Sedra – Bamidbar
With Rabbi Ariel Abel
The topic of this week’s reading is the encampment of the tribes of Israel in the desert. Our Jewish roots are Bedouin. The Almighty’s will is for us to be able to survive in a desert – physical and spiritual.
This requires us to identify with the flag of our tribe, and be together in one camp, united. The tribe of Levi was situated at the centre of the camp, around the holy sanctuary.
This signifies the importance of placing the spiritual at the centre. Even if the majority of Jews are not intensively involved in a religious way of life, it does not really matter to the whole of the community, which must continue united and avoid fragmentation.
The Torah goes into meticulous detail on the travels of our ancestors. We are not expected to retreat into separate corners a dispersed nation with a mobile Torah to tell us how to survive spiritually. Quite the contrary. We are asked to unite. Our ancestors were placed in the desert to give them no choice other than to stay together.
When they reached the Promised Land, the tribes created a confederacy which relied on inter-tribal support. Nowadays, we are split into Charedi, modern Orthodox, non-Orthodox, and other such religious adjectives.
Unless we unite and live respectfully under allied banners, then separate cultures will act to undo everything that the Torah sets out to achieve. The function of the camp is to order Israel into a militarily capable force.
This raises a further issue – the training of our young men and women as physically and psychologically capable to defend themselves and each other. There is a view in the religious sector that yeshiva students will in an emergency pick up a gun and defend the state of Israel if needed at the last minute, or that the words of the Talmud will somehow act as a defence against bullets.
The very notion of such an idea is contradicted by this week’s reading, which insists upon readiness to rally around the Torah both in peacetime and for war, depending on which trumpet blast sounds.
We are asked not to rely on miracles. Torah learning is a great merit, but without fulfilment of its commandments – including the responsibility to defend life in a material, physical sense and be fully prepared and trained to do so – we cannot fulfil the duty we owe to the God.
Shabbat Shalom!
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
