This week’s portion presents us with a myriad of challenges. What is this Red Heifer business anyway? We have a host of commentaries on this obscure ritual, some of which reflect a belief that this particular beast will be a precursor of the Messiah Indeed, the Messianic tradition within Judaism is a rich one and some of it emerges from this portion.
We also see the deaths of Miriam and Aaron and the distinct differences in how they are mentioned in the text. We also have another story that, in Torah terms, has lasting significance. As the Israelites, as is their custom, complain about a lack of water, we see the story of Moses and the rock and the water. (Numbers 20:1-13.) We read that Moses strikes the rock twice, and learns that this disobeys the command from God to “order the rock to yield its water”. The punishment to Moses is that he is prohibited from leading “this congregation into the land that I have given them”.
So many difficulties with this portion! One however I want to ask you to consider, for I think many of us have lived it. How have we responded to events that did not go as we expected? How have we reacted when the universe tells us that the answer to what we hoped for is a simple “no”. How often have we been in situations where we havethought that “if only I could go back and do it again…..!”
One can only imagine what Moses was thinking and feeling as we examine these passages. Here he is, leading this stiff-necked, often complaining people. In a very short period of time his sister dies, he loses his temper in fulfilling a command for God and then his brother dies. How can he go forward? What were the psycho-spiritual tolls of grief, disappointment, regret, anger, frustration and doubt? How many of us have lived through periods in life when all seems to be filled with such emotions? How have we chosen to respond? Moses gathers himself and continues onward perhaps focusing on the ultimate goal of leading the people? Perhaps he continues because to surrender and give up would be to give in to the negativity. Resilience is a lesson here, a lesson for all of us. How and what did you choose to respond when life dealt those cards that have said: “no”?
Shabbat shalom
Rabbi Richard F. Address
Rabbi Richard F. Address, D.Min, is the Founder and Director of www.jewishsacredaging.com. Rabbi Address served for over three decades on staff of the Union for Reform Judaism; first as a Regional Director and then, beginning in 1997, as Founder and Director of the URJ’s Department of Jewish Family Concerns and served as a specialist and consultant for the North American Reform Movement in the areas of family related programming. Rabbi Address was ordained from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1972 and began his rabbinic career in Los Angeles congregations. He also served as a part time rabbi for Beth Hillel in Carmel, NJ while regional director and, after his URJ tenure, served as senior rabbi of Congregation M’kor Shalom in Cherry Hill, NJ from 2011-2014.
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