What has a scholarship got to do with it?

The following Devar Torah, was written for and presented by Jessica Lowy and Jacob Rose at the Years 8 and 9 Minyan. 

Jessica Lowy – Year 8

Jacob Rose – Year 8

Jessica: Everyone put up one hand. Now, everyone imagine that Emanuel School is rewarding their best students with a full scholarship. If your hand is still up at the end, you get that scholarship. Now, put your hand down if you are a first-born child in your family. Not only have you missed the scholarship, but you have been expelled from Emanuel. Now, put your hand down if your name starts with a consonant. If you still have your hand up, congratulations. You got the scholarship! Remember this for the end.

Jacob: This week’s parashah, BeMidbar, is the first reading of the book BeMidbar, also called the Book of Numbers. In this Torah portion, two main things happen. First, Moses is instructed by God to count how many people there are over the age of 20. Why? Because these are the people going to war to claim the land of Israel.

Jacob: The second thing that happens in this Torah portion is that the Levites, in place of the first born, were selected to serve God in the Mishkan/Tabernacle. This prompted some commentators to argue that these Israelites lost their holiness because their ancestors participated in creating the golden calf. The Levites, therefore, ended up being the ones engaged in the holy work of the Mishkan and not going to war – this being their service to God.

Jessica: The main question is “why”? To get a better idea, let’s talk about what happened during World War II.

Firstly, prior to the War, the situation in Germany wasn’t going well. There were people starving and the wealth of the country had gone down. Germany, Hitler believed, needed a scapegoat. Unfortunately, Jews were already hated in Germany and Europe. So, Hitler found it quite easy to do what people had been doing for centuries – blame the Jews. Many Germans started to torture and kill the Jews under Hitler’s law.

Jacob: This gave us Jews good reason to hate the Germans at the time. However, do you actually think it makes sense to be angry at the current descendants of those Germans? No. That is because they are different people with different views on life and definitely different morals.

Jessica: Let’s now relate this back to the Parashah and the seemingly unrelated scholarship ‘test’. The first-born Israelites were stripped of their holiness, some say, because of what their ancestors did ages ago. Yet we do not blame the present day Germans for what their ancestors did. You had to put your hand down AND get expelled from Emanuel just because you too were a first-born, perhaps as random as having your name start with a consonant. And, therefore, like your ancestors (who were also first-borns) who made the golden calf, you are being denied. The Torah tells us to not blame people for what their ancestors did and it helps us realise that, unfortunately, sometimes things are just luck-of-the-draw, and it’s how you deal with them that matters.

Is kadosh always kadosh?

This weeks parashah is BeMidbar Sinai, the first Torah reading in the book bearing the same name. In this book, starting with this portion, kedushat sha’ah is a central theme. Kedushat sha’ah is a rabbinic concept meaning ‘temporary holiness’. It is relevant, as this book describes the Israelites journey through the desert, the midbar, after leaving Egypt. This temporary holiness can be found mainly through the tabernacle; a portable tent that is the closest thing the Israelites have to a temple in the desert.

The continuous movement of the Israelites doesn’t allow for proper settlement, stopping them from building a temple. This also means that they don’t have one place in which they sleep, nor a proper structure of their camps where they settle for periods of times. In this Torah portion, God instructs Moses on the way in which the tribes will set their camps and has Moses recording all of the men over the age of 20 in all the tribes, except the Levites, as they become responsible for the tabernacle.

The temporary structures that have been set up for the Israelites during their time in the desert, as well as that kedushat sha’ah that they have, reminds us that many things in life aren’t permanent. Knowing that most things are temporary and will pass can help one have a healthier outlook on life. If you fail a test, argue with a friend or are involved in anything else that may upset you, know that things will mend with time. Focus on good things, because, like kedushat sha’ah, they will not last either. So we need to cherish things as they come our way, rather than dwelling on the past or only thinking of the future.

These instructions from God not only give the Israelites a form of structure for their tribes, but also a role for each person to play in order to help their people. These roles and instructions were set up for Israelites and couldn’t be done by other people, allowing them to feel how important they actually were.

Is it possible for there to be permanent holiness or is holiness by its very nature temporary/transient? What does it mean when someone says His Holiness the Dalai Lama or Aron HaKodesh? Is the Aron ‘kadosh’ without a Sefer Torah? Is the Kotel kadosh? If we don’t say kiddush is shabbat ‘kadosh’? Can shabbat be kadosh if all other days are kadosh? Is kadosh a relative or transient phenomenon?

Michal Wolstein, Year 11