For the past couple of weeks, after dinner, my wife will go onto her social media, become visibly upset and report to me and our son the numerous Anti-Semitic attacks that have occurred. My son and I have sent the New York Times, The Times of Israel, and Washington Post Op-Ed pieces from Brett Stephens and Tom Friedman to our family "chat". This current round of Anti-Semitic attacks has come from those who view the conflict between Israel and Hamas in terms of racial justice, minority rights, and the “woke Left”. From this perspective, Hamas is an organization of “freedom fighters'' with no alternative but to respond to Israel's treatment of Palestinians except through justified violence. This lens conveniently leaves out an important but inconvenient truth; Hamas is a fundamentalist Islamic terrorist organization that routinely persecutes Gays and Lesbians, enslaves its citizens to build tunnels, and hides behind civilians and civilian institutions such as mosques, hospitals, and schools in order to launch its rockets and carry out its terrorist agenda. Regarding Israel, Hamas only desires Israel’s destruction and a Palestinian homeland that adheres to strict Islamic law. Indeed the anti-semitic attacks from the “woke Left" have managed to conflate anti -Zionism and Anti-semitism. Earlier this week, a U.S. Congresswoman from Georgia compared the rules for mask-wearing similar to the Nazis making Jews wear a “gold” star. By the way, she is the same Georgia Congresswoman who claimed that the wildfires from last autumn were a result of an outer-space laser beam created by and controlled by Jews. A few years ago, Nazis marched in Charlottesville, Virginia. There were Anti-Semitic attacks in Pittsburgh, outside of San Diego, in New Jersey. These comments, these attacks had very little to do with Israel, but everything to do with Jews as “other”, part of a conspiratorial group that runs the media, controls international finance and is a threat to the right-wing White Christian world. Extremism on the Left and extremism on the Right extremely is bad for the Jews and bad for Israel. Indeed, extremism is a darkness that allows Anti Semitism to grow and thrive.
This week we read the third Parsha from The Book of Numbers, Parsha BeHA'alotcha. In the previous two parshiot: Bemidbar and Naso, B’nai Yisroel takes a census and prepares for its upcoming journey from Sinai to Eretz Canaan. This week, the final preparations are ordered and executed and the departure from Sinai begins. Aaron, Moshe’s brother and the Kohen Gadol, lights the lamp for the Mishkan, the entire Levite tribe is purified, offerings made and their service for maintenance of the Mishkan begins. Final instructions for observing Pesach under these new conditions, (they were not leaving Egypt anymore nor had they arrived in the land) were offered, including the case of coming into contact with the deceased and becoming spiritually impure. The narrative tells us the manner in which B’nai Yisroel traveled: sheltered by a cloud during the day and protected by a pillar of fire at night. Then the complaining begins. They complain about the Mannah. They complain about the food. They complain about Moshe’s leadership. Moshe’s sister complains about his wife.
The first few verses, from which the Parsha gets its name BeHA'alotcha seem rather disconnected from the rest of the narrative. B’Ha’Alotcha et HaNeirot El Mul P’nei HaM’norah Ya’Iru Shivat Ha’Neirot - When you kindle the lamps, toward the face of the Menorah shall seven lamps cast light (Num. 8:2) According to Rashi, the flames on either side of the middle are bent towards the middle, and the middle flame burns brightest and longest. Aaron is given the job to light the Menorah, the Neir Tamid, the eternal light, every day. According to the Talmud in Menachot 88, Aaron didn’t just light the Menorah, he had to clean the seven lamps out every morning prior to lighting the lamps. He would have to lean it over to clean it and the stand of the Menorah back up prior to lighting, thus ensuring complete functionality: Ya’Iru Shivat HaNeirot - so that the seven lamps will cast light (Num. 8:2) If only six of the seven lamps function properly, Aaron will not have fulfilled the commandment. Why is it necessary to make sure that all seven lamps are fully functional and lit? Will one unlit lamp on the candelabra really make a difference in terms of light? Rabbi Isaac Luria, “The Arizal”, a 16th-century mystic, explained that the central shaft of the seven-branched candelabra (menorah) represents God’s divine light as manifest in Torah. The three branches on either side of God’s Torah represent science and other academic pursuits such as philosophy, and theology. For Sforno, the great Italian Renaissance biblical commentator, the right three branches symbolize the pursuit of enlightenment through spiritual endeavors and the left three branches symbolize the pursuit of enlightenment through secular and worldly knowledge. Like The Arizal, Sforno interprets the middle trunk of the Menorah to be the Divine Light of God, as illuminated throughout creation, and as a result, all the other flame leaned toward this Divine primordial light of the middle branch.
By fulfilling the mitzvah of the Menorah, and making sure it was completely lit each and every day, Aharon understood what it meant to be a light to the people. Knowledge and enlightenment embrace both the Holy and the Secular, as does a complete and meaningful life. Like Aaron, the High Priest, the Jewish people are supposed to be “a light unto the world”, a “nation of priests”. Judaism has a long history of being “woke”. Judaism is the original “truth to power”, and has always challenged authority and the status quo. The very foundation of Judaism is a response to extremism. Regarding the Torah, Jews are reminded to avoid drifting too far to the left and too far to the right, but rather stick to the middle (Deut. 28:14). Indeed, it seems that Judaism is the ultimate “canary in the coal mine” when it comes to mankind’s darkest recesses of the soul, inhabited by hate, extremism (political or religious), fanaticism, ignorance, and self-loathing. Perhaps the only response to Anti-Semitism is to continue lighting the seven branches of the Menorah and shining the light of Godliness upon those who are surrounded by the darkness of hate, extremism, and fanaticism.
Rav Yitz
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