Amid
the newsworthy coverage of Prime Minister Trudeau’s visit to the White House,
amid the bluster and noise that is Donald Trump’s campaign for the Republican
nomination, amid the relaxed joy of spring training and the anticipation of
another baseball season, my children came home from school last week talking
about another terrorist stabbing in Israel. These random attacks have been occurring
for months but for some reason this particular attack was very different. The
story made the news cycle for a minimal amount of time. No one from our circle
of friends in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, San Diego, Toronto, or Israel,
knew the young man., He wasn’t Jewish. Yet when our children came home to talk
about the incident, for some reason, the tragedy called out to all of us in a
slightly different manner than what we have grown accustomed to. Maybe we have
all grown accustomed to Israelis, and Jews, suffering at the hands of these
terrorists in Israel. Certainly when a terrorist attack occurs outside of
Israel and all different types of people are killed (most recently Paris and
California), the news coverage is very thorough and the story occupies a large
part of the news cycle. Taylor Force was graduate of West Point, a veteran of
several tours of duty in Afghanistan, a Vanderbilt University MBA student who was
studying Israel’s entrepreneurial environment that led it to be call “Start Up
Nation”. However last week Taylor Force was murdered at the hands of a Hamas
terrorist in Jaffa. Those of us exposed to the western press, heard about the
story but it received minimal coverage in the mainstream media. It seems that
the mainstream media didn’t quite hear enough in order to cover the story or
maybe the story itself didn’t call out to the “right” people so that it would
receive appropriate coverage. Yes the State Department made a statement, albeit
a typically diplomatic statement condemning the violence on both sides of the
conflict. Vanderbilt University issued a statement as did the Hillel at
Vanderbilt’s campus. Interestingly enough many Jewish educators, and Rabbis
took to Twitter and Facebook to offer condolences to Taylor’s family and condemn
this heinous act. Even our children heard the calling of another senseless act
of terror.
This
Shabbat we begin the third book of the Torah with the Parsha of the same name,
VaYikra otherwise known as Leviticus. Unlike Breishit and parts of Shmot which
were narratives or other parts of Shmot with were a series of legislative acts,
teaching us law after law; VaYikra is something very different. We are all able
to relate to narrative and to stories. We can even read the law that governed
biblical Jewish society and admire the laws’ humanity, admire the ethical
lessons the law tried to teach or even admire the people that the law tried to
protect. However when we begin Parshat VaYikra, we all have a problem
connecting to the concept of Korbonot,
the term used to describe animal sacrifices. We all have difficulty connecting
to the various types of Korbonot;
the animals permitted for an offering, and the technical aspects of the
offering. Do we really need to know how to check of the animal, and to
slaughter the animal? Do we need to read about sprinkling the blood of the
animal; roasting the animal, and finally eating the animal? Parsha VaYikra and
in fact the entire book of Leviticus truly challenges those of us living in
modernity. If for no other reason, we are challenged because we don’t have a
Mishkan, we don’t have a Holy Temple and we don’t make animal sacrifices. We
all understand the concept of proximity within a relationship. A KoRBon from
the Hebrew root KeReV, means to draw near, to approach. A Korbon was our ancestors’ way of
drawing closer to God. However even before God teaches Moshe all the mitzvot
concerning Korbonot, God does something very unique, something that God had
never done before to Moshe as a way of drawing him closer.
The
first word of the Parsha and the book already creates an environment of “concern
for proximity”. VaYikrah El Moshe,
VaYidaber Adoshem Eilav M’Ohel Moed Leimor – He called out to Moshe and Hashem spoke to him from the Tent of the
meeting saying. (Lev. 1:1). God called, God spoke and God said; three very
similar verbs yet slightly different. One calls out to a person when trying to
get his/her attention. Rashi, the great 11th century French
commentator, offers several explanations. First this “calling” is Lashon Chiba –
a language of endearment. God was calling out to Moshe in a loving gentle
manner, and only to Moshe, no one else since no one else heard God’s call. Once
called and Moshe approaches, God “speaks” to him. Speaking to someone assumes a
partnership or a dialogue. This partnership might not be 50/50, and the dialogue
might not be an equally two sided dialogue but it assumes a response. However, “telling”
someone to do something neither assumes partnership nor dialogue but rather the
transmission of information or instruction without questions. For the first
time, God Vayikra el Moshe. God called out to Moshe as a means of singling him
out for a vital task: to instruct the Kohanim and the people the appropriate
way for them to draw near to God – Korbon. As important as God’s calling out to
Moshe, was the fact that Moshe was able to hear God’s call. Moshe was that
sensitive, and in tune with his relationship to God.
Sometimes
we are not able to hear so well. Sometimes we don’t hear God’s calling out to
us. Sometimes God calls out to us for good and sometimes we are called to bear
witness. Our silence is a manifestation of fact that we failed to hear a “calling”.
When the press misses the story, and focuses upon the bluster of an individual;
it fails to hear the calling of its purpose – to bear witness to injustice and
evil. Interestingly enough, the world, or at least those connected to the world,
connected to digital media, those who pay attention and listen and are able to
cut through the noise and really hear the “calling” heard a university
mourning, heard a family mourning, heard Army friends mourning, heard
classmates mourning. When Prime Minister Netanyahu called Taylor’s family and
offered his condolences, an entire country, a country that was not even Taylor’s
mourned for him as well. Thankfully our children were able to hear and bear witness
as well. VaYitrzror Bitzror HaChayim et
Nishmato - May Taylor’s soul be bound
up in the bond of life.
Peace,
Rav Yitz
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