spirituality >> torah portion
As Torah Reveals,
We're One People
Parshat Bamidbar: Numbers 1:1-4:20;
Hosea 2:1-22.
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32
May 26 • 2011
have figured out how to bring
Jews back to the synagogue and
Jewish life. Biblical punishments!
Violate the Sabbath? Stoning.
Gossiping? Leprosy. Just imagine how
the threats of death and disfigure-
ment will put Jews back in the pews!
Okay, I'm just kidding. Mostly. The
American Jewish community is at
a crossroads. Affiliation is decreas-
ing rapidly, and Jewish practice even
more quickly. The spirit of indi-
vidualism seems to have officially
trumped our devotion to community.
The motto is no longer "there is no 'I'
in team" but rather "what
have you done for ME
lately?"
We read this week
Parshat Bamidbar, the first
Torah portion of the book
of Numbers. On instruction
from God, Moses counts
603,550 men eligible to
wage war on their march
toward the Promised Land.
Not coincidentally, Rabbi
Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev
tells us that 603,550 also
equals the number of let-
ters in the Torah. This correlation
means that just as if one letter were
left out of a Torah scroll, that scroll
would become pasul, unusable. So,
too, if one Jew is lost to our commu-
nity the entire Jewish people suffers.
We as a community have to reach
out to individuals, even if it means
sacrificing something to do it. If a
Jew cannot afford membership in a
synagogue, we reduce dues. If a Jew is
new to our city, we welcome them. If
a Jew is new to our synagogue family,
we embrace them warmly. Each indi-
vidual person matters in Judaism.
But according to Jewish tradition,
the entire onus is not on the com-
munity to reach out to the individual,
the individual must reach back. "Do
not separate yourself from the corn-
munity," we read in Pirkei Avot. Too
much emphasis on the individual
leads to a broken people. As a com-
munity, we recognize the need for
individuals to compromise on some
level so as to be able to come togeth-
er in praise of God and support for
Israel. There is no 'I' in "peoplehood".
So, do we sacrifice everything for
the sake of the individual? Or do
we force the individual to sacrifice
himself or herself for the sake of the
broader community?
Like our ancestors in the ancient
census in the wilderness of Sinai, our
Torah scroll contains 603,550 letters
— one for each individual. Each and
every letter holds tremendous sig-
nificance for without even one letter
we could not use that scroll.
But, were we to take all those
603,550 identical letters and jumble
them up, that Torah, too, would be
pasul, would be unfit. A scroll is
kosher — a people are holy — only
when each individual rec-
ognizes his role vis-a-vis
the letter next to him and
the role that letter — that
person — plays in the
whole. Individuals must
step forward and, for the
good of the community,
be willing to give more of
themselves.
But, in a similar vein, the
community must be ready
to open its doors as well:
to change, to innovation,
to new modes and models
brought forward by devoted individ-
uals. In this way, our census will be
whole and our Torah scroll complete.
Oh, and please remember, I was
only kidding about reinstating bibli-
cal punishments. Stoning is not a
successful community-building plan.
Exciting young family programming,
dynamic Jewish education, a welcom-
ing community and spiritual services
work much better. CI
Rabbi Aaron Starr is director of education
and youth at Congregation Shaarey Zedek
in Southfield.
Conversations
• What can you do to better
support the Jewish community?
•What steps might your
synagogue take to reach out
to unaffiliated or uninvolved
individuals and how can you
help?
• How can we as a community
work together to inspire and
reach out to not-yet-involved
individuals and families?