TORAH READING FOR 14 TAMUZ 5784 July 19-20, 2024

July 19, 2024 by templekol

SHAZOOM ONLY 6:30 PM July 19, 2024

OUR HEARTS ARE WITH THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL AND ALL THE VICTIMS OF CONFLICT

From “Mishkan T’filah / A Reform Siddur” p.178

SHALOM RAV al Yisraël amcha tasim l’olam, v’al kol yoshvëi tëvël, v’imru. Amen.

GRANT ABUNDANT PEACE to Israel Your people forever, [and all who inhabit the earth. Amen.]

PARSHA

From Reform Judaism https://reformjudaism.org/torah/portion/balak

Balak (בָּלָק – Hebrew for “Balak”, a name) – Numbers 22:2−25:9

Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. – Numbers 22:2

SUMMARY

Balak, the king of Moab, persuades the prophet Balaam to curse the Israelites so that he can defeat them and drive them out of the region. However, Balaam blesses the Children of Israel instead and prophesies that Israel’s enemies will be defeated. (22:2-24:25)
God punishes the Israelites with a plague for consorting with the Moabite women and their god. The plague is stayed after Pinchas kills an Israelite man and his Midianite woman. (25:1-9)

HAFTARAH

Micah 5:6-6:8

RECOMMENDED READING

From Reform Judaism https://reformjudaism.org/torah/portion/balak

Echoes of the Wilderness, Part VII: How Goodly are Your Aloes

By: Cantor Josh Breitzer

STRUGGLING WITH TORAH and REFLECTION

We will continue to meet every other Friday for Torah Study to read and discuss selections from Ketuvim, the third section of Tanach (Hebrew Bible), which follows Torah and Nevi’im. Please see the NEW Torah Study-Shazoom schedule below. NEXT week we will continue studying Lamentations (אֵיכָה – Ëichah), which is found in Ketuvim (Writings), and traditionally read on Tisha B’Av (this year August 12-13, 2024). Read this week’s Torah Portion at https://www.sefaria.org/Numbers.22.2-25.9, and Haftarah at https://www.sefaria.org/Micah.5.6-6.8.

From “The Torah / A Women’s Commentary” edited by Dr. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Rabbi Andrea L. Weiss, Ph.D., Women of Reform Judaism/The Federation of Temple Sisterhoods and URJ Press New York 2008

בלק Balak – Numbers 22:2–25:9

Contemporary Reflection – Sue Levi Elwell, pp. 956-7

IN THE MIDST of our book of wandering, we read of how a Moabite sovereign engages a seer from a distant land in the hopes of cursing and thus defeating the Israelites. In the central irony of a fanciful tale that opens with “[he] saw” (22:2), neither King Balak nor his hireling Balaam are able to “see” the Israelites. Balaam and Balak position and re-position themselves in an attempt to assess the multitude that “hides the earth from view” (22:5). The two travel from point to point without gaining the perspective they seek.

Only when the Holy One opens his eyes can Balaam see more than a portion of the people he has been sent to curse. He sees the tents that are the homes and the gathering places of the women, children, and men who live as a community marked by care and mutual respect. Seemingly stunned by his newfound perspective on the Israelite compound, Balaam describes the people in language that evokes Eden: “Like palm-groves that stretch out, / Like gardens beside a river, / Like aloes planted by יהוה, / Like cedars beside the water; / Their boughs drip with moisture, / Their roots have abundant water” (24:6–7). Have the eyes of the desert diviner cleared sufficiently so that he can see a people who one day would have the power to make the desert bloom? Do his words reflect dreams of cities with palm-lined boulevards and garden neighborhoods that would, in the future, challenge and transform the arid landscape?

For a moment, Balaam sees a community as it can be: a society of mutual dependence and trust, a community where each person is treated with dignity, and he exclaims: Mah tovu ohalecha, Yaakov / mishk’notecha, Yisrael (“How fair are your tents, O Jacob, / Your dwellings, O Israel”; 24:5). But when Balaam extends his description, the utopian vision fades, and the people become just like any other who seek domination over their foes. He concludes, “Blessed are they who bless you, / Accursed they who curse you!” (24:9). As in the beginning of this portion, the world is divided into two: those who seek to maintain power, and those who attempt to usurp it–the victors and the vanquished, the blessed and the cursed.

The concluding story of this portion (25:1–9) illustrates the tragedy of seeing the world dichotomized in this way. Exhausted from a journey that seems to have no end, the Israelite men forget who they are. They forget their privileged relationship with the One who brought them out of slavery.

Balaam’s recognition of Israel’s goodness has become part of our liturgy known as the Mah tovu (literally “how good are”): Mah tovu ohalecha, Yaakov / mishk’notecha, Yisrael (“How fair are your tents, O Jacob, / Your dwellings, O Israel!”). The Rabbis who created our liturgy recognized the power of this sentence, and so they intentionally positioned it as the opening of a daily prayer sequence that fixes the individual in the context of the community of Israel. They expand Balaam’s blessing with four verses from Psalms written in the first person. In so doing, they enable each worshipper to claim a place as a member of the collective.

I, through Your abundant love, enter Your house;

I bow down in awe at Your holy temple (Psalm 5:8).

יהוה, I love Your temple abode,

The dwelling-place of Your glory (Psalm 26:8).

Let me bow down and kneel before God my maker (Psalm 95:6).

As for me, may my prayer come to You, O יהוה,

At a favorable moment;

O God, in Your abundant faithfulness,

Answer me with Your sure deliverance (Psalm 69:14).

With these phrases, the Rabbis transform Balaam’s God of war into a God of chesed (loving-kindness), and each Jew who utters these words becomes the prayer. In the parashah, Balaam follows his original utterance of the verse with two descriptions of Israel: an Israel that lives in a lush and verdant world, and a nation that is victorious against enemies. But Balaam’s utterance is also incomplete, which is why our liturgy expands it–and also shifts the focus to the relationship of the individual with God.

I propose a third reading, one that returns to the evocation of the community as a source of power and that extends it, connecting the people with God and with their unique challenge.

Consider the following combination of 24:5 with the words from the book of Isaiah:

How fair are your tents, O Jacob,

Your dwelling places, O Israel! (24:5)

I, the Holy One, have called you in righteousness,

and taken you by the hand.

I am the One who created you

and made you a covenant people,

a light to the nations:

to open the eyes that are blind,

to bring the captive out of the confinement (Isaiah 42:6–7).

This clear challenge invites us to move beyond the narrow, dichotomous thinking that blinded Balak and Balaam in this portion. These verses from Isaiah anticipate–and fulfill–the subsequent prophetic call about tents and dwellings: “Enlarge the space for your tent (oholech); / do not spare the canvas for your dwelling-place (mishk’notayich)” (Isaiah 54:2). Here the prophet urges Jerusalem–personified as a woman–to widen her tent with joy and make room for the multitudes who will enter the capital city. An expanded tent in a gracious and open city reflects the utopian and achievable goal of moving beyond oppositional concepts of native/stranger, friend/foe, chosen/rejected, male/female.

Are we ready to open our tents and our hearts to those who wish to dream–and then to build sacred communities that not only tolerate diversity and difference but also celebrate them? Can we move beyond narrow, divisive definitions and descriptions that are no longer useful? Might we transform our communities by welcoming those who come into our houses of worship with words that describe what our community can be? When our dwelling places become sanctuaries for all seekers of peace and justice, when our homes welcome all who no longer objectify the other, then we can truthfully declare, Mah tovu–how good, how fair, are our tents.

PRAYERS

From “Mishkan T’filah / A Reform Siddur”:

FOR OUR COUNTRY p.376

THUS SAYS ADONAI, This is what I desire: to unlock the fetters of wickedness, and untie the cords of lawlessness; to let the oppressed go free, to break off every yoke. Share your bread with the hungry, and take the wretched poor into your home. When you see the naked, give clothing, and do not ignore your own kin.

O GUARDIAN of life and liberty, may our nation always merit Your protection. Teach us to give thanks for what we have by sharing it with those who are in need. Keep our eyes open to the wonders of creation, and alert to the care of the earth. May we never be lazy in the work of peace; may we honor those who have [served, suffered or] died in defense of our ideals. Grant our leaders wisdom and forbearance. May they govern with justice and compassion. Help us all to appreciate one another, and to respect the many ways that we may serve You. May our homes be safe from affliction and strife, and our country be sound in body and spirit. Amen.

PRAYER FOR THE STATE OF ISRAEL p.552

O HEAVENLY ONE, Protector and Redeemer of Israel, bless the State of Israel which marks the dawning of hope for all who seek peace. Shield it beneath the wings of your love; spread over it the canopy of Your peace; send Your light and truth to all who lead and advise, guiding them with Your good counsel. Establish peace in the land and fullness of joy for all who dwell there. Amen.

FOR HEALING – El Na R’fa Na Lah!

We recite MI SHEBËRACH for the victims of abuse, brutality, conflicts, fear, natural disasters, pandemics, tragedies, violence of all kinds especially directed at individuals and specific communities including us, and war; for all those at home alone or lonely; for all those in need of physical, emotional, and mental healing. “R’fuah sh’lëmah” – a complete recovery!

YAHRZEITS/ANYOS

We say KADDISH YATOM for those of our friends and families who have died and been buried this last week; those in the period of Sh’loshim (30 days since burial); those who have died in the last year; and those whose Yahrzeits/Anyos occur at this time; as well as the victims of brutality, conflict, disease, natural disasters, pandemics, tragedies, violence of all kinds, and war.

This coming week, 14 Tamuz through 20 Tamuz, we lovingly remember:

Danny Huber

Husband of Susie Morss

Those victims of the Sho’ah (Holocaust) who died at this time of year.

“ZICHRONAM LIV’RACHAH” – MAY THEIR MEMORIES BE FOR BLESSING.

SHAZOOM ONLY

We will meet for Shazoom ONLY this evening, Friday, July 19, 2024. Please see the NEW Torah Study-Shazoom schedule below. NEXT week we will continue studying Lamentations (אֵיכָה – Ëichah), which is found in the Ketuvim (Writings), and traditionally read on Tisha B’Av (this year August 12-13, 2024).

Zoom regularly updates its security and performance features. Making sure you have the latest version of Zoom, please join us online this Friday evening with wine/grape juice for Kiddush and Challah for Motzi.

Shazoom – Friday Night Service

Time: July 19, 2024 06:30 PM Arizona

To join Shazoom click on the following link [you may need to copy it into your browser]: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/72510500854?pwd=Z3VQZWF4U1BBZytNYmh3aHFTWkFDZz09

Meeting ID: 725 1050 0854

Passcode: 4NrMk0

Hint: The last character of the password is the number zero.

Shabbat Shalom – Buen Shabbat – Gut Shabbos!

-Ruben

PS – About Lamentations (אֵיכָה – Eichah) and the NEW schedule through June 2024:

From Reform Judaism

https://reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/tishah-bav

https://reformjudaism.org/blog/how-should-reform-jews-observe-tishah-bav