In the Wilderness

 B’midbar

Num. 1:1 - 4:20

 

Précis: B’midbar is an amalgamation of the narrative of wilderness wanderings, sacrificial requirements, the establishment of Israel’s moving camp, and census data. As B’midbar ("in the wilderness”) begins, Moses is directed to take a census (“take the number”) from which the English name (Numbers) of the Book derives.

 

Num. 1:1 - 2 “And Adonai spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai… saying, ‘Take the number of the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their father’s houses, according to the number of names, every male, by their polls.’”

 

Richard Elliott Friedman’s introduction to this Book is insightful (Commentary on the Torah, 2001) noting that “wilderness emerges through the narrative not only as a setting but also as a theme of considerable significance.” Wilderness, he contends, is a far better name for the Book than the Greek-derived “Numbers” because it captures the pervasive feeling of the Book. He contrasts the wilderness experience at the outset as “a kind of ideal.” Everything is orderly, protected, and close to God. All is provided: food, water, and direction. As he notes, “the miraculous is the norm.”

At the same time, the wilderness becomes the setting for rebellion, infighting, and hostility from others as well. There are power struggles which could have been averted. Perhaps most importantly, the Book reflects what we initially saw in Leviticus: being close to the Divine is both glorious and dangerous. But contrary to Leviticus, God is often pictured as speaking and acting in reaction to the Israelites, rather than dictating law or action. Leviticus is about God giving the rules, and Numbers is about how the People first experience living under the rules.

Numbers is the story of a people coming to terms with its constitution. As such, it is particularly important to think about its relevance to the challenges facing all of us today.

Minority Rights

 

B’har- Bechukotai

Lev. 25:1 – 27:34

 

Précis: B’Har begins with a description of the Sabbatical Year and the Jubilee (Yovel) Year. In the 50th (Jubilee) Year, we are to “proclaim liberty throughout the land” and property is restored to its ancestral owners. The parasha continues with the prohibition against unlimited slavery, as well as the rules for the treatment of those who are slaves.

Bechukotai, the final parasha in Vayikra, begins with a statement promising blessings if the People follow Adonai’s ways. But, if the People disobey, terrible punishments will be visited upon them. Leviticus then concludes (as it opened) with regulations regarding the upkeep of the Sanctuary, from tithes, land gifts, and firstborn redemption.

 

Lev. 25:35 – “If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and are unable to support themselves among you, help them as you would a resident alien, so they can continue to live among you.”

 

Last week, I offered a concise and simple statement: one law applies to all, regardless of citizenship. This week, I wanted to go into some additional detail, specifically about the “ger toshav” or (stranger or resident alien). Rabbi Sacks has listed many instances of the Torah’s command to love the stranger (Rabbi Sacks Legacy, 5/23/24). He notes that the Sages went so far as to say that the Torah commands us in only one place to love our neighbor, but thirty-six times to love the stranger (Baba Metzia 59b).

What then made a legitimate ger toshav? The law over the centuries consistently held that a ger toshav is a non-Jew living in Israel who accepts the Noahide laws binding on all human beings. This became the first extant form of minority rights.

According to Maimonides, “One should act towards resident aliens with the same respect and loving kindness as one would to a fellow Jew” (Hilchot Melachim 10:12).

According to this point of view, you don’t have to be Jewish in a Jewish society and Jewish land to have many of the rights of citizenship. You simply have to be moral.

The story of David and Bathsheba is a Biblical exemplifier of this ancient fact. Please recall that the hero of the story Uriah, is a ger toshav whose loyalty to Israel, despite himself not being Jewish, is contrasted with King David, who stole his wife and connived to have him killed. The fact that our Bible tells such a story in which a resident alien is the moral hero, and David, Israel’s greatest king, the wrongdoer, tells us much about the morality of Judaism.

As Sacks concludes: “Minority rights are the best test of a free and just society. Since the days of Moses, they have been central to the vision of the kind of society God wants us to create in the land of Israel.”

Why this emphasis? It’s because we as Jews knew oppression in Egypt, and knew what it was like to be mistreated as a stranger. We could not and cannot inflict on others what was inflicted upon us.