Parashat b’Ha’alotechah – Healing the World and Frankie’s 13!
A reminder of our regular Friday night services tonight, May 24th at our regular time of 7:00 pm.
Tomorrow morning, Saturday May 25, we will have Shabbat morning services at 9am, with the Torah service at 10am. We would like to invite you all to come and celebrate with the Union family as Frankie is called up to the Torah as a Bar Mitzvah. We gratefully acknowledge Rachel Union for sponsoring a lovely kidush luncheon following the service.
We would like to wish you all a very meaningful Memorial Day and a heartfelt thank you to all our military forces who have served and those who currently serve this wonderful country.
Rabbi Peter Tarlow’s Weekly Parasha:
This week’s parashah is called “b’Ha’alotechah. You will find it in the Book of Numbers 8:1 – 12:16. The meaning of this section’s name is “when you bring up” yet ironically the weekly section deals with people who seem to be doing nothing more than trying to bring others down. In this section, everyone seems to have had a complaint, everyone was unhappy, and no one was satisfied. Even Moses’ own brother and sister revolt against him and challenge his authority. G’d reacts by meting out punishments, one of which being that Moses’ sister, Miriam, was stricken by leprosy.
Why did G’d chose to punish Miriam with leprosy? Is it that the Hebrew term for leprosy “Tzar’at” is also connected to the idea of idle gossip, negativity, complaining without offering solutions? Is the text teaching us that leprosy exists not only as a physical ailment but also as a mental ailment? That people who are negative and pessimists infect others? A theme then of this week’s section is that it is easy to complain, but a lot harder to offer solutions.
It is in this week’s parashah that Moses offers the first Hebrew prayer of petition. The text tells us that G’d punished Miriam,with leprosy for her disloyalty toward her brother. Moses could have found satisfaction in her suffering, but instead showed his love by offering a prayer. In his prayer we see all of the emotion of a brother who loves his sister, who can forgive her, who seeks not revenge but healing. For many, this first Hebrew prayer is the essence of Moses’ leadership skills. In it we have a model of how Moses not only defended his authority, but also knew when the time had come to reconcile. Is Moses’ prayer only about his sister or is he teaching us that even in the political world, there are times that we need to learn to forgive and move on?
Moses composed a prayer of a mere five words: “El na, Rfah na la./Please G’d: be so kind as to heal her.” His is a prayer poignant in meaning. Unfortunately, the poetry of the Hebrew is lost in the English translation. The prayer’s very terseness speaks out to us. Here is Moses, begging G’d to forgive his sister who has not just politically challenged him but tried to undermine his authority. Despite the challenge, Moses reacts as brother and not as a political figure. He cries out to G’d and his cry resonates across the millennia.
What does this prayer teach us? Are we capable of moving on? How do we confront negative people who seek to destroy rather than to build? Do we not both collectively and individually need healing? What does this section teach us about modern society and its ills?
Cantor Ben-Moshe’s Message:
In this week’s parshah, B’haalotkha, we read of the pillar of cloud which led the People of Israel in their wanderings in the Wilderness. When the cloud, a manifestation of God’s Presence, moved, so too did the People, and when the cloud stopped, the People rested. It is important to note that the cloud of the Shekhinah, the Divine Presence was always in front of the People, and their gaze was to be ever forward. In fact, when the People looked back nostalgically towards Egypt they were punished. Their focus was to be on the future, on the Promised Land, not on a romanticized past. We, their descendants, should also look forwards to what is to come, rather than backwards towards a past which was perhaps not as good as nostalgia makes it seem. In so doing, we will be able to fulfill God’s plan for us. Shabbat Shalom.