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In this week’s Torah portion, of the many occurrences that take place, there is one episode in particular worthy of discussion. As the entire Jewish nation was journeying through the desert and was on its way to entering the land of Israel, two and a half tribes (Reuven, Gad, and half of Menashe) of the twelve national tribes decided that they did not want a share in the land of Israel. They felt that they needed to settle in the land on the east bank of the Jordan. When they approached Moshe about their request he grew angry with them. Moshe believed that, instead of aiding the rest of the nation in the conquest of Israel, they wanted to abandon their brethren. He was also afraid that this decision of theirs might influence other tribes to back out of the war as well and forget about entering the land altogether. [Numbers: 32: 1-15]
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We are currently in the midst of a very solemn time in the Jewish calendar, the period known as the “3 weeks”, where various calamities have fallen upon our people and most notably the destruction of both of the holy Temples. The Temple wasn’t just a building; it was the tool by which G-dliness could be perceived in the world. We aren’t just mourning the loss of a spectacular building comprised of special materials and concise measurements, of the most architecturally-impressive construction ever to exist. But we are mourning the absence of peace and clarity, a world bereft of spirituality and meaning; a world in which we have even made ourselves comfortable living in, despite it being merely a place of refuge in exile.

Chazal inform us that the causes of the destruction of the first Temple was because of the 3 cardinal sins: murder, adultery and idol worship and the second Temple was destroyed because of baseless hatred. Are we still guilty of these sins today? Most of us can testify that we are not guilty of the 3 cardinal sins, but baseless hatred is still an unfortunate daily occurrence today. The Talmud tells us that “A generation in which the Temple is not built is considered to be one in which it was destroyed”(Yerushalmi, Yoma 1:10) – this means if we still don’t see the Temple today, we are no less to blame than for when the Temple was originally destroyed because we still haven’t rectified the cause! This is what we are supposed to reflect upon during this time period; we have a mere 3 weeks a year to focus ourselves upon what we are really supposed to be doing in this world. We have the chance to mourn for what was lost and to hope for what will be, to put our involvements with our exilic world and daily routine aside – and to just remember that we are part of a nation.

It isn’t a coincidence that now during the 3-weeks there is ongoing riots amongst “charedi”-looking extremists.  To call them “charedi” is an insult to the Torah world – anyone who throws rocks, riots and causes damage is certainly not charedi, and definitely not religious. How are our more secular brothers and sisters going to view this? I am saddened and ashamed at the dreadful Chillul Hashem, G-d forbid, that has transpired. The very police that protect our borders are being assaulted, the very streets that house us are being burnt – and all by individuals dressed in religious attire. Jerusalem Police Chief Cmdr. Aharon Franco, most probably a non-observant Jew, said “I have not found a single place in the Bible where it is written that these actions are permissible” – and how right he is! Is it any wonder we don’t have a Temple? Do we deserve it, really? How merciful Hashem is that He has even given us this Land that’s still going strong, and despite a large secular population still retains strong Jewish values – and after events like this, I do wonder how. Such is the strength of our people, of Torah and of the Land! We as religious Jews have an absolute responsibility and obligation to reverse this desecration, and to condemn it explicitly and openly. These groups do not represent Torah and are behaving contrary to Torah – and we need to make this known.

Let us not only mourn the state of the world today, but we need to stand up and repair. We do not mourn hopelessly, but the flicker of light which still exists inside ourselves allows us to hope and yearn for what will be, for what has to be. When Yaakov thought he lost his son Yosef, he was inconsolable for years, which isn’t normal because the way of the world is to forget and move on after some time. And the reason he didn’t was because, unknown to him, Yosef was still actually alive. So too with us, the Temple hasn’t disappeared forever, and thus we are unable to forget. The very reason we still mourn is a sign that we can’t move on because the Temple is still alive, we will get it back. And that’s why our mourning isn’t from sadness, but from hope.

At the end of this week’s parshah, we read about the ending of Moshe’s (Moses’) career as leader of the Jewish people. In the same conversation that God tells Moshe about his impending death, God also tells Moshe to appoint Joshua as the new leader of the nation. The Torah then describes the whole ceremony in which Moshe assigns Joshua as the new leader of the Jews. Immediately after this, however, the next chapter seems to discuss something totally unrelated. At this point the Torah begins a long description of all the different sacrifices offered in the Temple at different times of the year (e.g. Sabbath and the Festivals). So, what is the connection between Moshe’s appointment of Joshua and the sacrifices?

Let us examine the chapter dealing with the sacrifices on its own. We may ask: Is there a particular order between the various sacrifices listed in this section of the Torah?

The chapter opens up with a discussion of the daily sacrifice brought to the temple. Therefore, once the Torah details the daily offering, it then goes on to describe the weekly (Sabbath) offering, then the monthly offering, and eventually the annual offerings that were offered during all the special days of the year. Clearly, the chapter discusses the sacrifices according to the gradual increase of time-spans throughout the year: Day, Week, Month, and Year.

Let us say that the focus of the chapter is its opening: the daily offering. And therefore, once the Torah has mentioned the daily offering, it then goes on to discuss the sacrifices associated to the other time-spans of the year. According to this assumption, the Torah juxtaposes Joshua’s appointment not to the sacrifices (in general), but to the daily offering (in particular). Therefore, to rephrase our above question: What is the connection between Moshe’s appointment of Joshua and the daily offering in the Temple?

The actual name for the daily offering is the Tamid offering. Tamid is Hebrew for “continual” or “constant”, which makes sense because the daily offering is brought continuously, i.e. every day. No matter what may happen, even when the Sabbath or a Festival occurs, the Tamid sacrifice is always offered in the temple. Therefore, we can say that the Tamid sacrifice symbolizes constancy; something that never changes.

The Torah clearly states “Never again will there arise in Israel a prophet like Moshe” [Deuteronomy: 34: 10] Moshe, by far, had reached the highest spiritual summit anyone could ever achieve, to the point where he literally spoke with God “face to face”. Losing a leader like Moshe was certainly devastating and it would most definitely serve a great blow to the nation, on both a national and individual level. There were certainly many who felt that losing a spiritual leader like Moshe would affect their service to God. They would no longer have that same role model in their lives as a living inspiration to help them grow spiritually and it would ultimately lead to a distinct change in their religious service.

However, this of course was untrue. Although the nation may have lost their leader, nothing should change in their connection to God. This is precisely why the Torah places the Tamid offering immediately after the transmission of Moshe’s leadership to Joshua. It was to represent that just as the Tamid sacrifice is a symbol for consistency and stability, so too the Jews would remain consistent and stable in their service to God even after losing their cherished leader.

Throughout our lives we gain great amounts of inspiration from family members, friends, and role models that we have established strong relationships with. But all too often, we have to move on from these special relationships due to many different reasons. However, we should never think that being without these people in our day-to-day lives forces us to change our characters and values in any way. Although, they may not be with us forever, the lessons they may have taught us and the tremendous influence they may have bestowed upon us will remain throughout our lives and ultimately lead us to increase our awareness and connection to God. May we all be able to recognize the true role models in our lives and seek inspiration from them on a continual basis.

Good Shabbos,

NZL