Tuesday, August 03, 2004
Sparks From Israel
The Enforcers
Living in Israel one sees the direct hand of Hashem in many ways. He speaks to people through many intermediaries, from people, to the rocks of the Kotel, even through Jelly Fish. To those who love the sea, it was particularly difficult not to notice Hashem’s messengers which arrived on schedule at the beginning of the three weeks.
According to our traditions, we are forbidden to go bathing for the three weeks that precede Tisha B’Av and there to enforce the laws of Heaven were frightening and ugly Jelly Fish (Medussa’s in Israel) that sting worse than bumble bees and kept many of the regulars from violating the laws of Heaven. As mysteriously as they arrived in abundance, they all suddenly left just after Tisha B’av without a trace. Only in the Land of Israel!
Chukat – The Shoa – and The Birth of Israel
It appears to me that there is a connection between Parsha Chukat, the Shoa and the birth of modern day Israel. The apparent illogical process of the Para Aduma which purifies while causing impurity in the process is not so illogical when one stands at our viewpoint of history and looks backward. The sin of the snakes, which punishes as well as cures, is also a similar concept. The Shoa too was a punishment that contains within it the cure that we must come to understand.
We learn another difficult idea in this Parsha that the death of the spiritual leaders of the generation, atone for the generation by their death. Let us examine for a moment the mistakes of the people and the spiritual leadership that resulted in tragedies and the consequences of these tragedies that resulted eventually in purity coming from impurity, and new life coming from death.
In the Haftorah we see the rectification of histories mistakes that lead to the conquest of Biblical Israel and also guide us today with the answers that we still are searching for; answers that have taken a devastating toll on the Nation to discover.
There is a Midrash that tells us that the Para Aduma is a symbol of Nation of Israel. Each part of the cow represents a different part of the Nation, from Torah scholars, to those who support the scholars, even the dung of the cow which represents the lowliest parts of the Nation. All are placed together and burned on the Alter, and from this sacrifice comes the elixir that purifies the Nation.
What were the faults of the Nation that led to the national tragedy? It is through understanding the difficult questions of our time, which was similar to their time that we can come to understand these ideas and produce the elixir that purifies.
The Rebirth of the Nation
Why were the greatest leaders of the generation denied entrance to the Land? What were their mistakes and the mistakes of the generation? The Midrash tells us that the generation of the dessert were not only condemned to die in the dessert but were also commanded to dig their own graves (a familiar image). How could a people on the verge of such glory as they left Egypt end up in such tragic circumstances?
How could it be that after praying thousands of years for the rebirth of Israel that our own generation failed to see its doors opening even to save their lives? And what gave birth to the new generation that conquered the Land if not for the tragic mistakes of their fathers?
The Rock
One of the keys to understanding this catastrophe lies within understanding why Moshe was punished for hitting the rock. Chazal tells us many reasons, some of the more famous ones are: Moshe hit the rock instead of speaking to the rock. He got angry when Hashem wasn’t angry. He and Aaron were being punished for the previous sins of the golden calf and the spies. Moshe had an opportunity to raise the consciousness of the nation which he failed to do.
If we think back to the generation that entered Israel in our own times before the Shoa and the response of the spiritual leadership then which still echoes in our own time, we might understand these ideas clearer.
Was Hashem really angry at the Zionists for their complaints? If the religious leaders spoke to the nation and showed them that water was coming from the rocks of the land of Israel and that the re-birth of the Nation was a clear sign of Hashem’s blessings, maybe millions of Jews might have gone to Israel when they could have. Instead there was a war between the lovers of the Land and the guardians of the religion.
It’s interesting to note that the rock that Moshe hit, according to the Midrash, was the same rock that gave water to Hagar. This seems to indicate that there is connection between the rock that sustained Ishmael and that which sustains Israel. The punishments inflicted on the Nation of Israel in the past and in our own time seem to be due to our rejection of the desirable land. Ishmael on the other hand is sustained by the very rock that is rejected by the Israelite Nation.
The Cure
In Parsha Pinchas Hashem says a second time that the reason the leadership is being denied entry into the Land is because they failed to sanctify His name. In the same Parsha Yehoshua and Calev are distinguished for doing the opposite. It seems that the general rule is that leadership that appeases the people as Aaron did with the golden calf, or Moshe did, in the episode of the spies, will eventually lead to the long road of redemption, while those who stood against the mob like Calev, Yehoshua, and Pinchas, were rewarded by bringing the people into the land.
In Parsha Devarim which often falls during Tisha Bav the sins that lead to National catastrophe are further explained. The Meraglim who were great leaders of stature, we are told, slandered the good Land and had a powerfully negative influence on the Nation. In the Haftorah of Chukat Hashem tells us what He despises most - Mendacity amidst assemblage; piety that masks lack of faith.
‘He shall make war for you, like everything He did for you in Egypt, before your eyes. And in the Wilderness, as you have seen, that Hashem your G-d, bore you, as a man carries his son, on the entire way that you traveled, until you arrived at this place. Yet in this matter you do not believe in Hashem your G-d, Who goes before you on the way…(Devarim 29-33).
One can be a very pious Jew, but still it is in this way that we lacked faith then, and today. We are told that Calev and Yehoshua believed in Hashem fully!. We didn’t believe fully that Hashem would walk in front of us and lead us into the Land. Instead we slandered the Land and because we were afraid to forge our destiny as we were commanded to do, we exchanged it instead for a set of rituals called Judaism. This piety that lacks faith has resulted in terrible tragedy.
Chukat describes the inevitable punishments of running away from our destiny and the mistakes of leadership. The rectification which begins with the new leadership of Yehoshua and Calev and the zealous acts of Pinchas affected the cure that was finally resolved in the end of history by the Haftorah of Devarim.
Former Jewish enemies resolved their differences in order to repel an enemy of the newly formed Jewish Nation. The enemy of the Jews at that time offered a peace treaty in exchange for land, the same claim as today. They bargain with the Jewish conquerors, that they wont make war, if only these conquerors would give them back Land that they felt was theirs previously.
But the Jewish leadership and people had changed. They no longer saw these enemies as giants and themselves small, but rather as Calev and Yehoshua saw them – Goliaths who’s time of retribution had come.
In the end, the answer they received was the same answer we will give one day to both villains and imposters of piety. ‘All that your god gives to you he has given you, all he has given us he gives to us.’ End of story.
The Enforcers
Living in Israel one sees the direct hand of Hashem in many ways. He speaks to people through many intermediaries, from people, to the rocks of the Kotel, even through Jelly Fish. To those who love the sea, it was particularly difficult not to notice Hashem’s messengers which arrived on schedule at the beginning of the three weeks.
According to our traditions, we are forbidden to go bathing for the three weeks that precede Tisha B’Av and there to enforce the laws of Heaven were frightening and ugly Jelly Fish (Medussa’s in Israel) that sting worse than bumble bees and kept many of the regulars from violating the laws of Heaven. As mysteriously as they arrived in abundance, they all suddenly left just after Tisha B’av without a trace. Only in the Land of Israel!
Chukat – The Shoa – and The Birth of Israel
It appears to me that there is a connection between Parsha Chukat, the Shoa and the birth of modern day Israel. The apparent illogical process of the Para Aduma which purifies while causing impurity in the process is not so illogical when one stands at our viewpoint of history and looks backward. The sin of the snakes, which punishes as well as cures, is also a similar concept. The Shoa too was a punishment that contains within it the cure that we must come to understand.
We learn another difficult idea in this Parsha that the death of the spiritual leaders of the generation, atone for the generation by their death. Let us examine for a moment the mistakes of the people and the spiritual leadership that resulted in tragedies and the consequences of these tragedies that resulted eventually in purity coming from impurity, and new life coming from death.
In the Haftorah we see the rectification of histories mistakes that lead to the conquest of Biblical Israel and also guide us today with the answers that we still are searching for; answers that have taken a devastating toll on the Nation to discover.
There is a Midrash that tells us that the Para Aduma is a symbol of Nation of Israel. Each part of the cow represents a different part of the Nation, from Torah scholars, to those who support the scholars, even the dung of the cow which represents the lowliest parts of the Nation. All are placed together and burned on the Alter, and from this sacrifice comes the elixir that purifies the Nation.
What were the faults of the Nation that led to the national tragedy? It is through understanding the difficult questions of our time, which was similar to their time that we can come to understand these ideas and produce the elixir that purifies.
The Rebirth of the Nation
Why were the greatest leaders of the generation denied entrance to the Land? What were their mistakes and the mistakes of the generation? The Midrash tells us that the generation of the dessert were not only condemned to die in the dessert but were also commanded to dig their own graves (a familiar image). How could a people on the verge of such glory as they left Egypt end up in such tragic circumstances?
How could it be that after praying thousands of years for the rebirth of Israel that our own generation failed to see its doors opening even to save their lives? And what gave birth to the new generation that conquered the Land if not for the tragic mistakes of their fathers?
The Rock
One of the keys to understanding this catastrophe lies within understanding why Moshe was punished for hitting the rock. Chazal tells us many reasons, some of the more famous ones are: Moshe hit the rock instead of speaking to the rock. He got angry when Hashem wasn’t angry. He and Aaron were being punished for the previous sins of the golden calf and the spies. Moshe had an opportunity to raise the consciousness of the nation which he failed to do.
If we think back to the generation that entered Israel in our own times before the Shoa and the response of the spiritual leadership then which still echoes in our own time, we might understand these ideas clearer.
Was Hashem really angry at the Zionists for their complaints? If the religious leaders spoke to the nation and showed them that water was coming from the rocks of the land of Israel and that the re-birth of the Nation was a clear sign of Hashem’s blessings, maybe millions of Jews might have gone to Israel when they could have. Instead there was a war between the lovers of the Land and the guardians of the religion.
It’s interesting to note that the rock that Moshe hit, according to the Midrash, was the same rock that gave water to Hagar. This seems to indicate that there is connection between the rock that sustained Ishmael and that which sustains Israel. The punishments inflicted on the Nation of Israel in the past and in our own time seem to be due to our rejection of the desirable land. Ishmael on the other hand is sustained by the very rock that is rejected by the Israelite Nation.
The Cure
In Parsha Pinchas Hashem says a second time that the reason the leadership is being denied entry into the Land is because they failed to sanctify His name. In the same Parsha Yehoshua and Calev are distinguished for doing the opposite. It seems that the general rule is that leadership that appeases the people as Aaron did with the golden calf, or Moshe did, in the episode of the spies, will eventually lead to the long road of redemption, while those who stood against the mob like Calev, Yehoshua, and Pinchas, were rewarded by bringing the people into the land.
In Parsha Devarim which often falls during Tisha Bav the sins that lead to National catastrophe are further explained. The Meraglim who were great leaders of stature, we are told, slandered the good Land and had a powerfully negative influence on the Nation. In the Haftorah of Chukat Hashem tells us what He despises most - Mendacity amidst assemblage; piety that masks lack of faith.
‘He shall make war for you, like everything He did for you in Egypt, before your eyes. And in the Wilderness, as you have seen, that Hashem your G-d, bore you, as a man carries his son, on the entire way that you traveled, until you arrived at this place. Yet in this matter you do not believe in Hashem your G-d, Who goes before you on the way…(Devarim 29-33).
One can be a very pious Jew, but still it is in this way that we lacked faith then, and today. We are told that Calev and Yehoshua believed in Hashem fully!. We didn’t believe fully that Hashem would walk in front of us and lead us into the Land. Instead we slandered the Land and because we were afraid to forge our destiny as we were commanded to do, we exchanged it instead for a set of rituals called Judaism. This piety that lacks faith has resulted in terrible tragedy.
Chukat describes the inevitable punishments of running away from our destiny and the mistakes of leadership. The rectification which begins with the new leadership of Yehoshua and Calev and the zealous acts of Pinchas affected the cure that was finally resolved in the end of history by the Haftorah of Devarim.
Former Jewish enemies resolved their differences in order to repel an enemy of the newly formed Jewish Nation. The enemy of the Jews at that time offered a peace treaty in exchange for land, the same claim as today. They bargain with the Jewish conquerors, that they wont make war, if only these conquerors would give them back Land that they felt was theirs previously.
But the Jewish leadership and people had changed. They no longer saw these enemies as giants and themselves small, but rather as Calev and Yehoshua saw them – Goliaths who’s time of retribution had come.
In the end, the answer they received was the same answer we will give one day to both villains and imposters of piety. ‘All that your god gives to you he has given you, all he has given us he gives to us.’ End of story.
