Parshat Mas’ey: Numbers 33:1 - 36:13: By Rabbi Denise L. Eger

As the book of Numbers comes to a close with this week’s portion, Mas’ey, we learn about the six cities of refuge. These were special towns of the Levites that were to be established by the Israelites. Three on the east side of the Jordan and three towns on the west side of the Jordan. The Levites were the priests. They received no province in the Promised Land for their tribe. Rather this portion instructs Moses to establish levitical cities scattered throughout the different tribal land holdings. This way the priests would be close to the people and able to minister to their need to be close to God. The larger tribes would give more land to establish these priestly cities than the smaller tribes. All in all there would be 42 cities throughout the Promised Land and an additional six among these special cities that are called the cities of refuge.

The city of refuge was established as a kind of sanctuary for those who unintentionally murdered another person. They were able to flee to a city of refuge, be tried there and to escape the wrath of the person known as the blood avenger. If the suspect was truly found to have murdered unintentionally then that person could stay securely in one of these six special towns. They stayed until the death of the high priest according to our text when pardon would be granted and they could safely leave without the blood avenger seeking them out.

This system of cities of refuge was specifically for murder without forethought. Premeditated murder was a different category all together in the Torah. But it was difficult to prove as two witnesses were necessary.

Thank goodness that today we no longer sanction the blood avengers. Even the cities of refuge in this week’s portion are one way to help ease this ancient and very tribal mode of revenge. We still hear about honor killings in some cultures as permitted often in certain Arab cultures or African tribal cultures which are usually violence against women in a particular culture.

But the city of refuge was not just a practical way to provide sanctuary for the accidental murderer or voluntary or involuntary manslaughter from those who would seek revenge. But also there was a spiritual component. Murder is a sin. Remember it is listed as one of Ten Commandments. So providing for the murderer to live out his days in a priestly city also helped to isolate the sin from the nation until which time it could be expiated in this case by the death of the High Priest.

With so many television shows about murder and killing of all sorts and the high levels of violence and death reported daily in the news media we perhaps forget how traumatic the murder of another human being really is. To extinguish the life from another person whether planned or unplanned diminishes the humanity of us all. For we are all linked through the Divine Breath that God breathed into the first human being. Murder of any classification is truly a sin and a violation of not only human law but the Divine and Holy Code of our tradition. The sin violates according to our tradition not just the relationships between the particular human beings but violates the relationship to God and to the nation of Israel as a whole and if it takes place in the Promised Land the sin is still in the land itself!

So even as news of murder and violence surround us and even as movies and television and books publicize and make us inured to murder, let us remember and re-focus on the sanctity of human life and the teaching of our tradition to “Choose Life”.

Parshat Matot: Numbers 30:1 -32:42: By Rabbi Denise L. Eger

Parshat Matot tells how the tribes of Gad, Reuben and the half tribe of Manasseh requested to settle on the east side of the Jordan River. As the Israelites had made their way up the east side of the Jordan encountering and defeating many of the tribes and nations that engaged them in battle, the tribal leaders of Gad Reuben and Manasseh felt that this land was good cattle country. These tribes according to our portion owned many cattle (Num. 32:1). They wished to settle this land without crossing over the Jordan River into the Promised Land.

This request angers Moses. He replies “Are your brothers to go to war while you stay here?”(Num. 32:6). Moses is concerned that this will be seen as desertion from their sacred task and fulfillment of the covenantal promise. He is worried the tribes of Gad, Reuben and Manasseh will derail the unity that has been built among the people with their recent military successes by deserting and bailing from the national obligations. Moses’ lets their tribal leaders know that if they bail on their responsibility to the entire nation that it could bring “calamity upon all this people”Num. 32:15).

These tribal leaders recognize Moses’ words and in a show of dedication to the Israelite nation, if their request is granted then they will volunteer to be at the front of the troops as they cross into the Promised Land. The promise that if this land east of the Jordan can be theirs, they will not desert the Israelites in their sacred task to settle the Promised Land but will remain there, west of the Jordan, until the task is finished and the land of Israel
“The Gadites and the Reubenites said in reply, “Whatever Adonai has spoken concerning your servants, that we will do” (Num. 32:31).

This is a very important lesson in loyalty and unity. The actions of a few do matter. If Gad and Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh had deserted the Israelites just as they were about to complete the covenantal promise –the entire enterprise would have collapsed. But the tribal leaders understood that they had a role to play not just for themselves and their families but to the nation. And they had an obligation to God.

This week we can take some inspiration from the tribe of Gad and Reuben and the half tribe of Mannasseh. Loyalty to the Jewish people ought to play a role in our decisions making and our lives. But all too often we don’t consider what affect our individual decisions will have upon the Jewish people as a whole. The individual matters and so does the Jewish people world –wide. So let us be reminded that without Gad and Reuben and Manasseh we would be less and without you—and your family we are less as well!

So think about our People in all you do—and your important connection to Am Yisrael- the Jewish people.

Parshat Pinchas: Numbers 25:10 – 30:1 By: Rabbi Denise L. Eger

This week’s parsha is Pinchas, named for the son of the High Priest Eleazar and who is the grandson of the great Aaron, the first High Priest. Pinchas himself is granted a special covenant from God that will make the line of the High Priesthood follow from him. Pinchas received this as a reward for his faithfulness to God and for stopping the idolatry that was so blatantly flaunted in front of the tabernacle by a leader of the tribe of Simeon named Zimri and a female leader of the Midianites. Pinchas acted fiercely and swiftly at the end of last week’s parasha stabbing both the Israelite leader and the woman known in tradition as Cozbi.

The rabbis understood the Midianite woman’s name as coming from the Hebrew meaning lie or falsehood. They understood Zimri and Cozbi as promoting idolatry among the people Israel and doing so right in front of the tabernacle and challenging the Hebrew worship of the One God. Pinchas’ actions are in stark contrast to those of his grandfather Aaron who once long ago—gave in to idol worship at the foot of Mt. Sinai with the episode of the Golden Calf.

But now as the Israelites make their way north to the Promised Land they have come increasingly in contact with various nations and people. The Hebrews are exposed to many different ideas and ways of worship and pagan religions. It is more difficult to keep these foreign influences out and in fact last week’s portion records that many Israelite men profaned themselves with Moabite women including worshiping their gods. These women seduced the Israelite men according to the tradition and then they entered into pagan worship. Our tradition claims they were on a mission to infiltrate and derail the Israelites on their journey to the Promised Land. Since the Israelites won every battle they engaged in as an army—the one place of great vulnerability was in their faith and loyalty to their God. It was this that the Midianites/Moabites attacked successfully. Thus Pinchas’ zealous and fierce attack helped to squelch any suggestion that the Israelites would be vulnerable at any level.

But this is a week of transitions and planning for the future. Pinchas’ line will be the line of the High Priesthood and this week too Joshua is elevated as successor to Moses. Moses is given notice that his time of death is soon. “Ascend the heights of Abarim and view the land that I have given to the Israelite people” (Num. 27:12). Moses is told that he will view the land but not enter and then he will be “gathered to his kin” (Num. 27:13). Thus God let’s Moses know that Joshua will succeed him and that the time had come for this transition to take place.

All businesses and all organizations need to plan leadership succession and transition. Worthy people, people who have proven their mettle, skill and wisdom are those that you want to shape into the next generation of leaders. That is certainly the case this week with Pinchas and Joshua. With these strong leaders at the helm of the Israelites—Pinchas who will eventually succeed his father, Eleazar as High Priest whose faith and loyalty to the worship of one God was tested and Joshua who has been at Moses’ side learning and leading throughout many years, the Israelites can have confidence that they will rise to meet their end of the covenantal promise—the promise of entering the Promised Land and establishing a nation built on the mitzvot given at Sinai.

Parshat Balak: Numbers 22:1 – 25:9 By: Rabbi Denise L. Eger

Our Torah Portion Balak is named after the king of Moab and centers around the tale of King Balak engaging the prophet–wizard and shaman, Balaam son of Peor to curse the Israelites. The King of Moab had heard of the gathering strength of the Israelite tribe that had crushed his neighbors on their way to the Promised Land. Balak wants Balaam to manipulate the God of the Israelites through his magical divinations and thus protect the Moabite kingdom from the advancing Israelites.

Balaam the wizard/shaman has great powers. He is clearly able to do things that ordinary people cannot. He is able to speak with animals and they with him as evidenced by the donkey speaking to him in this portion. Although the portion attributes this miracle of the speaking donkey to God, Baalam seems unfazed by communicating with the animal. He doesn’t appear astonished that an animal could speak his language! Balaam is one of the many kinds of animal diviner. This type of shaman is common to the pagan religion of Baal throughout the ancient Near East.

And although he is not an Israelite the power of God will prevail over this foreign prophet. This is comparable to the power of God over Pharaoh. Balaam does experience the Divine voice and God does make God self known to Balaam on many occasions in this Torah portion but only to do God’s bidding. So too in Exodus God sent the plagues upon Egypt to render the divinity of the Egyptian throne mute. Remember this is a new generation of Israelites. This is the generation who grew up in the desert—dwelling at Kadesh for 38 years. The local kings of Moab and Edom may not have heard of the defeat of Pharaoh at the hands of Israelite God who smashed their deities by ten extraordinary plagues. So now, the God of Israel will take on the pagan religion of the region and the local gods and goddesses by controlling one of the greatest pagan prophets. And So Balaam who was hired to curse the Israelites and manipulate the God of Israel instead blesses Israel and is controlled in his words and deeds by the God of Israel! And Balaam knows this. He tells the King of Moab “I can only repeat faithfully what Adonai puts in my mouth” (Num. 23:12).

Four times Baalam looks over the people Israel from the mountains and hills of Moab and four times Baalam blesses the people Israel and prophesies about the doom of Moab and the success of the Israelites.

We learn from this week’s portion however a valuable lesson. The King of Moab was fearful of the “other.” He was fearful of the stories of the Israelites and what they would do to him and to their land. The Israelites only wanted to pass through Moab on their way to the land of Israel that was covenanted to them by their God. They had requested the opportunity to pass through Edom and the other places but the Israelites were attacked and so they fought back successfully. Imagine if Moab or Edom had gone to meet them in the spirit of friendship. Imagine if the king of Arad or the king of the Amorites had welcomed the weary desert travelers and traded with them as they made their way north rather than meet them with fear and warfare. Perhaps if they, the descendants of Esau had embraced the descendants of Jacob the way their ancestor did—then the cycle of violence and hatred between neighboring nations might have ended so long ago.

But fear and suspicion of our neighbors has way of perverting peace and justice. Thus God took a curse in the mouth of Baalam and turned it to a blessing of peace: “How beautiful are your tents O Jacob, your tabernacles O Israel” (Numbers 25:5).

Perhaps if we too could learn to embrace our neighbors and learn that there might be enough to go around. If we could learn the hospitality of Abraham and Sarah and the embrace of brothers who were once estranged—Esau and Jacob—then perhaps we could all learn to live in peace.

The blessing will be in trying. The curse will be if we do not.