Ouestions for the Shabbos Table: BEHA'ALOTECHA, NUMBERS 8:1-12:16

BEHA'ALOTECHA, NUMBERS 8:1-12:16

A lot of things are going on in this week’s Torah portion:

· Aaron is commanded to light the menorah.
· The Tribe of Levi is ritually initiated into the service in the Mishkan.
· Jews who were not able to observe Passover because they were ritually impure are given a second chance called Pesach Sheni.
· The people are dissatisfied with Manna and demand that Moses give them with meat.
· Moses is so depressed that he wants to die. Hashem assists him with by appointing 70 chosen Elders who will share prophecy and help govern.
· Miriam with Aaron speaks negatively of Moses, and is punished with “leprosy”; Moses prays for her and she is healed.
· Yitro, Moses’ father in law, turns down an offer to help the Jews and returns to Midian.
Verses 10:35 and 10:36 are set off by the letter nun which is inverted.

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At 8:19 the Children of Israel are blessed five times, equivalent to the five Books of Torah:

“I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the children of Israel, to perform the service for the children of Israel in the Tent of Meeting and to atone on behalf of the children of Israel, so that the children of Israel will not be inflicted with plague when the children of Israel approach the Sanctuary”.

Despite these blessings consider these passages:

11:1

The people were looking to complain, and it was evil in the ears of the Lord. The Lord heard and His anger flared, and a fire from the Lord burned among them, consuming the extremes of the camp.

11:33-34

The meat was still between their teeth; it was not yet finished, and the anger of the Lord flared against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very mighty blow. He named that place Kivroth Hata'avah [Graves of Craving], for there they buried the people who craved.

12:8-10

… So why were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses ? The wrath of the Lord flared against them and He left… behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow;

What is the message here?

Is it a lesson in anger management or something else?

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At 11:14 ,15 – Moshe is despondent. The burden of leadership is too much for him. He is very much alone and needs help. He is so depressed that he wants to die:

“Alone I cannot carry this entire people for it is too hard for me If this is the way You treat me, please kill me if I have found favor in Your eyes, so that I not see my misfortune”

This is reminiscent of Elvis Presley singing “Heartbreak Hotel”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT7gcUEX_Dc

I think Moses was indeed lonely, a lonely soldier of God.

Bobby Vinton sums it up: https://youtu.be/_zSecRAFM14

Moshe was closer to HaShem than he was to his family and constituency.

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Both the Parashah and the Haftarah discuss the seven branched Menorah. The Haftarah portion is from Zechariah: The lights of the Menorah symbolize God's eyes, keeping watch on the earth. At 4:10 –

“These seven, are the eyes of the LORD, that roam throughout the entire earth.”

שִׁבְעָה-אֵלֶּה; עֵינֵי יְהוָה, הֵמָּה מְשׁוֹטְטִים בְּכָל-הָאָרֶץ

This is a universal message that goes beyond the Children of Israel.

It brings to mind the verse in Genesis 1:3 – “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, and it was good;”

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Will the real Yitro please stand up?

At 10:29 – “Then Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses's father-in-law, We are traveling to the place about which the Lord said, I will give it to you. Come with us and we will be good to you, for the Lord has spoken of good fortune for Israel”.

Yitro had no less than seven names: "Reuel", "Jether", "Jethro", "Hobab", "Heber", "Keni" and "Putiel.

At 10:30 Yitro replies: “He said to him, I won't go, for I will go to my land and my birthplace”.

At 10:31 - Moses answers: “He said, Please don't leave us, for because you are familiar with our encampments in the desert and you will be our guide”.

At 10:32 Moses continues – “And if you go with us, then we will bestow on you the good which God grants us”.

Moshe is no fool; he takes in what Yitro has to say, but in the end at cited in Exodus18:27 Moshe banishes Yitro who returns to his homeland -

וַיְשַׁלַּח מֹשֶׁה, אֶת-חֹתְנוֹ; וַיֵּלֶךְ לוֹ, אֶל-אַרְצוֹ.

“And Moses banished his father-in-law away; and he went to his own land”.

Moshe got the picture. His father-in-law was a Midianite who had no desire to throw in with the Jews. I’m thinking that Moshe understood and was so upset with Yitro’s response, that Moshe threw him out never to return.

Returning to Yitro’s names, there is no doubt that Yitro’s true essence is embodied in his name “Putiel”:

Putiel is the one that fattened calves for the purpose of idolatrous worship. Yitro was one with his fellow Midianites, and although it took some years, Moshe put an end to his father in law’s tribesmen and possibly Yitro himself.

In the Book of Numbers at 31:7 –

וַיִּצְבְּאוּ, עַל-מִדְיָן, כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְהוָה, אֶת-מֹשֶׁה; וַיַּהַרְגוּ, כָּל-זָכָר.

“They waged war against Midian, as the Lord had commanded Moses, and they killed every male”.

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PESACH SHENI

Jews who were not able to observe Passover because they were ritually impure or had to travel too long of distance are given a second chance called Pesach Sheni.

For many of us way back when, 3500 years ago, Passover Sheni was regarded as a 2nd chance, and if you will, a do-over.

A do-over is a new attempt or opportunity to do something after a previous attempt has been unsuccessful or unsatisfactory.

As a child growing up in Brooklyn, do-overs were very popular when playing street games and you wanted a second bite at the apple. In some religious circles today, Pesach Sheni has come to mean a chance to do Teshuvah, repentance.

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