TorahParsha

Progress

for Parshat Bamidbar

 

At the building of the Mishkan, the Tent where God will dwell, the people donate silver and gold and cloth and jewels. But they offer more than the builders need. And the builders say: Let the people stop bringing.

_

Later, the Levites will replace the firstborn as the nation’s priests. Each Levite will replace one firstborn son. But the firstborn outnumber the Levites. There will be firstborn left unaccounted for. So God says: let each additional firstborn offer a tribute, in his stead, to the holy work.  

_

Before the Mishkan, before God dwells among the people, people are turned away.

Once God dwells among the people, even those turned away are drawn back in.

_

The difference between a nation with God and a nation that does not yet have God lies in how it deals with they who are left as the world goes on.

 

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Shabbat Shalom,

Abe

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What is holy work?

for Parshat Bamidbar

 

i

When God tells the people:

Halt your journey

stay in this one place

be here,

then the tribe of Levi

the priestly tribe

tends to the workings within God’s Tent—

its lamp, its bread, its incense,

its fires,

its daily and monthly and yearly sacrifices,

and the offerings the people bring to be sacrificed

but may not themselves place on the altar.

*

When God tells the people:

Move forward,

continue your journey—

then the tribe of Levi

the priestly tribe

dismantles the Tent

covers the holy objects

carries these things

at the center of the Camp

at the center of the People’s travels

across the Desert

toward the Land.

 

ii

Sometimes the priestly work

is hidden behind God’s walls.

*

Sometimes the priestly work

is to put away God’s things

to march with the people

on God’s own journey.

 

iii

Both are God’s work.

 

___

Shabbat Shalom,

Abe

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Numbers 4:5 – 5:33

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What we owe the dead and the living

for Parshat Bamidbar

i

Aaron,

of the tribe of Levi,

is the high priest.

His sons are also priests.

They help alongside of him.

*

Aaron’s two oldest sons die

bringing a strange offering

in God’s Tent.

They leave no sons.

 

ii

God says:

let the other men of the tribe of Levi

serve alongside Aaron’s family.

*

Perhaps these other Levites

fill the place

of Aaron’s lost children.

 

iii

That is the story

of the tribe of Levi

who serve in God’s Tent

who encamp near God’s Tent

with all the other tribes

encamped surrounding them.

*

Which is to say:

that is the story

of the people

at the people’s heart.

 

iv

So at the heart of this people

at the heart of this religion

is our ability

is our obligation

to see the ones who are lost

to see the ones who have lost—

and to fill their void.

 

___

Shabbat Shalom,

Abe

www.TorahParsha.com

How do you come back to a family?

 (for Parshat Bamidbar)

i

Eleven of Jacob’s sons

carry Jacob

and their children

and their wives

on the journey

from the Land

to Egypt.

*

Joseph is not a part of this:

Joseph, whom Jacob had thought was dead

(but who has been found living).

 

ii

The tribe of Levi must carry

the Tent of God

at the center of the People,

journeying to the Land.

*

The only geneology given

in the section of the Torah

describing this formation

is the genealogy

of Moses and Aaron,

leaders from the tribe of Levi.

*

That geneology speaks

of how two of Aaron’s sons

die before God.

*

So the tribe bearing the family’s geneology

is the tribe of dead sons.

 

iii

Having been dead from the family,

Joseph cannot return to it.

But Levi succeeds

where Joseph does not;

he returns to family

from death.

*

But Levi shapes the people

from a family

to a nation with God at its center.

And God is stronger than death.

So a nation with God at its center

can bring even those dead from the family

back to the world of family,

to the world of life.

 

 

____

Shabbat shalom v’chag sameach,

Abe

www.TorahParsha.com

 

Are the leaders the most important ones of our community?

i

There is a passage naming the clans of the tribe of Levi, and the prince of each clan, and the role each clan will play in tending to the holy things.

*

Nestled in this passage:

And the prince of the princes of Levi is Elazar, the son of Aaron the priest; he shall be in charge of those attending to the duties of the sanctuary.

Elazar shall oversee the doings in God’s holy place.

 

ii
Elazar is the prince of the princes.

He oversees the workings of the sanctuary of God.

Yet there are other princes, clans, tasks mentioned before him.

And there are other princes, clans, tasks mentioned after him.

He is one among many.

 

iii

Perhaps this is to say:

A leader is just one of many roles.

There are many princes, clans, tasks.

There are many roles to play.

Everyone has his role to play.

Everyone has his work to do for God.

 

 

___________

Shabbat Shalom, Abe

 

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Verse cited: Numbers 3:32

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Please continue to pray for Ahuvah Rachel bat Orah, and for Rachel Tovah bat Yehudit Esther