{"id":47665,"date":"2018-07-09T17:41:25","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:41:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-1028\/"},"modified":"2022-08-19T11:05:02","modified_gmt":"2022-08-19T08:05:02","slug":"wall-1028","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-1028\/","title":{"rendered":"weekend-from-20220814-to-20220820"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"weekend","wall_id":"1028","date_from":"20220814","date_to":"20220820","book":"Numbers","books_group":"Torah","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"107387","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"2","name":"Ekev: It Is A Land Which Hashem Your God Looks After","post_title":"Ekev: It Is A Land Which Hashem Your God Looks After","slug":"ekev-it-is-a-land-which-hashem-your-god-looks-after","old_id":"107387","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":42746,"post_title":"Michal Kohane","slug":"michal-kohane","old_id":"42746","first_name":"Michal ","last_name":"Kohane ","description":"Currently based in Israel, Rabbanit Michal Kohane is a graduate of Yeshivat Maharat, a writer, community leader and teacher of Talmud & Torah. She holds degrees in Israel studies , education and psychology, and has been a leader and educator in Northern California for over 25 years. Her first novel, Hachug (\"Extracurricular\") was published in Israel in 2016 and her weekly blog can be found at http:\/\/www.miko284.com\r\n\r\n\r\n","short_description":"Currently based in Israel, Rabbanit Michal Kohane is a graduate of Yeshivat Maharat, a writer, community leader and teacher of Talmud & Torah. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":42747,"alt":"","title":"michal kohane","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","width":214,"height":226,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","medium-width":214,"medium-height":226,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","medium_large-width":214,"medium_large-height":226,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","large-width":214,"large-height":226,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","1536x1536-width":214,"1536x1536-height":226,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","2048x2048-width":214,"2048x2048-height":226,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","post_full_size-width":214,"post_full_size-height":226,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","home_baner-width":214,"home_baner-height":226}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"1028","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"In dealing with the land \u2013 working it, taking care of it, making it bloom - we have to be constantly connected to the Divine\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

The Torah portion of Ekev, the 3rd in the last book of the Torah, stretches from Deuteronomy 7:12 to 11:25. Among its topics are the blessings of obedience to God; the dangers of forgetting God; Moses recalling the making and re-making of the Tablets of Stone; the incident of the Golden Calf, Aaron\u2019s passing, the Levite\u2019s duties and, and the need to serve God. And, most importunately, is the emphasis of the Land of Israel\u2019s specialness:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

For the land that you are about to enter and possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come. There, the grain you sowed had to be watered by your own labors like a vegetable garden; but the land you are about to cross into and possess, a land of hills and valleys, soaks up its water from the rains of heaven. It is a land which Hashem your God looks after, on which Hashem your God always keeps an eye, from year\u2019s beginning to year\u2019s end\u201d (Deut. 11:10-12).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Land with special qualities also is the object of unique mitzvot. As we know, this year is a shmita year, and for farmers here, it\u2019s a very serious matter. While we work to find deep meanings in this mitzvah, there is also no doubt that it\u2019s one of the strangest, most challenging and criticized mitzvot we have.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

If it\u2019s hard for us now, how much more so it was in days past. Still, we have some exciting testimonies from days gone by. In 1742, one of the students of the \u201cOhr Hachayim\u201d (Rabbi Chaim Ben Atar) wrote: \u201cIn Kfar Yasif near Akko there are <\/span>balabatim<\/em> <\/span>(Jewish home-owners) that keep Land-dependent commandments, and during this year (1742) they don\u2019t sow because it\u2019s the seventh.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Another testimony from 1863, tells about the difficulties of the new settlement, Motza, near Jerusalem. In a letter to the French Alliance Isra\u00e9lite Universelle (Kol Yisrael Chaverim) organization, headed at the time by Sir Moshe Montefiore, they wrote: \u201c\u2026 and since that year was a shmita year, we dropped working the soil until 1861 ended\u2026\u201d The settlers\u2019 lives especially at that time were extremely difficult, and yet, they were committed to making it even harder by keeping the shmita. Why?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Malbim (1809-1879) asks the poignant question \u2013 why didn\u2019t God just give the land of Egypt to the Israelites? After all, the Egyptians dealt harshly with the Israelites, and God was able to do anything, and as per our verse, the land of Egypt is easier to care for! But, he answers, God purposefully gave us a land that in dealing with it \u2013 working it, taking care of it, making it bloom - we will have to be constantly connected to the Divine.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This year is the shmita year: Shmita means a sabbatical year for the Earth but also for ourselves, our communities, and our world. Each week we continue to share thoughts on how the weekly parsha can help guide our thinking around shmita themes of work and rest, wealth and debt, responsible land use, fair labor practices, private and public property ownership, and physical and spiritual revitalization.<\/em><\/p>\r\n

See here for more information on the Hazon Shmita project, and its blogs.<\/a><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":81608,"alt":"","title":"shmita","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","width":711,"height":708,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","medium_large-width":711,"medium_large-height":708,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","large-width":711,"large-height":708,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","1536x1536-width":711,"1536x1536-height":708,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","2048x2048-width":711,"2048x2048-height":708,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","post_full_size-width":711,"post_full_size-height":708,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-422x420.jpg","home_baner-width":422,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"A Weekly Series: The \"Shmitah Parasha\" Blog","tile_main_caption":"Ekev: It Is A Land Which Hashem Your God Looks After","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"in conjunction with Hazon.org","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":81608,"alt":"","title":"shmita","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","width":711,"height":708,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","medium_large-width":711,"medium_large-height":708,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","large-width":711,"large-height":708,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","1536x1536-width":711,"1536x1536-height":708,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","2048x2048-width":711,"2048x2048-height":708,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","post_full_size-width":711,"post_full_size-height":708,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-422x420.jpg","home_baner-width":422,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":false,"wall_id":"1028"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"360","name":"Nature\/Environment","old_id":"760"},{"term_id":"368","name":"Parasha","old_id":"768"},{"term_id":"494","name":"Shmita","old_id":"894"}]},{"order":2,"id":"48167","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"What Hath God Wrought? 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We usually think of symbols as clarifying. See a flag, recognize a country. Wear a logo, demonstrate your loyalty to a sports team. Plant a sign on your lawn, and demonstrate your fealty to a candidate, cause, or proposition. Take a skiff out for the day, and in Lady Liberty\u2019s shadow you might get a glimpse of America\u2019s loftiest ideals. When you see Lady Liberty standing guard at a courthouse, you might be momentarily reassured that justice is blind. Symbols are shorthand for whole constellations of complexity, and they help us move through the world without too much explaining along the way.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Today\u2019s chapter features a powerful symbol, but one of an especially intriguing kind. The Red Heifer has come to stand in for the boundaries of rationality and the persistent force and charisma of the illogical. It is the paradigmatic commandment-without-a-reason, and in that capacity the unusually tinted bovine gives heft and presence to all the ways that we are subject to commands and demands from forces beyond our control. The ultimate domestic animal recalls the rampantly undomesticated nature of the cosmos; the logic of the backyard collides with a realm where questions have no answers and cause and effect wander with no real acquaintance.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What about the red? From all accounts, the cow is otherwise ordinary, besides for its hide. The very capriciousness of the criteria enacts the arbitrariness it personifies, and maybe that is a lesson, too; the line between the rational and the arbitrary, the logical and the mystical, the explainable and the exasperating, is just skin deep. The Red Heifer is still a cow, just a little bit different. A genetic splinter, a pigmentary outlier, yes, but not fundamentally different. It still feels rough and smooth in all the usual places, but in its reddish light we see a wild and unknowable world.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image: Michal Ben Hamu<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":107130,"alt":"","title":"-62f508c059443--62f508c059444num19-red heifer 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He and his daughter studied the Tanach again for her bat mitzvah. Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group. When not studying for 929, Josh works as an in-house lawyer in New Jersey.","short_description":"Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group, and is an in-house attorney in New Jersey. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":78134,"alt":"","title":"josh blechner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","width":276,"height":351,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-236x300.jpg","medium-width":236,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","medium_large-width":276,"medium_large-height":351,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","large-width":276,"large-height":351,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","1536x1536-width":276,"1536x1536-height":351,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","2048x2048-width":276,"2048x2048-height":351,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","post_full_size-width":276,"post_full_size-height":351,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","home_baner-width":276,"home_baner-height":351}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"136","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Cows, goats, hyssop and - symbolism\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

This is the ritual law, <\/span>chok<\/span><\/em>, <\/span><\/i>that God has commanded: Instruct the Israelite people to bring you a red cow without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which no yoke has been laid (verse 2).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Red Heifer is the quintessential example of a <\/span>chok<\/span><\/em>. According to Rashi, a <\/span>chok<\/em> <\/span>has no rational reason, so that from the outset, there is no need to explain it. A <\/span>chok<\/em> <\/span>is a <\/span>chok<\/em> <\/span>and that\u2019s that. However, the idea of a <\/span>chok<\/em> <\/span>does not stop us from trying to figure out the reasons behind certain aspects of the <\/span>chok<\/span><\/em>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

One interesting part of the Red Heifer is that it is sacrificed outside the Mishkan. Another similar <\/span>chok<\/em> <\/span>that is sacrificed outside the camp is the scapegoat, the goat sent to Azazel. The two have another connection: the color red. The Red Heifer must be entirely red, without a single non-red hair. The Azazel Goat has a red string tied to its horns before it is thrown over the cliff. Sforno explains that the color red is used to connect a passage in Isaiah \u201cBe your sins like crimson, They can turn snow-white; Be they red as dyed wool, They can become like fleece\u201d (Isaiah 1:18). This makes sense in connection with the Azazel Goat. The red crimson thread had a matching one hanging in the Temple. If God had forgiven the people, the red thread would turn white.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But what is the connection to the Red Heifer? A person who would require the Red Heifer did not commit a sin. It is simply for one who came in contact with a dead body, for any reason. Perhaps the answer lies in the use of another unique ingredient, the hyssop. The only other time the hyssop is used is part of the ceremony for the person with <\/span>tzara\u2019at<\/span><\/em>. That ceremony occurs in the Mishkan. When someone encounters death, their life is forever changed. It can be hard to move forward. The person may feel responsible for the death - as if they committed a sin - even if that is not the case.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Perhaps, the Red Heifer borrows two symbols from the <\/span>tzara\u2019at<\/em> <\/span>ceremony and the Azazel Goat as a way to remind the person that they are not condemned as a sinner and are absolved like the Azazel Goat.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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Artson is married to Elana Shavit Artson, and they are the parents of twins, Shira and Jacob.\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson is the Dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and is Vice President of American Jewish University in Los Angeles.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33993,"alt":"","title":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","width":204,"height":199,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-256x300.png","medium-width":256,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","medium_large-width":204,"medium_large-height":199,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","large-width":204,"large-height":199,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","1536x1536-width":204,"1536x1536-height":199,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","2048x2048-width":204,"2048x2048-height":199,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","post_full_size-width":204,"post_full_size-height":199,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","home_baner-width":204,"home_baner-height":199}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"136","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"From religions of death and the hereafter, to a religion of life, of people, today","post_main_content_content":"

Born in part out of the sweltering heat of Egypt, with its human hierarchies and its obsession with the afterlife luxuries afforded the rich and the powerful, ancient Israel broke with the pathologies of its oppressors and fashioned a religion that minimized social privilege, articulating a notion of covenant that includes the entire people and a God who cares for all Israel, all humanity, all creation.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

As part of that radical reorientation, the Torah also goes to great length to shift the focus of religion away from an afterlife, and toward this world. Whereas the Egyptian religion, though its Book of the Dead and its endless incantations and sacrifices, drives home the notion of a world to come that is dangerous, terrifying, and difficult to attain, the Torah says precious little about an afterlife and focuses instead on narratives and practices that enrich life in the here and now, creating a society in which everyday blessings can help each of us thrive.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In a brilliant move to cement this shift in focus to life in this world, the Torah also prevents death from being the focus of our ritual attention. \u201cOne who touches the corpse of any human being shall be unclean for seven days (Numbers 19:11).\u201d By making contact with a corpse a primary source of <\/span>tum'ah<\/span><\/em> (ritual impurity, uncleanness), Jewish law forces us to limit such contact, and with it, the focus of our spirituality. Jews are commanded to care for the dead by cleaning the body, burying the remains promptly and with dignity, and then our attention shifts back to life: the wellbeing of the mourner, helping them to process their grief and return to the world of the living.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Ancient Israel\u2019s \u201cclergy,\u201d the priests, were prohibited from contacting corpse impurity. The average Israelite was directed to minimize such contact. And with that, the Torah turns our gaze, our aspirations, and our energy toward this world, person, this day, this moment.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The time is now. The task is great. Pay attention to what is before us, and make a difference today.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Here And Now","tile_main_caption":"From religions of death and the hereafter, to a religion of life, of people. The time is now. The task is great. Pay attention to what is before us, and make a difference today.","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"19","chapter_main_number":"136","date":"20260308","wall_id":"136"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"383","name":"Death","old_id":"783"},{"term_id":"820","name":"Afterlife","old_id":"1220"}]},{"order":6,"id":"47825","color":"#e0e9ef","size":"1","name":"Moses Between A Rock & A Soft Space ","post_title":"Moses Between A Rock & A Soft Space","slug":"moses-between-a-rock-a-soft-space","old_id":"47825","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":47823,"post_title":"Bernie Steinberg","slug":"bernie-steinberg","old_id":"47823","first_name":"Bernie ","last_name":"Steinberg","description":"Bernie Steinberg is Director Emeritus, Harvard Hillel, now mentoring at M2, tutoring for Wexner Foundation, and teaching at Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, Ca. \r\n\r\n","short_description":"Bernie Steinberg is Director Emeritus, Harvard Hillel, now mentoring at M2, tutoring for Wexner Foundation, and teaching at Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, Ca. \r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":47824,"alt":"","title":"bernie steinberg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/bernie-steinberg-e1547985436722.jpg","width":166,"height":204,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/bernie-steinberg-e1547985436722-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/bernie-steinberg-300x224.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":224,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/bernie-steinberg-e1547985436722.jpg","medium_large-width":166,"medium_large-height":204,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/bernie-steinberg-e1547985436722.jpg","large-width":166,"large-height":204,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/bernie-steinberg-e1547985436722.jpg","1536x1536-width":166,"1536x1536-height":204,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/bernie-steinberg-e1547985436722.jpg","2048x2048-width":166,"2048x2048-height":204,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/bernie-steinberg-e1547985436722.jpg","post_full_size-width":166,"post_full_size-height":204,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/bernie-steinberg-e1547985436722.jpg","home_baner-width":166,"home_baner-height":204}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"137","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"God acts as therapist, not judge - but Moses misses the point","post_main_content_content":"

Consider Moses\u2019 prodigious efforts to achieve his world-transforming life-mission. Consider his personal fate. What happened!?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The people, in despair, viciously attack Moses. Moses turning away from the congregation falls on his face. The words of the people have hit home. He too despairs. Self-enclosed, each side is imprisoned in its own darkness.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In this dark moment, God appears. God does not take either Moses\u2019 side or the people\u2019s. He acts as therapist, not judge. His diagnosis: a shattered relationship that needs healing. He prescribes three constructive steps: 1. C<\/span>onvene the people.<\/span><\/i> You need to see, and be seen by the people. \u00a02) <\/span>Speak <\/span><\/i>to the rock. Change the discourse. Talk, don\u2019t rant, so that you can be heard. Focus on a concrete problem. We can get water. \u00a0We have been down this path before (eg <\/span>Exodus<\/span><\/i> 17:6). 3) \u00a0Don\u2019t reduce the message to the technical water problem. Also address the underlying question: What does water mean to them at deeper levels? Sometimes what people don\u2019t say is the most important. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

At a deep level, water evokes Miriam, mother of freedom, who had embraced the Israelites with joyous song as they had emerged from a tunnel of water at the Sea of Reeds. \u00a0Water symbolizes \u201cMiriam\u2019s well\u201d, her endless nurturing throughout 40 years in dry and dangerous terrain. Suddenly with no warning and no time of mourning, Miriam is dead and buried, and now no water (20:1).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

God wants Moses to tell the people: I will assume Miriam\u2019s role, however feebly. I will take care of you. Note the language: \u201c<\/span>You <\/span>can <\/span>bring out<\/span> for them <\/span>water from the rock and <\/span>you can give drink to the congregation and their flock<\/span>\u201d (20: 8). \u00a0It is not simply getting water, but the <\/span>intentional act of giving <\/span><\/i>water to thirsting and grieving people. Moses is to nurture them at the \u00a0depths of their vulnerability.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Yet Moses misses God\u2019s point. He easily solves the technical problem\u2014he compels the rock to yield water to no one in particular. The people do \u201cget\u201d gushing water yet are drenched in Moses\u2019 anger and resentment.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Moses fails at the wrong time, the month of redemption, and place, Kadesh, a space for sanctification (20:1)\u2014 \u00a0also named Ein Shofet, \u201cSpring of Judgment.\u201d Moses broke faith because he did not \u201csanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel\u201d (20:12) \u00a0when he was so sorely needed to evoke My presence to reassure a desperate people.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Yet who would have the audacity to judge Moses? Moses too mourned Miriam. \u00a0Unlike the people, he grieved over his very own sister, the woman\u2014who before redeeming the Jewish people\u2014 had redeemed him from a genocidal death sentence, \u00a0had cared for him in childhood, had\u2014 from then until now\u2014 sustained him throughout his perilous service, perishing in a desolate spot along the way\u2014 too-long before journey\u2019s end. <\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":81801,"alt":"","title":"ps27-therapy","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy.jpg","width":5500,"height":4000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy-300x218.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":218,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy-768x559.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":559,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy-1024x745.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":745,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1117,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1489,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy-1200x873.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":873,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy-578x420.jpg","home_baner-width":578,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Moses Between A Rock & A Soft Space","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"God acts as therapist, not judge - but Moses misses the point","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":81801,"alt":"","title":"ps27-therapy","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy.jpg","width":5500,"height":4000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy-300x218.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":218,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy-768x559.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":559,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy-1024x745.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":745,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1117,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1489,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy-1200x873.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":873,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-therapy-578x420.jpg","home_baner-width":578,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"137","date":"20260309","wall_id":"137"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"386","name":"Psychology","old_id":"786"},{"term_id":"397","name":"Moses","old_id":"797"}]},{"order":7,"id":"47856","color":"#faeed8","size":"1","name":"In The Presence of the Rock ","post_title":"In The Presence Of The Rock","slug":"in-the-presence-of-the-rock","old_id":"47856","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34004,"post_title":"Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg","slug":"avivah-gottlieb-zornberg","old_id":"34004","first_name":"Avivah Gottlieb","last_name":"Zornberg","description":"Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg lives in Jerusalem where she has been lecturing on Torah since 1980. 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","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34006,"alt":"","title":"Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","width":454,"height":359,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg-300x237.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":237,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","medium_large-width":454,"medium_large-height":359,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","large-width":454,"large-height":359,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","1536x1536-width":454,"1536x1536-height":359,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","2048x2048-width":454,"2048x2048-height":359,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","post_full_size-width":454,"post_full_size-height":359,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avivah-Gottlieb-Zornberg.jpg","home_baner-width":454,"home_baner-height":359}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"137","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Moses denies the people a vision of faith and intimate connection","post_main_content_content":"

At the end, at Meribah, God tells Moses and Aaron: \u201cYou shall <\/span>speak<\/span><\/i> to the rock <\/span>before their eyes<\/span><\/i>.\u201d Once before they had seen sounds: at Mount Sinai, they had \u201cseen the voices\u201d (Exod. 20:15). Something of the power of God\u2019s word had affected them with the primal, traumatic impact of vision. Perhaps, suggests Meshech Chochmah<\/em>, now, at the end of the wilderness time, as they are about to reenact the Sinai Covenant, God wishes them to re-experience the visionary impact of the word. At Sinai, they had been confronted with its demand. Now, each individual will envisage Moses delivering that impact to unimpressible rock. They will bring themselves to bear on the scene; their eyes will be sanctified by <\/span>seeing<\/span><\/i> the holy word.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

However, Moses, because of his anger with the people, calls only on their sense of <\/span>hearing<\/span><\/i>: \u201cListen now, you rebels, shall we bring water forth for you from this rock?\u201d <\/span>Seeing<\/span><\/i> God\u2019s message would have generated faith, trust, intimate connection. But he fails to engage their depth perception of the moment. To see God\u2019s words is to bring one\u2019s personal presence-conscious and unconscious-to the scene; to be affected to the roots of one\u2019s being by something staged before one\u2019s eyes.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But for this to happen, one must have eyes that can see. Such an intensity of vision is evoked in the midrash: \u201cEach person saw himself standing in the presence of the rock.\u201d \u00a0This is a scene of presences: the people are gathered <\/span>el pnei ha-sela--face-to-face<\/span><\/em> with the rock. Each person sees his\/her own presence in the presence of the rock. Looking at the thing, one endows it with a face; a space is created between two faces. One enhances the rock with one\u2019s own life.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The English psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott calls the space between mother and baby <\/span>potential space<\/span><\/em>; it is electric with fantasy and dream. In this space, mother and baby create each other. Facing the rock, each person experiences him\/herself facing the rock.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Excerpted from: \u00a0<\/span>Bewilderments<\/span><\/i>, Schocken Books, 2017, \u00a0\u201cHeart of Stone, Heart of Flesh,\u201d Chapter 8, Page 221.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":78824,"alt":"","title":"zeph1-face","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face.jpg","width":6000,"height":4000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1365,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"In The Presence Of The Rock","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Moses denies the people a vision of faith and intimate connection","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":78824,"alt":"","title":"zeph1-face","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face.jpg","width":6000,"height":4000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1365,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/zeph1-face-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"137","date":"20260309","wall_id":"137"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"375","name":"Faith","old_id":"775"},{"term_id":"384","name":"God","old_id":"784"},{"term_id":"443","name":"See\/hear","old_id":"843"}]},{"order":8,"id":"47879","color":"#e6f5f3","size":"1","name":"A Song Bursts Forth ","post_title":"A Song Bursts Forth","slug":"a-song-bursts-forth","old_id":"47879","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":47016,"post_title":"Ilana Blumberg","slug":"ilana-blumberg","old_id":"47016","first_name":"Ilana ","last_name":"Blumberg ","description":"Ilana Blumberg is a prize-winning author and teacher. Her most recent book is the memoir, \"Open Your Hand: Teaching as a Jew, Teaching as an American\" (Rutgers UP, 2018). She directs the Shaindy Rudoff Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Bar Ilan University and lives in Jerusalem with her family.","short_description":"Ilana Blumberg is a prize-winning author and teacher.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":47017,"alt":"","title":"ilana blumberg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/ilana-blumberg-e1546807007295.jpg","width":188,"height":249,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/ilana-blumberg-e1546807007295-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/ilana-blumberg-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/ilana-blumberg-e1546807007295.jpg","medium_large-width":188,"medium_large-height":249,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/ilana-blumberg-e1546807007295.jpg","large-width":188,"large-height":249,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/ilana-blumberg-e1546807007295.jpg","1536x1536-width":188,"1536x1536-height":249,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/ilana-blumberg-e1546807007295.jpg","2048x2048-width":188,"2048x2048-height":249,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/ilana-blumberg-e1546807007295.jpg","post_full_size-width":188,"post_full_size-height":249,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/ilana-blumberg-e1546807007295.jpg","home_baner-width":188,"home_baner-height":249}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"138","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"It sings the people back to the Well, and back to the ancestors","post_main_content_content":"

Chapter 21 is a chapter of aftermath. It tells us what it means to return to the extraordinary range of challenges that simply <\/span>resume, <\/span><\/i>as if we could possibly be ready, after massively dislocating events, events that alter the landscape in every possible way. Anyone who has undergone a deep loss or profound change but had to return to life within a dictated period of time knows what this challenge is like. We know that as we move forward, some other vector of experience moves in a different direction, from surface to depth.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In Chapter 20, we experience too much to manage. \u00a0In Chapter 21, we find ourselves after the death of Miriam, after the complaining that follows that death, after the event of Moses and Aaron gathering the people before a rock. Moses strikes the rock when he has not been instructed to use the staff, and God decrees that neither brother will lead the people into the promised land. It is irreversible, inexplicable, devastating. The children of Israel continue on their journey until God tells Moses that Aaron will die after transferring his priestly garments to his son. Precisely this transmission happens and then Aaron dies and the people mourn thirty days.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Chapter 20 ends. Both Moses\u2019 siblings are gone, we know that Moses too will die, that he will not enter the land, that we will leave him, too, behind.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And the narrative continues. It simply continues.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Chapter 21 picks up with journeying, and battle, and more complaining, and more petitioning of God for protection. But in the midst of this slew of events, we read that the children of Israel sing a song praying for water. It is an extremely short song compared to some of the songs we know in the Bible. \u201cRise up, O well, sing to it\/The well the chieftains dug\/ The nobles of the people started\/\u2026 with their own staffs\u201d (21:17-18).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What is this song? To my ear, it is the verse in the chapter that registers the \u201cas if\u201d of continuing. This song, this prayer, sings the aftermath of Miriam\u2019s death, and Aaron\u2019s transmission of the priesthood, and Aaron\u2019s death, and the rock and the water, and the staff, always the staff, and the recognition that Moses, too, will be left behind. This song sings the people back to the well, back to the prayers for water, to the diggers of wells, to those who made our covenants, to our ancestors. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Song bursts forth, because while we go on and the life of forward movement continues, the depths intersect that forward movement with the need for expression. <\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":61157,"alt":"","title":"2sam23-song","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam23-song.png","width":1034,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam23-song-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam23-song-242x300.png","medium-width":242,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam23-song-768x951.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":951,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam23-song-827x1024.png","large-width":827,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam23-song.png","1536x1536-width":1034,"1536x1536-height":1280,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam23-song.png","2048x2048-width":1034,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam23-song-969x1200.png","post_full_size-width":969,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam23-song-339x420.png","home_baner-width":339,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"A Song Bursts Forth","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"It sings the people back to the Well, and back to the ancestors","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":61157,"alt":"","title":"2sam23-song","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam23-song.png","width":1034,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam23-song-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam23-song-242x300.png","medium-width":242,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam23-song-768x951.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":951,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam23-song-827x1024.png","large-width":827,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam23-song.png","1536x1536-width":1034,"1536x1536-height":1280,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam23-song.png","2048x2048-width":1034,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam23-song-969x1200.png","post_full_size-width":969,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam23-song-339x420.png","home_baner-width":339,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"21","chapter_main_number":"138","date":"20260310","wall_id":"138"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"687","name":"Routine","old_id":"1087"},{"term_id":"802","name":"Song","old_id":"1202"}]},{"order":9,"id":"47732","color":"#f6edf6","size":"2","name":"The Lapsed Rock-Whisperer ","post_title":"The Lapsed Rock-Whisperer","slug":"the-lapsed-rock-whisperer","old_id":"47732","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":46656,"post_title":"Molly Morris","slug":"molly-morris","old_id":"46656","first_name":"Molly ","last_name":"Morris ","description":"Molly Morris holds a Masters degree in Leadership and Community Engagement. Her particular area of interest is biblical leadership. Molly participates in the 929 initiative with a dedicated group from the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto congregation. \r\n\r\n","short_description":"Molly Morris holds a Masters degree in Leadership and Community Engagement. 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When, following the death of Miriam, the flow of water from Miriam\u2019s well stopped, the people complained bitterly to Moses. God instructed Moses to bring them water by speaking to a particular rock so the people would see the water flow from it \u201cbefore their eyes\u201d (20:8). But as we know, Moses didn\u2019t speak to the rock: instead he hit the rock - twice - until water flowed. And for this transgression God punished Moses with the denial of entry to the land of Israel. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

There are many popular commentaries on what exactly Moses\u2019 sin was: speaking harshly to the people; letting his temper get the better of him and striking the rock; striking it not just once but twice. In rebuking Moses for this transgression, God says the punishment is \u201cbecause you did not believe in me to sanctify me in the eyes of the Children of Israel (20:12).\u201d Surely it couldn\u2019t be that Moses lacked faith in God and His miracles for the Israelites. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Ramban posits that the phrase of rebuke should actually be understood as \u201cbecause you did not cause <\/span>them <\/span><\/i>to believe in Me.\u201d The Israelites had already seen water come from a struck rock (in Exodus 17:6), so the impact of now seeing God provide water from a rock in this new way - by Moses speaking to the rock - \u00a0was a new opportunity to infuse the Children of Israel with a renewed, stronger faith in God. Just as the rock-striking was a transgression of God\u2019s instruction, so too was it a lapse in Moses\u2019 role as a leader, and that of any leader, to provide their followers with opportunities for personal growth.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image:\u00a0Moses Smiteth the Rock in the Desert, c. 1896-1902, by James Jacques Joseph Tissot (French, 1836-1902) - wikimedia<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":47851,"alt":"","title":"num20JTissot","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot.jpg","width":445,"height":310,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot-300x209.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":209,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot.jpg","medium_large-width":445,"medium_large-height":310,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot.jpg","large-width":445,"large-height":310,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot.jpg","1536x1536-width":445,"1536x1536-height":310,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot.jpg","2048x2048-width":445,"2048x2048-height":310,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot.jpg","post_full_size-width":445,"post_full_size-height":310,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot.jpg","home_baner-width":445,"home_baner-height":310}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The Lapsed Rock-Whisperer","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Was Moses' failure theological - or pedagogical?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":47851,"alt":"","title":"num20JTissot","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot.jpg","width":445,"height":310,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot-300x209.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":209,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot.jpg","medium_large-width":445,"medium_large-height":310,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot.jpg","large-width":445,"large-height":310,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot.jpg","1536x1536-width":445,"1536x1536-height":310,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot.jpg","2048x2048-width":445,"2048x2048-height":310,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot.jpg","post_full_size-width":445,"post_full_size-height":310,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num20JTissot.jpg","home_baner-width":445,"home_baner-height":310}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Numbers","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"137","date":"20260309","wall_id":"137"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"377","name":"Speech\/words","old_id":"777"},{"term_id":"397","name":"Moses","old_id":"797"},{"term_id":"400","name":"Sin","old_id":"800"}]},{"order":10,"id":"107167","color":"#f7f7f5","size":"1","name":"Miriam\u2019s Death, The People\u2019s Loss ","post_title":"Miriam\u2019s Death, The People\u2019s Loss","slug":"miriams-death-the-peoples-loss","old_id":"107167","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":101758,"post_title":"Naomi Bromberg Bar-Yam","slug":"naomi-bromberg-bar-yam","old_id":"101758","first_name":"Naomi ","last_name":"Bromberg Bar-Yam ","description":"Naomi Bromberg Bar-Yam is a social worker and advocate in maternal and child health. 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Today\u2019s chapter opens with Miriam\u2019s death followed immediately by a lack of water and her brother Moses hitting the rock rather than speaking to it, resulting in his being forbidden to enter the land of Israel.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In Chapter 12, we described Miriam\u2019s service to her people. She understood when to stand back - when she followed her brother through the reeds of the Nile - and when to step forward and act - to find him the perfect wet nurse, to include the women in the Israelites\u2019 celebration of their liberation.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In addition to her own actions, Miriam and her brothers formed a powerful team, each with their own role, and complementing one another.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Her personal leadership was important on its own and an indispensable part of the team that was Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. Moses brought to the people and taught them the laws of God and communicated between God and the people at this most vulnerable time. Aaron, as High Priest, guided the people in <\/span>mitzvot \u201cbein adam l'makom\u201d <\/span><\/i>- between people and God - the ritual acts that sanctify the people of God. Miriam taught the people <\/span>mitzvot bein adam l'haveiro <\/span><\/i>(between people) - the human interactions that sanctify the people of God.\u00a0 Together the three siblings led the people from slavery to freedom and nationhood.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

With Miriam\u2019s death, the team was incomplete and off balance. Miriam's death, mentioned briefly, immediately precedes Moses\u2019 hitting the rock and subsequent punishment of Moshe and Aaron not being able to enter the land of Israel (Numbers 20: 9-12).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

On the simplest level, it is understandable that, just after his sister's death, Moses was not at his best, he lost patience with his \u201cstiff necked\u201d and trying people. On a deeper level, with Miriam's death, a powerful interdependent complementary partnership among the three siblings had been broken. Moses had pleaded many times with God to intercede on behalf of the people, and Miriam worked <\/span>among<\/span><\/i> the people to help curb and redirect their behavior. When she died, only Moses, the lawgiver and divine\/people intercessor and Aaron, the ritual connector between the people and God, remained.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

There is a midrash that, on Miriam\u2019s merit, a well followed the people throughout their journey in the desert so they had water, a tangible representation of the sustenance her presence in their midst provided.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When Miriam died, the well and her immediate presence disappeared. Hence the people\u2019s bitter complaints right after her death, and Moses\u2019 inability to set things right. Absent Miriam, he and Aaron could not bring the people into the land of Israel.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Effective leadership requires a team, some members more visible than others. Loss of a team member has profound impact until balance can be restored.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: courtesy of the author<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":107168,"alt":"","title":"-62f8d48e076f1--62f8d48e076f2num20-Bar Yam 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Death, The People\u2019s Loss","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Miriam completed the leadership triumvirate, with her own special contribution","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":107168,"alt":"","title":"-62f8d48e076f1--62f8d48e076f2num20-Bar Yam 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On The Road, But Now They Are On Their Way ","post_title":"Still On The Road, But Now They Are On Their Way","slug":"still-on-the-road-but-now-they-are-on-their-way","old_id":"47863","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33859,"post_title":"Avidan Freedman","slug":"avidan-freedman","old_id":"33859","first_name":"Avidan","last_name":"Freedman","description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. He is an activist advocating for moral limits on Israeli arms exports, and on behalf of African refugees, and a proud husband and father of 5. He received his rabbinical ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York, and from the Israeli chief rabbinate.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. ","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33860,"alt":"Avidan Freedman","title":"Avidan Freedman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","width":856,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-251x300.jpg","medium-width":251,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-768x919.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":919,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-856x1024.jpg","large-width":856,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","1536x1536-width":856,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","2048x2048-width":856,"2048x2048-height":1024,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-800x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-351x420.jpg","home_baner-width":351,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"138","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"That Jews will complain is a given: but when we own our complaints and grow from them, we can see our journey in a new light","post_main_content_content":"

Before they arrive at their final destination, the Jewish people must retrace their steps. But these are not the aimless wanderings that have defined their last 40 years. These are the travels of a new people taking ownership of their past.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We see many of the significant stations of the journey repeated, but with a twist. Instead of Moses and Joshua leading the battle against Amalek, it is Israel as a whole who makes an oath to God and goes to battle against the desert dwellers, here called \u2018Canaan\u2019. Instead of Moses calling forth water from the rock, it is the Jewish people who sing to it. Instead of Moses sending messengers to request passage, again, it is the nation.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This rehashing of history is not enthusiastically embraced by the nation, at least not initially. Having tasted war, defeat and victory, they feel ready to finally enter the land. Their complaint sounds similar to the murmurings of the past, but this time there\u2019s no nostalgia for Egypt, only impatience. \u201cWere we brought out of Egypt to die in the desert?\u201d There was a purpose to the exodus, and we\u2019re ready to realize it. We\u2019re tired of the manna- we want to make our own bread!<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The people may not realize it, but this misstep is also a new step, and a redemption of past sins. For the first time, when they suffer the consequences of their complaint, it isn\u2019t Moses or God who immediately intercedes on their behalf. First, the nation takes responsibility for their misdeed, they repent, and only then do they enlist Moses\u2019s help.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

That Jews will complain is a given, a part of our birthright. But when we are able to then own our complaints and grow from them, we can suddenly see our journey in a new light. No longer exhausting and monotonous, in the middle of chapter 21, the Jewish people sing each station on their journey as part of a song that rises and falls and rises again, \u201cAnd from Matana, Nachliel, and from Nachliel to Bamot. And from Bamot, the heights, to the valley in Moav country, the top of peak, looking out on the desolation\u201d.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":77825,"alt":"","title":"jon1-journey 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and Blindness ","post_title":"Hubris And Blindness","slug":"hubris-and-blindness","old_id":"47945","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33923,"post_title":"Jonathan Sacks","slug":"rabbi-lord-jonathan-sacks","old_id":"33923","first_name":"Jonathan ","last_name":"Sacks","description":"An international religious leader, philosopher, and award-winning author of over 35 books, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks served as the International President of 929.\r\nRabbi Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth years between 1991 and 2013, and was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen in 2005 and made a Life Peer. Rabbi Sacks passed away on 7th November 2020, aged 72. He was one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of the 20th century, who bridged the religious and secular world through his ground-breaking canon of work.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z\"k (1948-2020) was the former Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth, and the International 929 president.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36222,"alt":"","title":"JSacks","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","width":437,"height":548,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-239x300.jpg","medium-width":239,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-768x448.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":448,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-1024x597.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":597,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","1536x1536-width":437,"1536x1536-height":548,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","2048x2048-width":437,"2048x2048-height":548,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","post_full_size-width":437,"post_full_size-height":548,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-335x420.jpg","home_baner-width":335,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"139","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Satire descends into farce as the desire to curse turns into unforgettable blessings","post_main_content_content":"

The best way of understanding the Torah\u2019s approach to human self-pretension is through examples. The obvious case is Balaam. Balaam is the archetype of the shaman, the wonder-worker who uses religion in a way the Torah regards as blasphemous, as a means of enlisting supernatural powers to human ends. As Balak, King of Moab says to him: \u201cNow come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed\u201d (22:6).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Balaam goes through the usual formalities. He cannot, he says, do anything against God\u2019s will. He must first find out whether the mission is acceptable. This turns out however to be mere show because when a second attempt is made to persuade him, promising him more honor and reward, he consults with God again, proving that he believes that God, like man, can change His mind, be bribed and so on. God is angry, though the text does not tell us this yet. The form His anger takes is that He gives permission to Balaam to go. Since Balaam has shown he only half-accepts the answer \u201cNo,\u201d God gives him the answer \u201cYes.\u201d The sages described this as the rule that \u201cWhere you want to go, that is where you\u00a0<\/span>will be led\u201d (Makkot 10b). The next morning Balaam sets out, and the famous scene with the ass takes place. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

A joke is being played on Balaam. His ass sees an angel that Balaam, the greatest seer of his age, cannot see. The ass speaks, proving what God told Moses at the burning bush: \u201cWho gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord?\u201d (Ex.4:11). Balaam has the hubris to think he\u00a0<\/span>is the master of God\u2019s word, that he can decide who will be blessed and cursed. God shows him that even an ass can see and speak if God wills it. Balaam cannot see an angel with a drawn sword even when it is directly in front of him, and far from cursing the Israelites finds himself losing a moral argument with a talking donkey. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Satire descends into farce as the man Balak has offered a fortune to curse the Israelites proceeds to bestow on them some of the most unforgettable blessings in the entire Torah. This happens because Balak and Balaam believe that blessings and curses are for sale and that divine powers can be exploited for human ends.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Excerpted from the <\/span>Koren Pesach Machzor<\/span><\/em>, <\/span><\/i>p.103<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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Balaam\u2019s donkey not only refused to cross the angel\u2019s path, she began to speak, protesting Balaam\u2019s harsh treatment. Balaam retorts that had he possessed a sword he would kill the animal. There is irony in this response; the prophet set to destroy an entire nation with words could not control one relatively harmless animal. It is the angel in the story who possesses the sword, and it is the angel who poses a threat.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In 1626, Rembrandt painted Balaam and his donkey in all of its violence and force. One of his earliest paintings, Rembrandt\u2019s colors are brighter than in his later works. By choosing a vertical composition, the artist brings the characters nearer each other and closer, in perception, to the viewer, creating greater dynamism and tension. Our eyes travel from the left hand corner with the angel\u2019s blunt sword to the golden hue of Balaam\u2019s left foot. The donkey is not looking at the angel but staring with pleading eyes at his cruel and blind master. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Balaam\u2019s raised arm is tensed and muscular as his right hand tightens the reins on his poor, suffering beast. Enhancing the vertical flow, Balaam pulls the stick from a satchel holding maps. This, too, adds a touch of irony. The donkey knows his way and should be his guide, but Balaam did not trust the donkey. He needed maps which remain unopened and useless in the current circumstances. In the background we find Moabite delegates staring blankly at the events unfolding before them. What was a royal mission has turned into a dangerous confrontation. The animal\u2019s front leg is again bent unnaturally - in contrast to the calm horse and rider behind Balaam who do not know what was happening - but this time it is to stop his master. The donkey\u2019s mouth is open and he is about to speak, in the painting as well as in the text.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Balaam wears the regalia that we have come to expect of one of Rembrandt\u2019s biblical characters. His clothing is aflame in gold and crimson, the colors of his fiery anger. The dark sockets of his eyes give the impression of blindness and in this painting the vision is amiss. No one looks at another. No one makes eye contact. The eyes of all are still veiled. Rembrandt\u2019s message is clear. Donkeys who can speak are less of a surprise than a Seer who cannot see.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image: by Rembrandt - Mbzt, Public Domain, 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He taught at the Hebrew Union College (Jerusalem), The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Schechter Institute for Judaic Studies in Jerusalem, and at the Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheba, Israel. During 1993 he was Visiting Associate Professor at Yale University, and during 1996 he was the Stroum Professor of Jewish Studies and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle. During 2005, Bregman served as the Harry Starr Fellow in Judaica at Harvard University and was awarded a Teaching Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He also has served as Forchheimer Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is the author of The Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature: Studies in the Evolution of the Versions (Gorgias Press, 2003). In 2006, Bregman was appointed the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, where he also headed the program in Jewish Studies, until 2013. Bregman retired from UNCG as of July 31, 2017. 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The first part of our chapter relates the tragic story of Mei-Meribah (\u201cthe Waters of Quarrelling\u201d -- Numbers 20:1-13, compare Exodus 17:1-7). Again, the people complain to Moses, this time at Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin, that there is no water for them or their animals. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Moses is told by God: \u201cYou and your brother Aaron take the rod and assemble the community, and before their very eyes order the rock to yield its water. Thus, you shall produce water for them from the rock and provide drink for the congregation and their beasts\u2019\u2026Moses and Aaron assembled the congregation in front of the rock; and he [Moses] said to them, \u2018Listen you rebels! Shall we get water for you out of this rock?\u2019 And Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod. Out came copious water, and the community and their beasts drank\u201d (verses 8-11). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Then -- surprisingly \u2013 Moses and Aaron are punished by God: \u201cBut the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, \u2018Because you did not trust Me enough to affirm My sanctity in the sight of the Israelite people, therefore you shall not lead this congregation into the land that I have given them\u2019\u201d. (verse 12). Considering that Moses may have shown only a momentary lack of faith by physically striking the rock, rather than by just commanding it verbally as God had ordered (compare Exodus 17:3-7), the punishment meted out to him here seems overly harsh. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

According to the Midrash (Tanhuma Huqqat 10 and parallels) Moses could have challenged God by saying: \u201cI did not transgress Your words! Why am I to be punished by dying before leading the people into the Promised Land?! A parable graphically depicts such a problematic situation. Two women were punished by a court, one who corrupted herself (through prostitution) and the other who only committed the minor offense of eating prohibited unripe figs in the Sabbatical Year. The one who committed the minor offense petitioned the court to publicize her offense so that people will know that she did not commit a serious crime. So too Moses said to the Holy One, Blessed be He, because you have condemned me to die in the Desert together with this wicked generation who angered You, people will think that I was just like them. Let it be written about me for what I am being punished. And so, it is written, \u201cBecause you did not trust Me enough to affirm My sanctity in the sight of the Israelite people, therefore you shall not lead this congregation into the land that I have given them\u201d. God replied: Your eulogy will be that you led sixty myriads out of Egypt and laid them to rest in the Desert. But you will again lead into the promised land those who died in the Desert, when you and they are resurrected in the World to Come.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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Natasha hails from the grassy hills of Hertfordshire, England, and has spent most of her adult life between Los Angeles and the Holy City of Jerusalem. Natasha has worked in Jewish education and the non-profit world, promoting better education and legislation on human trafficking issues. 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When Balak asks Balaam to curse the Israelites, Balaam opens his mouth and out fall blessings. Balak\u2019s motivations for hiring Balaam are clear: he is a great warrior, but is nonetheless concerned about warring with the wandering Israelites, and seeks to decrease their power. The motivations of the Almighty are less clear to parse. We know that the Divine interrupts Balaam and weaves blessings for our ancestors, but surely God could simply ignore Balaam\u2019s attempts, and Balaam\u2019s curse would be empty and ineffective. Are we to believe that Balaam has the power to curse the Israelites independently of the Almighty? Furthermore, are we to believe that the Israelites are in need of a blessing from a foreign prophet when they have the Divine fighting in their corner? <\/span><\/p>\r\n

In exploring this question, Abravanel reminds us that Balaam is world famous for his status as a prophet. Indeed, Balaam\u2019s name has survived history outside of the Torah and Jewish sources (see the Deir Alla Inscription). It is precisely Balaam\u2019s renown as a prophet that provides Abravanel\u2019s understanding of the divine motivation for interrupting Balaam\u2019s efforts: the psychological effect of a curse. Balaam\u2019s power does not rest solely with the Divine, because there is significant psychological power in words. Balaam\u2019s words cannot remain with him on the mountaintop, as the words of the famous travel far and wide. Had the story gone differently, according to Abravanel, Balaam\u2019s curse would have empowered our enemies to attack. It stands to reason, too, that had the Israelites heard of the curse, they might have been emotionally weakened in a time that called for great courage. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The story of Balaam is one of Divine blessings and prophetic curses, but it is also a story of the human power afforded to us all: the power to influence one another. May we all use that great power to bring blessings into the world. <\/span>
\r\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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