Parashat B’ha’alot’kha
Sivan 19, 5782 / June 17-18, 2022
Torah: Numbers 8:1 - 12:17
Haftarah: Zechariah 2:14 - 4:7
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This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Chanah Bella bat Kreina, Feigel bat Kreina, and D'vorah bat Feigel.
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IMPORTANT NOTE: Effective July 1, our community's official name will be Temple B'nai Hayim. Congregation Beth Meier will be merged in, and will no longer exist as a separate legal entity. If you donate to the community through purchases at Amazon Smile or Ralphs or any other such program, please update your beneficiary to Temple B'nai Hayim. The Social Hall will be undergoing major upgrades and will be renamed The Rabbi Meier Schimmel Social Hall, in loving memory of Congregation Beth Meier's founding rabbi.
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Lunch and Learn meets Tuesdays at 12:30 PM on Zoom and Facebook Live. We're continuing to read and discuss the Midrashic collection Ein Ya’akov. On June 21, we'll be at Chapter 9 of BT Berakhot (55a) - "...אמר ר׳ ברכיה חלום” - "R. Berachia said: "There may be a dream ..." The reading may be found at page 9 of my pagination:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TK74GI6tqBSDugLsQmHTYEAzPqDUJxS0/view?usp=sharing
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Rabbi Van Leeuwen has a blog which you should read at:
Dr. Steve Pearlman writes up the "Midrashim of the Week", which you should read at:
https://midrashsrp.wordpress.com
Check out our wonderful community, and get lots of info about becoming a Chaver and our various programs, at: https://bnaihayim.org/
Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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BETWEEN THE LINES
“Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say: ‘Rise up, Lord. May Your enemies be scattered, and may those who hate You flee before You.’ And when it rested, he would say: ‘Return, Lord, You who are Israel’s myriads of thousands.’” Numbers 10:35-6
Israelites Crossing the Jordan Carrying the Ark of the Covenant by Raphael
In a Sefer Torah and in the Chumash, these two verses are bracketed by upside down letters nuun (׆ ׆). According to the Talmud, they constitute a separate book of the Torah, the purpose of which is to avoid reporting three successive sins by the Israelites. (For a wonderful look into the Midrash concerning these upside down letters, see Dr. Steve Pearlman's blog for this parashah:
https://midrashsrp.wordpress.com/2022/06/13/behaalotecha/)
In the liturgy, however, the two verses are themselves “bookends”. Verse 35 is sung when the Ark is opened in the synagogue at the beginning of the Torah service. The Torah scroll is removed, and it “sets out” around the sanctuary before it is read. At the conclusion of the Torah service, verse 36 is recited as the Ark is opened for the Torah to be put away, to “rest”.
What happens in the synagogue between the recitations of the two verses is a wonderful ritual pageant, carried out for the past two millennia in every synagogue in the world. The congregation rises and sings, the Torah is twice paraded around the sanctuary, the portion is read and discussed (and haftarah also on Shabbat and Yom Tov), anywhere from three to eight people are called for aliyot, prayers for healing, for thanksgiving, for the community and for our country are recited, babies are named, and more.
The Torah service is my favorite part of Shabbat morning. We are re-enacting history, and creating it as well, each time we conduct it. Since the Torah is the history of our people, and we read that history every week, one might say that all of our history occurs between these two verses. We publicize and renew our understanding of the Torah even as we stand at Mount Sinai. Most significantly, to my mind, we are making a statement about our commitment to Jewish heritage and Jewish continuity.
We Jews are a nation that learns the lessons of history more than any other. We re-enact it, we live it, and we make it. Go to your synagogue this Shabbat morning, and be a part of history.
Shabbat shalom!
Rabbi Richard A. Flom - Rabbi Emeritus
Temple B'nai Hayim/Congregation Beth Meier
Blogging at: http://rav-rich.blogspot.com/
Visit me on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/RabbiRichardFlom
"שתיקה כהודאה דמיא"
BT Yevamot 88a
Visit me on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/RabbiRichardFlom
"שתיקה כהודאה דמיא"
BT Yevamot 88a
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