The downfall

It was all going so well. The Jewish people were in formation with proud flags, ready to be sent on their mission. Everyone knew their role and the Levites, our navy seals, were initiated to their role. What happened from that high to a series of calamities that led to the elimination of the entire generation that left Egypt and a 38 year delay before arriving at Israel? On the surface, it seems sudden and unclear why the Israelites turned sour. Beneath the surface there is a subtle hint that not all was going as planned.  Where is that hint?

              After successfully recovering from the sin of the Golden Calf, the Jewish people stayed at Mount Sinai for a period of time studying and expanding their knowledge for 7 months.  After this, it says the Jewish people left the ‘Mountain of Hashem’ for a three day journey. Soon thereafter unnamed complaints begin, which lead to overt complaints about the lack of real food with full tears. Were we so fragile that after leaving the cocoon of spirituality that we had at the mountain that we’d settle back to our old ways?

              The midrash notes that it wasn’t leaving the cocoon that created the issue, but the way we did. We left like school children leaving the last day of school. We were relieved to leave that intense spiritual environment.  This is hinted at because it describes the mountain as the mountain of Hashem as opposed to the mountain of Elokim as it usually does.  We left our relationship with G-d behind because we wanted to tone it down. We still related to life through a physical lens and we missed our physical pleasures that gave us so much excitement.  More than that, it says it wasn’t just food that we missed but we were sore about the sexual restrictions imposed on Mount Sinai- free love was no longer an option.  While on the surface we were on board, deep down our identities hadn’t made the shift to more refined living and it began to rebel.

              Deep down we all have a decision to make. Will we be defined by our physical pleasure or our spiritual ones? Do we go to a Torah class for the free food or the Torah? Obviously, initially it may be for the food, but can we make that shift to realize that true pleasure comes from wisdom?  That was the struggle then, and it is the struggle now. It is a timeless battle and a choice we need to make on a continuous basis- is our main joy in life spiritual or physical?

What we see

In the age of the internet, we now have the ability to see the world all the time.  The question is whether it is healthy to see so much and see everything? There are big expectations to what we see in the world- it is supposed to spur us to action. And according to the mystics, what we see may be a personal message of what we are supposed to fix in our own life.  Regardless, we are not supposed to gloss over what we see in the name of curiosity.  As one Rabbi used to do, he'd read the newspaper with a book of psalms next to him.  From where do we derive this message, and based on what is happening now, where we are seeing a barrage of disturbing videos, how should we react?

              The message is delineated in the strange juxtaposition in this week’s Torah portion by what seem to be unrelated subjects.  First, there is the case of the broken marriage or Sotah.  A husband suspects his wife of adultery based on damning circumstantial evidence, and a complicated ritual is done at the temple to ascertain whether the adulterous act has actually happened.  If innocent the couple comes back to together and a child is born within the year.  Directly after describing this tumultuous event, the Torah then delves into the laws of a nazarite, a person who has decided to become exceptionally pious by refraining from wine, ignoring his physical appearance, and staying away from the deceased.  Why would this exceptionally holy person be juxtaposed to a tabloid worthy scenario of family strife?

              The Talmud asks this question and says that a person who sees the procedure of a sota take place should decide to become a nazarite. Why? Because wine is the type of drink that can lead to adultery. In other words, when we see an act, on the one hand we may be horrified, but on the other, the act now becomes part of normal human behavior and it can seep into our subconscious as a real possibility. Therefore, to ensure that it does not become the new ‘normal’ we need to take an active step against losing our abhorrence of it. More than that, according to Chassidic thought, seeing that scenario was divinely orchestrated because that person needed to work on that specific character trait from the beginning and this was a way of stimulating the person to take action. 

              In light of all we have seen in the past week, from a murderous abuse of power, to looting, these images require actions at the human level. There is insensitivity happening in many directions and we need to be aware of it and make sure that insensitivity doesn’t creep into our hearts, and to do that, we need to run in the other direction. At the very least, we need to increase our empathy and sensitivity to those who are different than us.