Parashat Behalotecha בְּהַעֲלֹֽתְךָ֙ begins with the lampstand or Menorah, bringing light to the Tent of Meeting. Every problem we have to deal with in our lives and in our world boils down to “Light vs Darkness” as Rabbi Yeshua’s famous Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:14-19 states: ‘You are light for the world… No one lights a lamp and hides it under a barrel; they put it on the lampstand where it shines for everyone to see. Let your light shine among men, so that they can see your good works, and glorify your Father in heaven”.Yeshua was referring to Bereshit: “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep…And God said, Let there be light; and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.”
God created order (light) from chaos (darkness), and since then, darkness has been at war with light, and chaos is still trying to rule over every area of our lives. The only remedy lies in God’s principles that teach us how to walk in His light. It doesn’t say it is easy, but when we do, our lives gradually fill with purpose and a sense of being safe in an unsafe world.
The menorah was fashioned from hammered gold, which has always held its value and has even increased in value over time. However, mankind continues to replace it with things that can lose their value in a flash, like paper money or cryptocurrency. That’s the war between light and darkness, when humans substitute God’s Truth with their own.
Next, we read about an elaborate ceremony called “smicha,” the laying of hands upon the Levites to acknowledge their role of service to the entire community. When a dictator usurps the role of a chosen leader, there is no such ceremony. When President Trump was sworn into office, he laid his hand on the Bible, vowing before God and all Americans to fulfill his duty to serve the people. His burden is heavy, and he needs our prayers.
The responsibility of keeping that vow lies on his shoulders; if he breaks it, chaos or plague ensues, and if he keeps his word, the people experience the “light” of safety and prosperity. Later, we read about the Assafsouf, rabblerousers who serve the darkness and try to destroy the light of good leaders. We saw that when Nehemiah, with the help of King Darius, went to rebuild Jerusalem.
In contrast, at age 25, young Levites would train for their service, which would begin at 30. The Levites of 50 years of age had to retire from ‘doing’ the work, but they didn’t go home and spend time watching TV; rather, as verse 26 says:“ …they shall minister with their brothers in the Tent of Meeting, to keep the charge, but do no service.” Wisdom can only be gained after years of service, so that those entering can benefit from it. Today, we put our elderly out to pasture, burying years of wisdom, and replace them with the young, who are in universities all around the world, creating chaos. Let’s pray for this next generation who have been raised by wise parents.
Next, with the Festival of Pesach, our Rebirth, comes hope: “In the fourteenth day of this month, at evening you shall keep it in its Appointed Season; according to all its rituals and ceremonies.” Again, God is showing us that order dictates that we must not observe this festival in any way we please. Chaos dictates: Let’s tear down the old, trusted, wise ways that our Creator gave us and replace them with ‘… and everyone did what was right in their own eyes’, adding to the societal chaos that we see these days. When the majority allows the minority to pull down the protective boundaries God gave us to create order and light and replace them with “no boundaries”, they open the door to chaos and darkness. Today, Pandora’s box is open, and those of us who see it need to speak up.
Bamidbar 19:14 states: “If a stranger (ger) dwelling among you, wants to observe God’s Pesach according to the prescribed ordinances (chukkim) of Pesach, so shall he do; you shall have one ordinance (chukkat echad), for the stranger, and for the native born in the land.” If the ger is to do exactly as the native born does, this implies that, over time, they will become integrated into God’s community and be united with us under the one GOD, like Ruth the Moabite. She chose to follow Naomi, having vowed, “Your people are my people, and your God is my God.” Yet what does the Jewish community say to the ger? “If you don’t go through our complicated conversion process, you keep your god while we’ll keep ours. Here are seven Noahide laws for you, while we have the 613.” That is religion; it is not Torah! No wonder chaos abounds.
Next, the phrase עַל־פִּ֤י “al peh – at the mouth of the LORD”, is repeated 3 times, for emphasis. God wants to speak to us in a way we can understand. His voice boomed out His Ten Principles at Mt. Sinai, and we, like children, closed our ears – “We don’t want to hear His voice,” and we begged Moses to speak to us instead. God understood that He was dealing with an infant nation, like a father who speaks words of love, warning, or reprimand to his children. Today, we surround ourselves with so much noise and distraction that we drown out His voice.
So He communicated with us in other ways – through Signs and Trumpets. The same “cloud by day” that stopped the Egyptians from destroying us rested over the Tent of Meeting as a visible Sign that He would direct us wherever we went. When it lifted, they would break camp and move out; when it settled, they would set up camp again, repeating this cycle until they reached the Promised Land.
Al peh Adonai עַל־פִּ֤י יְהֹוָה – from the mouth of GOD, Moses was told to make trumpets. Each Tekiah תָקְע֖וּ, Teruah תָרִֽיע and Chatz’tzrot ֽחֲצֹֽצְר֑וֹת had very distinctive sounds – one to call the entire congregation to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting; another, as an alarm to warn us of the enemy and the call for God to remember us; another, the call directing them to break camp in their designated order and march to their next destination. Order was necessary for each group to move in perfect sequence whenever God gave the word…and always the Ark of the Covenant would lead the way! When we are guided by His Eternal Principles, our lives become well-ordered, and we learn to trust that He will lead us through this desert of life.
We recite this most beautiful and powerful prayer from Behalotecha every Shabbat, “Kumah Adonai v’yafutzu oyvecha v’yanusu misanecha mipanecha קוּמָ֣ה יְהֹוָ֗ה וְיָפֻ֙צוּ֙ אֹֽיְבֶ֔יךָ וְיָנֻ֥סוּ מְשַׂנְאֶ֖יךָ מִפָּנֶֽיךָ Arise oh God and let Your enemies be scattered!”
My heart cries out: Shema Israel, Hear O Israel – God alone can lead His army to victory over our enemies, as our prophet Zechariah told us in this week’s haftarah: “Not by might, not by power, but by My spirit says the LORD of the armies.” We would all do well to remember that the Land of Israel, with its army, have strength and power because of our Creator. On one hand, we must not rely solely on our own strength to win the battle, but no one can touch the apple of His eye without consequences!
Next, Moses begged his father-in-law, Hobab (or Yitro), to travel with them, because he knew the desert well. Did Moses forget who had been guiding them every step of the way? When Hobab refused to go, could it have been because he was wise enough to know that even Moses had to learn to trust God? We all have the same doubts and fears, ranging from moments of Divine Ecstasy, as experienced by the 70 elders, to fearing that God would not be with us on the next stage of our journey.
And the Israelites who had witnessed their God leading them with signs and wonders began to complain again. There were immediate consequences. God sent a fire to burn (וַתִּבְעַר tivar) the outlying areas of the camp, and many died that day. The people cried out to Moses, who then cried out to God, and the fire stopped. We would do well to remind ourselves of this stage of our journey – תַּבְעֵרָ֑ה (Taverah), as well as all the other occasions throughout our long history, when we didn’t trust GOD. Please help us, LORD, to trust you!
What happened there? Did the complaints come out of nowhere? That’s when we read about וְהָֽאסַפְסֻף֙ Ha Assafsouf… the rabble-rousers, those same agitators we see today, stirring up trouble wherever crowds gather to celebrate victories or fight for justice. They look for any excuse to sow unrest, guided by their twisted reasoning. Why? What is the root of their desire to continue the war between light and darkness? Don’t they have the choice to choose good over evil? The gift from the heavens, manna, was not enough; their excuse was that they craved meat and all the imagined ( selective memory) “free” fruit and vegetables they had received in Egypt.
Moses heard the people weeping and grew distressed and angry, and lashed out at GOD – “Why have you afflicted your servant? Did I give birth to these people? How can I possibly feed them? How can I bear this burden alone?” So GOD told Moses to gather seventy men, and he would have them share the burden that Moses felt he was carrying alone.
In every situation, God’s compassion and mercy hold onto us until we come back into balance. God alone holds the Truth and the answers for our lives; He takes the chaos that we experience and turns it to order when we are willing to allow Him. He never forces us, and then His light shines through us in the darkness of this world. All we can do is hold on for the ride.
I began with Yeshua telling us: Let your light shine among men…” He immediately follows with: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to show you how to apply them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single yud, not a stroke, will disappear from the Torah until everything that must happen has happened.” So the answer to our light shining lies in the Torah!
Behalotecha ends with Miriam and Aaron challenging Moses’ God-given role: “Has the LORD spoken only through Moses and not through us as well?” As a result, Miriam was stricken with tzaraat and quarantined outside the camp for seven days. Earlier, we were warned that those who did not observe Pesach as God had commanded would be cut off from their people. We may not realize that these stories still apply to our lives today. How many of us get sick or feel abandoned without knowing why? Yeshua told us, “So then, whoever breaks one of the least of these (Ten) commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in God’s kingdom; but whoever practices and teaches them will be called great in God’s kingdom.”
Yeshua and Moses were both the humblest of men, and they set the example for us to know how to live. Yeshua understood that God’s “light” can only shine through us when our hearts are open to doing our best to follow God’s Principles handed down to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Let us face each day with the knowledge that God is lighting our path; all we have to do is follow. The LORD is my shepherd…!
Shabbat Shalom
Peggy Pardo