Parashat Pinchas: Korban HaTamid

Hebrew

Did you know that the most encompassing verse in the Torah is found in this week's reading?

According to a Midrash quoted in the Introduction to the book Ein Yaakov:

Ben Zoma says: We have found a more inclusive verse: “Shema Yisrael.”

Ben Nanas says: We have found a more inclusive verse: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Shimon Ben Pazi says: We have found a more inclusive verse: “One lamb you shall sacrifice in the morning...”

Rabbi Ploni stood up and said: The halakha is in accordance with Ben Pazi.

How can a ritual mitzvah, the daily tamid sacrifice, override the importance of belief in one God, and override love of our fellow, which Rabbi Akiva also called “a great rule in the Torah?”

It doesn't.

These are complementary statements in the spirit of “On three things, the world stands”:

On Torah that teaches us that the Eternal our God is one

On acts of loving kindness for the other, and

On avodah – service, which was once the daily sacrifice and now is prayer.

The anonymous rabbi rules that the halakha (Jewish law, but literally “walking”) is according to Ben Pazi because truly walking the walk demands that we be consistent and reliable.

People who were listening carefully may have noted that Ben Pazi did not actually quote today's reading, but rather an almost identical verse from Exodus 23. The difference is one letter, a ה, the Hebrew definite article. 

Before explaining what I learn from the difference, one preliminary point: the details of holiday sacrifices appear here and not together with the other sacrifices in Leviticus because they were inappropriate in the wilderness when the Israelites lived outside of natural time, as we read in Haftarah: “Thus said the Eternal: I accounted to your favor The devotion of your youth, Your love as a bride— How you followed Me in the wilderness...” (Jeremiah 2:2)

Despite the hardships, life in the desert was out of ordinary time. Just before entering the Promised Land and returning to natural life, in which holidays are essential for religious life and strengthening the social fabric, the time has come to complete the system. But a building cannot be completed unless strong foundations have been laid.

The daily tamid sacrifice is the foundation.

The foundation was first laid down in when the Tabernacle was completed, in a verse with the definite article (“the”)  which indicates that there one defined, acceptable path of service. This was the case in the Temple.

The verse without “the” seems particularly appropriate for our time.

There is no Temple and are no sacrifices but the commandments remain. Their purpose remains to bring us close through giving of ourselves, our time and our possessions. There are three paths open before: Torah, avodah, and loving kindness. Each of can find the path (or sub-path) that suits him or her. The important thing is to be consistent and reliable.

פרשת פנחס וקרבן התמיד

 English

שמונת הפסוקים בתחילתה של העלייה החמישית בפרשת פנחס זוכים להקרא מִסֵּפֶר תורה יותר, הרבה יותר, פעמים בשנה מכל קטע אחר בתורה, ואחד הפסוקים, אולי הבנאלי ביותר, נחשב כפסוק הכולל ביותר בתורה לפי מדרש המופיע במבוא לספר עין יעקב:

בן זומא אומר: מצינו פסוק כולל יותר והוא שמע ישראל.

בן ננס אומר: מצינו פסוק כולל יותר והוא וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ.

שמעון בן פזי אומר: מצינו פסוק כולל יותר והוא את הכבש האחד תעשה בבוקר

עמד ר' פלוני על רגליו ואמר: הלכה כבן פזי.

קחו רגע לעכל את האמירה. מצווה פולחנית, קרבן התמיד עולה בחשיבותה על האמונה בייחוד, עולה בחשיבותה על אהבת הרֵעַ, שגם רבי עקיבא (במקום אחר) קרא "כלל גדול בתורה."

מה קרה?

אולי, אין כאן אי-הסכמה אלא אמירות משלימות ברוח "על שלושה דברים העולם עומד":

• על התורה המורה כי ה' אלוהינו ה' אחד
• על גמילות חסדים לרֵעֲ
• ועל העבודה שהיה קרבן התמידועכשיו היא התפילה

ואז רבי פלוני קובע שההלכה כבן פזי כי ההליכה בדרך מחייבת אותנו להתמיד בכל שלושת התחומים.

ייתכן שחדי העין שמו לב כי הפסוק שבן פזי ציטט לא בדיוק נמצא בפרשה שלנו. הוא ציטט פסוק כמעט זהה מפרשת תצוה. השוני המסתכם באות אחד ה"א הידיעה. בספר שמות (כט:לט) כתוב: "אֶת־הַכֶּ֥בֶשׂ הָאֶחָ֖ד תַּעֲשֶׂ֣ה בַבֹּ֑קֶר...." כאשר היום קראנו: אֶת-הַכֶּ֥בֶשׂ אֶחָ֖ד תַּעֲשֶׂ֣ה בַבֹּ֑קֶר...."

לפני שאסביר מה לדעתי נוכל ללמוד מן השוני, יש נקודה מקדימה אחת: פירוט קרבנות לימים המצויינים מופיע כאן לקראת סוף ספר במדבר ולא בספר ויקרא ביחד עם יתר הקרבנות כי הם לא היו נחוצים במדבר, כשבני ישראל חיו מחוץ לזמן טבעי, כפי שתיאר ירמיהו בהפטרה: "זָכַרְתִּי לָךְ חֶסֶד נְעוּרַיִךְ אַהֲבַת כְּלוּלֹתָיִךְ..." הנביא מיישר הרבה הדורים אבל על אף הקשיים והמריבות תקופת המדבר הייתה תקופה מיוחדת. עכשיו על סף הכניסה לארץ, לקראת הפסקת המן והחזרה אֶל החיים הטבעיים הגיע העת להשלים את מערכת המועדים. אבל אי-אפשר להשלים בנין בלי להניח יסודות.

קרבן התמיד, היום-יומי הוא היסוד.

היסוד הונח תחילה, כבר עם חנוכת המשכן, בה"א הידיעה, המצביע אֶל דרך מקובלת, מוגדרת אחת. כך היה בזמן בית המקדש אבל אני רואה בפסוק בו חסר ה"א הידיעה רמז לזמננו.

אין מקדש ואין קורבנות אך המצוות קיימות, ומטרתן נשארת להקריב – לתת מעצמנו ומשלנו – כדי להתקרב, לייצר קירבה. פתוחות לפנינו שלוש הדרכים – בתורה, עבודה וגמילות חסדים – ובתוך כל דרך, נתיבים רבים. לכל אחת ואחד יש דרך או נציב שמתאים לה או לו. החשוב הוא להתמיד בה.

Parashat Shlach Lecha: Joshua & Caleb, Caleb & Joshua

Hebrew

Even before the spies depart on their mission, one of them is singled out from the others: “Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.” (Num. 13:16). The midrash asks “Why did Moses need to add a ‘yod’ to his name.” Remember that question.

Skipping ahead to verse 22, “And they went up into the South, and he came unto Hebron” the grammar of the verse leads us to ask, “did only one spy go to Hebron? If so, which one and why?”  

The Talmud, Raba answers both questions: Raba said: It teaches that Caleb held aloof from the plan of the spies and went and prostrated himself upon the graves of the patriarchs, saying to them, 'My fathers, pray on my behalf that I may be delivered from the plan of the spies' as for Joshua, Moses had already prayed on his behalf; as it is said: And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua,  [meaning], May Yah save thee [yoshi'aka] from the plan of the spies.

If Joshua and Caleb both needed divine protection from the other spies because they disagreed with their conclusions, why did Moses pray for Joshua but leave Caleb to pray for himself?

An additional question that arises from an examination of the two good spies behaviors is why, immediately after the majority report, does Caleb alone make the minority report and attempt to calm the people, “And Caleb stilled the people toward Moses, and said: 'We should go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.'” (13:30).

The Hafetz Haim, Rabbi Israel Meir HaCohen Kagan (1838-1933), proposed a solution to these questions and others related to the story of the spies in his book Guard Your Tongue:

Indeed, there truly are two ways/paths in God’s service when misguided forces gain power in the world and one of God’s servants must spend several weeks among them. Should he immediately exposes his inner strength, declares his true beliefs and argue with their false belief or rather should he keep silent or even express agreement with them, until they appear publicly before the Jewish community and only then state his true opinion and denounce their falsehood before all.

He then explains that both methods have an advantage and a disadvantage. Ongoing debate will help the believer maintain his position but exposes him the possibility that the others will plot to harm him. The second possibility does not have that fear but remaining quiet or pretending to agree with the majority might lead to a weakening of faith. The later path also has a strategic advantage because the majority is unaware of the lone believer’s opposition to their position, they will not plan a defense and will be surprised, possibly shocked into silence, when he reveals his true opinion in the public debate.

Therefore, the Hafetz Haim claims that Moses, through a prophetic vision, understood the different personalities of Joshua and Caleb. He knew that Joshua would argue with the others the entire time (apparently he also knew that there would be something to argue about) and therefore he would need heavenly aid to protect him from harm. Caleb, on the other hand, kept quiet and so he did not need that type of protection. However, when they reached Hebron and saw the power of the kings there, he decided to strengthen his resolve by praying on his ancestors’ graves. This is also the reason that he alone contradicts the majority report, making of the advantage of surprise and neutralizing the spies claim (in the midrash) that Joshua’s opinion was not even worth considering because he was a minority of only one. He concludes the section by stating that although Joshua is usually named first, sometimes Caleb is, in order to indicate that both possible paths of action are acceptable to God, as long as the ultimate motivation is good.

The message is not that the end sanctifies the means but rather that the criteria for minding your mouth is broader than telling “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” as longer as the speaker isn’t testifying under oath.

The Hafetz Haim is making another important point here: good people who believe in the same causes and have the same goals can legitimately adopt different tactics to reach that goal, depending on their personality and/or the particular circumstances. 

Parashat Beha‘alotcha: The Rearguard

Hebrew

In his commentary on Numbers 10:31, Rabbi Samuel David Luzzatto, (Italy, 1800-1865) wrote something amazing:

This is what I wrote in 5591 (1831), but now in 5602 (1842) I agree with those who  say [something else]…

In the spirit, I want to return to something I wrote [in Hebrew] two years ago with slightly different emphasis.

At the beginning of the second month in the second year after they left Egypt, the Israelites are still encamped in the shadow of Mount Sinai. Two weeks earlier, they offered the Passover sacrifice and celebrated their freedom. They certainly felt a tremendous difference between their present state and their situation just one year earlier on that very night, but they were also aware of the great journey still ahead.

Therefore, at the beginning of the second month they began to organize themselves in the manner necessary to move forward efficiently.

A few days before their intended departure everyone who had been unable to offer the Passover sacrifice received a second chance to mark the miracle of their freedom. It is important that every individual finds her/his place within the people.

And then the great day came:

It happened in the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, that the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle of the testimony (Numbers 10:11).

In the beginning of Deuteronomy, we learn that the travel time from Horeb/Sinai to Kadesh Barnea on the border of Canaan is eleven days. If they advanced at half that pace, the Israelites might have celebrated Shavuot on the border of the Land. Even going much more slowly, on account of the large  entourage, it is likely that they anticipated celebrating Sukkot in their new homes in the promised land.

The many things, great and small, that went wrong along the way, I leave for another year, in order to focus on one small point.[1]

The standard of the camp of the children of Dan, which was the rearguard of all the camps, set forward according to their armies (Numbers 10:25).

In Hebrew, the word translated “rearguard” literally means “the one who gathers.” What was the rearguard intended to gather? According to the Jerusalem Talmud, lost objects (Eiruvin 5:1). However, ‎R. ‎Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin[2] assigned them far greater responsibility:

Whoever was trailed behind and could not walk with his camp, and was left alone in the rear would be collected by the tribe of Dan. And the camp of Dan would move  slowly to accommodate the people who had been left behind, until they were able to rejoin their camp. (Haemek ‎Davar, based on an earlier midrash).

Over the last two to three months, we have experienced unexpected things. We were stopped in our tracks. Many have been weakened, many remained alone. And now we are organizing to renew activity. We will not pull up tent pegs but rather wear masks. We will not fold up our tents but rather maintain physical distancing. But we will restart our journey.

Who will trail behind?

Who will – through no fault of his or her own – not be able to join?

And perhaps the hardest question of all: who will accept the responsibilities and duties of the tribe of Dan? Who will make it their business, even in the midst of the most important tasks, even in the strangest situations, to be alert and extend a hand to a person, to a comrade who is weak or trailing behind?
We must all be from the Tribe of Dan.

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[1] I am grateful to Rabbi Avital Hochstein, President of Mechon Hadar-Israel, and a outstandingly skillful and careful reader of texts, who directed my attention to this verse and the quote from the Jerusalem Talmud. Her different and more complex reading may be found (in Hebrew and English) on the Hadar website.

[2] Rosh Yeshiva of  Yeshivat Volozhin, Russia, 1816 – Warsaw, 1893.

Parashat Tazria-Metzora meets Corona

Hebrew

The double portion Tazria-Metzora is unparalleled in its ability to dissuade us of any notion that the Torah is interested only in lofty matters. The Torah is emphatically concerned with the most physical components of human life, and in great detail. We aren’t always comfortable with that realization. When we study Torah or listen to the Torah reading in the synagogue, we often want an escape from our routine and disconnect from painful, dirty and abhorrent things. We are not alone in that. Similar discomfort may be the reason (or at least one of the reasons) that the Midrash, and many rabbis ever after, take the word “metzora” out of context, separate the syllables, and read it as “motzi shem ra – speaking slanderously” (Leviticus Rabba 15:6). The portion then becomes an opportunity to speak against slander and gossip, undoubtedly an important subject in all times and places, but an evasion nonetheless.

Therefore, I reread the portion in hopes that some point of interest would emerge. Leviticus 14:3, struck a chord, “Behold, it is healed.” As I write this during the intermediary days of Passover, we, and the entire world, are thirsty for “Behold, it is healed,” for the good news of a cure. I continued to read. The details of the Biblical purification process are so far removed from Alcogel and face masks that I was tempted to write about gossip.

No. There is indeed something important here for us here. The afflicted person was separated from the community and lived in isolation until the disease was healed. The priest, in his paramedical role, confirms the patient’s health, but the patient does not return to the community immediately, as if nothing had happened.[*] There needs to be a transition and transitions takes time. Restoration can’t be instant. Something has indeed happened.

We entered the regime of physical distancing, sheltering in place and quarantine gradually. On Purim we met as a community, almost as usual, but some members were already in quarantine, and so we broadcast the morning service and Megillah reading on Facebook Live. The next Shabbat, there was no kiddush (!!). The following Monday, we decided in advance who would leave if 11 people showed up for minyan. It has now been more than a month since we met as a community in one physical space. We keep in touch through amazing technological means, but there is distance and disconnection. Something is changing; I dare say, we are all changing, even if only slightly and subconsciously. When the day comes that we hear the words, “Behold, it is healed,” and social distancing ends, we ought to be aware that not everything will necessarily revert to its previous state, as if nothing happened. When we meet in person again, when we can shake hands and even hug, I hope that we will also be sensitive to whatever changes have occurred, no matter how subtle.

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[*] This idea was inspired by R. Avital Hochstein, “Community and Corona” [Hebrew].

Photo: Electron microscope image of 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19 from National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) on Flickr