Hoping for Inspiration for Shavuos & Naso
It’s hard to find inspiration for writing so early in the week.
It would be easier if I could wait until Shavuos is over.
Especially since it’s the holiday of revelation and inspiration.
Yet, I know that after the holiday, on Friday, it will be too late for my blog.
So what do I have so far?
The stories of the Torah this week are not particularly appetizing—or inspiring.
The woman accused by her husband of sleeping with another man because he’s flown into a jealous fit?
Who is then given an almost literal witch trial (not quite like the one Donald Trump claims to have just gone through).
She is made to drink “waters of bitterness” by the Temple priest—who has cursed them.
If she has not “gone astray,” she will be unharmed by the spell he puts on her.
If she has, her belly will distend and her thigh will sag.
Not much for inspiration.
I could also go with the stories by a neighbor I ran into in the park just now.
He’s a young Jewish ER pediatrician at Harlem Hospital, within which the entirety of societal problems are encompassed.
In just one ER.
No, none of that will be inspiring as we go into Shavuos to receive enlightenment.
He told me of the mind-boggling situations he deals with.
Of his incredible frustration with individual parents in his ER.
Yet, he seems to understand systemic racism, and that slavery didn’t end two hundred years ago.
He said, no, Black people are still living it today.
Then there was the Israel/Gaza war that came up in our conversation.
He and his new wife lean “more strongly towards release of the hostages,” but also recognize that Israel is not innocent.
Now, that actually was inspiring.
We actually agreed that this is way more complex than most people want to admit—because it’s easier to “take sides” and be black and white.
We agreed that history matters.
And that, if the New York Times publishes an article about abuse of Palestinians happening in Israeli prisons, then it’s probably true.
And we should own it.
Mostly, we agreed that empathy should not be lost on “both sides,” for both peoples.
And it wasn’t hard to get there with him.
That warmed my heart, coming from someone, I’m guessing, who comes from a conservative, Zionist background.
So.
There is one little section in this week’s Torah reading that coincides perfectly with all this.
And with Shavuos.
God gives instructions to the Temple priest to bless the people.
They are the words that have become famously known as the Priestly Blessing by Jews, and the Priestly Benediction by Christians.
May the Lord Bless you and keep you!
May the Lord deal kindly and graciously with you, shining the light of his face upon you.
May the Lord bestow his favor upon you and grant you peace.
Thus they shall link My name with the people, I will bless them.
May it be so for us all.
And may good things be revealed for us in the near future.
Happy Shavuos, and Good Shabbos.
