Numbers 1:1-4:20 - Hosea 2:1-22 - Mark 12:28-34

  This week's edition of The Set Table contains:

Questions and Commentary on Parashat Bemidbar
Chayyei Yeshua - A Devotional Commentary on the Besora Reading
In Summary
Looking Ahead

Questions & Commentary on  Parashat Bemidbar

1. Why is Moses' name mentioned in Numbers 3:1 since his descendents are not even mentioned there? What is meant to teach us? How is it related to Messiah's Mandate in Matthew 28:19?

Rabbi Jason Sobel

Commenting on this question the Talmud says,

R. Samuel said in R. Jonathan's name: He who teaches the son of his fellow the Torah is regarded as if he had begotten him, as it says, "Now, these are the generations of Aaron and Moses" (Numbers 3:1) while further on it is written, "These are the names of the sons of Aaron," thus teaching us that Aaron begot them and Moses taught them; hence they are called by his name [i.e. Moses]. 

b. Sanhedrin 19b

The point that the Talmud is making is that Moses became the spiritual father of Aaron's children because he taught them Torah.

The responsibility to act as spiritual parents by making disciples is not just limited to rabbis and religious professionals. In fact our Sages tell us that one of the questions we will be asked when we stand before Heavenly Tribunal after our death is "Did you work at having [spiritual] children?" (b. Shabbat 31a). The importance of raising spiritual children is also at the heart of Yeshua's mandate to us, "Go therefore and make talmidim (disciples) of all the nations," (Matthew 28:19).

Making talmidim out of the younger generations is absolutely essential due to the spiritual crisis that the American Jewish community is facing. As Eliot Abrams notes, American Jewry is facing a demographic disaster:

• One-third of all Americans of Jewish ancestry no longer report Judaism as their religion.

• Only 28 percent of children of intermarried couples are raised as Jews.

• Jews, who once comprised 3.7 percent of the U.S. population, have fallen to about 2 percent.

Elliott Abrams, Faith or Fear, 1

If we want to help our people flourish, as well as see our movement grow, we must make a greater investment in the training and discipleship of our young people. The following is a beautiful story that underscores this point.

A few weeks before Passover, a number of religious Jews in Bergen-Belsen requested flour to bake matza. Their Rebbe, fearing for his life, reluctantly approached the camp commandant for permission to bake matza in honor of Passover. Their request was forwarded to Berlin for approval. Surprisingly, a few short days before Passover arrived, their request was granted. 

In haste, they feverishly built an oven and baked the matza fearing the Germans might change their minds. Since they did not have enough for everyone, it was initially decided that the adult men in their group, would be given the privilege of fulfilling the mitzva of eating matza. One lone voice dissented arguing that the children should be given the mitzva to eat, for when God freed them from their current slavery; it was going to be the children who would ensure the survival of Torah and the Jewish people. In the end, everyone agreed that nothing was more important than teaching the children that Torah/Jewish life must even be observed in the Valley of Shadow of Death. At the end of the seder, the Rebbe kissed each child on the head and reassured them that Messiah was coming soon and therefore their freedom was close at hand. Today, those children who ate matza made with tears are Torah leaders in America, England, and Israel.

Adapted from Nosson Scherman, Path through the Ashes (Brooklyn: Art Scroll, 1986), 33.

Our situation is certainly not as dire as that of our brothers and sisters in Bergen-Belsen. But, our situation is severe. Therefore, let us prepare the matza of Torah for our children.  As we prepare for Shavuot this coming week, let us not only ready ourselves to receive the Torah anew, but let us also make the commitment to pass it on to future generations, by making the necessary sacrifices to raise a new generation of young Messianic Jewish talimidim for Yeshua.

2. Why is Hosea 2:1-22 read in conjunction with Parashat Bemidbar? What are the connections between the two passages?

Rabbi Jonathan Kaplan

In this prophecy by the eighth century B.C.E. prophet Hosea, Hosea presents a stunning vision of the renewal of the people of the northern kingdom Israel and their rejoining with the southern kingdom (2:1-3), recounts their apostasy from the life God calls them to in his covenant (2:4-15), and describes how this restoration and renewal will take place. But what is the connection between this text and the first few chapters of Numbers? Why is it read in conjunction with Parashat Bemidbar?

The first clear connection between the two passages is in their openings. The book of Numbers opens with Israel gathered and encamped in the wilderness of Sinai and Moses meeting God wherein God commands Moses to take a census of the people. The passage from Hosea begins with a prophetic vision of this gathering occurring again and, as in Numbers, the tribes of Israel being united again. This time they will not merely number 603,550 males over the age of 20 (Numbers 1:46). Rather, in fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham and other patriarchal blessings, they "shall be as the sand of the sea which cannot be counted" (Hosea 2:1; cf. Genesis 15:5, 22:17, 32:13).

The second thread which connects these passages is the mention of a leader over all of Israel. In Numbers, this leader is clearly enumerated as Moses who leads all Israel on behalf of God. In Hosea 2:2, the leader is not named, but, like Moses and later David, this leader will be singular (rosh echad) and rule over all Israel as a unity (yachdav). As Hosea's words were not fulfilled in his day, this verse has been interpreted messianically as referring to the Messiah who would unite and rule over all Israel (see the comments of Rashi and David Qimchi to this verse).

The third thread which connects these passages is the reality of sin and apostasy from God's covenant which precedes these gatherings. Our passage in Numbers comes just one month after the erection of tabernacle (Exodus 40:17) whose construction followed closely on the heals of the golden calf incident. The Baalim of which Hosea speaks (Hoses 2:15, 19) and Israel sought in place of the LORD were often represented by icons of calves covered with precious metals like silver or gold.

The fourth and final thread connecting these passages is the desert. Following the census described in this parasha, Israel embarks on its wandering in the wilderness with the Ark. The wilderness is often pictured in the Bible as a place of purification and preparation (e.g. Matthew 4). Maimonides (Guide for the Perplexed 3:24) understood Israel's wandering in the desert as a means for their purification before entering the land. In our passage from Hosea, the desert is the place where God speaks to Israel "coaxingly" and "tenderly" to purify her from her sin and restore her to the covenant (Hosea 2:16). Thus, Hosea's vision is for Israel's return to the loving relationship she had with God at Sinai in preparation to enter the Land.

David Nichol

Mark 12:28-43 - How Do We Fulfill the Greatest Commandments?

In our passage, Yeshua debates words of Torah with various scholars sent by temple authorities to "catch him in his words" (v. 13). Another Torah-scholar (described as a scribe or sofer) happens upon this exchange, and finding that Yeshua responded to them well, asks him a question, "Which is the first commandment of all?" (v. 28). Yeshua's answer is well-known, "The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is one.  And you shall love the LORD your God . . .' This is the first commandment.  And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

Focusing on the second mitzva he mentions, which he calls the second-greatest of all the mitzvot, can sometimes feel like a cop-out. At a liberal synagogue I used to attend, the words Ve'ahavta lere‘akha kamokha were engraved above the ark. It seemed to me that its placement, paired with the absence of the greater commandment, was telling. This congregation was uncomfortable with the concept of God, let alone the person of God, so this "second" commandment received a promotion. Loving your neighbor sometimes seems easier than submitting ourselves to the sovereignty of a God whose ways are mysterious to us.

Properly understood, however, this commandment is not easy. Yeshua links the two commandments together (". . . and the second, like it, is this . . ."). They are sides of the same coin. To really love our neighbor challenges us to engage an "other" in a potentially profound act of vulnerability. In a parallel passage, Yeshua's exchange about the greatest commandment is connected with the story of the "Good Samaritan" (Luke 10:27-37), wherein Yeshua defines a "neighbor" as one who acts as a neighbor - that is, with chesed and tzedaqa - to another, regardless of kinship or commonality. In calling the Samaritan in the story "neighbor," he challenges us to go beyond accepted norms of neighborliness. 

To love another as an equal, especially one who is different than ourselves, challenges our natural tendency to focus on ourselves and our narrow circle of family, friends, and those similar to us. It challenges us to engage other perspectives. Thus it is important that we constantly challenge ourselves to encounter and relate deeply with others as they really are, both with other individuals and on a communal level.

R. K. Soulen, (in The God of Israel and Christian Theology), sees mutual blessing between "others" as a primary expression of redemption. He sees this mostly working between Israel and the nations of the world as two distinctive communities in a relationship of mutual blessing. The same principle can be extended: we cannot ignore the real rifts between races and ethnicities, between the affluent and the impoverished, rural and urban, and even between the red states and the blue. 

The point is not to eliminate boundaries and differences but to acknowledge and appreciate them. Often, when push comes to shove and unique identities cause diverging opinions, we stand by our position without taking the time to truly understand the other's position. It takes sustained effort, vulnerability, and empathy to truly love an "other" - something that is lost in the noble, but often shallow, rhetoric of "tolerance" we hear in this day and age. To fulfill the mitzva of loving our neighbor as ourselves, we must cultivate an attitude of humility in ourselves and train ourselves to be vigilant about engaging deeply and empathizing with those who are different than us - even loving them.

Parashat Bemidbar

1. Why is Moses' name mentioned in Numbers 3:1 since his descendents are not even mentioned there? What is meant to teach us? How is it related to Messiah's Mandate in Matthew 28:19?

2. Why is Hosea 2:1-22 read in conjunction with Parashat Bemidbar? What are the connections between the two passages?

NEXT WEEK'S READINGS PARASHAT NASO'

Numbers 4:21-7:89
Judges 13:2-25
Luke 21:5-24

UPCOMING YACHAD NETWORK EVENTS

3^rd Annual Young Leaders Shabbaton
Beverly Hills, CA ● June 8-9, 2007

6^th Annual Young Messianic Jewish Scholars Conference
Beverly Hills, CA ● June 10-11, 2007