Monday, May 27, 2013
Parshat Shelach
Bamidbar 13:1 – 15:41
23 Sivan 5773 / May 30 - June 1, 2013
Bamidbar 13:1 – 15:41
23 Sivan 5773 / May 30 - June 1, 2013
“An Elephant
Never Forgets”
by Rebecca Karp, Senior Regional Director
by Rebecca Karp, Senior Regional Director
Parshat Shelach (“Send”) is chock-full
of amazing tidbits to riff on. Spies, threats of 40 years of wandering, promise
of the death of an entire generation, the mitzvah of challah, liturgy from the
high holiday services, and it goes on. So much wisdom, so much to choose from.
But, as I write this D’var Torah from Israel, eretz zavat halav u’dvash
(“a land flowing with milk and honey”), that the Israelites are almost ready to
enter, I chose to touch on the commandment of tzitzit, a commandment to
wear and remember.
Chapter 15,
Verses 38-39
38. Speak to
the children of Israel and you shall say to them that they shall make for
themselves fringes on the corners of their garments, throughout their
generations, and they shall affix a thread of sky blue (wool) on the fringe of
each corner. 39. This shall be fringes for you, and when you see it, you will
remember all the commandments of the Lord to perform them…
Perhaps the
phrase, “an elephant never forgets”, bringing up the image of an elephant with
a string tied around its (non-existent) finger, comes from the far reaches of
Bamidbar and the concept of tying fringes on your garment to remember the
commandments of HaShem. Surely an iconic symbol in Judaism, the fringes on the
corners of “your” garment represent far more many things to people than only
the commandments. For me, the most prominent image this symbol brings up is
huddling under my father’s talit during services because the synagogue
was so cold and he would hold me and we would sing the prayers together. What
does this image, the image of tzitzit, make you think of? I would
venture to say not just, if at all, the concept of remembering the commandments.
When I describe
a thin, red string tied around someone’s wrist, what do you think of? Kabbalah,
Madonna, women begging at the Western Wall? Or when I mention two
golden-colored arches? Fries, the Hamburglar, child obesity, McDonald’s? No
matter what you associated these two items with, you would likely be both right
and not thinking of what the original creator intended for you to think.
The common
thread between tzitzit, the red string and the golden-colored arches are
that all of these symbols have come to mean more than their original
intentions. The symbol of tzitzit is more rich and expansive for us
today than HaShem envisioned during Bamidbar, reminding us not only of the
commandments, but of our families, our heritage, the Jewish people around us
today and what we can give to the Jewish future. Perhaps the next time you put
on a garment with tzitzit, or see them on someone else, you will even think of
this D’var Torah and remember all of the great work we’re doing (and fun we’re
having) in Moishe House!
0 Comments:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)