- World Jewish-Adventist Friendship Center

We pray every week for
the leaders of the Jewish
Ministry,
Shabbat Shalom Newsletter
• Website: https://jewishadventist-org.gcnetadventist.org
A must website. To subscribe to our newsletter. To download some resources (Hebrew Sabbath School,
and other documents). To order the book “Comfort, Comfort my people…” and many other things.
•
Shalom Adventure Magazine online: www.ShalomAdventure.com
631
23 May / 5 Sivan
2015 / 5775
If you would like to read articles, watch videos, learn things about Judaism and Israel, this website is just
for you.
Professional Urban
Development:
The WJAFC provides:
- Professional Urban
training for Jewish
Ministry
- Teaching for
theological students
- Help to plant new
congregations.
- Support for AdventistJewish dialogue with
scholars and rabbis
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/World-Jewish-Adventist-Friendship-Center:
If you would like to share with people, this forum on facebook is a good place for that.
• Photos on Google+: http://picasaweb.google.com/jewishadventist: We have posted a lot of
pictures on Internet during the last years. Don’t hesitate to look at them.
• WebRadio: www.shema-israel-radio.com
If you would like to listen Jewish or Messianic songs. If you want to be used to ear modern Hebrew of the
Apostolic Writings, it is the right radio to listen on the web.
• Adventist Mission Website: https://jewish-adventistmission-org.lifehopecenters.org/ This
website is the new resource provided by the Office of Adventist Mission of the General Conference of
the Seventh-day Adventists.
• Russian Website: http://www.boruh.info/ This website is in Russian, many articles and the
parasha are posted on it every week.
WJAFC
Paris
A weekly Journal of information and training published by the
World Jewish Adventist Friendship Center
Under the umbrella of the
General Conference —Office of Adventist Mission
Journal of Information and Training — Issue 631 — 23 May 2 0 1 5 / 5 S i v a n 5 7 7 5
Jael Wells Cuellar
English Edition:
Richard-Amram Elofer
Richard Amram Elofer
Russian Edition:
Alexandra Obrevko
French Edition:
Sabine Baris
Spanish Edition:
Jael Wells Cuellar
Portuguese Edition:
Carlos Muniz
Dutch Edition:
Hubert Paulleta
Hubert Paulleta
8
Carlos Muniz
Emails:
English: richard@elofer.com
Russian: sashok_l@mail.ru
French: sabinebaris@gmail.com
Spanish: jael_wells@hotmail.com
Portuguese: cdmuniz@gmail.com
Dutch: hpauletta@hotmail.com
Credit photos:
Richard Elofer, Alexandra Obrevko, Jael Wells Cuellar
Hubert Paulleta, Laurent Baris and Advent Digital Media
for more information: contact us at www.jewishadventist.org
Alexandra Obrevko
Sabine Baris
Shabbat — Bemidbar
rA;b√dImV;b
This issue
News
P.1
Parasha’s comments P.2-4
Haftara P.4-5
Apostolic Writings
P.5
Stories
P.6
Inspirational Corner P.6,7
Color Sheet for Kids
P.7
Weekly
Jewish-Adventist
Journal
of Information
We pray every
week for leaders of the
Jewish Ministry.
According to our
list of prayer for
2015, I suggest
that our partners pray during
this week (May
24 through 30),
which is marked
by the feast of
Shavuot for the
Jewish people in
Australia. There
are about 100,000
Jews in Australia,
but not yet Jewish
Adventist ministry in this big
country. Richard
Elofer is returning to Melbourne
and Sydney in
October 2015,
let’s pray for a real
start of this ministry in Australia.
Chag Shavuot Sameah & Shabbat Shalom
Shavuot
i The parasha Bemidbar has a particular relevance to the festival of Shavuot. In
general, every parasha has a connection
with the time of the year when it is read.
This Shabbat begins to read the fourth
book of the Torah, the book of Numbers.
Parashat Bemidbar is read on the Shabbat
before the feast of Shavuot (Feast of the
weeks)—the holiday, which celebrate the
receiving of the Torah on Mount Sinai.
This festival will be celebrated this year
on May 24 and 25, starting at the end of
Shabbat 23rd of May.
On Shavuot there is a custom to stay up
all night learning Torah. Virtually every
synagogue and yeshiva have scheduled
learning throughout the night ending
with the praying of the morning service.
It is good to know what each of your congregation plans to do to promote Bible
reading and Bible study. Will you have a
night of Bible Study? Will you have a day
of Bible Study? Are you going to read the
book of Ruth and to study it deeply? What
about your children and Bible study, believers are commanded to learn Torah day
and night and to teach it to their children.
If a believer wants his family to be believers and his children to marry other believers, then he must integrate a Bible study
program into his life and implement the
teachings into his home and his being.
Kramatorsk, City of Hope
i Kramatorsk located in Donetsk region,
where an armed conflict has been held for almost
a year. Although the city is under the control of
Ukraine, it was shelled by terrorists on February,
10. This shelling has killed 7 and wounded 26 civilians in the downtown.
On March 20-28 Victor Vyatoha, the pastor of
the Kiev Jewish Adventist community “Beit Shalom”, visited Kramatorsk. He presented there a
biblical program “The history of salvation in the
Jewish holidays”. In spite of the difficult situation
in the region the hall was full. Near 80 people attended the program daily, believers of various denominations, as well as secular people.
There was the concert of Jewish songs on the last
day of the program. The beautiful singing of Svetlana Shapoval was the real joy for all guests.
Pastor Viktor Vyatoha in the
middle and the people of
Kramatorsk
Resources:
Parasha
Overview
T
Behar
he Book of
Bemidbar “In the
desert” begins
with G-d commanding
Moshe to take a census of all men over age
twenty; old enough for
service. The count reveals
just over 600,000. The
levi’im are counted separately later because their
service will be unique.
They will be responsible
for transporting the
Mishkan (sanctuary) and
its furnishings and assembling them when the
nation encamps.
The 12 Tribes of Israel,
each with its banner,
are arranged around the
Mishkan in four sections: east, south, west
and north.
Since Levi is singled
out, the tribe of Yosef
is split into two tribes,
Ephraim and Menashe,
so there will be four
groups of three.
When the nation
travels, they march in a
formation similar to the
way they camp.
A formal transfer is
made between the firstborn and the levi’im,
whereby the levi’im take
over the role the firstborn would have had
serving in the Mishkan
if not for the sin of the
golden calf. The transfer is made using all the
Parasha for
this Week
Bemidbar
“The LORD spoke to Moses
in the wilderness of Sinai,”
(Numbers 1:1)
rA;b√dImV;b
Numbers 1:1 - 4:20
Bemidbar
T
his week we start
reading a new book
of the Torah, the
book Bemidbar or “Numbers” in our languages. But
in fact there is no connection between the Hebrew
word Bemidbar, which
means “In the Desert” and
the word Numbers, which
was chosen because of the
census G-d asks Moses to
do: “The LORD spoke to
Moses in the wilderness of
Sinai, …“Take a census of
all the congregation of the
people of Israel,” (Numbers
1:1–2).
To put this book in its
context, let’s remember that
the book of Exodus ended
with the dedication of the
Sanctuary, this dedication
was on Nissan 1, of the
second year after the Exodus: “In the first month in
the second year, on the first
day of the month, the tabernacle was erected.” (Exodus 40:17) and right now at
the beginning of the book
of Bemidbar we are on Iyar
1, of the second year after
the Exodus: “on the first
day of the second month, in
the second year after they
had come out of the land
2
of Egypt” (Numbers 1:1).
That means that the whole
book of Leviticus took place
in a period of one month,
from Nissan 1 to Iyar 1 of
the same year. In fact the 10
first chapter of Leviticus give
the details of what happened
in the last chapter of Exodus
—Dedication of the Sanctuary and of the Priesthood of
Aaron and his sons.
The first day of the month
of Iyar all the tribes, the
families and the men are to
be counted for the sake of
the Torah. From now onward
they are to gather and encamp around the Sanctuary,
where the Torah was kept
safely as guardians and keepers of this Torah. Since this
census was done “according
to their father’s house tells us
also that originally it was the
father who determined the
belonging to G-d’s people,
not the mother as it is established today in Judaism.
Our Human Nature
F
or the people of Israel,
the book of Bemidbar
is perhaps one of the
saddest book, so to speak,
of all of the Holy Scriptures.
Whereas the book of Shemot,
which records for us the sin
of the Golden Calf also gives
us pause, it concludes with
the final and glorious construction of the Mishkan and
God’s Presence, so to speak,
resting within the encampment of Israel. But the book
of Bemidbar, which begins on
a high note of numerical accomplishment and the seemingly imminent entry of Israel
into he Land of Canaan, ends
on a very sour note. It records
the destruction of the entire
generation including its leadership without their entrance
into the Promised Land.
For rabbi Berel Wein (Genesis.org) The narrative of the
book of Bemidbar tells us of
rebellion and constant carping, military defeats and victories, false blessings, human
prejudices and personal bias.
But the Torah warned us in
its very first chapters says
through the census that “this
is the book of human beings.”
And all of the weaknesses exhibited by Israel in the desert
of Sinai, as recorded for us
in the book of Bemidbar, are
definitely part of the usual
human story and nature.
Shavuot &
Bemidbar
O
n
Shavuot,
the
people of Israel celebrate the gift of the
Torah. G-d’s giving of the
Torah to Israel, is called the
“wedding of Israel to G-d,”
and on the Shabbat before
a wedding, the bridegroom
is called to the Torah as a
preparation for the wedding. So Bemidbar is, as it
were, a preparation for that
special union between G-d
and his people which came
upon their receiving the Torah. That is why Rashi says
that the counting of Israel in
the wilderness was token of
G-d’s love for Israel. Rabbi
Marozov says “Our sages
explain that these counts
were “to express G-d’s love
for the people of Israel.”
This expression of love was
especially important when
only 40 days after receiving the Torah, they made
and worshipped the Golden
Calf. To express His great
love for His people, Israel,
even after all they did, G-d
wanted them counted.”
Shavuot, the
Birth of a Nation
S
havuot is when Israel
became
completely
God’s people, it is like
the birthday of Israel. It is
at Mount Sinai when our ancestors accepted the Torah, that
G-d proclaimed, “and you shall
be to me a kingdom of priests
and a holy nation.” (Exodus
19:6) It is due to our acceptation of the Torah that G-d
promised to never exchange us
for any other nation.
Shavuot is also the birthday
of Yeshua’s movement. It was
on the day of Shavuot of the
year 31 ce. The Ruach Hakodesh
blessed the 120 disciples who
standed in the upper room, and
from that day they started to
preach the message of Yeshua
Hamashiach.
No Israel
Without Torah
S
ince the Torah was
given in the wilderness, and the sanctuary was build in the wilderness, the fact that the census
was done in the wilderness
teaches us that this census
is in relation with the Torah
and the Sanctuary.
Israel is the people of the
Torah and the sanctuary
before being the people of
a Land. The people of Israel
are the guardians of the truth
revealed by G-d through the
Torah and illustrated by the
Sanctuary. Even though Israel was without her land
for thousands of years, they
survived thanks to the Torah who was the guardian of
Israel as much as Israel was
the guardian of the Torah.
Israel could survive without
any land, but could not survive without the Torah.
Each one
is Important
T
he Torah states:
“The LORD spoke
to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, …“Take a
census of all the congregation of the people of Israel,”
(Numbers 1:1–2). The book
of Bemidbar opens with the
counting of the nation as
“G-d’s Flock” for its Shepherd. The nation too is
counted according to groups
of families and tribes, all of
which belong to G-d; and
every individual passes under the staff of his Shepherd and is counted as an
independent member of
the Flock, that means each
count, each one is important in the eyes of G-d as
each sheep is important for
his shepherd.
Each one is important and
individuality are preserved,
that is why Rabbi Zweig says
“Very often when a person
is part of a large group, he
3
22,000 surveyed levi’im
from one month old and
up. Only levi’im between
30 and 50 will work in the
Mishkan.
The remaining first-born
sons are redeemed with
silver, similar to the way
we redeem our first-born
today.
The sons of Levi are
divided in three main
families, Gershon, Kehat
and Merari (besides the
kohanim — the special
division from Kehat’s
family).
The family of Kehat
carried the menorah, the
table, the altar and the
holy ark. Because of their
utmost sanctity, the ark
and the altar are covered
only by Aharon and his
sons, before the levi’im
prepare them for travel.
Haftara
Overview
Hosea 2:1-22
“When the tabernacle is to set out, the
Levites shall take it down, and when the
tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites
shall set it up. And if any outsider comes
near, he shall be put to death. The people
of Israel shall pitch their tents by their
companies, each man in his own camp
and each man by his own standard.”
(Numbers 1:51–52)
H
osea is a married
man who loves
his wife. He is a
member of G-d’s people
and loves his people too.
However, his wife at the
image of the people of Israel is not faithful. Speaking to this children, Hosea
said to them: “Plead with
your mother, plead—for
she is not my wife, and
I am not her husband—
that she put away her
whoring from her face,
and her adultery from
between her breasts,”
(Hos. 2:2). In the book of
Hosea, his wife become
an illustration of the unfaithfulness of Israel. Hosea says to his wife the
words G-d addresses to
Israel, “Now I will uncover
her shame in the sight of
her lovers, and no one
shall rescue her out of
my hand. I will put an end
to all her mirth, her festivals, her new moons, her
sabbaths, and all her appointed festivals.” (Hos.
2:10-11).
But in spite of her unfaithfulness he wants
to continue to love her,
“Therefore, I will now allure her, and bring her
into the wilderness, and
speak tenderly to her.”
(Hos. 2:14). The Bible
is also a romantic book.
“From there I will give her
her vineyards, and make
the Valley of Achor a door
of hope..” (Hos. 2:15).
senses a loss of his individuality and self-expression. To
compensate for this, he has
a tendency to break away
from the group. The message of the counting in Sefer Bemidbar is that there
is room for individuality
and self-expression within
the confines of the group.
Indeed, interpersonal relationships within the group
can enhance individuality
and offer the opportunity
for self-expression.”
This explains why the division of tribes and their banners are mentioned in the
census of Bemidbar, and not
in that of Shemot. The ability
to identify oneself in connection with a particular tribe
and represented by a particular banner, further enhances
a person’s sense of individuality.
Children Count
C
hildren played a very
important role in the
giving of the Torah.
Our Sages say that before
G-d gave the Torah to the
people of Israel, He asked
for guarantors that the Torah
will be studied and cherished.
Israel made a number of
suggestions which were
rejected by G-d. Only when
they declared, “Our children
4
will be our guarantors that the
people of Israel will cherish
and observe the Torah,” G-d
immediately accepted and
agreed to give them the Torah.
Giving our children a Biblical
education from a very early
age is essential to the survival
of Torah and faith.
Flags of Israel
E
ach tribe had each own
flag (Num 1:52) and the
color of their flag corresponded with the color of the
Stone in the pectoral of the Cohen Gadol, on which the name of
that tribe was engraved.
One House in Unity
T
he nation as a whole
is always considered
one house, the House
of Israel. And the members of
the nation are always called the
children of one man, the children of Israel. At the same time,
however, separate unit remain,
which are subordinate to and encompassed by the larger whole:
Beit-Avot “Father’s house” and
Mishpachot “families”. This ensures says Rabbi Hirsch “that the
concept of the Jewish people does
not become a mere abstract idea
without union and does not exist
merely as a fiction as an imaginary union of elite representative. The Jewish people is always
conceived of in the actual unified
entirety of its members. They are
united by a common inner element, and each one of them is
an actual and integral part of this
unity.”
Our forefather Israel was one
man; but even when his descendants grown to six hundred
thousand men, they all were still
members of “one house” son of
“one man” bearing in their hearts
and their souls the impress of the
same stamp, bearing through the
age their heritage of one mission
and one destiny. But amidst this
fundamental unity and under its
influence, a diversity of qualities
unique to tribes and families is
preserved and nurtured.
The mission of the people of Israel which is shared by all, will be
therefore, accomplished by every
individual; despite his uniqueness
the mission will be accomplished
by a diversity of special qualities,
a diversity of profession and positions in life and this accomplishment will serve as a model for all
the nations of the earth and for
the movement of Yeshua who
will be a people from “every nation and tribe and language and
people” but united in its diversity
to fulfill the mission entrusted to
them by Yeshua “Fear God and
give him glory, because the hour
of his judgment has come, and
worship him who made heaven
and earth, the sea and the springs
of water.” (Revelation 14:7).
P
Apostolic Writings — Mark 3:31-4:9
arashat Bemidbar is a
special parasha dedicated
to the organization of the
people of Israel, and in fact it is
the starting of family names and
real Jewish genealogy in the history of Israel. Family matters in
this parasha. Moses is giving the
names of the heads of tribes and
families very long time before
any other nation in the world Israel starts from this time to have
a real genealogy.
The book of Numbers starts
with a census. It was not the
first one in the Torah. Israel
was counted at the entrance of
Egypt more than two hundred
years before, when they came
to Egypt with Jacob, but there
is a great difference, at Jacob’s
time, they were one family, seventy people. They were the family of Abraham, Isaac and the
children of Israel. Even though
they would keep this appellation
of “Children of Israel” for ever,
they are now a large crowd of
more than six-hundred-thousand people. And these 600,000
people were just men between
20 and 60 years old. if we add
the women, the children under
20 and the old people over 60 we
have a minimum of 2 millions
people. That is why it was urgent
for Moses to organize these people and share them not only between the 12 tribes of Israel, but
also between the various families
of the grand sons of Jacob, and
to give them leaders, as Jethro
advised him of 1000, of 100, of
50 and of 10.
This family organization was
important for another reasons,
first for the Levites to know who
would be the High Priest, who
would be part of the Kohanim
and who would be part of the
Levi’im, even though all of them
were descendant of Levy, not all
of them had the same function,
the descendants of Aaron were
the Kohanim (priests) and the
descendant of Moses were the
Levi’im (levites). Another tribe
was important in the genealogy
and the organization of Israel,
it was the tribe of Juda. Jacob
prophecied about this tribe in
Genesis 49 that the sceptre or
the royalty would be owned by
this tribe until the coming of the
Messiah. Thus until the coming
of the Messiah, family branches
and tribes were an important
part of the history of the people
of Israel.
However after the coming of
the Messiah, this lineage is not
so important, since the Messiah
came, it is not important to recognize who are the descendant
of Levy or Judah. Yeshua came as
the Messiah of Israel, that is why
it is remarkable to notice that the
people of Israel stopped to trace
the genealogy of each Jew. Today it is impossible for any Jew
to say from which tribe he is a
descendant, it could be from
Juda, it could be from Benjamin,
but nobody has a certitude about
their ancestors except those who
have “Cohen” or “Levy” as family name, we are quite sure that
they are descendants of the tribe
of Levy. But today it is impossible to know who is a real descendant of Judah or part of the
Davidic family.
That is why in the Besorah
of Mark we read this week,
families does not matter very
much. The text of Mark start
saying: “And his mother and
his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and
called him. And a crowd was
sitting around him, and they
said to him, ‘Your mother and
your brothers are outside, seeking you.’” (Mark 3:31–32) It is
interesting that we have here
a family (Yeshua’s mother and
brothers), which is in parallel
with the families counted in the
parasha, then we have the Jewish
crowd which is in parallel with
the 600,000 people of Israel
who were counted in the census
ordered by Moses, and we have
a first born (Yeshua himself)
who is in parallel with the first
born of our parasha “List all the
firstborn males of the people of
Israel, from a month old and upward, taking the number of their
names.” (Numbers 3:40). Yeshua’s answer to those who think
that his family is more important
than any other people was: “And
he answered them, ‘Who are my
mother and my brothers?’ And
looking about at those who sat
around him, he said, ‘Here are
my mother and my brothers!For
whoever does the will of God,
he is my brother and sister and
mother.’” (Mark 3:33–35). Family for genealogy and privilege
does not matter today, of course
the 5th commandment which
says: “Honor your father and
your mother” (Exodus 20:12)
is still important and valid today, but not for proudness of
genealogy or for any privilege,
thus those who honor or worship Myriam (Yeshua’s Mother)
as “the Mother of God” should
think a little more and realize
what a great blaspheme they say,
every time they pronounce this
sentence. Myriam was privileged to be an instrument in the
hand of G-d to give birth to the
Messiah, but in his incarnation
the Messiah emptied himself of
his divine nature and came as
a simple man and fully a man
(Philippians 2:5-7), that is why
Myriam was the mother of the
“Son of man” Yeshua, but not at
all the “Mother of G-d.”
5
It is clear that Hosea’s
wife represents Israel.
“There she shall respond
as in the days of her
youth, as at the time when
she came out of the land
of Egypt. ” (Hos. 2:15).
Then the prophet plays
with Hebrew words, the
Hebrew word Baal means
“husband” or “master” and
it is also the name of an idol
worshiped by Canaanite
people. “On that day, says
the LORD, you will call
me, “My husband,” and
no longer will you call me,
“My Baal.” (Hos. 2:16). All
idols will be removed. “For
I will remove the names of
the Baals from her mouth,
and they shall be mentioned by name no more.”
(Hos. 2:17). And will make
a covenant with Israel. “I
will make for you a covenant on that day with the
wild animals, the birds of
the air, and the creeping
things of the ground; and
I will abolish the bow, the
sword, and war from the
land; and I will make you
lie down in safety.” (Hos.
2:18). What a wonderful
promise for Israel in this
text. “And I will take you
for my wife forever; I will
take you for my wife in
righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love, and
in mercy. I will take you
for my wife in faithfulness;
and you shall know the
LORD. (Hos. 2:20-21).
STORIES AND TRADITIONS
We are proud of…
T
Inspirational
Corner
v
The building of
the tabernacle was not
begun for some time after Israel arrived at Sinai;
and the sacred structure
was first set up at the
opening of the second
year from the Exodus.
This was followed by
the consecration of the
priests, the celebration of
the Passover, the numbering of the people,
and the completion of
various arrangements
essential to their civil or
religious system, so that
nearly a year was spent in
the encampment at Sinai.
Here their worship had
taken a more definite
form, the laws had been
given for the government
of the nation, and a more
efficient organization
had been effected preparatory to their entrance
into the land of Canaan.
(PP 374)
he Torah states: “And
with you shall be one man
from each tribe, each man
should be the head of his family” (Numbers 1:4). A simple and
boorish person who came from a
distinguished lineage was arguing
with a wise scholar who came from
a non-distinguished family. The
coarse ignoramus boasted about his
illustrious ancestors. “I am a scion
of a great people. Your ancestors
are nothing compared to mine,” he
arrogantly boasted. The scholar retorted, “True, you come from a long
line of great people. Unfortunately,
the line ends with you. My family
tree begins with me.”
Rabbi Packouz precise “Lineage
has been compared to a carrot —
often times the best part is in the
ground. In truth, lineage is like
the number “zero.” If you make
something of yourself, you place
a “one” before the zero. If you are
a “zero” then all you have are two
zeroes. Our lesson: We should live
our life so that our descendants
will be proud to consider us their
ancestor!”
Saving One Life
T
he Talmud tells a story
about Binyamin the Righteous who supervised the
charity fund. One day, during a
year of famine, a woman came to
him and said, “Master, provide sustenance for me.” Binyamin replied.
“There is no money left in the charity fund.” She said, “Master, if you
do not provide for me, a woman
and her seven children will perish.”
He provided for her out of his own
pocket.
Sometime afterwards Binyamin
became very ill and was about to
die. The angels said to G-d: “Mas-
6
ter of the universe, You have said
that he who saves the life of one
soul is considered as if he had saved
the entire world. Shall Binyamin
the righteous, who saved the lives
of a woman and her seven children,
die at such a young age?”
The Talmud concludes that, as a
result, twenty two years were added
to his life!
Power of G-d’s Word
T
he Rogachover Gaon once
gave a lecture to his students
in which he proved that
chametz is permitted on Passover.
He then asked his students to refute
his proof. They tried in vain to do so.
When they gave up, the Rogachover opened the Bible and read them:
“Do not eat chametz” (Exodus
13:3). That, he said, is the only refutation necessary. All the intellectual
gymnastics in the world cannot alter
one sentence in the Torah.
Order, Order, Order…
R
abbi Zimcha Zissel of
Kelm said: as a small boy,
I remember the first time
I saw a concert pianist in action. I
was fascinated how his hands could
caress the most sublime sounds
from a few dozen ivory sticks. Being a persuasive sort, I managed
to talk my parents into buying a
piano so that I could perform the
same trick. When the piano arrived, I positioned myself carefully
on the piano stool. I opened the lid,
rubbed my hands to warm them,
and held them poised over the center of the keyboard just like I had
seen the maestro do.
My hands plunged into the
unfortunate keys with a loud and
highly unmusical ‘splang’. This
was followed by several more
‘splangs’, a few ‘splongs’ rounded
off with a ‘grong-granggrong’
and a long ‘frannnnggggggggg’
down to the nether depths of
the keyboard. This was not the
magic that I had hoped for. My
mother arranged for me to have
lessons. “Now,” said Mr. Szfortzo, my new piano teacher,
“…the first thing we need to
learn is order…” “But I want to
be a child prodigy,” I protested.
Realizing the sort of a pupil with
whom he had been blessed, Mr.
Szfortzo rolled his eyes heavenward. After a few seconds
of contemplation, he began to
speak. “To achieve anything, a
person must have order. Music
is all about order. One note has
to follow the other in the correct order. One movement must
follow the next in the correct order. In order to get anywhere in
music – sorry no pun intended
— (he grinned), you must order
your day so that every day you
will be able to sit down and practice your scales, the basic order
of music. You can’t just pick up
your hands and expect them to
produce Rachmaninoff.” Of this
last fact, I was already painfully
aware. “Order, Order, Order.”
The whole Torah is based on
order: A split-second divides
Shabbat from the weekdays. A
hairsbreadth between kosher
and unclean; one drop of water
divides a kosher mikve from
one that is unfit; a millimeter
separates the camp of the Kohanim from that of the Levi’im;
a Levi must not do the service
of a Kohen and vice versa, nor
may a Levi do the service of his
fellow. With “every man at his
camp and every man at his banner,” the people of Israel are able
to give a flawless performance
of our Sonata of life – the Holy
Torah.
KIDS PARASHA BEMIDBAR
rA;b√dImV;b
Numbers 1:1 - 4:20
“The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “The people of Israel shall camp
each by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers’ houses. They shall
camp facing the tent of meeting on every side. Those to camp on the east side
toward the sunrise shall be of the standard of the camp of Judah by their companies, the chief of the people of Judah being Nahshon the son of Amminadab,
his company as listed being 74,600. Those to camp next to him shall be the tribe
of Issachar, the chief of the people of Issachar being Nethanel the son of Zuar,
his company as listed being 54,400. Then the tribe of Zebulun, the chief of the
people of Zebulun being Eliab the son of Helon, his company as listed being
57,400.” (Numbers 2:1–8)
http://www.bnai-tikkun.org.nz
7
Inspirational
Corner
v To the Levites was
committed the charge
of the tabernacle and all
that pertained thereto,
both in the camp and
on the journey. When
the camp set forward
they were to strike
the sacred tent; when
a halting place was
reached they were to
set it up. No person
of another tribe was
allowed to come near,
on pain of death. The
Levites were separated
into three divisions, the
descendants of the three
sons of Levi, and each
was assigned its special
position and work. In
front of the tabernacle,
and nearest to it, were
the tents of Moses and
Aaron. On the south
were the Kohathites,
whose duty it was to
care for the ark and the
other furniture; on the
north Merarites, who
were placed in charge
of the pillars, sockets,
boards, etc.; in the rear
the Gershonites, to
whom the care of the
curtains and hangings
was committed. (PP
375)