TORAH SPARKS
Parshat Bamidbar
May 20, 2023 | 29 Iyyar 5783
Torah: Numbers 1:1-4:20 Triennial: Numbers 1:1-54
Haftarah: I Samuel 20:18-42
Singing into Silence
Bex Stern-Rosenblatt
Parashah
When counting people, whether for a national census or for a wedding guest list, it is easy to be reminded of those who are no longer with us. We are struck by both the births and the deaths. In this week s parashah, we are forced to confront, yet again, the deaths of Aaron s sons, Nadav and Avihu, as we record their existence and their childless demise. Immediately afterward, we learn that the tribe of Levi is to be assigned to serve Aaron, doing the work necessary for the Tabernacle. While Aaron and his remaining sons are the kohanim, the priests, the Levites are given to them to serve them.
The precise role of the Levites is shrouded in mystery. We do not know what it means exactly to serve the kohanim. We know they are superb movers, as we read in this parashah of their duties in dismantling, transporting, and rebuilding the Tabernacle during its wilderness journey. We know that they are guards of the Tabernacle, charged with camping out around it in order to keep it safe. We also read in our parashah that the Levites serve the Tabernacle, just as they are to serve Aaron and his sons. This description is unclear – we do not get details on what the terms of their service are.
Looking elsewhere in the Tanakh helps us to fill in the gap, providing us more Levitical jobs that might have been indicated by the service to the Tabernacle and to Aaron and his sons as mentioned in our parashah. In many other places, we learn that the Levites sang as their service. The Book of Chronicles describes the whole ensemble – David also commanded the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their kindred as the singers to play on musical instruments, on harps and lyres and cymbals, to raise loud sounds of joy. It continues to describe Levites offering praise to God through playing music, especially after the completion of the Temple. Moreover, many of the songs located in the Book of Psalms are attributed to Asaph, a Levite. The Mishnah (Tamid 7:4) explains that the Levites would recite the daily song for the week from the Book of Psalms. Likewise, we read elsewhere in the Mishnah of the Levites recitation of the fifteen Psalms of Ascent during Sukkot, accompanied by all sorts of musical instruments. In the Tosefta (Pesachim 4:11), we read how the Levites would sing the Psalms of Hallel as the Pesach sacrifice was offered.
While it is possible that all of this singing is a later innovation, happening long after the story of the wilderness, I prefer to read the singing as latent in our parashah. The Levites are by their very nature singers, waiting and ready to burst into song. But the conditions are not yet right. Yehezkel Kaufman called this phenomenon the sanctuary of silence, mikdash hademama. Our Tabernacle at this point was only visual, lacking the noises, the words, the songs which would eventually fill the Temple.
The silence of the Tabernacle mirrors Aaron s silence. When he learns of the death of his sons, we read that he fell silent, vayidom. Now, in our parashah, Aaron is still silent. We read once more of the death of his sons. Taking the census, we come face to face with our losses. Aaron grieves not only Nadav and Avihu but also the future generations that will not rise from them. It is into this grief, into this silence, that Moses introduces the Levites. The Levites, who serve in place of the dedication of our firstborn sons to God, also serve to comfort Aaron of the loss of his firstborn sons. They stand, ready to serve, helping Aaron erect the physical space and keep it safe. But they also serve as singers, as reminders of hope and happiness. Silent in our parashah out of respect for Aaron s loss, they are at the ready to raise their voices to turn mourning into joy.
The Best Man Will Not Be King
Vered Hollander-Goldfarb
Haftarah
One may not choose the situations one will face, but one can choose how to manage them. At the center of this week s haftarah is Jonathan, the son of king Saul and the heir to the throne, in a tug-o-war between his father, the current king, and his best friend David, whom Jonathan realizes will be the future king. To whom should Jonathan pledge his loyalty and what are his best interests? Those questions might have contradictory answers.
His father wants David killed, not for any crime for which he could be tried but rather because David is a charismatic and talented leader. Saul understands deep down that David is the anonymous fellow better than you that Samuel had told him (I Sam 15:28) would be given the kingship after God removed the right to it from Saul. As long as David lives, the future of Saul s family as the royal dynasty is doomed. The solution is simple: Keep your enemies very close and get rid of them when you can.
Jonathan realizes the same thing that his father sees but takes a very different approach to that understanding. To him, the best person should be king. It is a concept not often heard in royal families that by their very nature prefer rights-by-birth over merit. Jonathan puts excellence as the top qualification of a king. Unintended, Jonathan taught David this invaluable lesson, one that formed the face of the Davidic line and accounted for its longevity. The test case and first time that a dynasty is formed is when David passes the throne to one of his children. While he might have intended to give it to Amnon his first born, this proved to be a poor choice (II Sam 13). At the end of David’s life we discover that David does not choose by birth order. It is not his eldest son who is destined to inherit the throne, but rather a younger son that was specifically chosen. Having opted away from designating an heir based on his place in the birth-order of the King’s sons gave the Kingdom of Judah and the line of David the flexibility needed in the monarchy.
Back to Jonathan s options. While he recognizes David s natural right to be king by virtue of his capabilities, Jonathan has loyalty to Saul as his father. Saul demands that Jonathan choose between the two kings, but Jonathan opts for a third way: He chooses David as king and Saul as his father. He could have done well by following David, but instead Jonathan helps David escape while he himself returns to his father s side. He opts to remain with the king that he knows is destined to lose, but power is not the value that Jonathan measures the world by. After parting with David in a heartbreaking scene, Jonathan will remain at his father s side as his kingship tanks, going down with the ship. In the midst of the power struggles, Jonathan is an inspiration.
Sacrificial Meatballs
Ilana Kurshan
Adventures in Mishnah with My Kids
Pesachim 5:3
Matan and I have started the fifth chapter of Pesachim, which is the first of five consecutive chapters dealing with the Korban Pesach, the lamb or goat that was sacrificed on the afternoon before Pesach. The Pesach sacrifice must be brought by a group, known as a havurah everyone must register as part of a havurah to join in eating that particular animal after it is offered. Our mishnah deals with what happens if the sacrifice is offered for a group of individuals who are not all fit to eat from it is the sacrifice still valid?
I m trying to learn this mishnah with Matan while I start making dinner. But I m having trouble deciding what to prepare. On weeknights in our home, I try to find something that everyone will eat; otherwise I end up making one dish for some members of the family, and omelets for everyone else. I had planned to serve meatballs tonight, but the last time we made them, I recall that hardly anyone ate any. So first I canvass the room.
Matan, will you eat meatballs tonight?
Matan nods. I don t bother asking Tagel, because she s declared herself a vegetarian (most of the time). Liav chimes in that she ll eat meatballs too, so long as I don t put any onions in. Yitzvi, still a toddler, doesn t have a say in the matter he ll have to eat whatever I put in front of him. I decide that it s not even worth asking Shalvi she ll probably just eat leftover rice and beans from last night. So my havurah for these meatballs consists of Matan, Liav, and Yitzvi. I m making the meatballs for them, with them in mind and I m counting on them to eat it.
The mishnah teaches that if one slaughters the Pesach sacrifice with a group of people in mind who are all unfit to eat it, the sacrifice is invalid. An elderly or very ill person may not be able to eat the requisite minimal amount of meat an olive s bulk s worth. If I sacrifice for a group of elderly and sick people exclusively, the sacrifice is invalid. It s like making meatballs for a group of vegetarians, I tell Matan. They re not going to eat them anyway, so what s the point?
However, explains the mishnah, if one sacrifices the animal for another group of people, some of whom can eat it and some of whom cannot, the sacrifice is still valid. So long as I sacrifice the animal for the sake of some individuals who are fit to eat it, then it s OK.
It s like making meatballs for all of you, including Tagel, I tell Matan. She says she s vegetarian, so she can t eat even an olive bulk s worth of meatballs. But I can still make the meatballs with her in mind.
Don t make meatballs with me in mind! Tagel cries. I won t eat them!
The mishnah goes on to state that if one offers the Pesach sacrifice both for individuals who are part of the group registered for that particular sacrifice and for those who are not, the sacrifice is valid. If I make meatballs for my family but also plan that some of them will be for Matan s friends who never told me that they were coming over, but happen to drop by at 6pm and eye the meatballs hungrily the meatballs are still OK to eat. As long as I also have in mind those who previously registered the kids who told me in advance they d eat them then my meatballs are fine.
This is true, too, if one slaughters the sacrifice both for individuals who are circumcised and for those who are not. The Torah states that only those who are circumcised may eat the Pesach sacrifice. If I sacrifice the Korban Pesach only with uncircumcised individuals in mind, the sacrifice is invalid. But so long as some of the people are circumcised and fit to eat it, the sacrifice is valid.
Matan thinks this over. So it s possible that some people just can t eat the Korban Pesach, even though we might sacrifice it for them anyway, right?
I nod. That reminds me of Manoach and the angel, he continues. Matan and I are reading a book about Samson by Israeli author David Grossman as a companion text to the book of Judges, which Matan is studying in school. We ve both been thinking a lot about the story of the angel who comes to announce to Manoach s wife and then to Manoach that they are going to have a baby who is going to redeem the Israelites from the Philistines. When the angel comes, Manoach does not realize who he is, mistaking him instead for a human messenger. Manoach tries to offer their visitor some roasted goat as an expression of gratitude for bearing such good news a kid for a kid, as it were. But the messenger refuses, insisting, If you detain me, I shall not eat your food. And if you present a burnt offering, offer it to God (Judges 13:26). Angels don t eat. If Manoach tries to serve him, it just won t work.
I finish making the meatballs at 3 PM, long before dinner. My children, who never really ate lunch, begin dishing them out of the pot with a fork. I m glad they re eating, but now I m worried if they eat meatballs at 3pm, what will they eat at 6pm when they re hungry again? The meatballs can t really count as dinner anymore or can they?
The mishnah goes on to explain that if the Pesach sacrifice is offered before the middle of the day, it is invalid. The Torah teaches that this sacrifice must be offered bein ha-arbayim (Exodus 12:6), at twilight. The rabbis understand this term as referring to the time when the sun has begun its descent to the west. One cannot offer the Pesach sacrifice too early.
I appreciate this mishnah more fully when 6 PM rolls around and my kids refuse to eat more meatballs. We re sick of meatballs, can we have something else? Instead, I serve the meatballs to Matan s friends, who are running around our house playing laser tag. I didn t have them in mind when I made the meatballs, but fortunately I also had my kids in mind, so it s OK.
I tell my kids that if they are still hungry, they can fix themselves a sandwich. The altar is closed for the day.