By Moshe Murray ( My dear husband of 34 years)
Once more we reach my
parsha in the Torah where the third aliyah that we read during the weekday, the
aliyah of Yisroel, begins with “the sons of Murray!”
I love this parsha…
What?
Do I detect skepticism
among some of you? The parsha plainly says: בְּנֵי
מְרָרִ, that’s “b’nai,” the sons of; and mem resh resh yud, which
certainly sounds like M r r y or, in my case, Murray! All right, so the
Torah pronounces it Merari. But all that means is that, for the gentile
world, the sons of Merari gradually became Murray’s. After all, Kohein
became Cohen, nu?
However, perhaps a more
important feature of this week’s parsha is not the parsha of Naso itself but,
what follows. And what follows is Shavuous – one of the Three Pilgrimage
Festivals where all Jews were required to travel to Yerushalayim to bring
Offerings to the Bais HaMikdosh, our Holy Temple.
And, Shavuous, where G-d
Gave His Holy Torah to His Chosen people on Har Sinai. Where the Jewish People
said: “Na’aseh v’nish’mah,” We shall do and we shall hear! This is the seminal
moment of Jewish History when the Children of Israel Choose to become the
Chosen People!
(For the rest of the
non-Jewish world, the Christian holiday of Pentecost comes somewhere around
this day, June 8th this year.This year, Shavuous begins on Tuesday night, June
3rd, and it continues on June 4th and June 5th. Pentecost, meaning the “50th
day,” is the day associated with the apostles speaking in the different
languages of all of the Jews that came from around the world to celebrate
Shavuous in Jerusalem which is, according to the Torah, 50 days after
Passover.)
I heard this story from
a lawyer – I am not sure who.
He was a relatively
successful lawyer and was trying a case where the next court date was supposed
to be on Shavuous.
He explained to the
Judge that he could not make that court date as it was a Jewish holy day and he
was not allowed to work on that day.
The Judge told him: “Mr.
Lawyer. I am Jewish. I celebrate the Jewish holidays of Passover
and Chanukah. So don’t try and make up some story about some invented
holiday that I have never heard of!”
The Judge did eventually
come to find out that this was a real Jewish holiday but, that is an example of
how little known is Shavuous, even to most non-observant Jews.
Nonetheless, over 3,300
years ago, Am Yisroel; the Jewish people, received the Torah at Har Sinai and
formally became G-d’s Chosen People.
Moshe Rabbeinu informs
the Jewish people that G-d tells them:
“And now, if you obey Me
and keep My covenant, you shall be to Me a treasure out of all peoples, for
Mine is the entire earth. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of princes and a
holy nation.”
However, we are informed
that it was not that G-d Chose us, rather that Israel Chose G-d.
The Midrash tells us
that G-d not only revealed Himself to the Jewish People but – to all the
Nations of the world.
We learn that G-d first
went to the children of Esav and asked them: “Will you accept My Torah?”
The Children of Esav
answered, “What’s in it?
Hashem said: “Thou shalt
not commit murder.”
The Children of Esav
said: “L-rd of the Universe, the very essence of our father Esav is that he is
a murderer. As it says, (Bereishis: 27:22) ‘And the hands were the hands
of Esav,’ and (Bereishis: 27:40) ‘By the sword you shall live.’
L-rd of the Universe, we
cannot accept Your Torah.”
G-d then went to the
children of Amon and Moav and He said to them: “Will you accept My Torah?”
The Chidren of Amon and
Moav answered, “What’s in it?”
Hashem said: “Thou shalt
not commit adultery.”
The Children of Amon and
Moav said: “L-rd of the Universe, our very essence is that we come from
adultery. As it says (Bereishis: 19:36), ‘And Lot's two daughters conceived
from their father.’
L-rd of the Universe, we
cannot accept Your Torah.”
G-d then went to the
children of Yishmael and He said to them, “Will you accept My Torah?”
The Children of
Yismael answered: “What’s in it?”
Hashem said: “Thou shalt
not steal.”
The Children of Yishmael
said: “L-rd of the Universe, our very essence is that we live from thievery and
robbery. As it says (Bereishis: 16:12), ‘his hand will be upon all, and
everyone's hand upon him…’
L-rd of the Universe, we
cannot accept Your Torah.”
Hashem went among all
the nations of the world. There was not a nation to whom G-d did not
speak and on whose door G-d did not knock, asking them whether they wished to
accept His Torah. And every nation refused after hearing what was in the
Torah.
After G-d had
spoken to all the nations of the world, G-d came to the Children of Yisroel and
He said to them: “Will you accept My Torah?”
And the Childen of
Yisroel said: “Na’aseh v’nish’mah; We shall do and we shall hear!”
We learn that Israel
immediately pledged their loyalty to whatever Hashem wanted them to do even
before they knew what was being asked of them.
This is the one seminal
moment in Jewish history when the entire Jewish Nation spoke as One and
proclaimed to G-d – Whatever you ask of us, we will do – even before we know
what it is.
Israel Chose G-d and
thereby became the Chosen People.
For most Torah observant Jews, the above is sort of “inside
baseball,” a well known midrash.
However, I heard an additional understanding of “Na’aseh
v’nish’mah” from one of our Kollel rabbis, Rabbi Aryeh Cohen, the other night –
Judaism is not a religion. It is a Relationship.
“Na’aseh v’nish’mah; We will do (whatever you want) and (then) we
will hear (what you want us to do)” is the Relationship that the Jewish People
pledged to Hashem in their Greatest Moment at Har Sinai.
In the Torah, this Moment is referred to as the "marriage
day" between G-d and the Jewish People; between Heaven and Earth.
And, for over 3,300 years, we have been trying to remember to
infuse this sacred Relationship which we Chose to have with G-d into every
aspect of our lives - into our own marriages.
For men, there is no more important place to remember to instill
this Relationship than in marriage. “We will do and then we will hear” is,
quite frankly, the opposite of my and, I suspect, many men’s responses to their
wives’ requests.
G-d Chose the Jews because the Jews Chose to have this special
Relationship with G-d.There is not a married couple who, somewhere inside of
them, does not want this special Relationship with their spouse.
The Torah was given to us to transform our lives by taking each
mitzvah; each lesson that the Torah can teach us, and applying it to every
facet of our life.
For men, imagine the Relationship you could have with your wife if
every time she asked you anything, your immediate response was – I will do
whatever you ask, even before you tell me what it is….
May we all be zocheh to such a Relationship with our spouses and
to remember that we Chose this Relationship at Mt. Sinai by proclaiming to the
world that we agree to do what is necessary before we even know what it is that
is necessary to do.
Gut Shabbos and Gut Yom Tov.
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