Bamidbar and Shavuot 5785

On this Shabbat we begin to read the next book in the Torah in the sequence of the Torah reading for the year. The title of both Our Torah reading for this Shabbat and this new book in the sequence of Torah reading, are the same -- Bamidbar. The Hebrew word begins with the letter Bet, which is the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  On this weekend we will also celebrate the Pilgrimage Festival known as Shavuot. One of the rationales for the celebration of the festival is reliving and reacquainting ourselves with the giving of Torah and in specific, the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai. The Aseret Hadibrot, the Ten Commandments, begin with the first letter of the Hebrew Aleph Bet, the Aleph.

In the Zohar, a mystical writing, there is a wonderful dialogue that takes place between God and the first two letters in the Aleph Bet. The first letter in the Torah is the Bet, “Beresheet,”with the Bet, “in” followed by “the beginning.” God began the narrative of the creation of the world with the letter Bet, rather than the Aleph. The Zohar, similar to many other texts, asks why not Aleph? The dialogue is quite interesting.

“The letter Bet entered and said to God, Ruler of the Universe, may it please You to create the world with me, because by me You are blessed in the upper and lower worlds. [baruch - "bless"] The Holy One of Blessing, replied: But, of course, I shall certainly create the world with you. And you shall appear in the beginning of the Creation of the world.

The letter Aleph stood outside and did not enter. The Holy One of Blessing, said to it, Aleph, Aleph, why do you not enter and stand before Me like the other letters? It replies: Ruler of the Universe, because I saw that all the letters left You without benefaction. So what shall I do there myself? Not only that, but You have already presented the letter Bet with this greatest gift of all. And it would not be proper for the supernal Sovereign to take back the gift, which they presented to their servant, and give it to another!

The Holy One of Blessing, said, “Aleph, Aleph, even though the world is created with the letter Bet, you shall be the first of all the letters. My attachments shall be expressed only by you and all calculations and actions of the people shall commence with you. Therefore, all unity shall be expressed by the letter Aleph!”

The world cannot exist according to this passage without either letter. The Bet represents the blessings associated with our world, and which Hashem provided to us at the time of Creation. It is a continual creation, as we experience with a hopeful consistency of produce for our consumption throughout the year. Shavuot, in that regard celebrates the agricultural harvest in the land of Israel, and by that nature, around the world.

The Aleph, not only represents the beginning letter of all writings, but also what is most valuable to our sense of what is important in our Jewish values and ethics, that of the Ten Commandments. And it begins with our own self-evaluation of what those commandments mean to us as individuals and collectively as a society.

One may not be religious, but most religiously minded individuals recognize the power of the message of the commandments and its importance in any community. The words help to foster the dictum of “Love thy neighbor as thyself” in how we live and practice a healthy lifestyle and mindset of values. And in that regard, the Zohar’s narrative reflects the Aleph’s understanding of what is right, that it would be inappropriate to take back from the Bet, what has already been given to it as a gift. And secondly, the value of humility. Perhaps that might be why the Aleph, alone, is silent. It represents an understanding of how to best reflect “being humble.”

Just this past week, it became official, that the Ten Commandments must be displayed in every classroom in the State of Texas. We disagree with that legislation and ruling of the courts, not only because of our belief in the separation of Church and State. It also related to several other factors including that 1) the translation is true to Christian and not Jewish doctrine; 2) we feel that Jewish and other students not of the Christian faith, will be intimidated and be harassed by not accepting this Christian specific version; and 3) the goal is to convert students to believe in Christian theology rather than their own faith.

The rabbis specifically omitted the reciting of the Ten Commandments during our prayer services. They did so that we would not deify the Aseret Hadibrot. While many synagogues have used the symbol in its architectural design or as the front design of the Aron, the Ark on the bimah, their placement is not one of deification.

What, however is a truth is that the cornerstone of Jewish law, revealed to Moses and the Israelite nation at Mt. Sinai, is not only considered important to the Jewish tradition. The Aleph, therefore, is the cornerstone to the continuing existence of the Bet. In other words, without the Aseret Hadibrot, the Ten Commandments, the world would return to the status before Creation, that of tohu va’vohu, just filled with a void and tumult and turmoil within it. We might be seeing some of that now in our world, but clearly on an entirely different level.

So the Bet needs the Alef and we celebrate both with the Festival of Shavuot, with a piece of cheesecake or cheese blintzes, and once again hearing and taking note of both the Revelation of God at Mt. Sinai and the Aseret Hadibrot, the Ten Commandments.

I hope you will join us to celebrate and study with us this Sunday evening in a community wide study and cheesecake tasting, as well as on Monday morning, as we hear the words of the receiving of the Ten Commandments during our Festival services.

Please note that we will recite Yizkor in the morning services at Temple Israel, Park St. Synagogue. We will also join for Yizkor on Zoom for those unable to attend at 7:00 p.m., just prior to our 7:30 evening service on Monday evening.

Bring them home now!!!!

Am Yisrael Chai.

Shabbat shalom,

Chag Sameach

Rabbi K