Parashat Balak (last week’s reading) has quite a disturbing end. The short chapter reads like a report that predicts the end of “Project Exodus”. The situation in the camp is chaotic, all boundaries are fallen and no one cares anymore about God and the values taught by Moses. What happened? After the episode with Balaam, we return to what is happening inside camp of the Israelites. There they have sexual relations with Moabite women and offer sacrifices to a Moabite god. As a result, the Eternal punishes the whole camp with a plague. We are close to the end of the 40 years in the desert. More or less no one of the former generation of slaves is still alive; the people are tired of the wandering in the desert. Moses isn’t anymore the dynamic leader he used to be, and the rituals and laws seem to have lost their authority as Moses did. People start turning away from God, and abandoning the laws of the Torah. The desecration of God and God’s name continues. At its peak Zimri, a prince from Israel and Cospi, a daughter of a Moabite chieftain enters a tent – most likely the Mishkan, the holy tent in the middle of the camp – to seal a new covenant between the Israelites and the Moabites, between the Israelites and the God of the Moabites, by having intercourse. Is that the end, end and over? End of the story. God is for sure not amused, not at all, and strikes his people with a plague. Please note that Moses is this time not interfering. To me, the Israelites actually stood at the edge of a deep slope, if not something unexpected happened. Pinchas, a man who hasn’t played a role so far, is taking his lance and kills Zimri and Cospi, he literally and metaphorically stops the union of the two tribes. This ends the plague, and is the end of last week’s Torah portion. What always strikes me are the consequences God is drawing from Pinchas action. Our Torah portion this week starts with the following:
“Pinchas … has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, … Therefore …, I give to him my covenant of Shalom, peace, and it shall be to him and to his descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual priesthood…” (Num 25.11-13)
It seems that someone who kills others in an act of zealously is rewarded by God with a covenant of peace?! A dangerous assumption, especially in regards to the many fundamentalist terror attacks of our time. If we look closer, we see a different facet of God’s „reward” for Pinchas. His reward is not a leadership role, or becoming a war hero. He, and his children, are bound closely to God, serving God as priests, regulated by the rules of the cult. Instead of becoming the spearhead of fighting against others, he becomes the priest for peace, shalom. Instead of zealously watching over God’s claims, he is the one who is now responsibly to find bridges between God and the people, serving them and god by creating communication. The Torah portion teaches us that in rare situations a dramatic action may bring a change – but only if the next step is the creation of a covenant of shalom, leading to better communication and understanding, creating a new ground of trust.Rabbi Adrian M Schell (Source Fields Torah Commentary and R D Burkeman)
| Torah Reading for Shabbat PinchasNumbers 25:10-30:1Reading: Num 26:62-27:23(Plaut p.1078/Hertz p.691)Haftarah 1 Kings 18:46-19:21 (P.1095; H.699)In this week’s Torah portion, God gives Pinchas a covenant of peace. God explains the apportionment of the Land of Israel. The daughters of Zelophehad petition to inherit their father’s portion. Moses appoints Joshua as his successor. Podcast of Rabbi Schell’s weekly Sermons Tuesdays on Radio Today (10h30) or: http://goo.gl/LsHQrY. |
What does Shabbat mean to us? Why do we need this day of rest? Carly L. Goldberg in her essay touched these important questions. “Busy”: It’s a word that rolls off my tongue with such ease that it scares me. Being busy – overscheduled and overcommitted while deeply resenting this state of being – takes a great toll on my physical, psychological, and spiritual wellness. And I’m not alone. Busy has become emblematic of success in our 21st-century society – and yet, more than ever, people are exhausted, burned out, and desperately seeking refuge from their everyday existence.The truth is, being busy is often self-imposed and motivated by the need to boost our self-esteem and sense of self-worth in our everyday lives. Whether we are conscious of our busyness or not, the desire to escape the feeling of being overwhelmed is great. The desire to slow down, ground ourselves in deep, meaningful relationships, nurture our spirit, achieve greater connection to the natural world, and, most important, take care of our precious bodies and minds is in great demand.The good news is that our Jewish tradition is built on the fundamental belief that we need to take a day off to rest and rejuvenate our bodies, minds, and spirits. In Exodus, we are commanded to celebrate Shabbat in two ways: to zachor (remember) and to shamor (observe). Specifically, we are told:Six days may work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Eternal…For in six days the Eternal made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day [God] ceased from work and was refreshed.I think this is a compelling sign that we, too, need to honor the Divine, ourselves, the Jewish people, and the world around us by celebrating 
I think it’s fair to say that just about everybody knows that the Israelites were condemned to wander in the wilderness for forty years – a biblical generation. But what led to it, is less well known. This week’s parashah—Sh’lach Lecha—tells that story.Israel is on the verge of entering the promised Land. Moses, on directions from God, has sent in an advance scout team. After forty days of exploring the land, they return and report of a Land that truly “flows with milk and honey”. But, they also tell of fortress cities and the inhabitants of the Land, of a people whose physical size is both intimidating and daunting. The people respond with cries of fear and want to go back to Egypt. Only Joshua and Caleb, two of the twelve scouts, want to continue on with their sacred journey. For this, they will merit the reward of eventually crossing the Jordan River. As for everyone else, they will neither enter the Land nor return to Egypt. They will drift aimlessly in the wilderness of Sinai until they die. The question is why? What was their sin? What was so grievous that prohibited an entire people from ever reaching their destination? And perhaps even more to the point, what lesson is Torah trying to teach us?The obvious answer is that the people lost faith in God. But in this story, in particular in the scouts’ recounting of their observations, lies another possibility. “The country … is one that consumes its settlers. All the people that we saw in it, are men of great size . . . and we looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we must have looked to them.” On this passage the Kotzker Rebbe (Menachem Mendel Morgenstern of Kotzk) that their sin wasn’t simply that they lost faith or that the scouts had misrepresented what they had seen. Their failure wasn’t even that they had low self-esteem, that they saw themselves as grasshoppers – for this they could be forgiven. Rather, it was their preoccupation with how others saw them.How often do we see ourselves through the eyes of others? How easy it is for us to define ourselves in relation to the other? We wonder what s/he will think. We worry about how we look, as if somehow our appearance in the eyes of someone else is all that matters. But it is nothing more than another form of slavery, this preoccupation not with who we are but with how we think we are perceived.The name of this week’s Torah portion is often rendered simply as Sh’lach. It is the verb “to send.” However, the full name of the parashah is Sh’lach Lecha. The second word, Lecha is instructive. Literally the phrase means “Send to yourself” or “Send for yourself.” This is how we should interpret the phrase. No matter the task, no matter the challenge, the success of my mission depends entirely on how I see myself as being integral to its fulfilment. If my concern is focused on how I will appear, if my focus is on whom I will please or displease, then I act without integrity.Shabbat Shalom Rabbi Adrian M Schell (Source: Rabbi Steven Kushner)
Last week I received an invitation to participate in an amazing event “In Conversation with the Mystic” An intimate discussion between South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, and Esteemed Yogi Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev.Sadhguru is a realized yogi, mystic and visionary who has dedicated himself to the elevation of the physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing of all people. He is an author and opinion maker who is regularly invited to speak at leading international forums. He has spoken at many prestigious global conferences such as World Peace Summit at the United Nations and the World Economic Forum.Sadhguru is often described as a contemporary guru, since he belongs to no particular tradition and incorporates aspects of yogic sciences that are most relevant for modern-day life into his teachings and practices. With his global followers numbering in the tens of millions, his scientific methods for self-transformation have gained universal appeal.Sadhguru’s insights into the mechanisms of life are an outcome of his profound experience of the “Self,” and serve as a guide to exploring the deeper dimensions of life. His life and work serve as reminders that the inner science of yoga is not esoteric philosophy from an out-dated past, but is absolutely (more than ever) relevant and applicable to our lives today.Yoga is estimated to be a 12 to 15,000-year-old practice for physical, mental and spiritual purposes, having its origin in India. Yoga is not a religion, but has spread across all religions, aims to transform both body and mind. On December 11 in 2014, the United Nations General Assembly declared June 21st, as the International Day of Yoga – which is part of the reason why I have taken the opportunity to draw it to your attention at this point in time. The declaration came after the call for the adoption of June 21st as International Day of Yoga by the Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, during his address to UN General Assembly on September 27, 2014 wherein he stated: “Yoga is an invaluable gift of India’s ancient tradition. It embodies unity of mind and body; thought and action; restraint and fulfilment; harmony between man and nature; a holistic approach to health and well-being. It is not as such about exercise, but rather to discover the sense of oneness with yourself, the world and the nature”. In suggesting June 21, which is the Summer Solstice, as the International Day of Yoga, Mr. Narendra Modi had said that, “the date is the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and has a special significance in many parts of the world. “Sadhguru notes the importance of this day in the yogic tradition: “On the day of the summer solstice, Adiyogi [the first yogi] turned south and first set his eyes on the Saptarishis or Seven Sages, who were his first disciples to carry the science of yoga to many parts of the world. It is wonderful that June 21 marks this momentous event in the history of humanity.”An all-time record of 175 nations, including the USA, Canada and China co-sponsored the resolution.” It had the “highest number of co-sponsors ever, for any UNGA Resolution of such nature.”Shabbat Shalom Rabbi Julia Margolis 
The news on Sunday was shocking, confusing, and unspeakably tragic.What in God’s name is happening in this, our world? Last week Tel Aviv, this Sunday Orlando, and next week …? There is so much pain.In thousands of places all over the world Jews studied Torah last weekend. We engaged ourselves in those studies, because we have hoped to find a better understanding of how we can make this world a better place. We have engaged ourselves in Tikkun Olam, the reparation of the world, because we know and we see how much more needs to be done to see this world redeemed. Saturday night we spoke about the pain the death of a single person can cause, and how guilty we feel if we couldn’t help. But we accepted that death is part of our lives and that we can find comfort in our Jewish tradition and our surrounding community, if death happens within our closes circles.But nothing can prepare us for those horrific, brutal and senseless attacks we had to witness in the past few days, months and years. The world, which I love so much, is broken, and the rifts seem to me un-bridgeable. How can we repair the world if a single person has been able to destroy the lives of so many, and to bring so much more hate into this world? How many more people need to study the values of the Torah to outbalance the bestial acts of those monsters?Many, I know will answer this question with a sense of hopelessness, telling me that there aren’t enough good people in this world to tip the scale to the good. Helplessness tells us to surrender. But in doing so, we allow those monsters to take the victory home, and we give space to the demagogues who trample on the victims to boost themselves and their ideology of hate. The terror acts of the last few days don’t allow us to surrender, to the contrary, the victims of those crimes ask us to not give up hope and to stand up for our values.We need to be the people of God that actively involve themselves in initiatives to end violence, especially violence against minorities. We need to be committed to the idea that being a Jew means nothing less than intentionally standing up, regardless of differences, when we see lives devalued or dehumanised by hate and ignorance. I believe with all my heart that doing so is a beautiful outworking of the Torah we claim to love and live.We value all life and the dignity of others because we all bear God’s image. Our faith can never be a reason to turn away from each other, but it should be – it must be – the reason why we approach one another and try to make an impact, even though we don’t understand or approve. Our tradition calls us to nothing less!Those terror acts call us to break down the walls of our own lethargy and to strengthen those who stand to protect us and our society. Judaism is not a religion of presenting the other cheek if we are attacked. To protect ourselves doesn’t mean to outcast others, it means to be aware that evil things happen and need to be stopped. When the allies started to re-create a civilised society in Germany after 1945 they used the term “fortified democracy” to introduce a system that doesn’t allow radicals to pervert democracy again. The main key is that every individual is responsible to protect this achievement. And so we are called today to protect our world from those radicals, from those haters of life, from those demagogues who try to ignite hate in us.Today we weep with those who weep, and mourn with those who mourn, tomorrow we stand up to change the world.Rabbi Adrian M Schell
The news on Sunday was shocking, confusing, and unspeakably tragic. What in God’s name is happening in this, our world? Last week Tel Aviv, this Sunday Orlando, and next week …? There is so much pain.In thousands of places all over the world Jews studied Torah last weekend. We engaged ourselves in those studies, because we have hoped to find a better understanding of how we can make this world a better place. We have engaged ourselves in Tikkun Olam, the reparation of the world, because we know and we see how much more needs to be done to see this world redeemed. Saturday night we spoke about the pain the death of a single person can cause, and how guilty we feel if we couldn’t help. But we accepted that death is part of our lives and that we can find comfort in our Jewish tradition and our surrounding community, if death happens within our closes circles.But nothing can prepare us for those horrific, brutal and senseless attacks we had to witness in the past few days, months and years. The world, which I love so much, is broken, and the rifts seem to me un-bridgeable. How can we repair the world if a single person has been able to destroy the lives of so many, and to bring so much more hate into this world? How many more people need to study the values of the Torah to outbalance the bestial acts of those monsters?Many, I know will answer this question with a sense of hopelessness, telling me that there aren’t enough good people in this world to tip the scale to the good. Helplessness tells us to surrender. But in doing so, we allow those monsters to take the victory home, and we give space to the demagogues who trample on the victims to boost themselves and their ideology of hate. The terror acts of the last few days don’t allow us to surrender, to the contrary, the victims of those crimes ask us to not give up hope and to stand up for our values.We need to be the people of God that actively involve themselves in initiatives to end violence, especially violence against minorities. We need to be committed to the idea that being a Jew means nothing less than intentionally standing up, regardless of differences, when we see lives devalued or dehumanised by hate and ignorance. I believe with all my heart that doing so is a beautiful outworking of the Torah we claim to love and live.We value all life and the dignity of others because we all bear God’s image. Our faith can never be a reason to turn away from each other, but it should be – it must be – the reason why we approach one another and try to make an impact, even though we don’t understand or approve. Our tradition calls us to nothing less!Those terror acts call us to break down the walls of our own lethargy and to strengthen those who stand to protect us and our society. Judaism is not a religion of presenting the other cheek if we are attacked. To protect ourselves doesn’t mean to outcast others, it means to be aware that evil things happen and need to be stopped. When the allies started to re-create a civilised society in Germany after 1945 they used the term “fortified democracy” to introduce a system that doesn’t allow radicals to pervert democracy again. The main key is that every individual is responsible to protect this achievement. And so we are called today to protect our world from those radicals, from those haters of life, from those demagogues who try to ignite hate in us.Today we weep with those who weep, and mourn with those who mourn, tomorrow we stand up to change the world. 
