Readings for Saturday, July 5, 2025

 

Readings For Saturday, July 5, 2025

Chukat (Statute)

19:1-22:1 Bamidbar (Numbers)

Chukat is the sixth sedrah in Bamidbar.  The sedrah takes its name from the second Hebrew word in the second verse of the weekly reading, “This is the statute (Chukat) of the law, which the Lord hath commanded.”  For convenience, the sedrah can be divided into three major parts:  Chukat - The Statute of the Red Heifer, The Changing Generations and The Conquests Begin.

Chukat or The Statute of the Red Heifer (19:1-22)

Although people may not know the specifics of the statute concerning the Red Heifer, it remains one of the best known and least understood commandments in the Torah.  Since the text is fairly straightforward in describing the ritual, there is no need to paraphrase it here.  The ritual was intended to purify one who had come in contact with a corpse or household items found at the scene of the death.  As strange as the ritual might sound, it becomes even stranger since the clean person who sprinkles the ashes on the unclean person then becomes unclean for a day.  In other words, the ritual results in cleansing the defiled, and defiling the cleansed.  Obeying the statute was obviously of great importance since the penalty for deliberate disobedience was “karet,” being cut-off.  Use of this term has come to mean a form of Divine punishment, which further underscores the importance of the statute.  As Rabbi Hertz points out, “The word ‘statute’ (or Chukat) is used in connection with all laws or ordinances whose reason is not disclosed to us.  In Bereshit 26:5 we saw three terms used to describe laws and ordinances.  Mitzvoth or commandments were laws dictated by a sense of morality such as prohibitions against robbery and bloodshed.  Chukim or statutes were laws ordained by God, which we are to observe although reason cannot assign an explanation such as the prohibition against eating swine’s flesh.  Toroth or laws are customs and traditional ordinances orally transmitted from generation to generation such as we find in Midrash.”  In his commentary on Chukat, Rabbi Schneerson cites Rashi who contends that even among Chukim, there are two categories:  “Those which could in principle be understood by human intelligence, but details of which are beyond comprehension” and “those which are entirely beyond the scope of human understanding.  The Statute of the Red Heifer is alone in belonging to the second category.”  More important than the legal term Chukat, is the spiritual concept of Chukat.  As the book of Job freely admits, there are things that happen in life that are beyond human comprehension.  We may make haphazard attempts to explain such events, but in the end the explanations are not very satisfying.  While such a concept of Chukat may seem like a cop out it may very well serve as a safety valve.  By admitting that there are things beyond our comprehension, we can then devote our energies to dealing with that which we do understand even if it is only a partial understanding.  For example, our inability to understand where God was during the Holocaust does not give us the right stop being Jewish.

The Generations Begin to Change (20:1-29)

According to some commentators, the events described in this chapter are out of sequence.  Chronologically, they follow after the events of Bamidbar 14, the chapter in which the Israelites are condemned to wander the Wilderness until the generation of the spies dies out.  This means that events described in this chapter occurred in the fortieth year of the wanderings.  In other words, the Torah is silent about the events of the thirty-eight years during which one generation gave way to another.  Be that as it may, the chapter begins without fanfare or comment announcing the death of Miriam, “…the people stayed at Kadesh.  Miriam died there and was buried there.”  This is how we are told of the death Miriam - the sister of Moshe, the singer of songs of victory, and the prophetess.  Fortunately, we have just read Chukat, so we know that those who tended to her corpse could be purified.  The narrative does not even pause to tell us if her passing was even mourned by the people.  It just picks up with the next event, another rebellion concerning a lack of water.  In yet another famous biblical tale, God tells Moshe to speak to the rock so that it will give water.  But Moshe in his anger strikes the rock twice, producing a gusher of water.  God then tells Moshe and Aaron that they will not enter the Promised Land.  Why such a harsh punishment?  Were the brothers to be denied the supreme moment of accomplishment just because Moshe hit the rock instead of speaking to it?  Isn’t God being a little extreme, especially when you consider all the great things Moshe had done?  The notes are rife with all kinds of speculation.  Maybe, by his statements and actions, Moshe had led the people to believe that he and not God was the source of the miracle.  Or, maybe, by losing his temper, Moshe had forfeited his role of prophet and had become just another member of the generation of spies that had already been condemned to perish in the Wilderness.  In the end, we really do not know and all of the explanations fall flat.  Fortunately, we have the concept of Chukat, which means that there are things we must accept even if we do not understand them.  Moshe and Aaron appear to have accepted the decree since neither of them offered any argument.  Instead, the text picks up with the travelogue.  Moshe attempts to pass through the land of Edom.  The Edomites refuse.  Moshe accepts the refusal and changes routes because God has already decreed that Edomites have their assigned piece of land and the Israelites are to take no action against them.  After journeying from Kadesh, the Israelites stop at Mount Hor.  God tells Moshe that Aaron is now to be “gathered unto his people.”  And just in case Moshe has forgotten why he is to die in the Wilderness, He tells Moshe that it was “because you rebelled again My word at the waters of Meribah.”  Apparently God was not confused about why the brothers were being punished.  Aaron does not die a mean death.  He gets to see his son Eleazar don the vestments of the Kohein Gadol.  He dies peacefully knowing that his son has succeeded him.

The Conquests Begin (21:1-22:1)

A new generation has grown up, a generation that is capable of fighting for the Promised Land.  The chapter begins with a victory over the King of Arad, a Canaananite Kingdom located in the Negev.  This new generation has learned its lesson.  Before going into battle, the warriors seek God’s support.  In this case, they promise to forgo the spoils of war if God will reward them with victory.  The Torah then describes the march of the Israelites through the region of the Transjordan i.e., the land across or east of the Jordan River.  The Israelites defeat Sichon, King of the Amorites and Og, King of Bashan.  According to the sedrah, some of our information about this comes from a text called “the Book of the Wars of the Lord.”  This may have been an actual text, written at the time of the Torah, which has been lost to us.  It should also be noted that verses 27 through 30 are a Song of Victory, similar in style to the Song at the Sea.  It is as if the Israelites began and ended their journey through the Wilderness with song.  One difference is that here, Moshe does not lead the Song.  The great leader’s voice is soon to become silent.  The sedrah ends with the Israelites making camp across the Jordan from Jericho.  In the midst of all of this fighting and traveling, we do find one last rebellion over water.  When the first rebellion over water occurred in this sedrah, God did not punish the Israelites.  However, this time He sends serpents to attack the people.  Once again the people admit their sin and beg Moshe to intercede.  Once again Moshe intercedes and God relents.  As a result of this episode, Moshe fashions a copper serpent, which is placed on a pole and is kept as an item of veneration by the Israelites.  King Hezekiah will later destroy it because it became an object of idol worship.  For many of us, this copper serpent is more of a mystery than the Statute of the Red Heifer.  But then maybe the sedrah was meant to begin and end in the spirit of “Chukat.”

Themes

Commandments

The requirement that a ritually clean person shall sprinkle water and ashes of the Red Heifer to purify one who has become ritually unclean (19:19).

Biblical Literacy by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin

As if to emphasize the uniqueness of this commandment, it is the only one listed in this sedrah.  Furthermore, the companion sedrah of Balak (during no-leap years) does not contain any commandments.  Therefore, regardless of the cycle, the Statute of the Red Heifer stands alone.

The Death of Miriam

According to some, the failure of the Israelites to properly mourn the death of Miriam led to the lack of water at Meribah.  Legend has it that Miriam’s virtue was the source of the magical Well that accompanied the Israelites.  By failing to properly mark her death, the water stopped.  This led to her brothers’ sin, which denied them entrance to the Promised Land.

The Death of Aaron

When the people saw that Aaron was dead, the whole House of Israel wept for thirty days (20:29).  This thirty day mourning period for Aaron is the source of the thirty day mourning period known by the Hebrew word for thirty - sh’loshim.  It follows the seven days known as Shiva.  During the Sh’loshim, the mourners avoid public displays of joy and happiness.  In the Synagogue, mourners may lead services but do not accept honors such as chanting the haftarah.

Hand Washing

When leaving the cemetery or entering the Shiva house, it is customary to wash ones’ hands.  There are those who will claim that this custom has to do with a superstitious attempt to wash demons from our hands.  Jewish tradition sees this custom is a reminder of the washing that took place according to Chukat.

The Punishment of Moshe and Aaron

There are numerous commentaries on this most of which revolve around explaining what the brothers did that was so bad that they were excluded from entering the Promised Land.  However a sage known as Ramav has a different spin on the statement “…you will not bring the congregation of Israel to the Holy Land.” (20:12).  He said that the Israelites were being punished for their lack of faith.  God was depriving them of their two greatest leaders.  Only once they had to face life without these brothers would the Israelites recognize their greatness of these men.

The Color Red

Red is the color of sin.  Hence the heifer must be red.  It can never have worn a yoke because it symbolizes “the sinner who casts off God’s Yoke.”

The Mystery of Chukat:  the sedrah not the ritual

This reading is filled with mystery in the truest sense of that term.  There is the mystery of the ritual of the Red Heifer.  There is the mystery of the lack of water following the death of Miriam.  There is the mystery of why Moses was really denied entry into the Promised Land.  And then there is the ultimate mystery itself - death; in this case the death of Miriam and the death of Aaron.  But the sedrah also provides us with the clue to understanding these mysteries as well as all the other issues that confront human beings.  In the opening section of the sedrah we find these stark “Zoht HaTorah,”  “This is the Torah” (19:14).  Even if we do not understand why we are to do something, we know what we are to do.  At the same time we are encouraged to delve into the Torah so that we can at least begin to understand the “why” of life as well as the “what” of it.  You can question, you can challenge, but you cannot ignore that stark reality of the life of the Jew - This is the Torah.

What Was Moses

Moses is variously referred to as Moses, our teacher, or as the first of the prophets.  This week we see another appellation applied to him.  In recounting the history of the Israelites to the King of Edom (20:14) the text said “We cried out to the Lord and He heard our voice; He sent a Malach (translated as emissary or messenger) and He took us out of Egypt” (20:16).  The Malach is Moses.  Malach can be translated as “angel” because, according to Rashi, the prophets are referred to as angels which Ibn Ezra construes to mean that an angel, Moses, accompanied the Israelites out of Egypt.  Considering the fact that this week’s portion includes the display of temper that kept Moses from entering the Promised Land, one must wonder how angelic he really was.  Or is this a reminder that we are all capable of a variety of behavior, some angelic and some, well let’s just say a little less than angelic.

No One Left Behind

The IDF prides itself on not leaving behind any of its men on the battlefield and of going to great lengths to rescue anybody who fails into enemy hands.  Similarly Jews in the Middle Ages went to great lengths to ransom any of their co-religionists who fell into the hands of marauders, thieves and pirates.  Communities actually had special funds for this purpose.  This week’s reading shows that this practice is deeply rooted in our people’s history.  When the King of Arad attacked the Israelites “he took some of them captive.” (21:1).  The Israelites then turned to God and asked Him to aid them in their fight.  They plainly stated that they would forgo the booty and loot that most armies fought for.  The implied deal is give us victory so that we might free the captive or captives taken by the Canaanite king.   While some commentators opine that there was really only one captive and it was a non-Jewish slave, others say that this does not matter - that one captive, one person denied their freedom, is one person too many. 

Haftarah

11:1-33 Judges

The Man:  The Book of Judges covers the period between the death of Joshua and the birth of Samuel.  As we have seen from previous readings from the Book of Judges this was a period of semi-anarchy where “each man did what was good in his own eyes.”  It was a period where the Israelites failed to display a high level of spiritual and moral purity.  This week’s haftarah describes events in the life of Jephthah, the ninth of the thirteen (or fourteen) leaders who are active in the Book of Judges.  He was active for six years before his death.  Most of his life was spent on the east bank of the Jordan River in the land settled by the two and one half-tribes before the Israelites invaded Canaan.  After World War I, this land was part of the British Mandate of Palestine.  Today this is the Kingdom of Jordan.  Jephthah is connected with one of the greatest acts of folly and sin in the TaNaCh.  The haftarah only covers the first part of Jephthah’s life.  The rest of the story is covered in 11:34-12:7.

The Message:  Part of this haftarah reads like one of those romance novels complete with the illegitimate son who is forced to leave home and then returns to claim his patrimony.  According to the haftarah Jephthah of Gilead was born out of wedlock.  His father’s legitimate sons drove their half-brother away because they were afraid he would claim part of their father’s estate.  Jephthah joined a group of brigands and gained a reputation as a fighting man.  When the Ammonites threatened the people of Gilead the elders asked Jephthah to become their leader.  Jephthah agreed only if he would be the “commander and chief” once victory had been won and peace returned to the land.  The elders agreed and Jephthah set out to meet the enemy.  However, before the fighting began, Jephthah attempted to negotiate with the Ammonites.  He pointed out to them that they had no real claim to the land and that they had accepted this fact for an extended period of time.  But Ammonites refused to yield and in the end Jephthah defeated them in a series of battles in area around modern-day Amman, the capital of the Kingdom of Jordan.  Unfortunately, just before the battle, “Jephthah made this vow to the Eternal:  If you hand the people of Ammon over to me, Then I will offer to the Eternal as a burnt-offering whatever comes out of my house to meet me when I come home safe from the Ammonites.” (11:30-31).  The text, but not the haftarah continues, “And Jephthah came to…his house, and, behold, his daughter came to meet him…And when he saw her…he rent his clothes, and said:  ‘Alas, my daughter!  Thou hast brought me very low, and thou are become my troubler; for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back.’” (11:34-35).  When he made the vow, he thought he would see an animal and would sacrifice it.  But he saw his daughter and two months later “she returned unto her father, who did with her according to his vow…” (11:39).  Various commentators have condemned him for this act of folly.  What makes it so bad is that he did not have to carry out the vow.  There were ways around it.  But because he was ignorant of Torah, he committed this vile act.  Unlike those popular romantic novels, Jewish heroes need to know Torah as well as martial skills.  In driving Jephthah away, his half-brothers might have helped to create a military leader but they denied him the teachings of Torah, which would have made a true leader.  Jephthah would add one more infamous deed to his record.  Before his death, angry members of the tribe of Ephraim confronted him.  Rather than try and find a peaceful solution to their claims, Jephthah fought them, killing 42,000 of his co-religionists.

Theme-Link:  There are at least two.  First, in negotiating with the Ammonites, Jephthah referred to events described in the sedrah.  In fact, “verses 19-22 in the haftarah are a recitation of verses 21-25 in the sedrah.”  Secondly, both readings contain vows related to victory.  In the sedrah, the Israelites promised to forgo any booty from the towns they were about to attack.  We already know about the vow contained in the haftarah.

 

Copyright; July, 2025; Mitchell A. Levin

 

Readings for Saturday, June 28, 2025

Readings For Saturday, June 28, 2025

Korach

16:1-18:32 Bamidbar (Numbers)

Korach is the fifth sedrah in the Book of Bamidbar or Numbers.  The sedrah takes its name from the second word in the first sentence of the portion, “Korach.”  Since Korach is actually a person’s name, the Hebrew name for the sedrah and the English translation are the same.  Korach is dominated by two of the recurring themes found in Bamidbar - Rebellion and The Super-Natural.  The Sedrah may be divided into three parts:  Korach’s Rebellion, The Israelites’ Rebellion, and Duties and Gifts for the Kohanim and the Levites. 

Korach’s Rebellion (16:1-35)

The rebellions continue and they continue to escalate in their severity.  Korach, a Levite, joins with Dathan and Abiram from the tribe of Rueben to challenge the authority of Moshe and Aaron.  Since all of the people are holy, says Korach, why should Aaron and his family hold such an exalted position.  Korach includes Moshe in his complaint because Moshe is the one who anointed Aaron.  According to the commentators, Korach uses the cunning common to demagogues seeking power.  First, he attacks those in power claiming all of the people should share equally in the power.  But in the end he really sees himself as actually replacing those whom he is challenging.  As a Levite, Korach has been assigned a special role in caring for the Tabernacle.  But he does not think it is important enough for him and that may be the source of his discontent.  Dathan and Abiram join in the rebellion supposedly because they are angry over the displacement of their tribe, Rueben, by Levi and Judah.  There are those who contend that there were actually two different rebellions - one by Korach and one by Dathan and Abiram - and that later editors combined the two episodes.  Some see Dathan and Abiram’s Rebellion as merely a challenge to Moshe’s political power.  They see Korach’s Rebellion as being far more serious since he is seeking to overthrow the House of Aaron and, by inference, the entire religious system laid out in Shemot, Vayikra and Bamidbar.  Regardless of your view of the origin of the rebellions, the text states that these three along with a man named On and two hundred fifty followers confront the two brothers.  Why now?  Possibly because Korach thinks the Israelites are ripe for a rebellion since they have just been sentenced to die in the Wilderness.

For once Moshe does not lose his temper.  Instead he summons Dathan and Abiram and seeks to reason with them.  Moshe’s restraint in dealing with these two may be a sign that he views this as the less serious of the two-pronged challenge.  When the two rebels refuse to meet with Moshe and begin to defame him, Moshe cries out to Heaven protesting his innocence.  The response to Korach’s challenge is interesting.  There will be no contest between Moshe and Korach.  There will be no debate, no public disputation with a decision rendered on the merits of the case.  Rather, Moshe calls out for God to settle the matter directly; by divine intervention in a cosmic manner that will leave no doubt that the judgment is God’s and not Moshe’s.  So the earth opens its mouth and swallows the rebels.  Of course, there is some question as to who got swallowed.  We know that the three ringleaders and the two hundred and fifty who followed them perish.  But all of Korach’s family could not been consumed as the text would seem to indicate, since the “sons of Korach” are mentioned in Bamidbar 26:11, in several of the Psalms including the one said every Monday morning and in the First Book of Chronicles.  (See Themes for more on this.)

The Israelites’ Rebellion (17:1-28)

After the episode with the spies and the punishment of Korach, you would think our ancestors would have learned to avoid rebellions.  Wrong!  The very next day, “the assembly gathered against Moshe and Aaron” (17:7) and chastised them for the deaths of the rebels whom they describe as "people of the Lord” (17:7).  God tells the brothers to step aside so that He can destroy the rebellious Israelites.  A plague breaks out, but Aaron rises to the challenge.  Without regard to his personal safety, he uses the rituals of the Kohein Gadol (fire from the altar and incense) and moves among the people checking the plague that wiped out fourteen thousand, seven hundred of the Israelites.  In an attempt to cement Aaron’s position among the Israelites and put an end to these rebellions, we see a further act of the super-natural or, at least unusual, direct divine intervention.  The staffs of each tribal leader and the staff of Aaron are placed overnight in the Tent of the Meeting.  In the morning, Aaron’s staff has sprouted almond blossoms.  For some reason, this last, peaceful manifestation of God’s power strikes a responsive chord with the Israelites.  They are chastened.  In fact they go to the other extreme.  A moment ago, they were ready to overthrow Aaron.  Now they tell Moshe that they are afraid to even go near the Tabernacle lest they perish.  It is this latest expression of fear that sets the stage for the last third of the sedrah.

Duties and Gifts for the Kohanim and the Levites (18:1-32)

God now reassures the newly chastened Israelites.  The Tabernacle will not be a source of death if the Kohanim and the Levites perform their functions correctly.  This time God does not use Moshe as an intermediary in communicating with Aaron.  Nor does He speak to the brothers together.  Instead, He speaks directly to Aaron, “The Lord said to Aaron…” (18:1).  This may have been a further attempt to cement Aaron’s position as Kohein Gadol.  It may also have been a way of impressing upon Aaron, who had shown signs of weakness at the Golden Calf and the Rebellion with Miriam that he was responsible for seeing to it that the duties of the Kohanim and Levites enumerated in this chapter were carried out to their fullest extent.  The Kohanim had duties, but they were entitled to their “gifts” which are also enumerated in this chapter.  The landless Levites were to receive their Tithe from the Israelites.  But in turn, the Levites were to give a tenth of their Tithe to the Kohanim.  The sedrah, which has been filled with so much tumult, ends in a quiet, benign mode.  It is almost as if the text is saying that peace will reign in the community when everybody accepts their own unique role and acknowledges the roles of others.

Themes

Commandments

388.         The Levites’ obligation to guard the sanctuary (18:4).

389.         The prohibitions against the priests and Levites doing each other’s work (18:4).

390.         The prohibition against an outsider serving at the sanctuary (18:4).

391.         The commandment that the guarding of the sanctuary should be continuous (18:5).

392.         The obligation of a father to redeem his firstborn son (18:15-16).

393.         The prohibition against redeeming the firstborn of a kosher animal (18:17).

394.         The Levites’ exclusive obligation to perform the sanctuary service (18:23).

395.         The commandments to set aside a tithe for the Levites (18:24).

396.         The Levites’ obligation to donate a tithe from their tithe to the priests (18:23).

Biblical Literacy by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin

In What Sense Did Korach Survive?

This is not a rhetorical question.  Normally, we blot out the names of evildoers.  Yet with Korach, we do him the honor of naming a sedrah after him.  As Rabbi Telushkin points out, this would be like having an annual Benedict Arnold Day.  The Sons of Korach do live on.  According to some they made a supernatural act of Teshuvah (Repentance) at the moment they were swallowed up and were returned to life.  Others say that the sons did not stand with their father and never died either literally or figuratively.  When we read psalm 48 every Monday morning, it begins “A psalm, a song by the sons of Korach” we should remember that we can also overcome the environment in which we live.  Just as the sons of Korach could overcome the evil nature of their father, so we can all find hope that we can overcome the Inclination to do Evil 

Incense

This ancient vestige of the Temple ritual must have carried a meaning far greater than modern man can imagine.  We see it used in this sedrah as weapon of rebellion by Korach and source of redemption by Moshe and Aaron.  The recipe for Incense is recited every day of the year and we are reminded that the penalty for error in mixing the incense is death.

Pidyon ha-Ben

Previous Torah Portions have described the historic reasons for the ceremony for the Redemption of the First Born.  The command to actually perform the ceremony is found in 18:15.

Tithe 
The custom of giving a tenth of one’s earnings to charity finds its origin in the commandment to give a tenth to the Levites (18:24).  The Levites must give a tenth of the Tithe they receive from the people to the Kohanim.  In other words, nobody is exempt from giving.  Everybody, no matter how poor, is supposed to practice the mitzvah of Tzedakah.

How Far is Too Far?

Korach said “You have gone too far!” (16:3).  This is his attack on Moses - accusing him of, among other things, nepotism by naming his brother Kohein Gadol.  Moses replied, “You have gone too far, sons of Levi!” (16:7).  In his response, Moses literally hurls Korach’s words back at the rebel with the additional reminder that he, Korach is from the tribe of Levi.  Moses is not only denying the validity of the attack, he is reminding Korach and his supporters of their lineage and that their rebellion is a betrayal of the tribe chosen by God to serve in the MIshkan and ultimately in the Temple.

Korach and Pirke Avot

In the Chapter Four of Pirke Avot, Rabbi Elazar HaKappar says:  “Envy, desire and ambition drive a man out of the world.” (4:28).  Some commentators view these particular words of wisdom as descriptions of the causes of Korach’s Rebellion.  Envy, desire and ambition (or in other translations, “jealousy, lust and honor”) are “the basic instincts and appetites that prevent a person from enjoying life.”  Rabbi Hertz describes them as the “three anti-social qualities…which are a hindrance to harmonious relations with our fellow man.”  Continuing with the comments of Rabbi Hertz, envy is not to be confused with emulation, “which increases skills and wisdom.”  Desire leads to sin because it is “the unbridled hankering after pleasure.”  Ambition or “lust for honor” clouds the mind and leads us to rationalize behavior that we would otherwise know is unacceptable.  The phrase “drive a man out of the world” has two different interpretations.  Sometimes it can be a reference to shortening one’s life.  Sometimes it can be a reference to cutting oneself off from the community.  And sometimes it can be both since the one may lead to the other. Now how does all this relate to Korach?  Why would a man of Korach’s power and wealth rebel against Moshe (and God)?  As Rabbi Weisblum points out, “Korach was already very wealthy and the head of the tribe of Levi but was unable to control his ambition.  His jealousy and lust for power led him to instigate a rebellion.…”  His inability to enjoy and value the many gifts that had already been bestowed upon him, literally led to his death.  Instead of challenging Moshe, Korach might have remembered to pray to want what he had rather than to have what he wanted.

Concepts of Holiness

In “Korach Among Us,” Yeshayaahu Leibowitz compares two concepts of holiness.  The first is found at the end of last week’s Torah portion which finishes with the commandments about the Tzizth.  The fringes are here so “you may remember and do all my mitzvoth and be holy to your God:  I am your God.”  The second concept is found in the opening verses of this sedrah when Korach declares, “All the community (of Israel), all of them are holy, and God is among them all; why do you lift yourself above them.”  Both of the verses use the term holy, but does the word holy mean the same thing in each of them?  Leibowitz contends that in the command concerning the Tzizth “holiness is not a fact but a goal.”  Holiness lies in remembering and doing the mitzvoth.  Holiness is not a state of being.  Rather it is a condition towards which people strive.  It is a journey as much as it is destination.  Holiness is something that we have to work at.  Leibowitz contends that for Korach holiness is a fact, a state of being for the Jew.  In effect he is saying that because we are Israelites, because we are the people of the Covenant, because we the chosen people of the Lord, we are holy by definition.  This would seem to be a form of the age old question of “who is a Jew?”  Is being Jewish a matter of biology or is it something we have to work at for it to have meaning.  Our tradition provides us with contradictory responses.  On the one hand the prophets remind us that God will never turn His back on us.  There is no “bill of divorce” between the Lord and His People.  But Jeremiah also warns us that holding on to Jerusalem and the Temple (symbols of God connected with holiness) will not save the Jewish people   Instead, the Jews will be judged on the basis of deeds i.e., observance of the mitzvoth.  Much to Leibowitz’s dismay, both views may be correct.  On the one hand, Holiness or at least a basic level of holiness may be seen as a gift given to us by God.  But this level of holiness is a base line; a point of departure.  For at the same, the ability to strive for that Holiness is also a gift, because that striving is what actually draws us into a deeper sense of the Divine.  In this concept, the merit is in the striving not in the succeeding.  In reaching out to God, we are not expected to always hit the mark, but we are expected to keep on trying.  There is no definitive answer.  Rather this is one of those questions that make for long, lingering questions at the Kiddush and study sessions that are part of the Shabbat observance.

Twenty-first Century Korach

Biblical characters and tales from the Bible have provided authors through the ages with themes and characters for their own works.  In 2010, we saw the debut of “Korach” a play written by Judith Malina.  Malina, the daughter of a Conservative Rabbi, is no stranger to Jewish sources.  While the Korach of the commentators may be a villain for challenging Moses, Malina sees him as “history’s first anarchist.”  Moses is the authority figure building the new nation who will not tolerate any challenge to his authority.  Korach must be silenced because if his voice is heard - “We are all holy!” - then other challenges will surely follow and that will be the end of central authority.  Regardless of what you think of Malina’s interpretation, it is important to note that characters of the Bible are often rich, multi-textured beings that provide us with food for thought on questions both great and small.

Korach and Tammuz

It is fitting that we read Korach just after observing Rosh Chodesh Tammuz.  Tammuz is the month that marks the start of the death throes of the Temple which will result in destruction and exile.  Korach reminds us of the critical role that the Priests and Levites played as interface between God and the Israelites; of the need to provide for them so that they could be totally focused on their holy mission.  But the tragic events of Tammuz remind us of how far from that lofty goal the religious officialdom of the Second Temple had fallen.  In the last centuries before the destruction of Temple, the position had become a political football and worse.  Men stole from the Temple treasury to finance their quest for the position.  Men killed other men to gain control of the position.  Rulers sought out the help of the Romans to secure the position.  Politics became intertwined with religion as those wearing the vestments of house of Aaron and the tribe of Levi joined jockeyed for temporal power.  Had the Temple been destroyed as a force for morality long before the building was destroyed thus rendering it useless?  As we read Korach during Tammuz, should we be leery of those religious figures who would use their role as rabbis and spiritual leaders to control the reins of temporal power?

Haftarah

11:14-12:22 I Samuel

The Man and the Book:  First and Second Samuel were originally just the Book of Samuel.  At the start of the 16^th century, the Venetian printer, Daniel Bomberg introduced the division into the TaNaCh.  Bomberg took the division from Christian text that had made the split so that writings could conform to the size of the scrolls used by the Greeks.  The Book of Samuel covers a major period in Jewish History including the last of the Judges (Samuel) and the establishment of the Monarchy under Saul and David.  Events in the life of Samuel are covered in the first twenty-five chapters of First Samuel.  The rest of First Samuel concerns itself with the fall of the house of Saul and the rise of the house of David.  Second Samuel is a continuation of the events in the life of King David.  The two volumes cover about 120 years, from around 1085 B.C.E. to 965 B.C.E.  So why do these two volumes bear Samuel’s name if he was only alive for about the first seventy-five years covered by the narrative?  Samuel was a major figure in our tradition.  One of the psalms (99:6) elevates him to the level of Moshe and Aaron.  From an historic perspective he was the last and greatest of the Judges.  He was the one who began the work of re-uniting the tribes and drawing them out of the spiritual and ethical sloth that had become common place following the death of Joshua.  Also, he was the one whom God chose to anoint and guide the first two royal households of the Jewish people.  In other words, Saul and David could not have existed had it not been for Samuel.  Based on information in Chronicles as well as the Book that bears his name, we know that Samuel was a Levite.  We know that he was a Nazir.  We know he had two sons.  And we know that he was not a “happy person” by the time of his death.  Furthermore, in dealing with the issue of the monarchy, Samuel shows himself to be a complex, conflicted person.  When the Israelites come to Samuel and ask him to get them a king, he denounces their attentions.  Yet Devarim describes the proper behavior for a king, so God could not have been opposed to a king.  In fact it takes divine intervention to get Samuel to comply with the peoples wishes.  The measure of his greatness might be found in the lines that describe his death.  “And Samuel died; and all Israel gathered themselves together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house in Ramah.” (25:1). 

The Message:  The haftarah begins with the third naming of Saul as King of Israel.  He has been chosen twice before in episodes described in chapters 9 and 10.  This ceremony is public and marks the final transformation from the leadership of the Judges to the leadership of the Monarchy.  The haftarah continues with Samuel’s valedictory.  First he proclaims his own honesty as a public official.  The he recounts the wonders that God has performed for the Israelites and takes them to task for wanting a temporal monarch when God was the only king they needed.  The people admit the error of their ways.  Samuel reassures them that all will still go well if they follow the laws of the Lord.

Theme-Link:  There are numerous connections between the sedrah and the haftarah.  According to tradition, Samuel is a descendant of Korach.  Both the sedrah and the haftarah contain stories of changes in leadership.  In the sedrah, God crushes the rebels and the leadership stays the same.  In the haftarah, God has sanctioned the change in leadership and Saul becomes king.  Both the sedrah and the haftarah contain descriptions of miraculous events that are a sign of divine power.  Interestingly enough, the two great leaders, Moshe and Samuel, proclaim their own honesty.  Both men proudly proclaim that they have done nothing to enrich themselves while in power.  Could any of those who seek public office in our own time make the same claim?  And are we not the poorer for the fact modern leaders cannot meet the measure of either Moshe or Samuel?

 

Readings for Saturday, June 21, 2025

Readings for Saturday, June 21, 2025

Shelach-Lecha (Send forth)

13:1-15:41 Bamidbar (Numbers)

Shelach-Lecha is the fourth sedrah in Bamidbar (Numbers).  The Sedrah takes its name from the first words of the second sentence in the sedrah, “Send forth (Shelach-Lecha) men, if you please and let them spy out the Land Of Canaan.”  The sedrah divides into three parts:  The Story of the Spies; The Response to the Spies; and Laws of Hope, Penitence and Protection.

The Story of the Spies (13:1-31) The story is a simple one with a conventional interpretation.  Moshe chooses a leader from each of the twelve tribes to reconnoiter Canaan.  He tells them how to enter the land and gives them a list of questions to answer when they return.  The spies return after forty days and report to Moshe, Aaron and the whole House of Israel.  They begin with a glowing report about the land itself, describing it as a place flowing with milk and honey.  But then they exceed their mission by announcing that the Israelites will not be able to conquer the land.  The inhabitants are too strong and too numerous.  Only Joshua and Caleb disagree.  Caleb assures the people that the conquest is possible.  But the other ten leaders drown him out saying the inhabitants are like giants and the Israelites are like grasshoppers by comparison.  Based on conventional interpretation, the leaders erred in at least two ways.  First, they did more than what was required.  They were told to gather specific information.  Instead, they not only gathered the information, they also gave their opinion.  This is another instance where we are reminded that we are required to do what the Torah commands, no less, but also, no more.  It is hard enough to get what is commanded right, without adding anything else to the list.  Second, they forgot that God had said He would deliver the land to the Israelites.  The spies were really saying that God was not strong enough to deliver on His promise.

The Response to the Spies (14:1-45) The spies have spoken.  Now the people respond.  They ignore Joshua and Caleb and accept the judgment of the Ten.  As has happened before, the Israelites yearn for Egypt.  They rebel against God and Moshe.  "Let us appoint a leader and let us return to Egypt."  In a re-play of the Golden Calf, God threatens to exterminate the people but Moshe placates Him by appealing to God’s vanity.  God agrees to spare the nation, but He will punish the generation that doubted Him.  God will make their prophecy come true.  They keep saying that He brought them out of Egypt so that they might perish in the Wilderness.  Well, perish they will.  Instead, their children (those under the age of twenty) will go into the land promised them by God.  As for the ten spies, they are to die immediately from a special plague.  Only Joshua and Caleb are to be spared.  The rewards of leadership are great.  The penalty for leading the people astray is also great.  As if to show how totally they misunderstood their special relationship with God, the Israelites now decide that they will in fact go into the land.  They go out to fight the Amalekites and the Canaanites without the symbols of God’s presence i.e., the Holy Ark or Moshe.  Of course they suffer a disastrous defeat.  The key to understanding this episode may lie in the first verse of Chapter 14, “The entire assembly rose up and issued its voice; the people wept that night.”  The people had all night to consider their response.  They had all night to remember all of the miracles that God had performed and they still rebelled.  And as if that were not enough, Caleb and Joshua gave them one more reminder, “…do not rebel against God!  God is with us.  Do not fear them.” (14:10).  In other words, the Israelites had plenty of time to consider their course of action and they made the wrong choice.  To the extent that one reads the Torah as history, the events in chapters 13 and 14 are a calamity for the Israelites.  The fulfillment of God’s promise about the Promised Land is delayed for a generation.  The Israelites will struggle and suffer many unfortunate events during their extended sojourn.  This is a classic case of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Laws of Hope, Penitence and Protection (15:1-40)  Just when the Israelites are at their lowest ebb, God sends a message of hope.  He begins describing a series of commandments with the words, “Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them:  When you will come to the Land of your dwelling places that I give you.”  In other words, here is a set of commandments that you will follow once you arrive in Canaan.  By giving laws at this point in the narrative that can only be fulfilled once the Israelites enter Canaan, God is reassuring them that He will keep His word and that the next generation will inherit the Promised Land.  In verses 1 through 16, God provides rules concerning Grain Offerings and Wine Libations.  From the point of view of the modern reader these ancient commands provide a reminder that from the earliest time in our history the same of rules were to apply to the proselyte as well as to the rest of the congregation.  In other words, regardless of how one becomes a Jew, once you are Jew you are treated the same as everybody else.  Next come the rules of Challah, the portion of dough to be given to the Kohanim when making bread (15:17-21).  Like the commandments concerning Grain Offerings and Wine Libations, the ritual of Challah is also to be performed only when the next generation enters the Promised Land.  The practice has carried over to our own times.  (See Themes below)

The Story of the Spies could have conveyed the notion that God did not forgive sinners.  Such is not the case.  So the text continues with methods for atoning for unintentional sin (defined here as Idol Worship) whether it be by the whole community or the individual (15:22-29).  But just as there was no forgiveness for the arrogant ten spies, so is there no forgiveness for the arrogant sinner, the person “who acts defiantly” (15:30-31).  To drive home this theme of the arrogant sinner, the sedrah follows with the story of the Israelite gathering wood on Shabbat (15:32-36).  Having heard the Revelation at Sinai, the miscreant knew that violating Shabbat was a capital crime.  In gathering wood, he seemed to be showing utter contempt for the law since he was twice violating the Shabbat (working by gathering wood) so he could violate it again (kindling a fire).  The death penalty imposed here met the later Halachic rules for its implementation - the offender was warned that what he was doing carried the death penalty and that there were at least two witnesses to the crime.  The Bible has no problem in naming sinners.  So why does the wood gather remain unnamed?   Possibly as a way of carrying out the second part of the punishment for violating Shabbat - the cutting off of the soul from among the people (Shemot 31:14).  What better way to “cut off” the soul than to blot out a person’s name?  At the end of the sedrah, God commands the Israelites to wear fringes or tzitzit on the corners of their garments (15:37-40).  When the Israelites look upon the tzitzit, they are to remember all of the commandments and remember that they are supposed to abide by them.  In so doing, they will also remember not to follow their inclinations.  If the wood gatherer had worn tzitzit, he might have remembered the rules of Shabbat and that he was to observe them.  And if the spies had had tzitzit they might have remembered that they were to trust in God and not follow their own inclinations concerning entering the Promised Land.

Themes

Commandments
385.         The obligation to set aside a portion of Challah (dough) for the priest (15:18-21).
386.         The commandment to wear tzitzit (fringes) on a four-cornered garment (15:37-38).
387.         The prohibition against going astray after the desires of one’s heart and eyes (15:39).
Biblical Literacy by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin

The Spies

Usually, the Story of the Spies portrays the Ten as cowards who are afraid to fight for the land; as leaders lacking in faith in God.  The story may be viewed in another way.  Possibly the Ten were afraid that they would lose their ability to follow the teachings of the Torah if they left the Wilderness and entered Canaan.  In the Wilderness, God provided everything - manna to eat, water on demand, even clothes that did not wear out.  In the Wilderness the Israelites were close to God with a Cloud by day and a Pillar of Fire by night.  Of course there were the Tabernacle and Moshe as well, further cementing the Israelites to God and the Torah.  But once they entered the land, they “were like grasshopper” i.e., they would have to work to survive.  Yes, the grapes were huge and there was an abundance of milk and honey.  But this meant labor and labor would take time away from Torah.  Therefore, the Ten brought back their report so that the Israelites would stay in the Wilderness and be close to God.  What they had failed to see was that the Israelites would misinterpret their report and use it as an excuse to return to Egypt.  When Caleb says, “The Lord is with us.  Do not fear them”, he is thought to be saying that the Lord is with us do not fear that being in the land will separate us from Him.  The Ten did not understand that the challenge of the Jew then, as now, is to take the Torah from Sinai and make it a part of the world.  This cannot be done in the Wilderness.  It can only be done in the real world, in this case the Promised Land.  “Rabban Gamliel, the son of Yehudah haNasi, says:  “The study of Torah combined with a worldly occupation is an excellent thing…any study of torah when not accompanied by a trade must fail in the end and become the cause of sin.”  (Pirke Avot 2:2)  For a more lucid treatment of this, I suggest you read Torah Studies by Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, pages 239 through 245.

Overstepping Their Bounds

In “The Facts, Just the Facts,” journalist, linguist and author Hillel Halkin questions the harsh treatment of the Spies.  In the end, all ten die because of their role played out in this week’s Torah portion.  Moses tells them to go and see what the land is like; see whether the people living there are weak or strong and see if the cities are undefended or fortified.  In a manner that would have made a CIA handler proud, they come back and describe the territory (a land of milk and honey), described the inhabitants (tall and strong) and describe the urban areas (large and fortified).  Although the Torah does not say so directly, the Israelites must have been scared by what they heard, for as Halkin points out the text goes from the negative report of the spies to Caleb’s angry rebuttal.  “But Caleb quieted the people…’Let us go up at once and occupy it (the land).…’”  Caleb would only have uttered such words if the people had responded to the report of the spies with fear.  And here is where the spies go beyond their mission.  Halkin contends that they shift from reporting the facts - the assigned mission of spies - to shaping public opinion.  First the spies tell the people that the inhabitants of the land are stronger than the Israelites and therefore the Israelites cannot go up against them.  Then they really step over the line by declaring the Promised Land is “a land that devours its inhabitants.”  If the spies were telling the truth when they said it was a land of milk and honey, then how did it all of a sudden become a land that would devour the Israelites?  They have made the same mistake that some modern intelligence services have made when they have massaged the data to fit somebody else’s notion of reality.  The CIA or Mossad would fire such people.  The spies got the death penalty because in massaging the data they were saying that God was wrong, that God had lied to the people - blasphemy.

Spies - Who Sent Them

“And the Lord spoke unto Moses saying:  Send thou men that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel…” (Numbers 13:1&2).  A literal reading would seem to indicate that God was the one who was responsible for sending the spies; that he told Moses to send them.  But according to tradition, as can be seen from the notes in three Chumashim - Hertz, Stone & Etz Hayim - this was not the case.  According to Etz Hayim, the Hebrew שלח לכה Shelach Lecha literally means “‘send for yourself.’  That is for your own purposes (not Mine).  God seems to be saying ‘I have told you already that the land is good and that I will give it to you.  If you need human confirmation of that, go ahead and send scouts.”  Hertz follows the same line of reasoning.  Stone goes one better and cites “the Sages and Rashi” who contend that “the people came to Moses and asked him to dispatch spies to reconnoiter Canaan and report to them.” (This would explain why the spies gave their report to the entire nation instead of just to Moses.)  “Moses consulted God who said,  ‘I have told them the Land is good.  (But since they question Me), I will let them test my veracity at the risk of being misled and losing their chance to enter the Land.’  Although Moses apparently approved the demand, he actually hoped that his agreeing would dissuade the people from pressing their request….Moses thought that his willingness to let the people have their way would convince them that they had nothing to fear.  He was mistaken; they wanted to hear about the land” from their fellow Israelites.  However, Meir Shalev, in his book Beginnings does not let God off the hook.  He reads the text literally and blames the whole misadventure on the Lord.  There is not room here to explain his line of thought, but it is worth the read.  In fact, the chapter entitled “The First Spies” would seem to be a davar torah that covers both the Torah portion and the haftarah which deals with another spy story.

Spies - Who Sent Them II

In Chapter 1, verse 22 of Devarim, Moses gives his version of who sent the spies.  “And you came near unto me and you said; Let us send men before us that they may search out for us the land and bring us word again (concerning) the way by which we must go up and the cities unto which we shall come.”  The reason for the mission of the spies is described differently here than in this weekly portion.  The version in Devarim does not sound like a challenge to God but a reasonable request to send out scouts to provide a line of march as the Israelites enter enemy territory.  This raises even more questions, not the least of which is, was there more than one episode with spies; are we seeing an attempt to harmonize two different events?’  I haven’t an answer, but if you do, please let me know.

Spies - Modern Lessons

Why did the spies overstep the bounds of their mission?  Why did they go from gatherers of intelligence to molders of public opinion?  Maybe we can answer these questions if we ask a couple of others first.  Who were the spies?  Why were they chosen for the mission?  One can safely assume that they were prominent members of their respective tribes.  Based on what we known about Joshua, we can assume that they were younger men.  This means that being chosen as spies might have been their first big assignment.  And they handled it well; bringing back the kind of facts which they had been asked to gather.  But when they saw the reaction of the people and saw that the people were listening to them and not Moses, it “went to their heads.”  Could it have been that these ten young guys were just impressed with themselves, impressed with the fact that Israelites were paying attention to them and not to the Big Guy who talked to God; that they just couldn’t give up the limelight?  Instead they just kept right on talking, loving all of that attention until it was too late.  Maybe if Moses had chosen more mature men for the role, or mixed the group so it would include the young as well as the more mature, the outcome might have been different.  Could this be one more example of what we now call a bad hiring decision?  The Bible offers many examples of this.  For example, Saul failed because he was the wrong man for the job.  David succeeded because Samuel hired the right man for the job the second time around.  And of course, as we will see with the Haftarah, Joshua does what Moses did not - he hired the right men to be spies the second time around.

Minyan

Why is “ten” considered the minimum number for a Minyan?  God asks, “How much longer shall that wicked congregation (edah) keep muttering against me?” (14:26).  In using the term “edah” which means congregation or community, God is referring to the Ten Spies.  As Rabbi Leo Trepp points out, “In this typical example of rabbinical interpretation of a Torah text (Mishnah Sanhedrin 1: 6), the biblical congregation of scouts who defeated God’s plan is replaced by the true congregation of worshipers who promote God’s plan.”

Challah

The Challah referred to here is not the loaf of bread we eat on Shabbat.  Rather, it is the small portion, usually about an ounce, removed from the dough and burned when baking bread.  If the dough is made from one of five grains and the flour weighs more than three pounds a blessing is recited:  “Baruch atah adonoi elohainu melech haolom asher kidshanu b’mitzvotav vtzivanu l’hafrish challah.  (Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to separate challah).”  There are many texts that give a fuller explanation of this topic.  One you might consider is a cookbook par excellence called Spice and Spirit.  The mitzvah of Challah is one of three that is assigned to women.  Just as the woman shapes the Challah, so does she shape the home and the home is the Jew’s spiritual fortress.

Tzitzit

The verses concerning Tzitzit (15:37-41) were considered so important by the Rabbis, that they were made the third paragraph of the Shema.  These verses gave rise to the wearing of the tallit or prayer shawl, which is donned before praying in the morning.  Observant Jews also wear a fringed under garment called a tallit katan (little tallit).  The exposed fringes help them to better observe the injunction to wear the fringes and look upon them so that one does not go astray.  In its formative period, the Reform Movement attempted to do away with the Tallit.  Today, the tallit is reappearing in many Reform Congregations thanks in no small part to the effect of the feminist movement on Judaism.  The feminists made the wearing of the tallit an outward sign of the changes they were seeking in 20^th century Judaism.  Should women wear tallit?  That is an interesting question worthy of discussion.  Rashi’s daughters were reported to have worn tefillin.  Since one usually puts on a tallit before putting on tefillin, did Rashi’s daughters each wear a tallit?  An even more interesting questions might be, what about women who seek the tallit as they flee the Challah?

Women and Tzitzit - Part II

Maggie Anton, the author of three books about Rashi’s daughters, www.rashisdaughters.com, was kind enough to respond to the question posed in my commentary above about women and Tzitzit.  “The tallit or prayer shawl as we know it today did not exists in Rashi's time. I believe it came into use in the 13th century.  What Rashi's community had then were tzitzit that were attached to the 4-cornered garments they already had, cloaks and mantles, which were worn outdoors and could be used by men and/or women.  Machzor Vitry states that if a woman wore tzitzit, she was required to make the blessing.  However it appears that most Jews did not attach tzitzit to their garments.”  The Machzor Vitry she refers to is a work by Rav Simcha of Vitri, France, who died in 1105 and was student of Rashi.  “This halachic work focuses mainly around the daily and Shabbat prayer services, and includes halachic decisions from his teacher Rashi or from other early scholars.  It also includes halachic decisions on issues of kashrut, family purity, tefillin, mezuzah, and ethics.”  Why do we study this each year?  We study because there is always something more to learn.

Tisha B’Av

According to some, the spies gave their report on Tisha B’Av.  This is supposedly why this date marked the advent of other calamities including the destruction of both of the Temples, the expulsion from Spain and the start of World War I.  I am not saying I believe this; merely passing along a little more food for thought.

Ancient Profession

Based on Meir Shalev’s reading of the Bible, spies and the work of espionage are very ancient endeavors.  The first mention comes in Beresihit (Genesis) when Joseph declares that his brothers are spies who “have come to see the nakedness of the land.”  Joseph knew the accusation was false but in making the charge it is obvious that ancient world already knew what spies were and held their work in contempt.  For more on the early Biblical view of spying from Joseph to Moses, to Joshua, to King David read “The First Spies,” one of the many fascinating chapters in Beginnings by Meir Shalev.

Lech Lecha versus Shelach Lecha

Earlier in the year we read Lech Lecha - Go to yourself.  This week read Shelach Lecha - Send for yourself.  The second word in each reading is the same.  But the first word for each reading and the outcomes are so very different. In “Go for yourself” Abraham heeds the call of the Lord and arrives in the Promised Land where the Covenant is created.  In “Send for yourself” the Israelite deny the call of the Lord and refused to move forward to the Promised Land.  “Yourself” reminds us of the importance of human action.  But the variation on the first word reminds us that when “yourself” acts, “yourself” acts in a way that is consistent with the Divine Will.

Ephraim and Judah Together - For Once

For most of Jewish history, Ephraim and Judah were opposed to each other.  The most famous instance came when Jeroboam, the son of King Solomon, met with the tribal leaders from the north led by Ephraim which resulted in the split into the Southern and Northern Kingdoms.  Ironically in this week’s reading we find Caleb from the tribe of Judah and Joshua from the tribe of Ephraim standing against the other ten spies and calling for the Jewish people to have faith in the Lord and not be afraid to enter the Promised Land.  Yet the people ignored them and the rest is, as they say, history.  The lesson in leadership that we can take from this might be that no matter how strong the words of the leaders are, it takes the support of followers to make things happen.

Haftarah

2:1-24 Joshua

The Man:  The Book of Joshua is the first book in the second part of the TaNaCh called Neviim or Prophets.  Along with Judges, Samuel and Kings, Joshua makes up the section of Neviim known as the Former Prophets.  Together these books provide a historic narrative that runs from the death of Moshe to the destruction of the First Temple in 586 B.C.E.  Authorship of the book is ascribed to different individuals including Joshua, Eleazar (the son of Aaron) and Pinchas (the grandson of Aaron).  The Book of Joshua follows logically from the material read at the end of Devarim.  Basically, the book of Joshua describes the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites.  There are those who contend that the instead of the Pentateuch we should have the Hexateuch made up of the Five Books of Moshe and Joshua.  While Moshe may have died before the opening lines of Joshua are read, the constant use of his name gives this concept a philosophic as well as historic basis for consideration.  Joshua is a book of completion.  The book ends with death of Joshua who dies at the age of 110.  The text then references the burial of Joseph’s bones.  Joseph also died at age 110.  In other words, the book ends with a reference to the man who started the cycle by taking us out of Canaan (Joseph) and to the man who completed the cycle by conquering Canaan (Joshua).  The book also marks the completion of Moshe’s work.  Moshe took us to the borders of the Promised Land.  But it was Joshua who completed the work of Moshe by conquering the Promised Land.  Hence it is a book of completions in the plural.

We know little about the personal life of Joshua.  He is the son of Nun and a member of the tribe of Ephraim.  The text gives him no family.  It is only in legend that he marries Rahab, the reformed harlot who provides him with daughters, but no sons.  Actually, Joshua first appears in the Torah as the one whom Moshe commands to select men to fight against the Amalekites.  In other words, from the start, Joshua appears as a warrior and as Moshe’s first lieutenant or aid de camp.  It is Joshua who ascends part of the way to the top of Sinai with Moshe and Joshua who comes back down with him at the time of the Golden Calf.  It is Joshua, along with Caleb, who disputes the claims of the other spies and urges the Israelites to enter the Promised Land.  Despite all of this, when it comes time to choose Moshe’s successor, Moshe only asks God to choose a worthy person.  He does not ask that Joshua get the job.  Rather, Joshua is chosen by God as Moshe’s successor.  Moshe is the sun.  Joshua is the Moon.  Moshe is called the servant of the Lord.  Joshua is called the disciple of Moshe.  It is an interesting contrast in the roles and personae of the two men.

 

Joshua is an enigmatic, troubling figure.  He has drawn the attention of writers as diverse as Elie Wiesel and Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz whose monographs are the source of much of the material you read here.  Joshua is portrayed as a man of the Torah.  He is the second link in the tradition cited in Pirke Avot.  In the opening chapter of his book, God tells him that his success will be dependent on faithfully adhering to the Torah.  Joshua is the political/military leader.  But in the Torah, he is told that he will consult with the High Priest before he takes action.  The reality is that Joshua and his book are about war; bloody nasty war.  This is his claim to fame.  He is so good at it that modern Israeli military leaders looked to Joshua for advice on tactics and leadership.  He was the original “follow me” commander.  Joshua is a masterful military leader.  But from the modern perspective, is warfare something that we Jews want to be good at doing?  Since waging war means a suspension of our normal moral values, how do we as modern Jews justify it?  Moreover, why did Joshua not protest against it?  Just as Abraham challenged God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah, why didn’t Joshua challenge God to give the Israelites the Promised Land without slaughtering the inhabitants?  If you believe some of the Midrash, the ancient Israelites may have felt some of this same ambivalence since he died alone.  At the end of his life, Joshua showed himself to be a gambler and a leader confident in the success of his life’s work.  He seems to be giving the Israelites a chance to back out on the covenant.  “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served…or the gods of the Amorites; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (25:15).  The people promise to cast out other gods and reaffirm their loyalty to God.  While our forefathers committed us to the Torah at Sinai, the episode here reminds us that each generation must actively re-commit itself to the Torah and all that goes with it.

 

There is yet one more mystery about the Book of Joshua.  The Book of Joshua describes a violent invasion of Canaan in which the Israelite nation seized the land.  The Book of Judges would seem to contradict this and provides for a more gradual conquest of the land, much of it done on a tribal basis.  This contradiction is not the product of some modern day Bible-bashers.  After all, no less a traditional authority than the editors of the Soncino TaNaCh felt compelled to address this issue.  There is no easy answer to this one.  The archeologist William G. Dever is an enemy of the minimalist view and a believer in the historicity of the Jews’ Biblical claims to an ancient presence in Israel.  He finds a strong convergence between the archeological data and the narrative in Judges and Samuel.  “The parallel account in Joshua, however, is now seen to be based largely on the folktales glorifying Joshua, which although perhaps of early date are mostly fictitious.”  (What Did the Biblical Writers Knows & When Did They Know It?).  At the same time, Abraham Malamat of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem finds ample archeological evidence to support the basic story found in the Book of Joshua.  Despite some divergences, “the continuation of the biblical narrative is generally corroborated by discoveries from the excavations.”  (See A History of the Jewish People by Ben-Sasson).  One traditional attempt to harmonize the two books contends that the Israelites did conquer land under Joshua.  However, after his death, the surviving native inhabitants reasserted themselves and the Israelites were forced to re-claim what they had already won.  (For a modern, although imperfect analogy, consider the initial American military victories in Afghanistan and Iraq and the situation these forces face as the local population regroups for further action.)  Regardless of how one resolves the question about the historicity of the Book of Joshua, many modern readers are bothered by the apparent “genocide” described in the text.  Such a taking of life seems to run contrary to the spirit of the laws found in the Torah.  Telushkin, citing the great biblical scholar Yehezkel Kaufman, “argues that only because of the wars Israel fought against Cananite nations did ‘Israel…not assimilate into the indigenous population…It provided Israel’s new religious idea with an environment in which to grow free of the influence of a popular pagan culture.’”  Monotheism began as a small, minority movement living side by side with paganism that was so immoral it practiced child-sacrifice.  Warfare of this nature was the only way that the religion of our ancestors had a chance to survive.  As Judaism developed, it recognized that non-Jews could enjoy a portion in “the World to Come.”  But these inheritors had to be righteous gentiles, not child-sacrificing pagans.

 

The Message:  Unlike the Haftarot of the last few weeks with angels and magical menorahs, this week’s reading is pretty straightforward.  It is the Story of the Spies.  It reminds me of one of those World War Two movies where the brave Allied spies are parachuted behind German lines just before D-Day.  They are always on the verge of capture and are always saved by some damsel (or a guy with a good-looking sister or daughter).  In the end, they make it back to England with that valuable piece of intelligence that leads to victory.  In the haftarah, the Israelites are ready to invade Canaan under Joshua’s leadership.  He sends two spies to “reconnoiter the region of Jericho.”  While carrying out their mission, the two spies are saved from capture by Rahab, a prostitute in Jericho.  The price of the protection is a promise that when the Israelites take Jericho, they will spare her and her family.  The spies agree and provide her with a sign so that the Israelites will know who she is.  More importantly, from the point of view of a reconnaissance mission, she lets them know that the inhabitants of Jericho have heard about the miracles and might of God and His people.  They have lost heart and will not be able to resist.  The reading ends with the spies telling Joshua, "The Lord has delivered the whole land into our power, in fact all the inhabitants of the land are quaking before us” (2:22).

 

Theme-Link:  The sedrah and the haftarah both tell the stories of spies sent to bring reports about conditions in the Land of Canaan.  Of course, the outcome of the two stories is entirely different.  The spies of the Torah come back with a negative report, telling the people that there is no way that they can conquer Canaan.  The spies in the Book of Joshua come back with a positive report, predicting victory.  But there are several other differences.  The Torah goes into great detail as to who the Twelve Spies are.  The haftarah never mentions the names of the Two Spies.  The mission of the spies in the Torah sounds like a Cook’s Tour, not an intelligence mission.  In fact, they are supposed to be confirming the richness of the Land of Milk and Honey. The spies in the haftarah are sent to Jericho to make sure that the city is ripe for capture.  The differences highlight the difference between the roles and missions of Moshe and Joshua.  The differences highlight the change in the generations.  One story is about the last generation of slaves. The other is a story about the first generation of men born free.  In his commentary on this haftarah, Rabbi Edward Romm offers an additional insight.  In the 18th century, the civil authorities in Austria asked Yehezkel Landau, the Chief Rabbi of Bohemia, if “a Jew could legitimately swear falsely if the Torah he held when he took his oath was “pasul” or “ritually defective.”  Rabbi Landau responded that a Jew is never allowed to swear falsely and offers the story of Rahab and the Two Spies as one of his proof-texts for this bold statement.