spirituality >> Torah portion
Moses' Few Words
Say Much About God
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Parshat Beha'alotecha: Numbers 8:1-
12:16; Zekhariah 2:14-4:7.
e live in an age when
shorter and shorter mes-
sages are what people
crave. Communication via Twitter is
limited to 140 characters. Text mes-
sages are brief and filled with abbre-
viations that I do not understand.
If you are reading this entire dvar
Torah from the printed page of the
Jewish News, let alone
the entire newspaper,
then you are engaged
in an activity which is
becoming more uncom-
mon with each passing
day.
The business world
relies on the "elevator
pitch," made famous
by the movies Working
Girl and The Pursuit of
Happyness. Just as it
sounds, this refers
to a belief that any-
thing worth saying
can be completed in
the time it takes to
ride an elevator.
Of all of Ernest
Hemingway's great
books and stories,
he was said to be
most proud of his
tragic tale, contain-
ing all of six words
— For Sale: baby
shoes never used.
Judaism has its own Six Word
Story in the first line of the Shema,
which expresses in just half a dozen
words that God is both particular to
the Jewish people and accessible to
the entire universe.
Parshat Beha'alotecha includes an
example of where a small number
of words have a lot to say. Numbers
10:35-36 should sound familiar to
anyone who has been present in the
synagogue when the Torah scroll
is either removed from the Ark, or
returned to its place.
"When the Ark was to set out,
Moses would say: 'Advance, 0 Lord!'
... And when it [the Ark] halted, he
[Moses] would say: 'Return, 0 Lord'
Talmud suggests
a lot of wisdom
can be conveyed
through a
minimum of
words.
•••
am, MI
ha'aron" and "uv'nuchoh yomar."
When it was time to travel on
their journey from Egypt to the
Promised Land, Moses would call
upon God to defend the Israelites
during their most vulnerable situa-
tion. When it was time to stop trav-
elling and the people should feel a
sense of peace, Moses would remind
them of their blessings.
Isn't this a great message?
It makes sense to ask for
God's help when we embark
on a new adventure; when
life necessitates charting an
unknown course. However,
when the journey is over
and we have reached our
destination, we need to be
reminded to be grateful and
to express that gratitude.
In the Babylonian
Talmud, Tractate
Shabbat 115b-116a,
we learn that these
two verses are
thought of as a
separate book in the
Torah. On one hand,
this sounds illogical.
There are not more
than five books in
the Torah, and who
could conceive of
a book containing
only two verses. On
the other hand, maybe the Talmud
understands that a lot of wisdom
can be conveyed through a mini-
mum of words. Li
You might better recognize these
verses in Hebrew, in which the
opening words are,"vayehi binso'a
Elliot Pachter is the Rabbi of Congregation
B'nai Moshe and a teacher of Bible at the
Frankel Jewish Academy, both in West
Bloomfield.
Conversations
• Can you think of other
examples, or create one of
your own, of a small number of
words that teach a great deal of
wisdom?
• When do we most need God's
help?
• When should we be feeling
most grateful for our blessings?