Going Strong Since 1953
THE CYBERSHUL

How Much Greener Can A Paperless Shul Be!

This CyberShul has been dedicated by:

This Week’s Torah Reading

Beha’alotekha

In parashat beha’aloteKHA, we learn how the menoRAH or lamp stand in the mishKAN (Tabernacle) is to be lit for maximum illumination. The levites (ages 25-50) who were to work in the mishKAN are cleansed. These levites formally replaced the firstborn who are no longer consigned to the service of God. The Passover sacrifice had to be offered in a state of purity and that barred those who were impure. They nevertheless wanted to participate. God tells Moses to let them offer the sacrifice in the following month on the fourteenth day at twilight, which today we refer to as Pesah SheiNI or the Second Passover. As long as a cloud rested over the mishKAN, the Israelites remained in place. But when the cloud lifted, the Israelites broke camp and followed the cloud. Two silver trumpets were blown by Aaron’s sons to signal a communal assembly, war, or travel. A travel plan delineates the order in which the tribes traveled with Judah always leading and Naphtali bringing up the rear. Moses asks his father-in-law, Hovav (previously identified as Yitro), to come with the Israelites as a guide. The Torah does not record Hovav’s answer, but his descendants do appear in Canaan (see Judges 1:16). In TaveRAH, a fire broke out presumably due to the people complaining. Moses’s prayers forced the fire to subside. The principal desert diet consisted of manna, which tasted like rich cream (yum!), but the people grew nostalgic and weepy over the good food they ate in Egypt. Moses felt like a babysitter and was overwhelmed. God then asked that 70 elders be gathered so that God’s spirit might descend upon them and they would assist Moses in his duties. God’s spirit also descended on Eldad and Medad, counted among the 70, but who did not gather with the others. A wind swept in a huge number of quail which the people captured for days. They ate meat to their fill but were later struck by a killer plague. The place became known as KivROT-Hata’aVAH, or Graves of the Craving. Miriam and Aaron complained about the Cushite woman that Moses had married. God reprimands them and strikes Miriam with snow-white scales. Moses prays for her and she is healed.

A SHABBAT THOUGHT

There is only one thing about which I am certain, and that there is very little about which one can be certain.

~~ W. Somerset Maugham   ~~

WEB OF THE WEEK

http://www.israguide.com/panoramic.asp

Once you get to the website, hold the cursor down and drag on the photos.

AURAL TORAH

Non-Jews in a Conservative Synagogue

Be Sure to click on the attachment to hear the Aural Torah!

Honor A Loved One

Remember A Loved One
DEDICATE A CYBERSHUL IN THEIR NAME!!
ARE THERE ANY BARGAINS IN THIS WORLD?
Yes--The CyberShul—Dedicate it for a Paltry

$125

Send your name, location, and a $125 check made payable to:

Midway Jewish Center
330 South Oyster Bay Road
Syosset, NY 11791

Send CyberShul to All Your Friends!

GOD’S ANGER MANAGEMENT ISSUES

Dear CyberRav,

I meant to ask you this on Saturday, but I had matzah-brain and forgot. During the Torah reading, I was reading the English translation and was disturbed by two references in it. I believe it said (twice) that God hardened Pharoah's heart to gain glory for God, and if I'm not mistaken - the second time was at the Red Sea, when God caused the waters to return and drowned all of the Egyptians. If we aspire to be something better than what we are today, how can we reconcile this Torah portion with the Jewish values of preservation of life, peace and justice? Though Pharaoh and the Egyptians were clearly cruel, I have a hard time with the idea of praising G-d for 1) perhaps an overly violent response - could God have not caused the waters to return before all the Egyptians jumped in and 2) for doing it "to increase G-d's own glory". We are taught not to engage in tzedekah to gain glory so why we would engage in the destruction of life to gain glory? Or why would w praise God for doing so?  

CYBER RAV ANSWERS

Dear Matzah-Brain,

Matzah-brain is a very serious malady and usually occurs in the latter half of Pesah, among men and women, but especially among those who take the matzah mitzvah very seriously so kol hakavod--you deserve much honor. You clearly have eaten your share of matzah this year!

You've asked a very serious question and it deserves a very serious answer. How can we reconcile a Torah portion that includes God's hardening the heart of Pharaoh and His drowning of the Egyptians in the sea with the Torah's values of preservation of life, peace and justice? Great question!

It's important when reading the Torah, that we read it without imposing our expectations of what it should say with what it actually says. The Torah does support the preservation of life, and the pursuit of peace and justice. It also supports capital punishment and military responses when necessary. These values are not mutually exclusive but point to the challenges of embracing the ethical life in a very unethical world. Sometimes the value of preservation of life trumps everything. Sometimes a military response trumps everything. The Torah grants us the tools to best judge when one value must take precedence over the other. That's a decision that requires a great deal of patience, wisdom and careful deliberation.

Another aspect of Torah we must ponder is this: a sacred story is somewhat like a controlled experiment. In the case of the drowned Egyptians, we might assume that all the Egyptians were deserving of death, that God--in His infinite wisdom--knew this, and was able to address the evil with perfect justice. But only God can act in this way. Reality, not being a controlled experiment, is rarely that neat, and human knowledge is pathetically imperfect, so the drowning of the Egyptians teaches us nothing about the execution of human justice for we, in our capacity as humans, could never respond as can God. We learn only that circumstances exist in which the ultimate punishment, death, is just. As a Jew, I believe in capital punishment, but I will almost always vote against it for I sense that the judicial system, as it exists, sports an unhealthy margin of error that could (and has) put innocent men to death. That is unconscionable. The bottom line is that I have never heard a respectable teacher of Torah conclude that the Torah grants Jews cart blanche to destroy our enemies. It simply doesn't teach that.

We do not praise God for drowning the Egyptians. Our praise to God is more specifically tied to the relief we felt at having been saved. Some might say that there is no difference, but let me assure you there is. When certain groups broke out in song and dance upon hearing of the collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC), that would be a sort of praise connected to the destruction of one's enemies. The collapse of the WTC didn't save anyone; it only killed people. But when the Egyptians drowned, a people was saved: the Israelites. They rejoice over their salvation, not over the destruction of their enemies. In fact, an ancient midrash portrays God silencing the angels who began to sing God's praises following the drowning of the Egyptians. He silences them for they had no reason to rejoice, the act having not impacted on their wellbeing in anyway. On the other hand, the Israelites who sing are not silenced. They had good reason to rejoice and God permits them to do so.

Finally, God's hardening of Pharaoh's heart is almost always a sore spot for modern Jews who read it as a sort of divine entrapment. In this case, it would appear as if God is not playing by the rules, first forcing Pharaoh to sin and then punishing him for his trespasses. How can we justify that? Again, this is a passage that does not justify or promote entrapment, but rather points to a battle that the Bible so aptly records. A very large part of the Exodus story is a tale of a divine battle, where Pharaoh is pitted against our God. The hubris of Pharaoh is in thinking that he is in ultimate control. The reality is that he is only a subject, as we all are, of a power much greater than he. It is through the hardening of Pharaoh's heart that God underscores the full depth of Pharaoh's impotence. Pharaoh is not only powerless to do himself any good, he is even powerless to keep himself from sin. This so-called god of Egypt is an exercise in self-destructive behavior. And actually, whenever we stray from God, we end up engaged in self destructive behaviors.

I hope this helps.

Rabbi Rafi Rank
CyberRav

Shabbat Shalom Everyone!!

To get added to the subscription list, or to be removed, or to change your email address,
click here - cybershul_subscriptions