Scattering the Forces of Resistance (Parashat Be'ha'alotekha)

Parashat Be'ha'alotekha discusses how the Torah traveled in front of the people. We read the following in Numbers 10: 35-36:

When the Ark was to set out, Moses would say:
Advance, O Lord
May your enemies be scattered, and may your foes flee before You.
And when it halted, he would say
Return, o Lord,
You who are Israel’s myriad of thousands!

The text has a military theme. As the people march forward, God is protecting them. God scatters their enemies and clears the path for the people. Enemies flee.

The next passage abruptly shifts from the vision of a people on the march to their desired future to the complaints of the people looking to the emotions of their present and the prejudices of their past. The Torah (Numbers 11:4-5) says that the people complained before the Lord:

The riff-raff in their midst felt a gluttonous craving and then the Israelites wept and said, 'If only we had meat to eat. We remember the fish we used to eat free in Egypt.' 

Judaism does not require that we give up the joys of this world. We are permitted to eat well, just not to be gluttonous. We are permitted to have sensual desire but within the structure of sacred relationships.  We are meant to be fully engaged with this world but to remember that we are part of a design of ultimate purpose- the building of sacred community.

God is willing to walk with us but we need to join the procession. Every time the Torah is read we have the opportunity to get up and greet the Torah after the first text above is read from the bimah. Each week we have the opportunity to connect with God and to ask for God’s support in reducing the forces of resistance between our current lives and the lives we aspire to.

We know all too well that our higher aspirations are always be challenged by ours fears and doubts. Like the Israelites, we sometimes swing from sacredness to selfishness within the same Shabbat morning service. Such is our unsteady path.

When the Torah procession comes around the sanctuary, we have a chance to stand up and connect with the Torah. Its ways are ways of pleasantness and all its paths are peace. With this sure connection we surely gain strength - our steps the following week will be steadier. Surefooted, we will gain new capacity to scatter the obstacles before us.