Jerusalem Insights

The ark of the covenant and its impact on the people of Israel is clearly so important ,as we see in the fact that the verses dealing with it are bracketed in the Torah by two upside down Hebrew letter “Nuns ( pronounced as Noons).

The verses read :

“When the Ark would journey, Moshe said ‘Arise, HaShem, and let Your enemies be scattered and let those who hate You flee from before You.’ And when it rested, he would say, return O HaShem among the myriads and thousands of Israel.'” [Bamdibar 10:35-36].”

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In the torah portion of Nassoh we see a return to the accounting of the artifacts of the tabernacle. We were last focused on that accounting in the torah portion  of Shemini (Leviticus 10) during the dedication of the Sanctuary on the 1st of Nissan, almost one year  after the Exodus.

And it was that on the day that Moses finished erecting the Mishkan, he anointed it, sanctified it, and all its vessels, and the altar and all its vessels.The Nessi’im  (leaders) of Israel, the heads of their fathers’ houses, presented [their offerings]. They were the leaders of the tribes. They were the ones who were present during the counting,( Numbers 7:1-2)

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President Obama would do well to listen to recordings of the radio broadcasts that were aired prior to the Six day war. This was prior to the formation of the 1967 lines precedent Obama seems to rely on. This was before Judea and Samaria, the biblical heartland was returned to their ancestral tenants. Yet in spite of the fact there was not yet an Israeli controlled “west Bank” hatred was overabundant. Yet President Obama will probably not stop to listen, as he is too busy speaking.

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We are entering a time of great upheaval and concern. The world is being stirred by unusual weather phenomenon and revolutions and unrest on every continent. There was a time we would measure the state of the world in terms of decades. The 60’s decade of “flower power” .Then came the  70’s defined  by campus unrest and political changes, followed by  the “Me” decade of the 80’s. We then found that we began to focus on years and marveled how quickly the world had changed from one year to the next.

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On April 15, 1945, British forces liberated the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in northern Germany. Sixty-thousand prisoners were living in the camp when the troops arrived, most of them seriously ill. Thousands more lay dead and unburied on the camp grounds. Five days after the liberation, the sick and starving survivors gathered for their first Shabbat service since the fires of destruction began.

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How do you take a person out of slavery and bring him into the spiritually challenging and uplifting experience of the revelation of Sinai?

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In the Torah portion of “Acharei “ we read the following regarding Yom Kippur:  “For on this day it shall atone for you to cleanse you. Before the Lord, you shall be cleansed from all your sins”( Vayikra/ Leviticus 16:30).

Our sages based on these words have explored the redemptive power of the actual day of Yom Kippur.In the words of the Rambam “ On yom kippur , it is the day itself that atones ..as it is written “For on this day it shall atone for you”( Mishneh Torah ,laws of repentance 1:3)

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The Jewish people are returning out of a long and painful exile. The  healing that needed to  occur has been long and arduous. It is a process that will undergo many phases and changes, just as Ezekiel prophesied regarding  the return of “the dry bones “( Ezekiel 37).These challenges and changes of our people are mirrored in the lives and journeys of each individual Jew as well. Perhaps an exploration of the rituals and challenges facing an individual in the process of return will  give us direction in understanding the challenges facing our people.

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