SEGULA OF SHABUOT
ועתה, אם-שמוע תשמעו בקולי ושמרתם את-בריתי והייתם לי סגולה מכל-העמים כי-לי כל-הארץ
As we know, the giving of the Torah took place within the framework of a more comprehensive event: the celebration of a Covenant between God and the Jewish people. This “Covenant” is oftentimes referred to as a “marriage” between us and HaShem. Let us compare the process of this Covenant to that of a wedding ceremony. There is first an offer to enter the Covenant- a proposal; followed by the verbal presentation of the Covenantal terms by HaShem. The terms and conditions are written down (Sefer HaBerit, “The document of the Pact,” following our comparison this would be like the Ketuba) and the document is then read publicly by Moshe. Finally, on the morning of the 6th of Sivan, we see the final definitive acceptance of the pact (think of the “I do” in a non-Jewish wedding…) on behalf of the Jewish people, as they say, “Na’Ase VeNishma.”

AM SEGULA
When HaShem offers the people of Israel to partake in this Covenant, He says the following; (Shemot 19: 5-6) “And now, if you agree to listen to My commandments and keep a covenant with Me, you will be for Me a segula among all peoples…” What does this word “segula” mean? It appears very rarely in the Hebrew Bible. In Dibre HaYamim (I, 29:3) “segula” means “treasure.” Addressing the people of Israel, King David says that he has allocated the gold and silver reserves of his kingdom; the money collected through taxes to build the Bet HaMiqdash. He further adds, “In addition [to the royal reserves], in my desire [to build] the Temple for HaShem my God, I am also donating my personal “segula” (=treasure) of gold and silver.”King David referred to his personal treasure, his private capital, as a “segula.” Being the “segula” of HaShem means we are God’s most precious asset, His personal possession. And through this beautiful and profound metaphor, the Tora wishes to indicate to us that HaShem is committed to taking care of and protecting us just as a man protects his treasure- his most valuable possession. God assures us that the Jewish people will never disappear. Israel will be “treasured” directly by God. And as we have seen, against all odds, after being persecuted since time immemorial by almost all peoples and civilizations of history, we still exist. Thanks to the most powerful “Segula,” HaShem’s direct supervision.

THE OTHER SIDE OF AM SEGULA
This closeness to God, to be supervised directly by The Almighty, is a coin with two sides. On one hand, HaShem guarantees the eternity of the Covenant and our existence as a people. But on the other hand, being the chosen people does not mean having more privileges than other nations. Quite on the contrary, since we are the sole witnesses of Divine Revelation, God expects from us exemplary behavior. HaShem examines our behavior more strictly, more closely than the rest of the nations. He has high expectations and high demands from us. I don’t believe that anyone has better formulated this important concept than the prophet Amos. (3:2) “Thus says HaShem: רק אתכם ידעתי מכל משפחות האדמה על כן אפקד עליכם את כל עונתיכם, Only you [the people of Israel] have I known (=have I chosen) out of all the [nations] on the earth; and therefore, I will consider you responsible ( and NOT negligent) for all your mistakes (=sins)…” Being the chosen people does not grant us more rights, rather more obligations. More responsibility for our actions. And it is a yoke on our shoulders, but it keeps our backs straights and heads held high.

ועתה, אם-שמוע תשמעו בקולי, ושמרתם, את-בריתי–והייתם לי סגולה מכל-העמים, כי-לי כל-הארץ.  ואת תהיו-לי ממלכת כוהנים, וגוי קדוש

This coming Saturday night we will celebrate Shabu’ot , one of the major holidays of the Jewish calendar. In Shabu’ot we commemorate our covenant with HaShem. God distinguished us from all peoples by giving us His Tora.  HaShem said to Israel (Shemot 19: 5-6) “And now, if you will listen to My commands and keep My covenant , you will become a treasure to Me (segula) among all peoples … and you will be to Me a kingdom of priests (mamlekhet kohanim)  and a holy nation (goy qadosh).

Yesterday we explained the concept of “segula”. Today we will explain the second concept, mamlekhet Kohanim, which means  a kingdom (= a nation) of priests.

As we all know, the Jews are divided into Cohanim (priests), Levi-im (Levites) and Israelites. The Cohanim / priests used to devote themselves exclusively to the service of God. When we had our Bet haMiqdash, the Cohanim had several specific functions.

1. They were the teachers of the Jewish people. Before the destruction of the Second Temple,(68 CE), there was no institution of “rabbi” as we know it today. The people responsible for preserving and teaching Tora to the rest of Israel were the Cohanim. As the prophet Malakhi (2: 7)  said כי שפתי כהן ישמרו דעת ותורה יבקשו מפיהו  “The lips of the Cohen would preserve the [religious] instruction, and from his mouth you will demand the [teaching of] Tora.” The Cohanim were the teachers of Am Israel.

2. The Cohanim were also in charge of the major operations of the Bet haMiqdash. They were divided into 24 guards (mishmarot) and took care of all tasks concerning the sacrifices and offerings (qorbanot)  and many other rituals.  The Cohanim still retain some of these religious functions. For example, every day (or in the Ashkenazi tradition: every Yom Tov) the Cohanim recite ברכת כהנים  the priestly blessing. The Cohanim were the closest servants of God in the fields of education and religious services.

3. Serving God so closely implies more responsibilities and more restrictions than regular Jews. For example, there are a number of marriage restrictions or rituals related to mourning which apply, even today, only to the Cohanim. The privilege of serving God involves a higher degree of duties (“noblesse oblige”).

Now we understand better why the people of Israel were designated as a nation of “Cohanim”. In a sense, the Jewish people were chosen to be to the rest of the world, what the Cohanim are to the rest of the Jewish people.

 Let us begin from the end

1. The Jewish people have more obligations and restrictions than gentiles. While the Tora indicates that a Yehudi must observe 613 precepts, a gentile has only 7 commandments to fulfill.

2. The Jewish people were designated to dedicate their life to the service of God, permanently and closely. We are so close to God, that in our Tefilot (prayers) we address him in the second person: We address Him as “You”  (Blessed are You, HaShem ….).

3. Our “global” mission as a chosen people is to become the “educators” of the world. Not with words, speeches or proselytism, but exclusively by example. Each Yehudi should be a role model, an inspiration (or lagoyim) for the rest of the world. When this occurs and the gentiles perceive that Jews proceed with integrity and decency; are devoted to fulfilling God’s commandments and do not betray their religious principles, then we are fulfilling our global mission at the highest level. This level is known as “Qiddush haShem”, the sanctification of the name of God, i.e., when a gentile gets inspired by seeing our righteous behavior and our example leads him or her to recognize the Presence and will of God in this world. 

HALAKHOT FOR SHABBAT AND SHABUOT

B’H Shabu’ot will begin this Saturday night. Keep in mind that the se’uda shelishit should be done, like any other Shabbat, before the sheqi’a (sunset).  In this specific case, because at the end of Shabbat we will have Shabu’ot dinner, for which we must be with appetite, this se’uda shelishit should be lighter than usual. In our congregation, for example, we will do this se’uda shelishit with fruits. Each congregation has its own customs regarding how to make this se’uda lighter, in honor of Yom Tob dinner.

ועתה, אם-שמוע תשמעו בקולי, ושמרתם, את-בריתי – והייתם לי סגולה מכל-העמים, כי-לי כל-הארץ ואתם תהיו-לי ממלכת כוהנים, וגוי קדוש

“And now, if you will listen to My commands and keep My covenant , you will become a treasure to Me (segula) among all peoples … and you will be to Me a kingdom of priests (mamlekhet kohanim)  and a holy nation (goy qadosh). ”  Shemot 19: 5-6

Previously,  we explained two of the three concepts expressed in this pasuq: we explored the concept of ‘am segula (see this) and the concept of kingdom of priests or mamlekhet kohanim (see this).

Today we will explain the third and last concept expressed in the election of ‘am Israel, goy qadosh.   It is impossible to translate the word qadosh with one single English word. “Qadosh” could mean, according to the context: sacred, holy, special, separated, consecrated, unique, different, and more.

In the context of the covenant, which we commemorate in Shabu’ot,  goy qadosh means that we are God’s “chosen” people.

Chosen for what?

We were chosen first and foremost to be God’s witnesses. In Shabu’ot, when we received the Tora, HaShem revealed Himself to the people of Israel. We saw no images, but we heard His voice.  We are “qadosh” because  we were the sole witnesses of God’s existence. The case of God’s existence does not rest on philosophical or scientific evidences. It rests on the testimony of the Jewish people.  As the prophet Yeshayahu said: אַתֶּם עֵדַי, נְאֻם ה’, וְעַבְדִּי אֲשֶׁר בָּחָרְתִּי, לְמַעַן תֵּדְעוּ וְתַאֲמִינוּ לִי וְתָבִינוּ, כִּי אֲנִי הוּא, לְפָנַי לֹא נוֹצַר אֵל וְאַחֲרַי לֹא יִהְיֶה  “So says HaShem [to Israel] “You are My witnesses, my servant, whom I have chosen; so you will know and believe and make understand that I’m [God], there is no god before Me, no after Me”. 

In one of his letters (Igeret Teman) Maimonides explains that the first thing a Jewish parent should teach his child is the story of Shabu’ot, known in Hebrew as  מעמד הר סיני , the event in which when we witnessed God’s revelation at the feet of Mt. Sinai. This is what defines us, Jews, as the chosen people.

Conventional wisdom notwithstanding, to be the chosen people does not mean that we have more rights. On the contrary, it means that because we were witnesses of HaShem’s existence, HaShem expects from us an exemplary behavior. God will be examining our conduct closer than the rest of the nations. Perhaps, no one formulated this cardinal concept better than the prophet Amos (3:2). So said HaShem,      רק  אתכם ידעתי מכל משפחות האדמה על כן אפקד עליכם את כל עונתיכם  “You alone [the people of Israel] I’ve known (=loved, chosen) from among all the families of the earth; therefore I will hold you to accountable for all your iniquities…”

To be the chosen people is not about having more rights but more obligations. To be  a Jew is a huge responsibility. If a Jew acts with dishonesty, cheats, misbehaves, offends,etc.,  then he would disqualify himself as one of HaShem’s witnesses, causing Hilul HaShem, i.e., “making the case for Creator weaker”.

To be a Jew implies the permanent awareness that the case for God rests on our living testimony.

Parashat Bamidbar, the opening of the fourth book of the Tora, begins with a census ordered by God. Moses, the chosen leader, is tasked with this duty. Each tribe is represented by a leader or chief delegate, known as a “nasi,” adding to the significance of this event.
The Tora mentions the number of men over 20 serving in the military from each tribe, which also serves as a family census. Special duties were also assigned to the Levites, who did not participate in military service but carried out all the Tabernacle or Mishkan’s ritual and logistical aspects, as will be seen.

The Tora  presents the results of the census for each tribe, excluding the Tribe of Levi, which Moshe will count separately:
Tribe of Reuben: 46,500
Tribe of Shimon: 59,300
Tribe of Gad: 45,650
Tribe of Yehuda: 74,600
Tribe of Issakhar: 54,400
Tribe of Zebulun: 57,400
Tribe of Ephraim: 40,500
Tribe of Menashe: 32,200
Tribe of Binyamin: 35,400
Tribe of Dan: 62,700
Tribe of Asher: 41,500
Tribe of Naphtali: 53,400
The total number of men eligible for military service was 603,550.
HaShem bestows a special task upon the men of the Tribe of Levi: to care for the Mishkan, a mobile Sanctuary, and its utensils. This duty involves maintenance, dismantling, and transporting the Mishkan when the people move and rebuilding it when they encamp. The Levites are instructed to set up their tents in the center of the camp, closer to the Mishkan. At the same time, the other tribes are organized around them according to their respective groups and military formations.

Then, HaShem instructs Moses to conduct a separate census of the Tribe of Levi, and the final count is 22,000 individuals. The Tora also details the tasks assigned to each of the three families of the Tribe of Levi: Gershon, Qehat, and Merari.
At the end of the Parashah, Hashem appoints the Levites as His priests in place of the firstborns, as was the custom in those times. A “redemption ceremony” called “pidyon” is performed, which continues to be practiced to exempt firstborn males from priestly service.

שִׁיר הַמַּעֲלוֹת לְדָוִד לוּלֵי ה’ שֶׁהָיָה לָנוּ יֹאמַר-נָא יִשְׂרָאֵל: לוּלֵי ה’ שֶׁהָיָה לָנוּ בְּקוּם עָלֵינוּ אָדָם

SUICIDE MISSION

On Iyar 5, 1967, as Israel celebrated Yom Haatzmaut (Independence Day), Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser sent his troops to invade the Sinai Peninsula. The Arab states never accepted the existence of a Jewish state and did their best to destroy it. The words of a professor of Jewish history, Solomon D. Goitein, to a group of colleagues from the Hebrew University who advocated the establishment of a binational state in Palestine, represent for me the best explanation to understand why the Arab countries tried to destroy Israel in the past and why “now” we have new opportunities for peace. Goitein said in 1948: “I am not willing to risk my life for a peace pact with them [the Palestinians and the Arab states]. Because I know that there is no possibility of peace with them, as long as they think they can destroy us.”  

In May 1967 Nasser simply invited the United Nations forces, some 3,500 UNEF soldiers, to withdraw from Sinai, and within a few days, cowardly and in violation of all agreements and guarantees that had been given to Israel, they were gone, allowing Egypt to invade Israel. Israel decided not to wait to be attacked.  The Arab armies of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq had some 600 planes. Nasser had already announced that his planes were ready to bomb Tel-Aviv. Air superiority would define this war. Israel had only 200 planes and decided to attack with all of them at once on Monday, Iyar 26, 5727 (June 5, 1967). The result of this operation MIBTZA MOQUED would define the fate of the war and the survival of the Jewish State. It was a very risky and almost suicidal operation because if the Egyptians, who had very effective radars and anti-aircraft artillery equipment, would identify the planes, Israel could lose most of its aircraft and be put in an unimaginable inferior military position to face the enemy. But there was no alternative…

GOD IN HISTORY

At 7:15 am on that Monday, the 26th of Iyar, all the planes of the Israeli air force took off with a mission: to destroy as many military planes and military airports of the Egyptian army. The Israeli planes were flying very low, 20 meters above the surface, and without electronic communication between them, to avoid being detected and attacked by anti-aircraft defense systems.

At 7.45am, Israel’s air force attacked simultaneously eleven Egyptian military airbases, in Sinai, Suez, and El Arish. Israel first destroyed the runways with concrete-penetrating bombs so that no enemy planes could take off. And once the runaways were disabled, they destroyed the enemy planes on the ground. By 9:05 a.m. that morning, Israel had wiped out half of the Egyptian air force and rendered most of its runways inoperable. 

The question is: how did this happen? Why the Egyptians did not shoot down the Israeli planes? How did it happen that all the Israeli air force planes reached their destination? Why they were not attacked by the Egyptian anti-aircraft artillery? What happened to the Egyptian planes, MIG, which Israel feared so much? How did it happen that all Israeli planes but one, returned safely to their bases?

One of the most important messages of the book of Tehilim is that is our duty to “identify” God’s intervention in Creation, in nature, and also in history. In the Six-Day War, there were certain “providential events” —particularly three events in the span of the first half-hour of the war—that in isolation might be considered a lucky coincidence, but when combined, reveal that it was the Hand of God that allowed Israel to survive and succeed in Israel’s most difficult time. 

We will see now the first of these three “miracles”.

VIP IN THE AIR  

On the night of Sunday, June 4, 1967, the Egyptian Army High Command decided to make an inspection trip to the Sinai Peninsula to examine the troops that were stationed there awaiting the orders to attack Israel. In that VIP delegation were, among others, the vice president of Egypt, the prime minister of Iraq and the Egyptian minister of war. The Egyptians decided that the delegation would leave on June 5 at 7:00am, and subsequently the Egyptian military command suspended the activation of any type of artillery or anti-aircraft defense system between 7:00 and 8:00 in the morning, to prevent the planes of this important delegation from being attacked mistakenly by friendly fire.

Thus, while the Israeli planes were flying over the Sinai towards their destinations, the Egyptian defense systems were not operating. The order was that in an emergency situation the reactivation of the anti-aircraft artillery would have to be obtained directly from the Minister of War, who was at the time flying to Sinai. 

At 7:45 in the morning, when the Israeli planes arrived at the enemy’s military airbases, the Egyptian soldiers in charge of anti-aircraft defenses wanted to operate the anti-craft weapons but their commanders prevented that because they had strict orders from the Ministry of War.  When they finally understood what was happening, it was too late. Israel had already destroyed half of the Egyptian air force.

WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED?

If the Egyptian military delegation had not been in a flight between 7:00 and 8:00 that morning, the anti-aircraft defenses would have been active, and normally a large number of Israeli planes – perhaps most – would have been shot down, before reaching their destination.  

Finally, part of the reason why I think that we should refer to this “coincidence” as “Divine Providence”  is that  Israel did not have any intelligence about that VIP flight! They had no idea that the aircraft weapons will not be operating.  

There were other “providential” events that occurred that same day between 7:00 and 8:00 in the morning that allowed Israel to win the Six-Day War in half an hour.

To be continued

PS: It is worth remembering that the Israeli pilots identified the VIP delegation and asked permission to attack those large Soviet planes, Ilyushin 14, which were carrying the high-ranking Egyptian army officers. The Israeli command did not authorize the attack for fear of causing civilian casualties.

ויחן שם ישראל נגד ההר, כאיש אחד בלב אחד

Our Perasha Behar Sinai contains 24 commandments or Mitzvot. We will briefly look at some of them.

SEVENTH YEAR

God orders Moshe the Mitzvah of the Shemitah or sabbatical year: “When you arrive in the land that I am giving you, the land will observe a year of rest. For six years you will be able to sow your field, prune your vineyard and reap the harvest. But in the seventh year the land will have a year of rest… you shall not sow your field, nor prune your vineyard…”. God promises that if the people of Israel faithfully observe His laws, they will not lack food. I will “ordain My blessing for you in the sixth year so that the land may produce a harvest sufficient for three years.” That is, the sixth year will produce enough food for that year, and the next two years (during the eighth year, the land is plowed and sown, but it is not harvested until the end of the year. Which is why it is necessary that the sixth year would produce for three).

JUBILEE

The Torah also mentions the year of Jubilee or Yobel: Every 50 years the land is returned to its original owners. The land then was never sold in perpetuity but up to a maximum term of 50 years. Debts were also canceled in a similar way. All of this prevented some people from becoming too poor and others too rich in the long year. In the Jubilee year, all the slaves were freed, who at that time were the people who, given their poverty, were employed as servants to survive or to pay for their debts.

INTEGRITY

The laws of buying and selling objects and property must be followed with absolute integrity. It is forbidden to deceive or harm others financially. The Tora also indicates that one must avoid harming others with words that would damage them emotionally.

SOCIAL JUSTICE

When one of your Jewish brothers is in financial trouble and is forced to sell part of his property to support himself, the closest relative who can redeem that land must do it.   If a man has no one to redeem it or if he lacks sufficient means to recover it, what he sold will remain with the buyer just until the year of jubilee. The Parasha also refers to compassion and social justice: helping a fellow Jew who is in financial difficulty. It is necessary to prevent someone from falling into poverty, by offering them a loan that can sustain them financially. The Tora reminds us, however, of the prohibition against charging interest on a loan to a Jewish brother and the imperative to treat servants in a dignified and respectful manner. “For the children of Israel are My servants, whom I rescued from the land of Egypt. I am HaShem Your God.” The Parasha concludes with a final exhortation to observe the Shabbat day and to show the utmost respect for our Temples and Sanctuaries.

We all know the importance of the Mitsva of honoring and respecting our parents. What is perhaps less known is the historical context in which this commandment was established. Learning more about it will help us appreciate more how extraordinary this commandment is.

At first, sight, honoring our parents seems to be something obvious and natural today.

Especially because, as with many other values, Jewish biblical ideas have been integrated over the centuries into the mental and social heritage of a large part of humanity. We live in a civilization that the Bible has transformed, and as such, we take the duty to honor our parents for granted. However, this obligation is a Biblical Jewish innovation.

Let’s see.

WHAT IS A HERO?
Family and family hierarchies were not always as we know them today. To the point that parricide and incest, as can be seen from the stories and myths of the Hittites, the Sumerians, and many other peoples of ancient Mesopotamia, were not uncommon.In our specific case, the duty of honoring parents in the Tora goes far beyond mere respect for the authority of our parents. Honoring them means giving them a special category of respect. Consider, for example, the obligation of a son or daughter to stand up in honor of the mere presence of their parents. In modern society, this is reserved for individuals with certain positions associated with power, for example, the president, a judge, a governor, etc. Also, in ancient times, in societies contemporary to the time of the giving of the Tora, this type of honor was reserved not for the progenitors but almost exclusively for the warriors and the “heroes” of the battlefield. For men (never for women!), powerful and physically strong, distinguished by their military prowess or by defeating monsters with multiple heads.

The call to honor “parents” is a radical innovation of the Tora, a profound disengagement with other cultures and with the human tendency to elevate to the level of heroes those who obtained the glory in the battle. The Biblical revolution solidifies the image of parents by demanding to honor them as if they were our heroes, and reinforcing thus the child-parent bond, facilitating the process of education and transmission.

WHAT IS A WOMAN?
Another element that perhaps is not valued enough is that societies of antiquity were strictly patriarchal, and in many civilizations, women were considered as possessions, and they enjoyed practically no rights. As explained by the Sages, the Biblical text establishes that a child should honor his father and mother equally. The mother is not seen as a paternal appendix but as an equal partner in the family society. This is a cultural revolution with long-term effects. Because by raising the position of both parents equally, a Jewish child is trained from a tender age to appreciate women. Among other things, this will influence, in the future, the way a man will see his own wife since there is a direct relationship between the respect that a son has for his mother as a boy and the respect he will have for his wife when he gets married. A Jewish daughter also grows up with an enhanced self-esteem as a woman, seeing the unconditional honor and deference given to her mom by her male siblings.