From the time he was seven, everyone knew that Jonah was going to be a lawyer. He could argue his way out of culpability for any backyard tussle, and he could easily persuade even the most hardened babysitter that he deserved at least fifteen extra minutes before bedtime. It had something to do with his inalienable rights and civil justice, and he always secured a favorable settlement.
In 6th grade he came in first place on the middle school debate team, and in his HS yearbook he was voted “Most likely to work 120 hours a week,” a sure sign that he would pursue a legal career (the only other people that work 120 hours a week are mothers, and he didn’t qualify).
High school was a blur of resume building, SAT studying, and community service. It’s never easy to get into Stanford, and it was going to be that much harder for Jonah, who could only go if he got partial or full scholarship. But Stanford gave him a full academic scholarship so that he would join their debate team, and he didn’t let them down. Getting into Yale Law was easy in comparison, but he fought a three year non-stop battle to graduate at the top of his class. At the end of his second year at Yale, law firms began fighting for him to join their firm, offering him ridiculous money, perks that would suit the dictator of a mid-size third world country, and promises of much more to come.
Jonah started with one of the top four-name law firms in the country, Burnham, Oswald, Seward & Smith (affectionately known by its acronym), and made boatloads of money, but he quickly grew restless. He had a goal of joining the exclusive Thirty by Thirty Club ($30 Million by 30 years old) and it wasn’t going to happen with Burnham Oswald, so he moved out, opened his own firm, and started working a bit harder.
For the next four years no one outside of the legal world saw Jonah, save for the occasional PR bit on TV whenever one of his mergers or acquisitions hit the financial media. Fifty seven days before his thirtieth birthday his banker called him to congratulate him on hitting thirty, and four days later he took his first vacation in nine years, a few days of R&R in Turks and Caicos. Seeing shiny happy families on vacation made him realize that he really had no life. He realized that without a family all the riches in the world are worth nothing, and for the first time ever, Jonah thought about dating, marriage and family.
Unfortunately, Jonah was about as comfortable dating as a fighter pilot in a burning cockpit. He hadn’t dated in years, he could barely talk for five minutes without trailing into undecipherable legalese, and his favorite place to hang out was behind a stack of due diligence papers. But there were three paralegals working in his office, Joan, Amber, and Fern, and he thought they were pretty nice. Maybe something could happen…?
Knowing that asking an employee out on a date was a HR nightmare, Jonah asked Nate, one of his few childhood friends, to speak to them in a very roundabout way, and see if any of them would want to go on a date with him, and Nate happily obliged. Joan was very nice but said she would rather keep the relationship more professional. Amber gave Nate the kind of look you give someone who asks you if you want to run daily triathlons, and suggested some high end dating services. But Fern said, “Sure, he’s a great guy, he always treats everyone well in the office, I’d be happy to go out on a date with him.”
Eleven months later Fern and Jonah got married in a small ceremony on Long Island, and Jonah started a new chapter of life. Adjusting to family life was Challenge #1, his largest client suing him and almost bankrupting him was Challenge #2, and a child who got lymphoma was Challenge #3, but Jonah and Fern worked through it all, and soon they were back up on top. Jonah’s firm became more prosperous than ever, Fern and the kids jetsetted the globe in their private jet, she had enough fur and diamonds to supply Bergdorf Goodman, and they lived the dream life he worked so hard to have.
Could you ever imagine someone saying to Fern, “What makes you think you’re so special? You were just a paralegal like Joan and Amber! Why does Jonah give you diamonds and Bentleys while he just gives them holiday bonuses and three weeks of vacation time? Who gives you the right to think you’re special?”
No one would ever say that, because Fern stood at the altar with Jonah and said “I do.” She was the one who committed to be with him “through poverty and wealth, sickness and health, till death do you part.” And she had been through challenging times with him, and stuck it out. Of course now she is special! Of course it is fair that Jonah treats her differently and loves her more. She chose him, and he chose her.
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People often feel uncomfortable with the concept of the Jews being the Chosen Nation. There are many Jews who feel like its racist or arrogant to think you’re the Chosen Nation, after all, aren’t all people created in the image of G-d? And of course, there are many non-Jews who use this as a claim against the Jewish people, claiming that we are a conceited and bigheaded people who think we are more better than everyone else.
The simple response to this is that EVERY religion out there thinks they are the Chosen People. No one is walking around saying my religion is so awesome, we are fourth best! It’s not like Muslims and Christians, who make up half the world’s population, think that no matter what you believe you’re OK. According to Christians, if you don’t believe in JC you are doomed to eternal damnation, and according to Muslims, if you’re not a Muslim… well, er, to be politically correct I’ll leave it at why don’t you read the Koran and see what is supposed to be done to non-Muslims! (OK, OK I’ll give you a hint… it rhymes with “tie by the Ford.”) For all the talk of Chosen Nation, Judaism is ironically the one religion that does not believe you have to be part of it in order to earn a place in the World to Come.
The more in depth response is based on a Midrash about the Jews at Sinai. The Medrash (Tanchuma, Vesos Habracha, Chap. 4) says that Ha-shem offered Himself and the Torah to all the nations of the world, but they all said “We’d rather keep this a bit more professional” or they downright scorned it. Then Ha-shem came and offered the same unique relationship to the Jewish people, telling them they could be “My treasure from all the nations,” and they immediately accepted. At the altar of Mt. Sinai, we entered into a covenant, a marriage with G-d when we said, “I do! Na’aseh Vinishma, We will do and we will understand!”
It has not been an easy relationship. Being married to G-d is not always painless, and we have been more challenged than any other nation on earth, yet we remain steadfast in our relationship. We don’t give up on G-d, and we don’t give up on His Torah, which is our nuptial document, and He doesn’t give up on us. Of course we are the Chosen Nation! We chose Him, and He, in response, chose us.
Shavuos is rapidly descending on us, it starts Sunday night. Shavuos is the holiday where we celebrate our marriage to G-d through our nuptial document, the Torah. Every year on Shavuos, we renew our vows so to speak, by once again affirming that we choose Him and His Torah (choose, not chose), and this is the cause of the immense joy of Shavuot. Every other holiday has “props” to get us into the spirit, matzahs, succa’s, Four Species, marror etc. But Shavuos it is simply an “Atzeres” a day of holding back from everything else and reveling in our relationship with Hashem and his Torah.
It goes even deeper. Just as Jonah realized that without a family all his riches were worthless, all that he built would go nowhere, so too Hashem, who created the whole world, said that if no one was willing to enter into a covenant with Him, then the entire world wasn’t worth it, and the whole world would be dissolved (Rashi, Genesis 1:32). When we entered the covenant with Hashem at Sinai, we not only got ourselves into the best relationship ever, we also gave further existence to the whole world! Every Shavuos when we reaffirm that relationship with Hashem and his Torah, we once again give life and sustainability to the entire world. There is no greater “Tikkun Olam” than that, and there is no greater joy than that.
Have an Uplifting Shavuos!
Parsha Dvar Torah
“And the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses, thus did they do.” (Numbers, 1:54)
A quick review of this verse presents an obvious question: Why does the verse twice tell us that the Jewish people did as G-d told Moses?
The Alshich, a 16th century commentator from Safed, explains this verse based on a lesson taught in the Talmud.
“A good thought is regarded as a good deed, for it says “then spoke those who fear G-d, each man to his fellow, and G-d listened and he heard, and a Book of Remembrance was written before Him for those that fear Gd, and those that contemplate his name” (Malachi 3:16) What does “and for those that contemplate his name” mean? Rav Assi said: Even if a person contemplated fulfilling a mitzvah, and was prevented from performing it, G-d credits him as if he had fulfilled it” (Tractate Kiddushin, 40A)
This is something unique to spiritual practice. In the physical world, if one contemplated buying a stock or a piece of real estate, but was prevented from doing so, he wouldn’t miraculously find his bank account filled with profits from the sale that never went through. If one planned on planting flowers in time for the growing season but couldn’t, they won’t bloom from thin air. In the spiritual world however, if one truly intended to do something, but was somehow prevented from bringing his intent to fruition, G-d considers it as if it were done.
The reason for this is that ultimately “Rachmana liba ba’i, the Compassionate One (G-d) wants our heart” (Zohar, Ki Teitzi 181B). G-d is not looking for automatons who perform the mitzvos out of rote. He is looking for passionate souls, people whose only desire is to do the right thing, who thereby intend to elevate the world around them. It is not simply our actions, but the meaning behind them. Often the meaning is more valuable than the action. Someone who has all the right intent and strives to do the right thing is worthy of reward, even if in the end, he is prevented from doing the deed.
Based on this unique system, the Alshich teaches us that we are doubly rewarded every time we do a mitzvah: once for the intent and attitude we had before doing the mitzvah, and again for actually doing it! (An exception to this rule would be when we inadvertently do a good deed, in which case we would get only the single point for the action, and none for the thought.)
This concept helps explain the difficulty with the passage cited above. The verse is essentially teaching us that even though the Jews only did what G-d told Moses to command them once, G-d considered it as if we did it twice. The verse then would read “And the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord had commanded Moses (in thought), thus did they do (in action).”
A story that is repeated four times in the Talmud demonstrates this idea. Shimon Ha’amsunni (or possibly Nechemia Ha’amsunni) spent his entire professional career researching a legal concept, and had compiled a magnum opus detailing hundreds of applications of this concept. He continued for years applying his theory until he was confronted with a seemingly minor detail that completely derailed his theory. Realizing his error, he picked up and walked away from his entire life’s work. (Imagine a professor today walking away from twenty years of research because one small detail seemed to contradict his theory!)
His students asked him what would become of the hundreds of legal applications he had devised? He answered, “the same way I was rewarded for my expositions, I likewise will be rewarded for walking away from them.” He understood that G-d recognized his passionate search for the truth, and that even if years of his work would end up not bearing fruit, it was just as valuable in G-d’s eyes.
This idea should help us to recognize the value of making a sincere commitment to taking spiritual growth steps, and not to allow the fear of failure to stop us. As long as we make the appropriate commitment, our success will already have begun as soon as we embark on the journey.
Parsha Summary
The first Parsha in the fourth book of the Bible, called “Numbers,” starts off by earning the book its title with a counting of the Jewish people tribe by tribe. Rashi explains that since the Jewish people are so precious to G-d, He constantly counts us, just as one would count his treasures numerous times (remember that nursery rhyme, “the king was in his counting house, counting all his money…”). Nachmanides gives three reasons for the counting, including the idea that this was a way for each and every Jew to get personal attention from Moshe and Aaron, and to be counted as a unique individual amongst the larger Jewish nation.
The sum total was 603,550 males of age for army service , which was twenty to sixty years old (not bad for a people that had only 70 people descend into Egypt a mere 210 years earlier!). This did not include the tribe of Levi, whom G-d would later command Moshe to count separately. One of the reasons the Levites were counted separately is because they didn’t serve in the army, as they were serving in the Temple. Additionally, there would later be a decree that the people from the general census would die during the forty years of wandering in the desert because of a major sin they had committed. G-d didn’t want the Levites to be part of this census, because they were the only entire tribe that remained faithful to G-d during the sin of the Golden Calf.
The next part of the Parsha deals with the layout of the camp in which the Jews traveled in the desert. Basically, it was as follows. The Tabernacle was in the innermost camp, surrounded on three sides by the Levites and on the fourth by the Kohanim, or priests. Surrounding them were four sets of three tribes spreading out to the East, South, West, and North (an easy way to remember that is Eat Soggy Wheaties Never). Each set of three had a special banner, and the layout paralleled the layout Jacob commanded his children to use when carrying his bier to Israel from Egypt. It also imitated the manner in which four sets of heavenly angels surround G-d’s throne. (I’ve been trying to get my kids to sit in such an orderly form around our dinner table, but no luck so far!)
The Torah then enumerates the progeny of Aaron, but calls them the offspring of Moshe and Aaron. Being that Moshe was the leader who taught them Torah, he had a spiritual paternal role. It is fascinating to see how the greater a leader becomes in the Torah world, the more obvious it becomes that he feels as if each and every Jew is his own child.
The Torah continues with G-d telling Moses that the tribe of Levi will forever serve in the Temple, instead of the firstborns who were originally supposed to serve. This was due to each group’s respective role in the Golden Calf crisis of 1312 BCE (the Levites abstained and objected: the firstborns were among the participants). Following this announcement, G-d tells Moshe to make a separate census of the tribe of Levi. After the census is a special ceremony in which the Levites redeem the firstborns and the sacred responsibility of service passes from one group to the other.
The last part of the Parsha deals with a topic that will be continued next week, the transport of the Tabernacle. The tribe of Levi was split into four groups. The progeny of Aaron became the Kohanim, the priests, and their role was to perform all the primary services in the Temple, such as bringing the offerings, lighting the Menorah and burning the incense. The other three groups, the families of Gershon, Kehas, and Mirari were the Levites, and they provided the ancillary services, such as opening and closing the gates, transporting the Tabernacle and its vessels, and singing during the offering of the sacrifices. (I am a Levite, and definitely inherited my Levite vocal cords, so you can all feel free to stop by my office to hear a rendition of Hava Nagila in its full chazzanish glory or in the full glory of chazzanut.)
When the Tabernacle had to move from place to place (it moved over 30 times during the 40 years in the desert, and this was before the times of the double-wide trailers) it was the job of the Levites to transports it. Here the Torah tells us the breakdown of the different families’ responsibilities. The family of Kehas merited to move the most holy vessels, such as the Menorah, Holy Table, and the Holy Ark. Since these vessels were so holy, they had to wait for the Kohanim to wrap them in special moving cloths (there was no Tumi® luggage in those days), before they could transport them.
Let’s end with one last lesson from the carrying of the vessels. The Sages tell us that the Holy Ark, which contained the Tablets and the Torah, actually lifted itself into the air and carried the Levites who were assigned to carry it! If that was the case, why does the Torah tell us to appoint Levites to “carry” it: why don’t we just let it fly by itself? This is meant to be a lesson for us. When we support a Torah lifestyle or Torah institutions, we need to remember that although on the outside it appears as though we are carrying the Torah, in truth, we are the ones being elevated, uplifted, and supported by it!
Quote of the week: Real generosity to the future lies in giving it your all in the present. – Albert Camus
Random Fact of the Week: If you’re an average blinker, your eyes will be blinked closed for about 30 minutes today.
Funny Line of the Week: Why do ants and caterpillars have to be enemies? One eats leaves, and the other eats caterpillars… Oh, I see now.
Have a Remarkable Shabbos,
R’ Leiby Burnham
