Numbers 13:1 - 15:41
Haftarah Portion: Joshua 2:1-24
July 1, 2000
28 Sivan, 5760
Focus Passage: Numbers 15:32 - 41
Violating the Sabbath and Remembering G-d's Command
Violating the Sabbath, Numbers 15:32 - 36
The seriousness with which Israel accepted covenant requirements is shown clearly in the stoning of the man found picking up sticks on the Sabbath. The action in itself was trivial, but not necessary, whatever use he may have made of the sticks. It was the fact that the Sabbath had been usurped, that made the action so serious. While no one would support death for Sabbath violation today, the seriousness with which Israel honored G-d through the dedication of time and life is noteworthy and necessary even in the year 5760 and beyond.
Remembering G-d's Command, Numbers 15:37 - 41
Memory plays tricks on everyone. Those things we think we will never forget are forgotten; even those things we want to forget and should forget, too often we remember. Perhaps one of the most serious threats individuals face in their commitment to G-d is not that of deliberate sin but the gnawing temptation to regulate the acts and laws of G-d to the realm of the forgotten, even to forget what G-d has done in one's own life. As deterrent to that threat, the people of Israel were commanded to wear tassels with a cord of blue on the corners of their garments (v. 38). Yet, "remember" is a far more dynamic concept in Hebrew than in contemporary English language. "Remember," did not mean merely to call to mind; it also meant to act in light of a past commitment or experience.
For example, G-d "remembered" the covenant and came down to deliver Israel in Egypt (Exodus 2:24). So those who take the biblical revelation seriously are not only called to remember what G-d has done; they are called on to live out the mitzvot, to implement them in daily life.
Shalom U'Vracha,
Thomas
