A Thought On Parshas Chukas

A Thought On Parshas Chukas

"...al kein ye'amar b'sefer Milchamos HaShem..."
"...that is the reason it is told in the Book of G-d's Wars..." (21:14)

After the Torah writes about our desert travels around mountains and near the sea and past the territories of various peoples, our verse indicates that there is some type of record called the Book of HaShem's Wars and that some of these travels are talked about there.

Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel professes that he is puzzled by this! Firstly, what book is called the Book of HaShem's Wars? Where is it and who wrote it and what was it, since we do not have such a book? The Torah asserts that it existed, and leaves it at that. Secondly, the phrase "al kein..." throughout the Torah and Scriptures always means "this is the reason for". What does the verse intend upon saying that we traveled here and there "and this is the reason that it is written" in that Book? Just exactly what is the reason for what? If the Torah wants us to know that there is such a Book, it might have simply written that there were many journeys in the desert and they are recorded there. What is the meaning of "this is the reason they are told there"?

Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel reviews with us the verses leading up to this. The Torah earlier states that we went from Mt. Hor along the Reed Sea (Yam Suf) to avoid the Land of Edom. It then says that the territory of Arnon borders the Land of Moav and separates Moav from the tribe of Emori, ruled by King Sichon.

From these places and names, he deduces that "the Book of HaShem's Wars" is actually none other than our very familiar Az Yashir Song of the Sea way back in Parshas BeShalach in the Book of Exodus (Sh'mos) which we recite every morning as well as when we read that Torah portion. If you look there at the Shira (15:15) you will see that it exults how the "leaders of Edom, of Moav and the residents of Canaan all trembled" as they learned of the splitting of the sea and of our victory there over the pursuing Egyptians. That verse establishes for us that the lands of Egypt, Edom, Moav and Canaan were in close geographical proximity one to the other.

Now, as an aside, we also know that the Shira proclaims that HaShem was "the Warrior" (Ish Milchama as in the word "war") at the battle of the Reed Sea (15:3) and that this battle is portrayed as "HaShem fights for His people against the Egyptians" (14:25), in view of the miraculous events there (again, the word there is yi'lachem, from the word for war). If so, writes Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel, the Shira is indeed a record of "the Wars of HaShem"!

Our verse and this week's parsha reference the places past which we traveled as we went across the desert from Egypt up towards Canaan. It notes how we traversed the territories of Edom, Moav and Emori. In order that we have an accurate glimpse of the geography and the itinerary sequence, we need some perspective of what was where so that these names do not seem like a random list of locations. Therefore, explains our master Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel, our verse enunciates that this is the reason that in the Shira it was written that when the Egyptians fell at the Sea, the nations of Edom, Moav and the residents of Canaan knew about it and reacted with fear! The Torah needed us to get that perspective there in order to better grasp the events of our parsha here!

Henceforth, when we recite the Az Yashir we will view it as "the Book of the Wars of HaShem" Who leads us, protects us and is at all times fighting our battles, whether we are aware of them or not. Wishing you a good Shabbos. D Fox

A Thought On Parshas Korach

A Thought On Parshas Korach

"...cha'mishim u'mo'a'sayim ne'sei'ae ae'da.."
"...two hundred fifty communal leaders..." (16:2)

The Torah attributes great qualities to the band of followers selected by Korach for his uprising. They are described as distinguished men, as communal leaders, and as persons with sound reputation. There were 250 of them.

Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel is curious about the actual status of these individuals. From the fact that our verse delineates three descriptions: ne'sie'ae ae'da (communal leaders), kru'ae mo'ed (designated with distinction) and anshei shem (sound reputation), we must infer that the men had great stature. Yet, he ponders, who might they have been? Moreover, why did Korach pick the number 250?

Well, since we are still in the "Book of Numbers", we will see what Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel does with those numbers. Korach was from the tribe of Levi. As we know, he was seeking to assert power and to garner status for himself and ostensibly for others in his tribe. There were eleven other tribes in the Jewish nation. As we see from the Torah, Korach was allied with Dasan and Aviram, nemesis figures dating back to Moshe Rabbeinu's early days in Egypt. We also know that Oan son of Peles was another crony of Korah and his band. So, there were four identified "players" in the rebellion. What about the number 250?

Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel reasons that Korach sought to fortify himself and his claims with a semblance of halachic propriety. Worded differently, he wanted to create an appearance of having the backing of the rabbinate. So, we all know that there is no central and absolute person within a tribe who is granted full authority to overturn precedent or to make rulings which are uniformly binding. However, there is a judicial arm in each tribe known as Sanhedrin katana which is comprised of twenty three justices or elders. These Sanhedrei katana have the power and authority to judge and rule for the constituents of their respective tribes.

Korach assembled 23 leading authorities from each of the 11 tribes in order to foster a misleading image of full rabbinic cooperation with his movement. He made it appear as if the high court system within each tribe was in support of his rebellion against Moshe Rabbeinu. If you take 23 and multiply it by 11, you should get a total of 253. When the Torah tells us that Korach came forth with 250 men, this means that, including Dasan, Aviram and Oan son of Peles within the 11 sets of 23 "faux Sanhedrins", Korach was surrounded by an entourage of two hundred distinguished, well known communal leaders.

They say "Don't judge a book by its cover." We can now say "Don't try to cover yourself by booking a judge." Good Shabbos. D Fox

A Thought On Parshas Sh'lach

A Thought On Parshas Sh'lach

"...asher nosati es Yadi..."
"...which I swore with a raised Hand..." (14:30)

HaShem pledged that we would enter the Promised Land. Earlier in the parsha (verse 27) this is referred to as HaShem's oath (asher nishbati) and here the oath is in idiomatic form, "with a raised Hand."

Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel ponders the meaning of such a vivid image in HaShem's referring to His oath. What might it teach us?

He first establishes that the image of a "hand" is found elsewhere regarding oaths. He notes that in Yeshiyahu 62:8 we find the expression nishba HaShem b'yamino - HaShem swore with His "right Hand."

He then suggests that "right hand" symbolizes the Torah itself, as it says mi'yamino esh das lamo - from His right Hand comes the fiery faith (Devarim 33:2), as explained by Chazal in Berachos 6a.

So what does all this lead to? Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel learns from here that this is also the basis for the way that we mortals make promises and commitments to one another.

We shake hands. The right hand. Shaken, not stirred. That means we extend our five fingers, which symbolize the Five Books of the Torah (remember: "right hand" in the above verse is a reference to Torah). When your five right fingers interlock with the five fingers of your fellow deal-maker, that totals ten fingers, which represent the Ten Commandments. It is a serious gesture.

And, writes Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel, such a hand-shake promise is binding and cannot be annulled. He notes that in Yechezkel 17:18, the prophet proclaims u'boza alah l'hafer bris v'hinae noson yado...lo yimalet - and the one who spurned the oath after giving his hand... shall not be released. This, he concludes, demonstrates that you cannot back out of a deal once you have shaken on it.

With this lesson, we see another side of our master Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel: he is able to draw upon drasha to extract a halachic principle. We must keep our word, and we must recognize that the gestures which accompany our promises have a deeper meaning, which can at times be detected through the symbolic message of an act. Good Shabbos. D Fox

A Thought On Parshas Be'ha'losecha

A Thought On Parshas Be'halo'secha

"...va'yehi binso'a ha'aron..."
"...and when the ark would travel..." (10:35)

This verse is quite familiar to us because it is said each time that we prepare to take the Torah out of the Ark in order to read from it. The section in which this verse appears is a short one, two verses totalling 85 letters. What is striking about the section is that the letter nun appears at the beginning and the end of the piece, and the nun is written backwards.

There are a number of Talmudic lessons pertaining to these verses yet there is little discussion in the classic commentaries about those two backward nun letters. As long as we are looking into less familiar points, we have another verse which is striking. Further on (11:15) when Moshe addresses HaShem about the Divine warning that the rebelling faction may be punished, Moshe seems to refer to HaShem by the feminine pronoun At rather than with the ubiquitous Atah. What is the meaning of that shift in gender references? Is there a link between that second section, which deals with the rebellious faction, and the earlier section which precedes it with the sandwiching nun-backwards?

Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel takes this challenge. He finds symbolic meaning in the backward letters. He reminds us that the Jewish nation was set to enter the Promised Land. They could have walked in after no more than a three day trek. They would have crossed the Jordan River and claimed the land of their patriarchs. However, as we see from section two, they complained. They were noncompliant and forfeited the right to enter Israel at that point in time.

He cites a reference that the Jordan River was fifty cubits wide. Fifty is the letter nun. Our nation turned backwards symbolically, moving away from the sacred plan, and turned backward in reality, by not crossing the river. This is why the verses which preface the second episode of rebellion include two backward nun letters. They represent our opting out of a sacred opportunity and out of a sacred status.

How does this now link with the reference to the Divine as At? For this, Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel needs to go underground, alluding to sod which is the mystical foundation of deeper Torah lessons. He hints at the kabbalistic work known as Yud Sefiros Bli Mah - the Ten Spheres of Nothingness. This work looks at the letters of creation, the alef bais or Hebrew alphabet, as comprising compacted yet infinite names of the Divine. Although the alef-bais begins with an alef and it ends with the letter tof, the secret of the mystical Ten Spheres of Nothingness is that there is no beginning or end to our fathoming the Divine. Hence, both the alef and the tof are merely mortal metaphors, since human beings require a sense of space and dimensionality, and therefore need to propose a concept of beginning and a concept of ending. That is how the alef bais came to have a first and a last letter.

However, in the cosmic reality, HaShem's names, all of which emanate from those letters, are found in alef-tof and tof-alef and there is no front or back or sequence for the Infinite. In a representation of the Infinite within a series of letters or symbols, there is no middle either. The Name of HaShem, from this view point, would be comprised by the symbols which represent nothingness, rather than substance, and hence the customary pronoun of Atah is just as accurately represented as At - namely, that an alef and a tof - beginning and ending - are not really relevant. Everything is actually no thing, and nothingness is portrayed as if it were every thing (alef - tof).

Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel now goes back to our curious-looking nun. In addressing HaShem whose words had intimated imminent punishment, to reduce substance to nothingness, Moshe responds from the deepest places of his soul in a mystical expression that he "gets it." He submits to the Divine infiniteness by orienting to HaShem as Alef Tof - At. In this way, he also references the turning back of the nation which was the backwards nun. The nun is at the center of both nothingness and of something-ness and that which it appears reversed and backwards is only a limitation of mortal perception. From the place-less and space-less Spheres of Nothingness - which is the highest realization of our own nothingness in the Divine vastness - position, dimension and direction are virtually meaningless. Moshe Rabbeinu knows this, for he has seen as much as a mortal can see. In fact, Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel notes, when the verse later tells us that HaShem declares "b'kol baisi ne'eman hu" - Moshe is trusted throughout My House (12:7), this means that despite all that had been revealed to him, Moshe did not tell it over to others in the way that Yechezkel did in Ma'aseh HaMerkava (which we will read Shavuous morning when we are too tired to notice.)

The mystical reversal of the nun hints at a deep process, and Moshe's subsequent plea springs from an awareness of the deepest processes of spiritual reality. This view of Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel may be hard to follow, in that he introduces some unfamiliar concepts to us. I chose it in order to greet the forthcoming yom tov of Receiving the Torah, and in order to place this great commentary among the ranks of the Rishonim who were familiar with the Kabblastic tradition. Good Shabbos. Good Yom Tov. D Fox

A Thought On Parshas Nasso

A Thought On Parshas Naso

"...kadosh yi'heyeh...me'asher chatah al ha'nefesh..."
"...sanctified shall he be...atoning for his sin..." (6:8,11)

The puzzle of the Nazir, a person seeking to sanctify his life through temporary abstinence, is that one verse lauds him for his holy decision and one verse finds fault with him. Many efforts have been made, even dating back to Talmudic debates, to rectify the apparent polarity of the Nazir's status. Is he viewed as a holy person or as a deficient one?

Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel offers a profound interpretation which seems astounding to the modern reader, steeped as we are in contemporary views of the mind and its mechanisms. He notes that throughout the Talmud, we have examples of great people who were praised for their giving up certain pleasures, and others who are praised for partaking in the delights granted us by HaShem. He then points out that we have people who are genetically predisposed to be calm, and others who are chronically restless.

Now, a person who is prone to passionate stirrings yet exerts some self-control in the pursuit of greater stability, is a person of worth and merit. In contrast, a person who is prone to composure and tranquility who suppresses his urges to the degree of self-deprivation is doing something we might consider unhealthy or pathological.

Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel then asserts that the Torah too is addressing all people, all kinds of people. Our passage is not limited to an ideal type or a specific sort of individual. Hence, in introducing the parsha of Nazir with its prescriptive protocol for adopting restrictions upon the self, the Torah means to cover both of the individual types depicted above.

For one who is prone to be self-indulgent or passionately driven, the adopting of lifestyle restrictions can be a badge of holy honor. Such a Nazir has achieved something wondrous as the verse says, ki yafli - he distinguishes himself (6:2). One who is prone to a settled demeanor, however, yet sets behavioral restrictions upon himself which are not necessary for his personal growth and refinement, may be following the Nazir-mitzvos precisely yet he is still referred to as "associated with sin." His sin is the unnecessary deprivation which might propel a more conflicted person to attain spiritual heights but for him, perhaps those heights might have been reached through assiduous efforts rather than through passive avoidance.

Rabbeinu Chaim Paltiel closes with a tantalizing verse (Yirmiahu 22:15) - ha'lo avicha achal v'shosa v'asa mishpat v'tzedek v'tov lo - the prophet said, "just look at your father: he ate and drank yet lived by the law and did righteous acts and he turned out well!"

All of us are meant to grow in mind, heart and spirit. Each of must be honest in knowing our strengths so that we can accurately identify our actual challenges. Good Shabbos. D Fox