This week’s parsha, Bechalatecha, takes us from Numbers 8:1 to 12:16
Every year around this time I call for Kossacks of all faiths or no faith to contribute words of inspiration from their traditions for our interfaith service at Netroots Nation. Loggersbrat and I, who have led the service since 2011, assemble these words in a booklet which we use in the service — sometimes we read all or most of the entries, sometimes one or two inspire discussions that take most of our time.
Over the years I have been doing this, I have written divrei Torah for Bechalatecha a couple of times, and it seems to fit with the searching for inspiration to do good in the world.
This year that seems more necessary than ever.
So in this spirit of searching, I offer some thoughts I have offered before along with some new ones.
This week's parsha begins with a major symbol, both of the Jewish people, and of the light of wisdom in the world: the menorah, the seven-branched candlestick that illuminates the tabernacle in the desert, and later in the Temple.
But the menorah did not create itself, nor did God create it directly. There is an artist involved, named Bezalel. Bezalel received his specifications for the Tabernacle and its ritual objects from Moses, but he more than the other artisans who built all these things was led by the spirit of God in his work. God chose Bezalel as one with special gifts, who would be able to take the blueprint given to Moses and turn it into art. Could God have created the menorah himself? Of course. But in the world after creation, God works through human beings.
The blessing over bread blesses God who "brings forth bread from the earth." We are taught that this is to show us that God needs us to help him, to harvest wheat, and make flour, and bake it into bread. God is still bringing forth bread from the earth, but he is doing it through the farmer, the miller, the baker.
So the creative spirit that comes from the Creator enters humans who are led to create. They are in-spirited, or inspired as we now say. Isaac Luria taught that the six branches on either side of the menorah represent the six branches of human learning, while the center represents Torah. Human and divine knowledge are both necessary to light the world. God and science are not opposed to each other; rather, God supports science as the central stalk of the menorah supports the other six.
I begin writing this a week after Shavuot, when I went to my synagogue’s nighttime study session. One of the topics of discussion was the idea from Maimonides’ articles of faith that God is the only Creator, who has created, does create, and will create all things. Of course this led to serious questioning of whether we have any purpose on earth if this is true. I brought up Bezalel and the story of the building of the Mishkan as a template for how we humans become inspired to create and build, which process sometimes feels like something outside ourselves.
Similarly, when I read after Trump withdrew the US from the Paris Accords that some on the religious right were saying that if God wants to fix climate change, he is all-powerful and can do it. But that’s not how things work in the world — God is much more likely to try to fix the world by inspiring scientists to define the problem, and leaders and common people alike to find a solution.
Of course, one woman at the Shavuot study group said that maybe God created the world and then told humanity that now it’s our responsibility and we’re on our own. Either way, if we want change in the world, it’s up to us to make it happen.
Words matter. They can inspire us, but they can also cause trouble and pain. We have a leader who doesn’t realize this, and his words do both. In this parsha there is also the story of Miriam and Aaron complaining about Moses’ leadership, with Miriam spreading gossip about Moses, and being punished with leprosy. Moses begs for forgiveness for her (more words) and she is put outside the camp just for one day to be ritually pure again. One thing that bothers me in this political climate is the hurtful language used by our side against this administration. Criticism based on truth doesn’t need meanness.
If you have any words from your tradition, whatever it is, that inspire you, especially in these dark days, please feel free to leave them in the comments, or to send them to me in a message.
Six years ago, as I started collecting words from Kossacks that inspire them to work to make the world a better place, I received a message from Arnold Eisen, the Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary which included these words, with which I close:
The Creator of the universe seeks human assistance in completing the work of Creation. The world is not good enough as it is, the Torah insists, and you and I can make it better. All of us are needed for this task: Jews and non-Jews, men and women, old and young. Everything that each and every one of us brings to the task is required: the sum total of our diverse experiences and learning, our skills and our relationships, our intelligence and our passion, all the arts and all the sciences: all our hearts, all our souls, all our might.
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