Torah Reading Inside Israel:
Weekly Torah Reading, Beha‘alotekha, June 6, 2020
Numbers 8:1-12:16
The Good Old Days
In the book of Ecclesiastes, the author advises, “Don’t say, ‘How has it come about that things were better in earlier times than now?’ for you are not asking about this out of wisdom” (7:10). The word “wisdom” (hokhmah) in Ecclesiastes often means something like the search for truth (see Eccles 1:13, 2:3, etc.). What he’s saying here is that if you ask such a question, you’re really not looking for an answer, and certainly not calling for some detached, scientific inquiry. All you’re doing is complaining.
This verse comes to mind in contemplating this week’s Torah reading, and more generally the whole biblical book of Numbers. So many things go wrong! In this week’s reading alone, the people first complain about the manna (which elsewhere had been praised for its taste, Exod 16:31). Then two men, Eldad and Medad, apparently led to a dispute about Moses’ authority; after this come Miriam and Aaron, who challenge Moses’ standing as God’s prophet. In subsequent weekly readings come all sorts of other troubles: the cowardly spies who spread panic among the people; Korah’s rebellion; Moses and Aaron striking the rock, which resulted in their both being condemned to die before the people’s entrance into the land of Canaan; the bronze serpent, the sin of Baal Peor, and more. All these things are packed back-to-back in what seems like an unending series of woes. What’s the point?
Normally, there is a point. Biblical narratives don’t usually seem to have been told just because they happened; usually, their retelling has an apparent purpose. Often, the past is recounted in order to explain the present: in the book of Genesis, stories of Israel’s meritorious ancestors help to explain their descendants’ special connection to God. The book of Exodus likewise explains this connection. Jacob’s sons went down to Egypt and increased greatly; then a wicked Pharaoh enslaved them until God set them free and brought them to Mount Sinai, where He adopted them as His special people.
All in all, this ought to have been a happy story, Israel’s march from slavery to freedom, and from the lowliest of peoples to God’s chosen favorite. And perhaps in some other retelling of Israel’s history, that is all that would have been said. But the Torah’s account is clearly determined to assert that even within this triumphal framework, things kept turning awry. This, it seems, is indeed the whole point—not only of this week’s reading, but of much of the book of Numbers.
When, in this week’s reading, some of the people complain to Moses about the manna they have to eat, they utter this telltale sentence: “We remember the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic…” (Num 11:5). Ancient commentators pointed out the falsity of such a “memory.” The Egyptians wouldn’t even give the enslaved Israelites straw with which to make bricks (see Exod 5:16). Did they ever give their slaves such delicacies? Truly, here is a case of what Ecclesiastes had in mind: “Don’t say, ‘How has it come about that things were better in earlier times than now?’ for you are not asking about this out of wisdom.”
Shabbat shalom!
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Torah Reading Outside of Israel:
Weekly Torah Reading, Naso, June 6, 2020
Numbers 4:21-7:89
The Priestly Blessing
Among all the different items covered in this week’s reading is a brief commandment to Aaron and his sons. As is well known, Aaron’s sons will henceforth be the kohanim, the hereditary priests in Israel, and one of their jobs, according to this week’s reading, is to bless the people of Israel with these words:
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord make His face to shine and be gracious toward you.
May the Lord lift up His face toward you and grant you peace.
I have translated this three-part blessing fairly literally, so some explanations may be in order. The word “keep” in the first line probably means something more specific in context—like “guard” or “watch over.” In the second line, to “make His face to shine” is a bit more difficult to pin down, but “to be well disposed toward you” might best capture the intended sense. Among other appearances of this Hebrew idiom, the one in Ecclesiastes seems informative, “A person’s wisdom causes His face to shine, and the harshness of His face is changed.” In other words, for God to “make His face shine” is to turn away any harshness or ill feeling and be well disposed.
It seems that the third line’s “lift up His face toward you” should be an intensification (rather than a simple restatement) of this same idea, so, for example, the NJPS translation “bestow His favor upon you”—a more active thing than simply being well disposed—is probably not far off the mark. (I should mention that standard Bible translations are usually not wild guesses, but are based on the examination of the same or similar expressions as they appear elsewhere in the Bible.)
In this connection, it is noteworthy that the Dead Sea Scrolls contain an interesting restatement of this blessing, as follows:
May [the Lord] bless you with all good, and may He keep you from all evil. May He cause your heart to shine with the discernment of life, and may He be gracious toward you with eternal knowledge. May He lift up His gracious countenance toward you for eternal peace. (1 QS Community Rule 2:2-4)
This is an obviously free version, but apart from its reworking of the text, it may demonstrate how significant the priestly blessing continued to be throughout the biblical period. Another measure of its importance is its continued use in amulets and other inscriptions—going back to a seventh century BCE copy of the priestly blessing that was found outside the city walls of Jerusalem in 1979.
The Bible itself gives some evidence of how people prized the act of being blessed by the temple priests with these exact words. Psalm 67 begins:
May God be gracious toward us and bless us; may He cause His face to shine with us, Selah.
The psalm ends:
May God, our God, bless us,
May God bless us and may He be revered to the ends of the earth.
It seems likely that this psalm was recited as a follow-up to the priestly blessing, allowing those present to stress how much they wished the priests’ blessing to be carried out.
The Hallel psalms that are recited on Rosh Ḥodesh (the new month) and festivals also contain a reference to the priestly blessing—but here, apparently, the words were intended to be recited by the priests themselves:
By the name of the Lord, may everyone who enters here be blessed! We [priests] bless you from the House of the Lord! The Lord is God—let Him cause [His face] to shine upon us! (Ps 118:26-27)
Especially in these troubled times, the words of the priestly blessing speak to every heart: indeed, “May the Lord bless you and keep you.” And although those verses can no longer be spoken by the kohanim in the Jerusalem Temple, it is no accident that the words immediately following them refer to the source of all blessing: “When they [that is, the kohanim] place My name on the Israelites, it is I who will bless them” (Num 6:27).