>> Torah portion
B'nai Israel Synagogue
Welcomes New Rabbi
R
abbi Mark Robbins began his
service June 1 as rabbi of B'nai
Israel Synagogue, which is in a
space-sharing arrangement with Temple
Kol Ami in West Bloomfield.
The B'nai Israel
congregation describes
itself as a highly par-
ticipatory, spirited, no-
frills, observant alterna-
tive to the traditional
synagogue offerings in
the Detroit region.
Robbins was
Rabbi Mark
recently director of
Robbins
the Philadelphia/
Southern New Jersey
regional office of the American Jewish
Committee (AJC).
He began his AJC career on the cam-
paign trail in Texas, and then in AJC's
government and international relations
office in Washington, D.C.
He also served as rabbi of
Congregation Ohev Shalom in
Wallingford, Pa., from 2002 to 2009.
Prior to that, he served as Jewish chap-
lain at Georgetown University between
1999 and 2002.
A dedicated community builder, pas-
tor and educator, Robbins is a passion-
ate advocate for religious pluralism and
intercultural awareness.
Robbins and his family made aliyah
to Israel in 2009, where he spent two
years as a personal historian and writer.
He and his wife, Amy, have two chil-
dren, Adina, 10, and Coby, 8. A native
New Englander, he has family ties to
the Detroit area, and is a great-nephew
of the late Rabbi Jacob Segal of Adat
Shalom Synagogue.
Robbins is a graduate of Harvard
University. He was ordained at the
Jewish Theological Seminary of
America in 1999, where he also
received a master's degree in Jewish
education.
Rediscovered Treasures
Of The Jewish Past
Professor Howard Lupovitch will provide
a unique examination of sacred texts in a
lecture series at Congregation Beth Ahm
in West Bloomfield.
Lupovitch will dis-
cuss four moments
in Jewish History in
which the discovery,
or rediscovery, of an
important text altered
and enhanced knowl-
edge and understand-
ing of the Jewish past,
Professor
from ancient times
Howard
through the modern
Lupovitch
history of Jews in
Eastern Europe.
The series begins July 10 as Lupovitch
presents "The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New
View of Ancient Judaism:' The scrolls,
which were rediscovered in 1947,
describe an alternative way of being
Jewish in the first century and an alter-
native interpretation of the Torah.
"The Cairo Geniza: The Day to Day
Lives of the Jews of Islam" is the topic for
July 17. This cache of documents pro-
vides a window into the day-to-day lives
of Jews in the Islamic world.
"The Aleppo Codex: The Real Text of
the Torah" will be the focus on July 24.
This manuscript attests to the consisten-
cy and veracity of the text of the Torah,
and validates centuries worth of Jewish
interpretation of this sacred, founda-
tional text.
The series concludes on July 31 with
the topic "The Soviet Archives: The
Unknown World of Eastern Europe."
The cost is $15 per session or $50 for
the series. Advanced registration at (248)
851-6880 is strongly encouraged.
❑
Summer Dance
Camps at the JCC
DDC (aka Detroit Dance Collective), a
Michigan-based professional dance com-
pany, returns to the Jewish Community
Center again this summer to conduct
their popular summer camps for kids in
grades 1-8. JCC's Camp Discovery offers:
• Full-day camp, Monday-Friday, July
22-26, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. "Moving Art and
Dance" for grades 4-8. Campers explore
the art of Henri Matisse and Alexander
Calder as they create dances, sculptures
and mobiles.
• Half-day camps, Monday-Friday,
July 29-Aug. 2. Morning session 9:45 to
11:45 a.m. Creative Kids "On the Move"
for Grades 1-3. Kids will spend the
morning exploring movement through
creative dance, music, rhyme games, sto-
rytelling and props. Afternoon session
1:30 to 3:30 p.m. "Dance to the Music"
for grades 4-8. Campers spend the after-
noon learning dances to familiar music
and songs from musical theater and
children's movies.
Fees range from $230 to $290 per
week. For information, call Judy Front,
(248) 432-5630, jfront@jccdet.org .
That Old
Black Magic
Parshat Balak: Numbers 2
Micah 5:6 - 6:8.
W
ho controls the fortune
and destiny of nations?
Is it God who plans
and controls the various moves of His
puppet-pawns on the great Earthly
chess board?
Or are there certain soothsayers
or magicians who know the secret
black magic to manipulate God and
change reality to conform to their evil
designs?
I believe that these are precisely the
issues being dealt with in this week's
supernatural, eerie, comical, lyrical
and prophetic portion of
Balak.
This portion follows
the Israelite encampment
on the plains of Moab
and concludes just after
the Israelites begin to
behave immorally with
the Moabite and Midianite
women. Its narrative style
is very different from most
of the verses that precede
and follow it; indeed, it
could be removed from the
Book of Numbers without
affecting the storyline
whatsoever.
Balaam enters the scene after the
Israelites have gone through des-
ert rebellions and reorganizations
and, finally, seem to be succeeding
in defeating several of the smaller
Canaanite nations and preparing the
next generation to enter the Land of
Israel.
The unasked question throughout
the portion is who or what will ulti-
mately be responsible for the success,
or lack thereof, of the Israelite nation
in history?
Balak, the king of Moab, is in mor-
tal fear of this new "power" on the
block, which defeated the mighty
Egyptians and seems to be "licking up
everything around them" (Numbers
22:4). As they inch closer and closer
to Moab and Midian, he convinces the
elders of Midian to join him in hiring
a voodoo soothsayer, Balaam, to curse
and defeat Israel through his magic
powers of the occult.
But what follows is both comi-
cal and, at the same time, profound.
Balaam saddles his donkey to travel
with the Moabite king, but, suddenly,
2-25:9;
his donkey refuses to proceed. The
donkey sees what the voodoo man has
missed: God's angel is preventing the
donkey from advancing with Balaam
and Balak!
The donkey then speaks and, in so
doing, demonstrates that speech is a
gift from God. If God wishes a donkey
to speak, it will speak; and if God
wishes Israel to be blessed, Israel will
be blessed.
The venal, virulent voodoo man
still tries to manipulate God. He and
Balak attempt to bribe God with
sacrifices to allow for the
cursing of the Israelites, but
to no avail. Instead, Balaam
expresses the most mag-
nificent of blessings:
"This is a nation with
the ability to dwell alone,
which does not have to be
counted amongst other
nations ..." (Numbers 23:9).
"No black magic can be
effective against Israel, and
no occult powers against
Jacob ..." (Ibid. 23:23).
"How goodly are your
tents, 0 Jacob, your taber-
nacles, 0 Israel ..." (ibid. 24:5). "A star
shall go forth from Jacob, and a ruling
scepter from Israel ..." (ibid. 24:17).
"Israel shall emerge triumphant ...
in the end, Amalek will be destroyed
forever" (ibid. 24:19-20).
With that, Balaam set out and
returned home. Balak also went on
his way. (ibid. 24:25).
But, this is not how the portion
concludes. As Chapter 25 opens, the
Israelites behave immorally with
Moabite women.
A horrific plague overtakes the
Israelites and Israel seems to be van-
quished until Phineas and Moses pun-
ish the wrongdoers, inspiring national
repentance.
The message is clear. Israel is to
be blessed — but only if we serve
God and act morally and ethically.
Israel's success or lack of success is
not dependent on voodoo men, black
magic operators, even solely on God's
will; it is ultimately dependent on our
own moral actions.
❑
Shlomo Riskin is chancellor at Ohr Torah
Stone and chief rabbi of Efrat,
June 20 • 2013
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