Rabbi Linder B'haalot'cha 06/21

Rabbi Linder B'haalot'cha 06/21 

In this week’s Torah portion, B’haalot’cha, we find the Israelite community, and those who have chosen to join them, on the first anniversary marking their Exodus from Egypt. In this first year, God has given the Torah to all present at Mt. Sinai (and each generation to follow), and the entire community has participated in building the portable Tabernacle or Mishkan, at the heart of which is the ark to carry the stone tablets of Torah. Those tablets, a manifestation of the divine, will now serve as the Jewish people’s living, eternal guidebook and moral compass; helping them navigate their way through the wilderness to the Promised Land, and wherever the road will lead our people. 

The Israelites now have what they need to continue their journey, though understandably, with great trepidation of the unknown. The familiarity of slavery in Egypt is more comforting than the uncertainty of freedom that lies ahead. As with all human beings, the Israelites need signs and guides to accompany them on their journey. The divine signs from the parashah come in the form of a cloud. When the cloud settles upon the Tabernacle, the Israelites know its time to stop and set up camp. When the cloud lifts, they know it’s time to, literally, pull up stakes and resume their journey.   

When I read the wonderful news this morning that Joy Harjo was just named America’s next Poet Laureate, I thought about the lovely alignment of stars between Harjo’s poetry and this week’s Torah portion. In Eagle Poem , Harjo writes:

To pray you open your whole self

To sky, to earth, to sun, to moon

To one whole voice that is you.

And know there is more

That you can't see, can't hear;

Can't know except in moments

Steadily growing, and in languages

That aren't always sound but other

Circles of motion.

Like eagle that Sunday morning

Over Salt River. Circled in blue sky

In wind, swept our hearts clean

With sacred wings.

We see you, see ourselves and know

That we must take the utmost care

And kindness in all things.

Breathe in, knowing we are made of

All this, and breathe, knowing

We are truly blessed because we

Were born, and die soon within a

True circle of motion, 

Like eagle rounding out the morning

Inside us. 

We pray that it will be done

In beauty.

In beauty.

The sustainability of humanity and the earth entrusted to our care depends upon our ability to open our whole selves to signs all around us, so often offered from the natural world. As Harjo experiences the divine in sky, earth, sun, moon and eagle, so do the biblical authors image the divine as a cloud rising and settling. Only when we see ourselves in these signs, are we able to follow the moral compass of Torah. As this Shabbat is ushered in by the Summer Solstice, blessing us with an abundance of sunshine; let that light help us to see and know that we must take the utmost care and kindness in all things.

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi John A. Linder