This week we read the parsha (Torah portion) called B’ha’alotcha which means, “When you cause something to be lifted up or raised.”  This word is used in reference to Aharon lifting up the candles of the menorah and is part of an idea that haShem (god) is telling Moshe (Moses) to tell to Aharon.  HaShem basically wants Aharon to cause the candles of the menorah to be lifted to have their light shine opposite the face of the menorah.  We read that Aharon does this.

Then we read how the Levites are to be purified for service in place of the first born and that they are to be given to Aharon and his sons to perform the work of the mishcan (tabernacle) and to atone on the children of Yisrael to prevent a plague when the children of Yisrael approach what is kodesh (holy/separate).  We then discover that everybody did just as they were told to do in regards to the purification ritual for the Levites.  Next we read a very short bit confirming that the Levites only perform the services of the mishcan between the ages of 25 and 50.

The parsha now goes back in time to the first month of the second year of the leaving of Egypt.  God is telling Moshe about how to celebrate Pesach (Passover), and Moshe is passing the information on the people, and the people are doing what they have been told.  However, there are several people who cannot participate because they are tamae (mixed) from a soul of a person.  These people come to Moshe and ask why they should be excluded from this service to haShem.  Moshe tells them to wait and he will check in with haShem.  The answer he gets from haShem is a new law that says a person who cannot participate in the sacrifice of the Pesach lamb, will have a second chance in the afternoon of the fourteenth of the next month.  We also learn that there is one law for resident of the land and sojourner on the land.

Our parsha continues by telling us how and when the camp would travel.  God tells Moshe to make two silver trumpets which are used for summoning the people and for when the camp travels.  They are also used when going to war within the land and for the holidays and new months and at the time of certain sacrifices.  All of these uses are to be a remembrance before our god/powers/haShem.

And then, on the 20th day of the second month of that second year, the cloud of haShem lifts and we take our first journey.  We get details of each tribe’s leaving and when the mishcan is dismantled and moved. Moshe then asks Chovan, son of Ru-el, the Midianite, to travel with them, and offers him that the nation will be good to him.  He declines saying he will return to the land of his birth.  The people travel for three days.  It is at this point that we see two upside down noons (Hebrew letters) that bracket words of Moshe to haShem.

After the second upside down noon, we learn that the people started to complain and god burned the edges of the camp.  A mob started crying about a craving for flesh, and this led to the rest of the nation crying out for a desire to eat flesh instead of just having the manna.  Our parsha makes a small digression to tell us about the manna.  After the digression, Moshe realizes he is not in a good spot (between god’s anger and the people’s complaints) and so he confronts god with his own complaint that the job of leading the people is too much for him.

HaShem answers Moshe by telling him to bring 70 elders to the tent of meeting, and sharing the spirit of prophecy that is on Moshe with these elders.  He also tells Moshe that he will provide a month’s worth of meat; enough meat that the people will become sick of it.  Moshe gathers the elders and brings them to the tent of meeting and they start to give prophecies.  Then haShem creates a wind that causes huge amounts of quail to fall onto the camp.  The people gather the quail and while they are eating it, haShem hits the people hard.  He then calls the place they are camping, “The Graves of Craving,” because this is where they buried the people who craved.

The nation travels some more and comes to a new camping site.  At this new place, Miriam and Aharon talk to Moshe about a Cushite woman he has married.  They remind Moshe that god speaks to them as well.  At this point god intervenes and tells them to go to the tent of meeting where god explains to Miriam and Aharon the difference between how Moshe receives prophecy and how god interacts with all the other prophets.  God then gives Miriam Tzaraat and the camp remains in place until she can re-enter the camp.  The parsha ends with the camp traveling again, this time to the wilderness of Paran.

What really stood out as I thought about this parsha is that it is rather disjointed.  It is made up of a lot of little things.  First the bit with Aharon lighting the menorah, then the purification of the Levites, then the second chance of Pesach, then trumpets and travel, then complaints, then more travel, then more complaints, and finally more travel.  What is haShem trying to tell us via this parsha?

An idea slowly dawned on me.  It is trying to tell us several things.  However there is a thread that binds it all together.  Let me see if I can weave that thread into something coherent.

I want to begin with Aharon and the menorah.  The Torah tells us that he is to lift the candles up against the face of the menorah and that they will glow.  My first question about this is, “What is the face of a menorah?”

Then I thought about what comes next.  We are told that the menorah is made out of one solid piece of gold.  As I thought about this, I started to realize that the menorah represents us.  Each one of us is a single, whole being.  However we are made up of many parts.  We have physical parts and mental parts and spiritual parts and psychological parts.  We are made up of the many rolls we play:  student, teacher, parent, child, lover, co-worker, sibling, friend, etc.  All these rolls and parts are the candles.  However we need to remember, that they all belong to, are part of one solid thing, the menorah/us.

And the meaning of raising the candles and having them glow towards the face of the menorah is really not about the menorah having a face.  It is about all the candles facing each other and glowing or shining.  It is about us letting all our seemingly disparate parts come face the rest of us and glow and shine and not be hidden away or suppressed.  The face is just the center point that they all face so they are facing each other.  For it is only in this way we can be whole.

And what happens when we are whole?  Well, when all the parts are working together, we can join together as Moshe, Aharon and his sons, the Levites, and the rest of the nation did in order to purify the parts of ourselves (the Levites) that will protect us and allow us to connect to haShem and listen and follow what god wants of us.

When we have this kind of unity within ourselves, and we desire to follow our true path, we will be provided with painless second chances to fulfill our purpose.

This is the meaning behind our receiving a second Pesach.  A part of the nation was not able to do its work, which happens in life, and was provided with a painless second chance to accomplish what it could not before.

So far, so good.  Now we come to the upside down letters.  Between them Moshe would ask haShem to scatter his enemies when the camp traveled and when the camp settled, he would ask haShem to return or sit on the myriads of the nation.

Here Moshe is reminding us that if we stay unified and connected to divinity, when we move, when things/life changes, when our different parts are doing different things, we can still count on our supreme unity to protect us.  And, when we camp, when we settle down, Moshe is telling us that our unifying connection to the divine will help bring all our separate parts back to an understanding that they are part of the one.

Up to now, our parsha has talked only about what happens when we don’t fight ourselves –   when all of our parts are allowed to shine and see and be seen by all the other parts.

This is good to know, but life is not always that way.  There are times when we will fight inside ourselves.  And this has consequences.  For example, what happens if we let our cravings and desires get the best of us?

Well, if we pay attention as we start down that road, we will hear a little voice tell us what will happen.  This is demonstrated by god telling Moshe that the people will eat until they become sick.  If we decide to ignore this warning, or if we feel like we are not strong enough to withstand our craving, the parts of us that over do it, will die.

We see a similar pattern played out with Miriam at the end of the parsha.  Now, she doesn’t die, but she does get Tzaraat which forces the camp to sit and not move forward.

From these two examples, we can see that when parts of us ignore or move against the direction of divinity, they will be hurt, and that this will cause our whole being to stop and heal from the hurt.

Now, there is one thing I haven’t addressed yet and that is the movement of the camp.  I found it comforting that after every problem, the camp moved on.  Even at the end of the parsha, we do not leave off with Miriam outside the camp; we leave off with her brought back into the fold and the camp moving on.

Now, these last two words, moving on, are the key.  The Torah is telling us that when things are bad, when we are dealing with the consequences of our divisive actions, those consequences will not last.  We will be able to pick up and move on from them.  We will not be stuck in them forever.  We will have a second chance to redeem ourselves, to come together in the unified glow of our individual parts, and to do some pretty amazing things.

May we all see beyond our individual light and see how great the glow of our whole selves is.

If you care to read what I wrote about this parsha last year, click here.

About the Author

Shmuel Shalom Cohen spent 10 years studying Torah in Jerusalem. Six years ago, he started Conscious Torah to help Jews connect to their tradition in ways they didn’t think possible. Shmuel also started, and is the executive directory of Jewish Events Willamette-valley, a non-profit whose mission is to build Jewish community, pride, and learning. In his free time, Shmuel likes walks in nature, playing music, writing poetry, and time with good friends.