Bulletin Behaalotcha

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Torah & Haftarah Readings: Shabbat Beha’alotcha: Numbers 9:15–10:34 (Cycle 2) (Etz Hayim p. 821) 1. 9:15-18 2. 9:19-23 3. 10:1-7 4. 10:8-10 5. 10:11-20 6. 10:21-28 7. 10:29-34 M. 12:14-16 (p. 835) Haftarah: Zechariah 2:14–4:7 (p. 837) Torah Commentary D’var Torah: Get Moving! When we think about how we observe Jewish rituals, very often we only think about using our minds, or maybe our mouths uttering prayers. But we usually don’t think about other ways that we engage our bodies in ritu-als. In Parshat Behalotcha we read an interesting section describing how the Levites have to prepare to carry the holy items in the Mishkan by both washing and shaving their bodies. We typically would not think of shaving as a ritual act, but here it was. And I think that our ancient ancestors would be much more comfortable thinking about embodied rituals because they did them a lot. When they prayed they moved their arms in certain ways. They had multiple different ways of bowing. When they brought offerings to the Temple they would wave them or raise them up. When they were in mourning they would put ash on their heads and wrap their entire head in a turban. Those might seem strange to us, but we don’t have to dig too deeply to remember that we have some embodied rituals still in practice today. We still bow when we pray, and for those who make a full prostration down to the ground on the High Holidays, you know how different that feels than just a knee bend. When we bless our children we lay our hands on their heads. When we light Shabbat candles we wave our hands three times and cover our eyes. And I’m sure that you can think of more. While Judaism may focus on the mind and spirit, we are still connected to our bodies while we are alive, and we can use our bodies to elevate our spirit. Each ritual that involves a bodily action can help us understand that ritual that much more deeply.
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Bulletin Behaalotcha

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