Does G-d Show Favoritism? Does G-d show favoritism? The Torah says G-d does not. But the Priestly Blessing implies that He does, as the verse states: “May the Lord show favor to you and give you peace”. How can both be true? The Talmud explains that G-d shows favoritism to the Jewish people because they show it to Him. Although He commands them to recite the grace after meals only when they are fully satisfied, the Jewish people go beyond the letter of the law and recite the blessing even after eating a mere olive-sized piece of bread: Rav Avira taught, sometimes he said it in the name of Rabbi Ami, and sometimes he said it in the name of Rabbi Asi: The ministering angels said before the Holy One, Blessed be He: Master of the Universe, in Your Torah it is written: “The great, mighty and awesome God who favors no one and takes no bribe” (Deuteronomy 10:17), yet You, nevertheless, show favor to Israel, as it is written: “The Lord shall show favor to you and give you peace” (Numbers 6:26). He replied to them: And how can I not show favor to Israel, as I wrote for them in the Torah: “And you shall eat and be satisfied, and bless the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 8:10), meaning that there is no obligation to bless the Lord until one is satiated; yet they are exacting with themselves to recite Grace after Meals even if they have eaten as much as an olive-bulk or an egg-bulk. Since they go beyond the requirements of the law, they are worthy of favor. (Tamud, Berachot 20b) There are two ways to think of a relationship and covenant. The first is as a contract of mutual obligation. But then, there is a deeper form of connection, one which is a commitment not bound by the benefit each party receives in return for what they invest. Rather, it is a relationship of devotion and commitment, where each party invests themselves beyond what is merely their duty. The second relationship is characterized not by a social contract but by the commitment of love. Love emerges from a mutual dedication, where each party “shows favoritism”, giving beyond what is “deserving” to the other, bestowing more than the requirement of calculated benefit. If Sinai was the contractual marriage between the people and G-d, where the people received the Torah, the marriage contract, then the building of the tabernacle represents the building of the home where the relationship plays out. Creating a home is only possible by “showing favoritism” and expressing devotional love. The language used in the blessing the priests recite before fulfilling the commandment to bless the people is, “who commanded us to bless his nation Israel with love”. Indeed, the Zohar, the primary work of Jewish mysticism, says that if a priest does not genuinely love the people, he should not recite the priestly blessing. Perhaps the reason is that love and devotion are at the heart of the blessing. The priest blessing the people must experience the unconditional love G-d has for the people in order to be a conduit for this extraordinary blessing. For without love, the priestly blessing is impossible.
Blog - Torah Insights
Does G-d Show Favoritism? - נשא
Why Are We “Obsessed” with Details? - במדבר
Why Are We “Obsessed” with Details? We all have dreams. We all have aspirations. People dream about investing in their relationships, improving their health, expanding their knowledge, exploring ideas, and touring the world. The problem, of course, is that dreams and aspirations are not enough. Growth requires specific, concrete action. In Jewish life and Jewish law, there is a strong emphasis on specifics. Almost every one of the six hundred and thirteen commandments comes along with dozens, if not hundreds, of specifications which instruct on the precise time and manner in which the commandment is to be performed. For many, the “obsession” with detail is hard to relate to. True, the big ideas are important, true, the underlying values are inspiring, but why is the emphasis on detail so critical? To understand the focus on detail, we need to explore and define the core purpose and objective of Judaism. Judaism is not a religion in the conventional sense. Most spiritual disciplines hope to teach a person how to become spiritual, how to escape the lure of material life and connect to the eternal by transcending the physical. The Purpose of Judaism is the opposite: it is to draw the transcendent, infinite presence of G-d, into a specific time and place in this physical world. This theme is expressed in the beginning of the fourth book of the Torah, where the Torah not only introduces the commandment to take a census, but also describes the precise time of the commandment: The Lord spoke to Moses in the Sinai Desert, in the Tent of Meeting on the first day of the second month, in the second year after the exodus from the land of Egypt, saying. The Chassidic master, the Sfas Emes, explains why these time references matter so much: “And therefore time is written in the Torah in terms of month and year. Although the Torah is above time, nevertheless, this is the primary service of the Children of Israel: to draw the light of the Torah and holiness into time and nature.”
When Sinai Meets the Soil - בהר בחוקותי
When Sinai Meets the Soil
In English, when you want to express that a point is irrelevant to the conversation, you might say: “What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?” In modern Hebrew, it would be very common to say: “What is the connection between the Sabbatical and Mount Sinai?”
“What is the connection between the Sabbatical and Mount Sinai?” is the resounding question the Midrash asks about the opening statement of our Torah portion, where the Torah introduces the Sabbatical year, the commandment to let the land of Israel lie fallow and rest every seventh year. In the introduction to this commandment, the Torah states that this commandment was given at Mount Sinai:
And the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying,
Speak to the children of Israel and you shall say to them: When you come to the land that I am giving you, the land shall rest a Sabbath to the Lord. (Leviticus 25:1-2)
At first glance, Sinai and the land of Israel seem to be polar opposites. At Sinai, the Jewish people were completely separated from civilization, sheltered from the pressure to earn a living and survive in the natural order. In the land of Israel, by contrast, the Jewish people would dedicate most of their time to farming and agriculture, exposed to the pressures to maximize profit, to the extent that the Torah must remind a Jew to stop and take a break. To refrain from taking advantage of the poor, and to ensure that ultimately, every person would return to their land in the Jubilee year. So while Sinai evokes spiritual serenity, the land of Israel represents the challenges of daily life.
So yes, indeed, the question is sound: “What is the connection between the Sabbatical and Mount Sinai?”
The answer, of course, is that precisely because they are so different, they are tied together. The entire purpose of Sinai, of spiritual connection to G-d, is not to escape physical reality, but rather to sanctify it. Not to transcend to heaven but rather to bring holiness to earth. The entire purpose of Sinai, then, is expressed by the Sabbatical year, that the earth itself is sanctified: “The land shall rest a Sabbath to the Lord”.
Adapted from the Sfas Emes
Holidays - Holy Geometry - אמור
Holidays - Holy Geometry Sometimes when we read the Torah, we wonder, what is the organizing principle of the Parsha? Why are seemingly unrelated laws and events grouped together? Toward the end of the weekly Torah portion, we read about the Menorah in the temple and about the table with the showbread. We wonder, why are we discussing these specific aspects of the temple service right here? Why is the lighting of the Menorah reiterated here for the third time in the Torah, and why do we read about the showbread here and not earlier in the narrative when the Torah discusses the laws of the temple service? The Ohr Hachaim explains that the holidays, discussed in detail in our Parsha, are organized based on the number seven, and often, differentiating between the number six and seven. Shabbat is the seventh day, following the six days of the week. There are six days of holiday in Israel (first and last days of Pesach, one day of Shavuot, one day of Rosh Hashanah, first day of Sukot and Shmini Atzeret), when most labor is prohibited, and a seventh (Yom Kippur) when all labor, as well as eating and drinking, is prohibited. That leads naturally to the Menorah that has seven candles, also divided into six branches and a seventh stem; as well as the table, which had two stacks of six loaves, with the Table itself acting as the unifying seventh element. The Maharal of Prague explains that the number six represents physical creation, which is three-dimensional. Three dimensions create six general directions (east, west, north, south, up, and down). The number seven represents holiness, for it is the central point of those six dimensions, building them and allowing them to create a cohesive creation. Six represents the physical dimension of a physical object, and seven represents its core purpose and meaning. During the days of the week, we are primarily invested in the physical side of life, seeking to achieve success and effect change and transformation in the world. Shabbat and the holidays are when we return to the essence of life, the number seven, and reconnect with holiness, our purpose, and inner soul.