L’negdi Tamid
G8d, I set you before me continually
I know you in the blessings that come to me each day
Sweetened by Gratitude, deepened by sharing them with You
I feel you in the spaces between me and the people I meet
Help me to know that it’s Your light that I see deep in their eyes, deep in their heart
And when I walk in wild places, my head reaching for the skies,
Help me to guard and to keep your garden green by and by
And oh in the darkness, help me be/see the light
And when You feel so far away,
Help me to know that the yearning’s OK,
The yearning can be a pathway.
*I use the 8 rather than the “o” to spell G8d out of respect for this name. The 8 is infinity and represents one step beyond the completion which is 7
Miryam's Space 