Rabbi's Sermons

Shabat Shalom!

"וַיְהִי בִּנְסֹעַ האָרֹן,♫ וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה: קוּמָה ♫ ה', וְיָפֻצוּ אֹיְבֶיךָ, וְיָנֻסוּ מְשַׂנְאֶיךָ, ♫ מִפָּנֶיךָ. ^לו וּבְנֻחֹה, יֹאמַר: שׁוּבָה ה', רִבְבוֹת אַלְפֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל".

“Vayehi binsoa aron vayomer Moshe, kuma Adonai, veyafutsu oyebecha, veyanusu misanecha mipanecha. Ubenujo yomar, shuva Adonai rivevot alfei Israel”.

You, most likely, are familiar with this melody, which is sung while taking out the Torah scroll during the morning services and also while returning it to the Aron Hakodesh-the holy ark. These verses conclude chapter ten of the book of Numbers, of this week's – Behalotcha – portion. I am trying to imagine Moshe – at the beginning of a procession of more than 600 thousand people, as it is written at the beginning of the book of Numbers. They all follow a cloud column that would direct them to follow an unknown path, to the next stop on their way to the promised land. Which would be the most appropriate words, to describe such an event? "Rise, Lord, and let Thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate Thee flee before Thee" ^{Numbers 10:35}. I would have expected something more encouraging, such as a Tefilat Haderech type of prayer, before our journey, as we pray: “May You lead us toward peace, guide our footsteps toward peace, and make us reach our desired destination for life, gladness, and peace”. Our sages Baalei Hatosfot commented on this verse, that this was their – "Traveler's Prayer". But why talk about – Oyvecha–your enemies, and – Mesanecha-those who hate you? And why was this verse the one chosen by the developers of the siddur, to be used when opening the holy ark? Why not directly sing – "Ki ♫ mitzion tetze Tora udevar Adonai ♫ mirushalaim – Because from tzion will come the Torah and the word of Adonai will come from Jerusalem"?

When we read those verses in the Torah scroll, we find them written between two NUN Hebrew letters written backward. Those two NUN letters – appear isolated within the text, without any clear meaning:

The first thing they remind me of is modern parenthesis symbols. These NUN letters are symbols that do not exist anywhere else in the Torah scroll. Rashi explains, referencing the Talmud, Shabbat 115b as follows: "He, the Holy One blessed be He, made signs before and after, to indicate that this is not their place". To be honest, I felt that Rashi's explanation created more questions than provided answers. If that was not the correct location of these words in the scroll, where was the correct place? And they were to be located somewhere else, why weren’t they written in their original location?

To further complicate the issue, on the next page, Shabbat 116a, the debate continues: “Rabbi said: It is not on that account, but because it ranks as a separate Book. With whom does the following dictum of Rabbi Samuel ben Nahmani in Rabbi Jonathan's name agree: "Wisdom hath built her house; she hath hewn out her seven pillars" ^{Proverbs 9:1} those are the seven books of the Torah, as Rabbi indicated". Seven books of the Torah? Not five?, Yes! since the book of Numbers would be divided then, into three parts. As it is already known, in the Talmud, some disagreement among the sages is expected, and the Gemara indicates that Raban Shimon ben Gamliel did not agree with this idea, and declared: "This section is destined to be removed from here and written in its [right place]".

This statement, however, is of utmost importance, as it questions the eternity and fidelity of the sacred text. Given those statements from the Talmud, may we conclude that we have a sefer torah with errors? And if so, how can one believe that the Torah is eternal, if in the future it may be “corrected”, and look different from what we know today? This would be equivalent to saying, that we have a preliminary version of the holy scroll and not the final version. The Gemara continues, trying to explain this theological problem and indicates that the text was included in this section, to – “separate between the first punishment and the second punishment, what is the second punishment? What follows in the text immediately (the fire): ‘And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord; and the Lord heard it, and His anger was kindled. And the fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed those who were in the uttermost parts of the camp’ ^{Numbers 11:1} and what is the first punishment? What is written: ‘And they departed from the mount of the Lord three days’ journey’ ^{Numbers 10:33}. Is walking three days a punishment? In Hebrew, the word – ME-HAR – means – "from the mount", while the same word can be read – MAHER – which means, "quickly". In other words, the same text, in Hebrew, can be read as: "They quickly left Adonai on a three days' journey", meaning, they fled away very fast to escape Mount Sinai, so the Lord would not give them more Mitzvot! And so, MAHER MEHAR, quickly, left the mountain.

In any case, whether these verses are considered a separate book by itself, as Rabi mentions, or that their origin is from another place, and they separate a continuity of sins of the people of Israel, the concept of enemies and hatred in the verses, is still pending to be explained. It seems that this text is more suitable for people walking in the desert than to be used during the opening of the holy ark. Rashi claims, that the enemies who hate God hate the people of Israel. According to his logic, everyone who hates the people of Israel, hates the one who said: “For behold, your enemies make an uproar; those who hate you have raised their heads” ^{Psalms 83:3}. And who are those enemies? The following verse indicates, that enemies are the ones who – "lay crafty plans against your people." Rashi's interpretation is understandable, as he lived in the eleventh century, in France, among many enemies in a predominantly Catholic environment. Today, the idea of – "hatred of God = hatred of Israel" – is not irrelevant. A clear example is the fundamentalist Muslims, for whom – "hatred of Israel" – is in the name of God.

In my professional life, I have led dialog sessions about Judaism, in which most cases, the public was friendly and even sympathetic to the Jewish people. However, during other sessions, I also found myself caught up in front of an aggressive public, unwilling to tolerate, for example, that Jews do not follow the Christian theology regarding the image of Jesus. Obviously, I have never seen them being – "hostile or hating God", but indeed, "hostile to the Jews", and even though I was prepared to answer the questions, I found myself in a quite unfriendly environment. Today, that Israel is at war and the antisemitism has risen to unexpected levels, we liberal Jews may find ourselves in similar situations, in front of anti-Zionists, anti-Semites, or even our orthodox co-coreligionists, for whom, the liberal form of Judaism, generates rejection and antipathy. But this is exactly where we must open our own – "holy ark" of our hearts, and face enmity and hostility. Arab psychologist and journalist, Wafa Sultan while being heavily attacked during an interview by a Muslim leader, said: "Brother, you can believe in stones if you like, just please, don't use them to throw them to me".

Therefore, there is a fundamental reason for this prayer to be included in the siddur. As we face difficult challenges of hostility towards our people and our faith, we must remember this music: "Kuma ♫ Adonai, veyafutsu oyvecha ♫ veyanusu mesanecha mipanecha ♫" – even though, it is not necessarily hatred or hostility against God per-SE, the haters against his children are treated as enemies just the same.  I think those words are more relevant today, as they were with the people of Israel in the wilderness.

Shabat Shalom!

Rabbi David Laor

June 21th, 2024