COMMAND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL AND SAY TO THEM:

OF MY NEAR-OFFERING, MY FOOD, AS MY FIRE-OFFERINGS,

 MY SOOTHING SAVOR, YOU ARE TO BE IN CHARGE,

BRING IT NEAR TO ME AT ITS APPOINTED TIME.

AND YOU ARE TO SAY TO THEM:

THIS IS THE FIRE-OFFERING THAT YOU ARE TO BRING NEAR TO GOD: LAMBS A YEAR IN AGE, WHOLLY SOUND, TWO PER DAY,

AS A REGULAR OFFERING UP.

THE ONE LAMB YOU ARE TO SACRIFICE IN THE MORNING,

AND THE SECOND LAMB YOU ARE TO SACRIFICE

BETWEEN THE SETTING TIMES.

(Bemidbar 28:2-4)

 

The Sacrifices - Slaughtering "Sacred Cows" Within the Framework of the Struggle against Idol Worship

The ancient Egyptians worshiped the constellation Aries (ram). Therefore they forbade the slaughter of sheep and despised shepherds... there were also groups from among the Tzabia who worshiped the demons, and believed that they bore the figure of goats, therefore they called the demons seirim - hairy goats. This belief was very widespread in the times of our teacher, Moshe: "They may slaughter no longer their slaughter-offerings to the hairy goat demons after whom they go whoring." Therefore these cults also forbade the consumption of goats. Almost most of the idol worshippers despised the slaughter of cattle. They all greatly honored that species. Therefore you find that, even until this day, the Hindus do not slaughter cattle at all, even in a land where other animals are slaughtered.

In order to eradicate the traces of these erroneous ideas, we were commanded to offer davka three kinds of domestic animals: "From the herd and from the flock you may bring your near-offering", so that through that very act which they [the idolaters] considered to be the epitome of sin, they (Children of Israel) will come close to God, and with this act will their sins be atoned for. Thus will the evil ideas be cured - these ideas being diseases of the human soul - by means of doing the opposite.

 (Rambam, Guide For The Perplexed III, 46)

 

"Then the offerings of Yehuda and Yerushalayim shall be pleasing to the Lord" -

... In the future, an abundance of knowledge will spread and will penetrate even animals. "They will not do evil nor will they destroy on the mount of My holiness, because the earth will be full with knowledge of the Lord" and that offering which will then be the mincha offering - from the vegetable - shall be pleasant to the Lord as in the days of yore.

 (Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, Olat R'iyah p. 282)

 

 

THE SILENCE OF SCRIPTURE

Yossi Penini

 

Well-known is the midrash:

Rabbi Shim'on ben Pazi pointed out a contradiction between two sources. It is written: "And the Lord made the two great lights" (Bereishit 1) and it is written: "The greater light and the lesser light!"

Said the moon to The Holy One, Blessed Be He: Master of the Universe, can two kings wear the same crown?

He replied: Go and diminish yourself.

She retorted: Master of the Universe, because I made a just claim, I am to diminish myself?

He replied: Go and rule day and night.

She said: What has been added? What benefit is there to a candle at midday?

He replied: Go, Israel will reckon days and years by you.

She retorted: The seasons cannot be reckoned without the sun, as is written, "And they shall be for signs and appointed times, and days and years".

Go, the righteous will be called with your name, as is written (Amos 7) "Yaakov... is so small" (I Shmuel 17) "David, the smallest".

Seeing that He was unable to satisfy her, The Holy One, Blessed Be He, said: Bring an atonement offering for me for having diminished the moon!

And this is what Resh Lakish had in mind when he said: Why is the goat offering of Rosh Chodesh different, for the Torah says "And there shall be one goat as a sin offering for the Lord?"

Said The Holy One, Blessed Be He, This goat shall be an atonement for me for having diminished the moon. (Bavli, Hullin 60b)

In this excerpt, the midrash deals with the explication of two texts.

The first is from the Book of Bereishit, and is dealt with in the beginning of the midrash. On the one hand, the text reads "the great lights" and on the other hand, the text has one light big and one light small. This serves the author of the midrash as a starting point.

Perusal of the midrash can easily draw our attention to such issues as relations between majority and minority, between the strong and weak, and perhaps even to examination of the author's modus operandi which does not preclude imaginary discourse between the moon and its Creator. There is no doubt that the writer's literary and theological stand - allowing himself to develop the image of the Lord as a "literary figure", fully conscious of his creation and in full control of the behavior of his literary image - is extremely audacious, possibly raising questions about the author's attitude to many texts in which God is the central figure.

Is seems, however, that the more daring, creative, and innovation idea appears in the midrash on the second verse. This verse is from our parasha, from the section dealing with the festival offerings, specifically with Rosh Chodesh:

"And one hairy goat as a hattat offering for God as well as the regular offering is to be sacrificed, and its poured offering." (Bemidbar 28:15).

The text would seem to indicate that God - as it were - were the offender, whose transgression and atonement require a hattat offering. The midrash reads:

Said Resh Lakish: Why is the goat offering of Rosh Chodesh different, for the Torah says "And there shall be one goat as a sin offering for the Lord?"

Said The Holy One, Blessed Be He, This goat shall be an atonement for me for having diminished the moon. (Also appears in Bavli, Sh'vuot 9a)

The midrash seems to assert that God can sin, and that He did indeed sin by reacting to the moon's criticism about the lights' equality by diminishing her light. The Lord sinned at a critical moment, during the process of creation of the universe. His sin - an irreversible sin - changed the face of reality, for the reality of two equal lights is not that of two unequal lights (certainly there is difference in the allegorically-derived reality). Because of His admission of this sin, every month a hairy goat is offered in atonement for diminution of the moon. [And it seems that another reference to God's sin may be found in our prayer books, our 'service of the heart, in the Mussaf service of Rosh Chodesh, "for the atonement of sin, and the forgiveness of transgression, the expiation of wrongdoing" of The Holy One, Blessed Be He, as it were.].

If such be the case, we have before us another stratum of divine attributes. God is not only "great and powerful, and awesome" or "good and forgiving" or "father of mercies"; He is also "God who sins and owns up to his sin", "God who errs and acknowledges his error". It would seem that a "god who sins", "a god who errs" who knows the feeling of error and sin and compunction, is a different kind of god, communicative with man, perhaps even arousing empathy. Man - at whose gate, even at his core, lie sin and error - fights them, sometimes successfully and sometimes not; he resembles God and God resembles him.

[And, as with the divinity, there is added value to "a past record." It seems that the narrative of Lot's escape from S'dom and the account of his daughters and their descendents - one of whom was Moav from whom descended Ruth, and from her, David, and from him the Mashiach ben David - is not at all coincidental. It appears that only one who has experienced the depths of sin has the potential to effect revolutionary change].

It may well be that the image of a God who sins and acknowledges his sin, who errs and admits his error, is the key to the understanding of another story in our parasha.

God's command to Moshe to ascend Mt. Avarim appears twice, once in our parasha (Bemidbar 27:12-14) and once again in Devarim (32:48-52), between the great poem of Parashat Haazinu and the blessing of the tribes in V'zot Haberacha. The two commandments warrant comparison:

The discerning reader senses the different nuances in the two versions.

The quote from Bemidbar seems 'softer' than that of Devarim. The latter text emphasizes the bringing of God's words to Moshe "And God spoke . . saying" - as against "And God spoke to Moshe" in Bemidbar.

In Bemidbar, the positioning of the mountain is non-specific. The position of Har Haavarim in Devarim is very precise "Mt. Nevo which is in the Land of Moav facing Yericho."

In Bemidbar, along with the imperative "See the land" we find the statement "When you will have seen it" which leaves the reader with an impression of softness, of delay, and of wonder. In contrast, the command in Devarim is issued like an operational order, "Go up... see... die." Devarim is even more extreme: "You will view the land from a distance;, but you shall not enter it". By these steady, unemotional repetitions, the listener can almost detect a tone of malicious delight.

The final step of the ascent to the mountain is described differently in the two sources. In Bemidbar, the text points out with great sensitivity the fact that the view from the mountain will followed by death. The words are spoken as though on tip-toe, with great empathy: "You too ... and join ... just as your brother Aharon was", for this is the way of all flesh.

How different, then, sharp and unequivocal, the Devarim equivalent: "Die on the mountain ... you will be gathered … as your brother Aharon died ... and he was gathered ..." - like a promise to verify the death.

There is one more difference which the text seems not to mention. According to the Devarim account, Moshe goes up "to Mt. Nevo, to the summit Pisgah, opposite Yericho" (Devarim 34:1)

According to the account in Bemidbar, in our parasha, Moshe does nothing, neither in speech nor in action.

Among the Bible commentators, Ramban (Bemidbar 27:12) noted the absence of a reaction following the command in Bemidbar:

The mountain's name is Nevo, as is clear from in the seder of Haazinu and V'zot Haberacha, but it was called Mt. Avarim ['passes'], for it was near the Jordan fords... and this command was not intended for immediate execution. Were such the case, he would have had to ascend immediately. But the meaning is, 'Go up to Mr. Avarim now, and view the land' . Because He had commanded Moshe to divide up the land, He informed him, 'Not by you shall the land be divided, for you shall go up to the peak of Mt. Avarim before Israel leaves the land of Moab , and you will die there - all that you will have of the land is the view. And thus also with "Take Yehoshua" - when your time comes, take Yehoshua, and scripture completes the picture by telling us that Moshe so did, with full heart, and this is what is described at Moshe's death, they recited the poem, he and Yehoshua bin Nun.

This was the manner in which Ramban and most traditional commentators attempted to reconcile the texts.

But perhaps there is another way the texts can be read. The words were, indeed, spoken to Moshe, and their main thrust was that he will not merit to be included among those entering the land. But Moshe, in defiance of Heaven, does not ascend the mountain. Perhaps we can follow the example of the midrash. The midrash opened a window between the words "the great lights" and "the great light..." and inserted the dialogue between the moon and The Holy one, Blessed Be He. So it might be possible to inject content in our case. Perhaps at the end of the Torah's words about the ascent of the mount, and in the space between parasha and parasha - preceding the words about character of the successor, Yehoshua, there hides a dialogue between Moshe and The Holy one, Blessed Be He. This is a conversation which could develop only between those who recognized and knew a similar or identical experience. At the heart of the dialogue stands the experience of sin. Moshe, who refrains from action and does not climb the mountain upon receiving the command, may be making a statement via his thundering silence: He had been hoping that perhaps his sin might be expiated, that he may be forgiven. Perhaps an empathy may develop between sinners, and he who knows the experience of sin can also give atonement and rescind the severe sentence. [An echo of that dialogue, found earlier in the parasha, was detected by the author of Midrash Sifrei (Piska 134, beginning with "And God said to Moshe, go up"). The inflexible tone of the text in Devarim teaches us the attitude and relationship of God to the tendency of these words.

And perhaps it might be in place to return and contemplate the words of the poet, Yehudah Amichai:

... Had not God been full of mercy,

The world would have been full of mercy.

Yossi Penini is general director of "Meitarim" - Network for Jewish-Democratic Education

 

 

Zealotry Is A Complex Matter, and the Zealot Needs God's Blessing for Protection

It is written, "And Pinchas, son of El'azar, son of Aharon the priest, saw..."

What did he see? He saw the act and recalled the halacha: "He who cohabits with an Aramean, zealots strike them." A Baraita elaborates: "Not in keeping with the wishes of the Sages, Pinchas acted not in accordance with the will of the Sages." Rabbi Yuda ben Pazi said: They wanted to excommunicate him, but the Holy Spirit descended upon him, declaring: "He and his descendents after him shall have a covenant of everlasting priesthood."

                                                                                                                 (Yerushalmi, Sanhedrin 9:7)

 

Since this must be done in true spirit for the glory of God, who, then, can know whether the zealot has no ulterior motive, saying that he acts in a spirit of zealousness for God; subsequently he kills one who is - according to the law - not actually deserving of death.

(Rabbi Boruch Epstein, "Torah Temima")

 

Said Rabba bar bar Channa in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: Whoever comes to take advisement [from a rabbinical court as to the permissibility of killing in such a situation], permission is not granted. Even more, had Zimri ceased [his cohabitation] and then been killed by Pinchas, Pinchas would have been sentenced to death. If Zimri were to turn about and kill Pinchas [in self-defense], he would not be sentenced to death, because Pinchas was a rodef [= a pursuer].

`                                                                                                                                                               (Bavli, Sanhedrin 82a)

 

The Leader As A Shepherd, a Public Servant Who Does Not Exploit His Subjects For His Personal Needs

"Let the Lord, Source of the breath of all flesh, appoint someone over the community who shall go out before them and come in before them, and who shall take them out and bring them in, so the Lord's community may not be like sheep that have no shepherd." (Bemidbar 27)

"Who shall go out before them" - Not like the kings of the nations who sit in their palaces and send their soldiers to war, but as I did when I fought against Sichon and Og, as is written (Bemidbar 21:34), "Fear him not". And as did Yehoshua, as is written (Yehoshua 5:13), "And Yehoshua went up to him and said, 'Are you one of us or one of our enemies"? And similarly with David (I Samuel 18:17), "For he marched at their head" - at their head when going out, at their head when returning...

"And bring them" - An alternative explanation: "And bring them" Do not to him as you did to me, for I will not bring them into the land.

 (Rashi, Bemidbar 27:17)

 

 

 

 

 

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