Parashat Re'eh: Kashrut? A Question for the Ages

 I can't recall if the following took place on a Boeing 737 or 757, but it was your typical charter flight-type of airplane.  I don't sit next to the window as I'm not particularly fond of heights (which is strange granted that I've been blessed to fly to numerous destinations) and I hadn't managed to secure the aisle seat.  I was therefore squashed in the middle of my row.  The one to the left of the single aisle that ran down the centre of the plane.

All was fine if I didn't need to stretch my legs or use the facilities.  Cruising at an altitude of 37,000 feet allows you to relax whilst praying that you don't have a child directly behind you kicking your seat for the entire journey.  If you've had that one answered, the next is the hope that it isn't a screaming baby instead.

Nestled relatively comfortably in my seat, my attention was drawn to the stewardess who asked me if I had requested a Kosher meal.  I answered in the affirmative and she then gave me the following:

·         a shrink-wrapped white plastic moulded tray which contained a foil covered cup containing 'orange juice'

·         a sealed plastic bag with cutlery, salt and ketchup along with a container that looked like a salad, but I couldn't be sure

·         something that resembled a chocolate muffin.

·         Finally, the pièce de résistance which consisted of a rectangular foil dish that was so hot, it could cause serious burns if it had to be handled for more than a few seconds. 

That was the easy part!

I was sitting there, boxed in on both sides by strangers whom I did not know.  I required the dexterity of a crew member of the International Space Station to be able to remove the plastic from the tray whilst simultaneously trying to unbuckle the cover from the steaming hot foil dish, all the while attempting to avoid nudging either neighbour in the process.  Retrieving the plastic cutlery was less challenging but when the top of the fork gave up the fight in a battle with trying to de-skin the over-cooked chicken, I knew that I was facing a losing battle.  Consuming the said fowl, utilising a miniature plastic knife and spoon, was not at all rewarding.  One really shouldn't feel a sense of relief when the meal is over but that's exactly the emotion that spread throughout my thoroughly stressed-out body.

My neighbour to my left looked at me and at the empty and scratched tray and I felt that I had to explain that I had ordered a 'Kosher' meal.

'What's that?' she enquired.  Oh boy.

Fortunately, it was a long flight but as I explained the various rules and regulations that we read in this week's Parasha, I really did wonder what she must have thought of this central tenet of Judaism.  The laws pertaining to Kashrut are classified under the heading of Chukim - Statutes.  Why can we eat a, b and c?  Because.  Why can't we eat x,y and z?  Because.  No explanation. 

It just is.

I can't provide a reason because we are not given one.  However, taking a closer look at the language the Torah uses to describe the different categories of animals, fish and birds that are either kosher or treif (the literal meaning of which is 'torn') perhaps gives a hint of Gd's rationale in proscribing our dietary laws (and by extension an explanation for my juggling act at 37,000 feet off the ground.)

Devarim: 14.19-20

All swarming, flying creatures are impure (‘Tamei’) for you: they may not be eaten.  You may however, eat any pure (‘Tahor’) flying creature.

In delineating whether an animal (or in this example, a bird) is permitted or prohibited, the Torah repeatedly uses the term Tahor or Tamei (and this is also the case in the earlier list in Parashat Shemini).  Incidentally, these are also the words used to describe the pairs of animals that entered Noah's ark.  Seven pairs of pure or in our parlance, Kosher animals, as opposed to a single pair of each set of non-kosher creatures (referred to as being Tamei).

The usage of Tahor and Tamei appears repeatedly in the Torah in another context concerning the spiritual purity of the Bnei Yisrael, particularly when it came to matters concerning the bringing of sacrifices to the Mishkan.  A person who had come into contact with a corpse or dead creature was not allowed to bring an offering until they had been purified.  They had to be Tahor, spiritually pure to partake in any religious worship.  This is why so many mikvaot have been unearthed through archaeological digs around the Har Habayit, the Temple Mount.  In fact, the entire structure of the Beit Hamikdash, both above and below ground, was predicated on it not being susceptible to becoming Tamei, an example of which was the work required by the Hasmoneans to banish the desecration caused by the Greeks.  Volumes of the Talmud are dedicated to discussing this issue, which we find very hard to fathom in the present day.

 Could this notion indicate a connection between the ancient rituals that our ancestors had to follow and our being given the laws of Kashrut? 

Numerous Rabbis known as 'The Rishonim' (living between the 11th and 15th centuries) such as the Rashbam (Rashi's Grandson, d.1158), the Rambam (d.1204) and the Abarbanel (d.1508) discuss this in great detail, looking at the idea from different angles but the crux of the matter focuses on how our inner beings are impacted by eating 'pure' or 'impure' food, both on a physical and spiritual plane (pun intended!)

Rabbi Shamshon Refael Hirsch (d.1888) describes how the human body resembles the Temples in respect of how meat from non-Kosher animals is detrimental to our bodies' ability to achieve its spiritual objectives.  Just as the Beit Hamikdash could not function as a House of Gd when it was not being operated in such a manner by the Jewish people, so our bodies become an example of the famous idiom of 'you are what you eat'.  He also notes that creatures that are pure are all herbivorous and in eating only kosher animals, fish and birds, we are able to sublimate the more animalistic or impure nature of our genetic makeup. 

It is also interesting to note that in recent times, during the various scares which involved the contamination of meat, for examples during the BSE outbreak in the 1990s, our Kosher butchers found themselves to be very popular amongst our non-Jewish neighbours who perceived Kosher meat as being 'cleaner', or as we could say 'purer' than that found in the general population.

If the idea that eating Kosher meat, fish or foul will result in our having more robust spiritual constitutions, this can only have a positive impact on us, individually and as a nation. Perhaps, that is the reason why Gd gave us those laws in the first place.

Shavuah Tov.

Parashat Va'Etchanan (Shabbat Nachamu): The Bigger Picture

 The first few verses in this week's Parasha always strike me as being some of the most poignant in the entire Torah.

Moshe Rabbeinu knows that he will not fulfil his lifelong dream of entering the Land of Israel.

He says:

At that time, I pleaded with the Lord: “O Lord, Gd.  You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your mighty hand.  What forces in heaven or earth can do deeds and mighty acts like Yours?  Please let me cross over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and the Lebanon.”

I don't know of anybody who would not find these words so poignant as to be heart-breaking in many different ways.  Thinking back to everything Moshe had achieved for our nation.  All the 'tzarot' he'd had to endure from our ancestors and then some.

Now, in a plaintive voice, he is begging Gd to change His mind.

Gd's response seems surprisingly harsh:

 

But the Lord was enraged with me because of You, and would not listen to me.  "It is enough!" the Lord said to me.  "Never speak to Me about this again!  Go up to the top of Pisga and gaze around you to the west, to the north, to the south and to the east.  See it with your eyes, for you will not cross the Jordan.  But charge Yehoshua, make him strong and determined, for he will be the one to cross over at the head of this people and who will secure their possession of the land that you may only see."

On the pshat (simple) level, Moshe is blaming the people for his predicament, when he says:

"The Lord was enraged with me because of You."

Moshe was telling the people that they were to blame for his punishment.  Throughout the wanderings in the desert, time and again, the people angered Gd.  Moshe protected them from the wrath of the Almighty.  Two cases in point being in the aftermath of the Golden Calf and following the spies' report.

When he says, "At that time, I pleaded with the Lord." at the start of the Parasha, he was perhaps hoping that, on this occasion, they would stand up for him in a similar vein.  They could have said that they would refuse to enter the land without Moshe.  That protest was not forthcoming.  It seemed like the love he showed towards the people was not reciprocated when he needed them.

When it came to the relationship between Moshe and the people, it appears that it was not an equal partnership.  However, the opposite seems true regarding Moshe's relationship with Gd.

We are told that Gd spoke to Moshe as a man speaks to his neighbour.

 

Why would Gd then appear to be so unwavering when it came to answering Moshe's plea?

The Gemara (Brachot 54b) tells us that if a person prays at length, Gd will grant him a long life.  Had Gd allowed Moshe to keep on praying, instead of restricting his efforts by telling him that his prayers “were enough”, He would have had to lengthen Moshe's life, thus delaying the Bnei Yisrael's entry into the Land of Canaan.  Moshe's sin, for reasons that are not completely understood, merited his not being allowed to progress beyond the Jordan River.  Gd's focus at this point was in moving the Bnei Yisrael to the next phase in their development, which did not involve their current leader.  It could be said that He put their needs ahead of His most trusted servant.

That is a case of true love.  Additionally, because He knew how Moshe felt about the nation he had dedicated his life to, He provided an answer that appears to be unfair but in fact demonstrates the love that Hashem has for our people.  Despite their errors and frequent misdemeanours in the years following Yetziat Mitzrayim, the Exodus, He refused to abandon them. 

There is a story told about the man who prays for fifty years to win the lottery.  Every single week he buys a number of tickets, belongs to a syndicate and ploughs all of his spare cash into this project.  At the same time, he prays fervently that all of his efforts will lead to the kind of life he wishes to aspire to.  All to nought.  After fifty years, he's made very little money back on his investment.

One night, he screams out to Gd in frustration:

"Almighty Gd, I did everything I could to win.  I gave hundreds of thousands of pounds to good causes and I prayed to you with all of my might.  Why have never answered me?"

Later that night, Gd reveals himself in a dream and says:

"Yankele, you don't understand.  I did reply to you many times and the answer was always ‘No’”.

Just because we don't receive the answer we wish for, doesn't mean that Hashem has not responded to our prayers.  'No' is as valid a reply as 'Yes'.

Often, we feel as though we are wasting our time trying to do the right thing because we get very little appreciation for our efforts.  In doing so, we don't realise the impact that our actions can have on others.  No-one has ever complained about receiving a compliment or a 'thank you' for something they have done to help others.  The truth is that our reward is waiting for us when we reach 120 years and ascend to The Garden of Eden.  We may feel that we haven't reached our own ‘promised land’ or achieved the goals that we set for ourselves in our youth.  Just because we don't see these, does not mean that our efforts and hard work have not been successful.

'Man plans and Gd laughs' because only Hashem sees the bigger picture.  We believe that every human being's soul is tasked with their own unique missions and challenges that we need to complete during the span of our lives.  We don't necessarily know what these are, but if we help others, we are, without a doubt, carrying out His holy work. 

May Gd provide us with the strength and resilience to continue to play our part in continuing the work that our Biblical ancestors began so long ago.  If we see the impact of our efforts, that's wonderful and if we don't, it doesn't mean that He loves us any less than another person.  It's just that the Holy One, Blessed Be He, always sees 'The Bigger Picture'.

Shavuah Tov.

Parashat Devarim (Shabbat Chazon): We're Coming Home

I think that I speak for virtually every English person in this country and abroad (unless you're also German) in expressing my delight at the breathtaking and historic achievement that took place on Sunday at Wembley Stadium.  A huge mazel tov to the Lionesses as a result of becoming the football champions of Europe.  The ‘Beautiful Game’ has finally come home!

The ladies have faced an uphill struggle to gain recognition for Women’s Football, having overcome enormous challenges to reach this point.  I am certain that this will be the springboard to an exciting future for the sport across the country.

As Jews, we understand what it means to achieve something significant after negotiating barriers that seemed insurmountable.  Often, we constructed obstacles ourselves because of the short-term and thoughtless decisions our ancestors made.  Something that seemed right at that moment led us into unchartered waters, that changed the course of our history.  When we should have taken a turn, that would have greatly advanced our development, we balked and instead turned around, and ground to a halt.  On occasions, when we could have planted trees and benefitted from their fruit, instead we cut them down before they had a chance to grow.

Which is why tomorrow, on Tisha B'Av (the ninth of Av) which is without a doubt the saddest day in our annual calendar, we should be reflecting on the tragic ramifications of our decisions.  Were it not for it being Shabbat, we would be doing so, right now.

Moshe, our greatest leader, describes his frustration with the nation to whom he dedicated his adult life:

 

Deuteronomy 1:12 But how can I bear alone all your problems, your burdens, and your disputes?

דברים א׳:י״ב אֵיכָ֥ה אֶשָּׂ֖א לְבַדִּ֑י טׇרְחֲכֶ֥ם וּמַֽשַּׂאֲכֶ֖ם וְרִֽיבְכֶֽם׃

Chazal, our Sages ensured that, for this Parashah to have the most resonance, it had to be read on Shabbat Chazon, the Shabbat which precedes Tisha B'Av, when we recite the Megillah that shares its name with the first word of this verse.  Megillat Eichah or Lamentations initiates and then encapsulates the very essence of the day itself.

·         How could these events befall our people?

·         How do they continue to inform our past and help us make sense of our present?

·         How can they help us to forge our future?

Megillat Eichah is the first step on our journey in helping us to answer these questions.

It is five weeks before Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses our teacher) is about to mark his 120th birthday and reach heaven, but not Israel.  The man who vociferously argued with Gd against taking on the job of leading this problem-ridden, quarrelsome and argumentative nation out of Egypt, through the desert and into the land of Israel, is poised to deliver the three greatest oratories in the entire Tanach.  At the age of 119!

I am a teacher and have been for nearly fifteen years (actually more, but I took a break from formal education to learn how to become another kind of educator).  We know what it feels like to be teaching children at the end of the academic year.  What began back in September as an enthusiastic quest to mould young minds with inspirational and life-changing ideas, the like they had not hitherto experienced, feels like a distant dream by the time you stand in front of a class in mid to late July!

The children are frustrated and bored and 'smell the summer' air circulating around the classroom.  If you're fortunate, you have an air-conditioning unit to make life a little more palatable.  If you're not, you are spending tortuous hours with students who are wilting before your eyes.

If I, a simple teacher, am struggling to make it through a year without collapsing from fatigue, can you imagine what it must have been like for a person of the calibre of Moshe?  He carried not one but two generations through the desert.  He was responsible for the fate of millions of grumpy, stubborn and forlorn individuals.  A 'stiff-necked-people' who no less than Gd Himself wanted to wipe out numerous times.  Can you blame him for asking how he alone, can bear their difficult temperament?  Yet, here he is, nearly forty years on, refusing to give up on them.  Goading and inspiring them in equal measure.  Warning them of what would happen if they didn't heed his counsel and preparing them for the next chapter in their national development.  Five weeks shy of his 120th birthday and with the knowledge that after everything he had achieved, he would not be there to lead them into the Land.

If they had followed his advice, the only 'how' that we would have recited could be found in today's Parasha.

How could these events have befallen our people?  Because when our teacher spoke, our minds were not focussed on his words.  We were thinking about the forthcoming summer.  Had we listened, we would not have spent many years living through an endless winter.  Our 'classrooms' would have been visions of a rosy future where the spiritual air-conditioning would reinvigorate us and bring about the coming of Moshiach.

It didn't happen.

Years passed and the memory of our Temples faded into our national subconscious.  How blessed we were to live under Jewish sovereignty which lasted less than eight decades (seventy under the reigns of the first Commonwealth of Kings David and Solomon and seventy-seven under the Second Commonwealth of the Hasmoneans).  Empires rose and fell.  Expulsions and Inquisitions came and went and finally we witnessed the Shoah in living memory.

Eichah?

How could this be?

How could this have happened?

Does Tisha B'Av make more sense now?

And then, seventy-four years ago, we were given a third bite of the Jewish cherry.

It has lasted longer than the fifty-six years between England's footballing victories.  Our third Jewish Commonwealth, despite all the existential internal and external challenges it faces, is stronger than ever.  Tomorrow is Tisha B'Av and we will start fasting a short while before Shabbat ends.  But, like our fellow footballing citizens, we always hope for a way to turn national mourning into international jubilation.

For Moshe, despite his experiences, never gave up on us.  He knew that he would not make it through to September but his successor, Joshua would be there to lead the new class into their next phase.  Moshe Rabbeinu endowed us with his final gift, the Mishne Torah - the repetition of the Torah that we also call Sefer Devarim. 

At this juncture, with our current situation, we must ensure that we don't 'give up on us'.

Baddiel and Skinner's anthemic refrain of 'It's Coming Home' has held our national morale aloft long after the floodlights on the pitch have been shut down.  Eventually, football came home and we too await the time when Tisha B'Av will be the day when we can celebrate the final redemption because our own refrain can only be : 'We're coming home'.

May it happen speedily in our days.

Shabbat Shalom.

Parashat Pinchas: Actions and Signs

Numbers 25:14:

The name of the slain Israelite man, the one who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri son of Salu, leader of the ancestral House of Shimon and the name of the Midiantish slain woman was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur (who was one of the five kings of Midian).

The final portion of last week's Parasha described the catastrophic events initiated by the evil prophet Bilaam, when he saw that he was unable to curse the people as per Balak's requests.  If you recall, he sent harlots into the camp of the Bnei Yisrael who caused the men to commit idol worship (and all the immorality that this entailed).  Pinchas, the grandson of Aharon, saw an Israelite and a Midianite having relations and killed them, which stopped the plague that had taken the lives of 24,000 people.  This week's Parasha provides more details as to whom this licentious couple were.

We have come across Zimri previously in Sefer Bamidbar.  The Gemara in Sanhedrin (82b) identifies him as Shlumiel ben Tzurishaddai, the Prince of Shimon who also presented his tribe's gifts to the Mishkan as described in Parashat Naso.  It seems that, as per his name, he was also more than just a 'shlemiel', granted that he disgraced both his position and the family from which he emanated.  By extension, his behaviour also cast a long dark shadow over his fellow Simeonites.

He wasn't the first to tarnish the tribe's reputation.  To understand this fully, we need to cast our minds back to Sefer Bereshit.

In Parashat Vayishlach, Yaakov had survived the encounter with his twin brother Eisav and settled with his family in central Israel, in the region of Shechem (not far from the modern city of Nablus).  His young daughter, Dinah had wanted to explore the area and meet some of the local inhabitants.  She encountered Prince Shechem (the son of Chamor the Hivitte) who took her and then raped her (you can read the story in Bereishit Chapter 34).  Having behaved so despicably, the Torah tells us that his 'soul cleaved to her' and he wanted them to get married.

There followed a series of protracted negotiations between Yaakov and his sons, and Shechem and his father, Chamor.  The sons agreed to the marriage (and future unions between both peoples) on the condition that the men of the town circumcised themselves as per the Hebraic faith.  The townsfolk agreed to the pact and 'every male was circumcised.' On the third day, which is the time at which they would be at the apex of their pain and extremely vulnerable, Dinah's brothers, Shimon and Levi, massacred the entire adult male population.  They also took their wives and children as captives in addition to the ‘herds, flocks and asses and that which was in the field'.

Yaakov was incensed but he waited until he was lying on his deathbed in Egypt, decades later, to pronounce his verdict on his sons' barbaric behaviour.

On his last day, surrounded by his family, Yaakov did not refrain from giving a prophecy of the future that would impact upon Shimon and Levi’s descendants.

Genesis 49:

Shimon and Levi are brothers; Weapons of violence their wares.  Let me never join their council, nor my honour be of their assembly.  For in their anger they killed men; at their will, they hamstrung oxen.  Cursed be their anger, for it is most fierce, and their fury for it is most cruel.  I will divide them up in Yaakov and scatter them in Israel."

 

With regard to Levi, we know that the tribe was not assigned a portion of the land of Israel, due to its umbilical ties with the Temples, through the Avodah (Holy Service) of the Cohanim, ably assisted by the Leviim.  They were truly scattered amongst the people and had to settle in the 48 Levitical enclaves, of which 6 were designated Arei Miklat (cities of refuge for the people who had committed manslaughter - we will read about these in Parashat Maasei next week).

Levi's descendant, Korach, was responsible for the uprising which brought the Tribe's name into disrepute.  When describing his lineage, the Torah stops with Levi in order to honour Yaakov's dying wish that he not be mentioned and thereby dishonoured in connection with Korach’s rebellion.  Not forgetting that Korach's behaviour resulted (directly and indirectly) with the death of nearly 15,000 people.  His older brother, Shimon's actions, were similarly punished, not only as a result of Shlumiel's behaviour but also in another devastating way.

As Moshe prepares to meet Gd on his last day, he blesses all of the tribes in the beautiful prose that we read on Simchat Torah.  There is however one of the shevatim that is noticeably absent from the roster.  That of Shimon.

Chazal, our Sages, discuss his omission and as per the Artscroll Stone Chumash, there is a difference of opinion between the Ibn Ezra (who says that this was because of Yaakov's castigation) and the Ramban's assertion that the land could only be partitioned into twelve portions, one for each tribe.  Since the tribe of Shimon was very small in number, it was not given its own area but instead shared its allotment within Judah's territory.  It was indeed 'divided in Yaakov and scattered in Israel'.

And, like Korach, Shlumiel's highly irresponsible behaviour led to the deaths of thousands of Israelites- 24,000 to be exact.  Chazal note that in both the brothers' cases, their descendants caused others to sin and, as a result, thousands were punished with death through plagues in the desert.  Please note that the brothers and their descendants were in fact very righteous men.  This did not, however, stop them from committing the most grievous crimes.

The word 'Torah' literally means 'instruction' (coming from the shoresh of Yarah  ירה, which is also used in the word for a teacher - 'moreh').  This is a very appropriate name as it demonstrates that the Torah is not 'just' a history book but so much more than this.  Our ancestors were human beings.  Not gods and certainly not angels, and they were just as susceptible as their descendants would prove to be.  As great as Shimon and Levi were, their individual actions led to events that would have an impact for generations to come.

There is a dictum in the Torah of Maaseh Le'avot, Siman Lebanim, or the actions of the fathers are a sign for the children.  Avraham Avinu, as great a person as he was, (and he was the first Jew) went to Egypt and must have suffered immensely when his beloved wife Sarah was abducted by Pharaoh.  Similarly, his descendants would end up in Egypt as a result of also fleeing a famine and we know what that led to.

Many years ago, my parents befriended a German Jewish refugee who used to come to lunch at our house every Shabbat.  One saying she always repeated was that 'nothing happens in isolation'.  It has stuck with me through my life and made me think on how my actions can have reverberations on other people.

In these Three Weeks which lead up to the fast of Tisha B'Av, we are told to look inwardly and ask why we, as a nation, have suffered so much and continue to experience woes beyond our comprehension.  We should consider the ramifications of our actions and try to improve ourselves and the way we relate to others.  If we do so and remember how even great individuals like Shimon and Levi can err and behave in a way that caused such destruction in their time and later on, we can have a significantly positive impact on others in our own generation and beyond.  Perhaps then, in the very near future, we will be celebrating the return to Jerusalem and the Gulah Shelaimah, the final redemption.  May it happen speedily in our days, Amen.

Shavuah Tov.

Parashat Balak: The Power of Words

 3rd July

Three people were shot dead in a shopping mall in Copenhagen, Denmark.

4th July

Seven people were shot dead in Highland Park, Chicago.  A two-year-old became an orphan as a result.

8th July

Shinzo Abe, the former Japanese Prime Minister was assassinated in Nara, Japan.

In the United States alone, there have been over 300 mass shootings since the start of 2022.  A mass shooting is where at least four or more people are killed or injured in a single attack.

Three hundred attacks in six-and-a-half-months and that is just in the USA.

There is an old saying that, “Guns don't kill people.  People kill people.”

On the face of it, this seems like a trite comment that is particularly favoured by those Americans who hold the Second Amendment (the right to bear arms) so dear to their hearts.  The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defence within the home.”

However, I think that if we peel away the emotion that fuels this argument, there is a great deal of truth in what is being said, particularly in the second part of the statement, 'people kill people'.

There are many ways for a human to impact negatively on another person's life.

One of these is through physical violence, the kind that I have been referring to.  Another is the damage that can come about as a result of using, not a pistol or rifle, but a deadly weapon that each of us has the power to control, namely the words that come out of our mouths.

If I asked you to name an assassin, which of these would you think of first?

·         John Wilkes Booth, who shot Abraham Lincoln?

·         Lee Harvey Oswald?

·         Sirhan Sirhan, who killed Bobby Kennedy?

·         James Earl Ray, who shot Martin Luther King?

·         Mark Chapman who robbed the world of John Lennon?

·         Yigal Amir, Yitzchak Rabin's killer?

I have one more name for you to consider.  Someone, whom, had he succeeded, the repercussion on his actions could have affected every single one of us.

Can you guess who I am referring to?

Numbers 22:2-7

And Balak, son of Zippor had seen all that the Israelites had done to the Amorites.  The Moabites were in deep dread of the people because they were so numerous.  Fearful of the Israelites, the Moabites said to the elders of Midian, “This horde will now lick up everything around us as an ox licks grass in the field.”

Balak son of Zippor, was king of Moav at that time.  He sent messengers to summon Bilaam son of Beor who was at Petor, which is by the Euphrates, in his native land.

“A people has come out of Egypt and now they cover the face of the land - and they have settled down alongside me.  Please come now and curse this people for me, for they are stronger than I.  Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them from the land.  For I know that whomever you bless is blessed and whomever you curse is cursed.” 

So the elders of Moav and Midian, went with them carrying payment for divination.  They came to Bilaam and gave him Balak’s message.

The Moabites and the Midianites, who were sworn enemies, banded together to defeat the perceived threat of the Israelites (even though Gd had forbidden Israel from attacking Moav).  Instead of arming themselves with the Biblical version of guns, Balak sent for Bilaam to carry out his sordid plans.  This made Bilaam effectively a 'gun for hire’ as it were.  His curses could potentially do as much damage as a heavy barrage of modern-day artillery and both men were very much aware of this.

We read time and again in the Torah and beyond about the destructive power of curses.  A few weeks ago, we heard the Tochacha which described the curses that would afflict the Jewish people were they to stray from the good path.  In a few months’ time, we will read about the ceremony that would take place on Mount Gerizim and Mount Eval in Samaria, where the blessings and curses would be read out by the Leviim to the tribes gathered on both mountains.  Curses were not to be taken lightly.

As we know, Gd intervened and ensured that whenever Bilaam opened his mouth to curse the people, a blessing emerged instead.  To this day, many have the tradition to say the 'Ma Tovu' (how beautiful) verse that we read today every time they enter a shul.  In fact, one of my favourite quotes from the Torah is when Balak, frustrated with Bilaam's turn of words admonishes him by saying (in an almost comical manner):

“Don’t curse them and don’t bless them!”

As people of faith, we view Hebrew as being 'Lashon Hakodesh - a Divine language since the Torah was directly given by Gd to Moshe.  I also note in it some interesting anomalies when compared to English.

Famously the Hebrew word 'הוא' means 'He' in English and 'היא' in Hebrew means 'She'!  In the context of this week's Parasha and the issues that I have raised, I spotted another interesting connection between our two languages.  If you spell the English word 'Gun' phonetically into Hebrew, you see that the Hebrew word 'גן' means a garden, as in ‘Gan Eden’.  Similarly, it is the word used to describe a children's nursery, which makes sense.  Just as a garden is a location where we tend carefully to nature and nurture plants and young trees, so it is with a pre-school establishment.  It is the garden where our children are carefully and lovingly nurtured and prepared for the next stage in their emotional and intellectual development.

In fact, the Hebrew word 'Gan' is diametrically opposed to its English simile.  Where a Gun destroys, a 'Gan' builds.  Instead of the curse that has been thrust upon the world through the destructive use of gunpowder, we see how our children are blessed in their early years as they emerge like young trees from our wonderful nurseries.  Where English used a word to describe a weapon of destruction, Hebrew, Ivrit, gives it a very different and beautiful meaning.

Despite the Bilaams that try to curse others through bloodshed, they cannot succeed as long as there are people who want to protect the young with blessings.  It is sadly the case that, as we have seen, quite a few have lost their lives in the course of trying to protect the vulnerable human saplings in their care. 

Bullets kill and maim; love protects and builds.

Words can destroy and words can build.  Chazal tell us that Gd created our universe with words.

We cannot bring back those who have died but at the same time, we must never give up hope that one day, the blessings will outnumber the curses.  Bilaam tried his best to destroy us but instead uttered some of the most beautiful prose in the Torah. 

May the names of the people who have perished be a blessing to their families, friends and the wider society and may we all pray, paraphrasing the words of Isaiah (2.4)

Isaiah 2:4

And they shall beat their swords (or guns) into ploughshares

And their spears into pruning hooks:

 Humans shall not take up

 Guns against humans;

 They shall never again know war.

Shavuah Tov.