Parshat Chukat Numbers 19:1 – 22:1

Rabbi Denise L. Eger

This week’s Torah portion, Chukat, is an important turning point in the narrative of our people. We jump 38 years ahead in the story of the Israelites’ journey to the Promised Land. And the only people who will enter the Promised Land will be those born during the time of the desert wanderings and Joshua and Caleb who were two of the twelve spies who did not spread lies about the land flowing with milk and honey, the Land of Israel. And so this week in preparation for the crossing of the Jordan into the Holy Land, two of the three leaders die. Miriam and her brother Aaron are “gathered to their kin”. And Moses receives the news that he too will not cross over because of the incident at the Rock that unfolds in this week’s portion.

Moses and Aaron are told following Miriam’s death that they will not enter the Land because “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.” (Num. 20:12). The great Moses and the High Priest Aaron not affirm God’s sanctity? How is that possible? They served God all these years from the exodus until now. Could it possibly be that they didn’t affirm God’s holiness?

But at the incident at the Rock they had an opportunity and they did not uplift it. The children of Israel cry out because they are thirsty. They “quarrel” with Moses. Aaron and Moses go to the Tent of Meeting and inquire of God. God gives the two very detailed instructions. They have to gather the community, take the rod from inside the Tent of meeting, and order the rock to bring forth water to provide for the Israelites.

Moses and Aaron do this but instead of giving the credit to God’s miraculous power, Moses says to the people, “Listen you rebels, shall we get water for you out of this rock. (Num. 20:10).” And then Moses strikes the rock rather than speak to it. The water does flow but God immediately tells the two leaders, Moses and Aaron that their term of service will be over because they did not sanctify God before the people. Moses lost his cool. The people finally got under his skin. For years he has been defending them before God. He often pleads on their behalf before God. But now it is clear that he has had it. He speaks to the People of Israel with contempt and in that contempt forgets God!

And I think buried there is an important message for all of us. We are to see the Divine in each and every human being. Even when they annoy us. Especially when they annoy us. When we have contempt for another human being or a group of people or when we lose our patience we tend to dismiss others. We don’t see their humanity. Moses has been leading the people for a long time. He had dealt with their complaints and kvetching and their rebellions. Just last week his cousin, Korach challenged him for the leadership of the people. And now when the people are still quarrelling with him following the death of his sister Miriam he has no more patience for them.

It is also a lesson for all of us who are part of a large group as well. How well do we pay attention to those who lead? Are we so busy criticizing them, challenging them that we also don’t pay attention their humanity? Did the Children of Israel who were complaining bitterly imagine that Moses and Aaron might have been deep in mourning for their older sister Miriam? Could they have made their requests of them in a different way?

It teaches all of us to pay more attention to one another. And most importantly to be kinder.

Now that is a good thought for the week. Practice kindness in all you do!

There is nothing worse perhaps in a family than sibling rivalry. When brothers and sisters fight and claw at each other verbally or physically or jockey for position the whole dynamic of the family can be set off kilter. We see this often when children are seeking attention from the adults in the family. Parents have to do their best to keep on an even keel and not play into this situation

In a study published in 2005 in the journal Child Maltreatment, and written about in the New York Times in 2006, a group of sociologists found that 35 percent of children had been "hit or attacked" by a sibling in the previous year. The study was based on phone interviews with a representative national sample of 2,030 children or those who take care of them.

And all too often we see it among grown adult children. When parents die and children have to divide up an inheritance or estate or the family business the rivalries, jealousies and power plays sometimes destroy a family. Perceived slights take on a life of their own. When a parent has been gravely ill and one adult child is placed in a situation of care and the other siblings do little to assist bad feelings can really fester. All too often at the funeral the feelings of abandonment by the child caretaker by their siblings can rear its ugly head. Families disintegrate over less.

The Torah is filled with stories of sibling rivalries and the havoc it plays. Just examine the story of Cain and Abel and how Cain murders his brother. More stories in the Torah include: the story of Jacob and Esau which is intensified by parents playing favorites or the story of Joseph and the brothers who sell him into slavery.

This week’s Torah portion Korach turns on family jealousies. Although Korach is not Moses’ sibling he is a first cousin and challenges Moses’ authority and leadership. He gathers more than 250 people in an open rebellion against the leadership of his cousins, Moses, Aaron and Miriam. He claims that he is the rightful leader and wants to know why they elevate themselves over all. But Korach forgets something so basic. That God chose Moses and Aaron as the leaders.

Korach, a successful and wealthy man according to our tradition and an honored Levite who had the privilege of carrying the Holy Ark let his jealousies and envy take over him. Korach wanted the power for himself. The opening verse says that “Korach took”. The commentators play with this word-took. What does it mean, they ask? The commentator Ibn Ezra says that he took men with him to challenge. Others read that he was impudent and yet others emend the text to say he rose up (vayakom). (See Plaut, The Torah, URJ press p. 1127 Old version).

Korach wanted to take the power of leadership not for the people’s sake but for himself. And this is one of the many differences between Moses and Korach. When Moses’ received the call at the burning bush from God for this task of leading the people to freedom, he demurred and felt not up to the task. But God chose him and supported him. Moses wasn’t in it for himself and time and again, when God is frustrated with the Israelites and tries to make Moses the sole heir Moses says no and refocuses God’s attention on the covenant. Moses was focused on the whole People. Korach only on the power he could amass.

Korach and his followers do not succeed in open rebellion and are swallowed by the earth for their power grab and family deceptions. Moses and Aaron and Miriam’s leadership is affirmed this week. But the family damage is done and one can only imagine that it caused much hurt and pain and trauma.

So if you have a brother or sister or even a first cousin, in honor of Korach—reach out and heal any rifts that may have erupted through the years. Don’t let the earth swallow your family relationships and try to make them right in the world.

Parshat Shelach Numbers 13:1-15:41

Parshat Shelach
Numbers 13:1-15:41
Rabbi Denise L. Eger

They have reached the Promised Land. Okay. The Children of Israel not only reach the Promised Land this week, Moses sends out 12 men to scout out the land in advance of the Children of Israel crossing over the Jordan River to begin the fulfillment of God’s covenant made to Abraham so long ago.

And it is a beautiful land indeed!

The 12 scouts see the bounty of the land. For forty days they travelled throughout the land of Israel and return to Moses and Aaron and the whole community and they bring the bounty of the land back with them. Yes, God’s promise of the land flowing with milk and honey is real. And it is right before them; within their reach.

And yet for 10 of the scouts it seems too good to be true. They get nervous and scared and begin to tell the community of Israel that there is no way to conquer the land. They say, “The people who inhabit the country are powerful and the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the Anakites there” (Num. 13:28). Their negativity becomes infectious despite the fact that Caleb counters their words; “Let us by all means go up and we shall gain possession of it for we shall surely overcome it” (Num. 13:30).

The ten let their fears overcome them and they whip the Israelites into a frenzy of fear and longings to return to Egypt. How quickly a group can be influenced! How quickly lack of faith spreads! How quickly we can doubt our own strengths!
Even when countered by Caleb by Joshua (who is Moses’ assistant) the fears and lies seem to win the day. It was this moment and lack of faith in God’s ability to aid the Israelites in their tasks to settle the Promised Land that irritated God so much that Israelites had to dwell for 38 more years in the desert before attempting to settle the Land. God had enough of their doubts.
From the Golden Calf incident to now these former slaves can’t accept the gifts of abundance that keep coming their way.

Moses does intercede and plead on behalf of the Israelites and God pardons them for their faithlessness. But God knows at that moment that the generation that knew Egypt could not be the ones to settle the land. They would always compare it with the great cities of Egypt even though they were slaves. They would always possess a certain kind of mentality that would automatically cause them to think of themselves as less than. Instead it would be their descendants who would be charged with the task of settling the Promise Land and receiving the gifts of abundance.
How about you? Do you live in fear and doubt? Do you like the generation who left Egypt cling to your old ways? Or can you learn to live with the gifts of abundance that wait in the Promised Land? It is hard to have faith in a world that screams at us to doubt. It is hard to believe when there is so much hypocrisy that surrounds us. It is hard to imagine that there is a universal source of strength that can be ours (is ours as it flows through us!). And yet that is what our tradition recognizes as truth. God is our inheritance and God is in us and flows through us through holiness. We just have to use the mitzvot to tap into it! So banish those fears. Pay no heed to the fear frenzy. Be like Caleb and Joshua who say: “We shall surely overcome it!”