Scrollers Preview - Parashat Bamidbar

Scrollers Preview Bamidbar May 26, 2012 Rabbi Rachel Goldenberg In the Women’s Torah Commentary, Rachel Havrelock writes about Bamidbar: Although the scrupulous detail of this parasha and other parts of the book may not immediately grip the reader, the underlying idea is that the ordering of the community – and by extension, one’s life – creates the space for encounters with the Divine. The power of this book emerges from the image of the encampment’s concentric rectangles radiating inward to a core of supreme holiness. In this geometry of moving from the periphery to the center, the tribes encamp around the Levites, who encircle the high priestly family, who surround the Tabernacle’s curtained walls that enclose the court that buffers the Holy of Holies. This symmetry –constructed on the ground as well as in prose – is a collective act of ordering chaos that emulates the creation of the world in Genesis 1:1-2:4. In her introductory essay, Havrelok notes tension throughout the book of Numbers “between order and chaos, culture and nature, obedience and rebellion.” In this opening parasha of Numbers, the military census and the instructions for how the tribes will encamp around the Tabernacle set up an expectation of order, containment and symmetry. But the book is full of Israelites getting out of hand and overstepping boundaries. This tension leads me to ask – is it true that boundaries and order create the space for meeting the Divine, as Havrelock posits? Can we meet God in the chaos? What role does the Divine have in the rebellions themselves? What is the message of all of this order when the rest of the book is all about people overthrowing that order? We will also read the Hosea passage chosen for the Haftarah this week. This passage represents the paradigmatic use of the metaphor of God and Israel as husband and wife. And of course, the wife oversteps the bounds of the marriage and whores with other men (gods.) Here too, there is order and chaos. Looking forward to wrestling with the text with you tomorrow morning! Shabbat Shalom, Rachel