Kaf Sivan & Parshat B’ha-alo-t’cha
This Friday (June 5) is the 20th of Sivan. Kaf Sivan almost became a public fast day on our calendar, joining Shiv’a Asar b’Tamuz, Tish’a b’Av, Tzom Gedaliya, Asara b’Tevet, and Taanit Esther. It didn’t, for various reasons. But it is a day that marks extreme tragedies that occurred in different times in Jewish history. It is a sad day – sadly, one of many – and it should not go by without discussion, reflection, and our prayers to HaKadosh Baruch Hu for an end to tragedy and heartbreak and for the Geulah Sh’leima.
The horrors began one night in the city of Blois, in central France, when a Jew watering his horse happened upon a murder scene in which a gentile adult had drowned a gentile child. The murderer, not wanting to be executed for his crime, fled to the local ruler, telling him that he had just caught a Jew murdering a child!
The ruling tyrant arrested 31 Jewish leaders, men and women, including some of the Baalei Tosafot who were disciples of the Rashbam, Rashi’s grandson. The tyrant accused his prisoners of killing the gentile child to obtain blood for producing matzah.
After locking his captives in a tower, the tyrant told them that if they accepted baptism, he would forgive them, but if they refused, he would execute them in a painful way. None of them considered turning traitor to Hashem’s Torah. On the 20th of Sivan 4931 (1171), they were tied up and placed on a pyre to be burned alive. At the fateful moment, the Jews sang in unison: “Aleinu l’shabei’ach la’Adon HaKol…”
As a commemoration of the sacrifice of these great Jews and as a day of t’shuva, Rabbeinu Tam and the other gedolei Baalei Tosafot of France declared the 20th of Sivan a fast day. Special slichot and piyutim were composed to memorialize the incident.
The fast of the 20th of Sivan memorialized an additional Jewish calamity. Almost five hundred years later, most of the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe suffered the unspeakable massacres at the hands of Chmielnitzky, the Ukrainian national hero. These massacres are known as the G’zeirot Tach v’Tat, which refer to the years of 5408-09, corresponding to the secular years 1648-49. Although this title implies that these excesses lasted for at most two years, the calamities of this period actually raged on, sporadically, for the next 12 years.
The 20th of Sivan was chosen to remember Tach v’Tat because on that date, the Jewish community of Nemirov, Ukraine was destroyed by the Cossacks, who rampaged through the town, murdering thousands of Jews. The shul was destroyed and all the Sifrei Torah were torn to pieces and trampled. Their parchment was used for shoes and clothing.
During the night between the 10th and 11th of June 1982 (the 20th of Sivan), the IDF fought Syrian forces in the Battle of Sultan Yacoub, in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. Considered one of Israel’s worst failures and most costly battles in the First Lebanon War, 30 Israeli soldiers were killed and another five went missing – Yehuda Katz, Tzvi Feldman, Zachary Baumel, Ariel Lieberman, and Hezi Shai. Eyewitnesses testified that three Israeli soldiers were paraded through Damascus several days after the battle. Zachary Baumel’s remains were returned home in 2019 – 37 years after his capture (and probable murder), and 10 years after his father passed away following 27 years of tireless and agonizing efforts to bring his son home.
Our Sages try not to overburden us with additional fast days, which probably explains why Kaf Sivan isn’t fixed into our calendar as a fast day. Yet the day definitely calls out to us to remember and never forget the many tragedies that have befallen us.
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This week’s sedra outside of Israel is B’ha-alo-t’cha, and in Israel we will be reading Parshat Sh’lach. Because most Jewish Press readers are in Chutz LaAretz, this column will focus on the “local” weekly sedra.
Why do I spell it out this way – B’ha-alo-t’cha? Because most English speakers mispronounce it. It has three syllables – not six, as you might think – and the Tav (the letter most of us call Tuf) belongs to the third syllable, not the middle one. In Ashkenazic pronunciation, it’s B’ha-alo-s’cha.
However you pronounce it, it is the 36th of the 54 sedras in the Torah, the third in the Book of Bamidbar. It is the tenth longest sedra, if you count the number of lines it is written on in a Sefer Torah (240). It drops slightly, to 11th or 12th place – still a longish sedra – if your ranking is number of p’sukim (136), words (1,840), or letters (7,055).
Just for perspective, the averages for the Torah are: 190.5 (lines), 108.26 (p’sukim), 1,481 (words), 5,644.5 (letters).
The most notable feature of B’ha–alo–t’cha is one of its 16 parshiyot that is bracketed by backwards letter Nuns in a Sefer Torah. This scribal practice isolates and highlights that two-pasuk portion and serves to divide the sedra and the whole Book of Bamidbar into two parts.
These two p’sukim are well-known to all shul-goers. They are said when the Aron Kodesh (the Ark) is opened to take out the Torah – “Vayhi binso’a haAron…” – and when the Aron is closed after the Torah is returned to it – “Uvnucho yomar…”
Focusing on B’ha–alo–t’cha, we find that the first half has many good topics – the lighting of the Menorah, the sanctity of the Leviyim, the first annual Korban Pesach, the introduction of Pesach Sheni for those who did not participate in the Korban Pesach in Nisan, the making of the Chatzotzrot, the silver trumpets which had special uses in the Wilderness, and the mitzvah to blow them in times of calamity as well as on festive occasions. We find a description of the marching formation of Bnei Yisrael and the Mishkan, intended for travel in the Midbar from Har Sinai to the Promised Land.
Then comes the two-pasuk parsha (we can refer to it as the loneliest parsha of the Torah’s 674 portions) that separates the just-mentioned events from what follows.
And what follows is not good stuff. Complaints: “We’re tired of the manna” (which they had been privileged to receive for just about a year). “We want meat. We remember fondly the wonderful food we had in Egypt.” (Really?) Hashem was exceedingly angered by these complaints.
Let me make it clear that G-d does not get angry, nor does He have any other human emotion. However, the Torah speaks in language we can relate to. The Torah anthropomorphizes G-d so that we can understand things better.
With that said, the phrase “Vayichar af Hashem” (And G-d’s anger flared) occurs 17 times in Tanach. At this point in our sedra, the word m’od (very much) is added. Only this one time.
It is significant to note that shortly after we left Egypt, soon after the Splitting of the Sea, the people complained of being hungry. And the language they used was very offensive to G-d (so to speak). On that occasion, they were promised to be given meat (specifically quail) to eat in the evening, and that the manna would fall the following morning and every single weekday for the duration of their journey in the Midbar. As nasty as the language of their complaints was, G-d’s response was essentially, “B’tei-avon!” – Eat well.
This time, in this week’s sedra, the people’s complaint is also met with quail, but not with G-d’s smile – rather, with a destructive force that resulted in many deaths.
Why the difference? Maybe we can understand it this way: Just out of Egypt, the people were still mentally slaves. Their main concerns were for water and food. This was provided for them in Egypt, but what about now? It was as if their behavior and language was to be expected. However, a year later, they had been at Mount Sinai for 11 months, where they had received the Torah. They had been taught Torah and mitzvot by Moshe Rabbeinu. They had a functioning society and a Mishkan. And they had the miraculous manna to eat and prepare in many different ways. This time, their complaints are met with G-d’s wrath.
For the first time, Moshe does not jump to defend the people and plead for them before G-d. The Torah tells us of how he too reacts negatively, rather than protectively, to the people’s complaints. And he too complains to G-d – and even displays a bit of doubt that the people could be supplied with sufficient meat to satisfy them. Then Miriam and Aharon speak lashon hara about Moshe. Miriam is punished.
Expanding in both directions from B’ha–alo–t’cha, we find the loving census, at G-d’s request, of the tribes, the camps, the Leviyim, and the firstborns. Then the workforce of the Leviyim and their holy tasks for the Mishkan. Other topics include Birkat Kohanim and the 12-day dedication of the Mishkan with the elaborate gifts of the tribal leaders. Good stuff.
B’ha–alo–t’cha is followed in the coming sedra with the devastating Sin of the Spies and the rebellion of Korach and his gang. The Torah tells us of the depression of the People after all those occurrences.
No wonder the Book of Bamidbar is physically divided within a Torah scroll!
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The sedra of B’ha–alo–t’cha contains five of the Torah’s 613 mitzvot. That doesn’t seem like very many, yet this sedra has more mitzvot than 28 other sedras, putting it in the top half of sedras, mitzvah-wise. OK, towards the bottom of the top half, but still…
Of the five mitzvot, three are positive commands and two are prohibitions.
Four of the mitzvot deal with Pesach Sheni, the other one is about the Chatzotzrot.
Pesach Sheni is an exception to the rule that when the time for a korban passes, that’s it – no make-up. No way to rectify the lack of that Korban. In fact, the Rambam states clearly that Pesach Sheni is not a make-up for the Korban Pesach of the 14th of Nisan. Rather, it is its own stand-alone mitzvah.
What does that mean? It means that if anyone misses Korban Pesach on the 14th of Nisan, he misses it. Period. OK, make that a semi-colon. A person who was tamei (ritually defiled) or distant from the Mikdash, or was sick, drunk, forgetful, or negligent – or even has no excuse – and didn’t participate in the Korban Pesach, has the mitzvah to bring a Korban Pesach on the 14th of Iyar and to eat it roasted and with matzah and maror on the night of the 15th of Iyar.
That might sound like a make-up, but here’s the indication that it is a stand-alone mitzvah, albeit for a limited number of people. Think of a non-Jew who converts to Judaism on Rosh Chodesh Iyar. Two weeks earlier, he was forbidden to eat from the Korban Pesach. Now that he just became a Jew, logic would say that his first Korban Pesach would be the following year – if, that is, what we call Pesach Sheni or Pesach Katan is a make-up for Korban Pesach. But since Pesach Sheni stands on its own, the new ger is obligated to bring (or be part of a group that brings) the Korban Pesach on the 14th of Iyar. (There are other halachic ramifications of Pesach Sheni being its own mitzvah. We’ll save that for another discussion.)
The biggest takeaway from the topic of Pesach Sheni is the concept of a second chance. In the case of Korban Pesach, the second chance is very limited. And we don’t see it in other time-related mitzvot. If a person was ill and slept through Yom Kippur, there is no make-up opportunity. If it rains for all seven days of Sukkot and then the sun comes out and dries the sukkot, there is nothing to do for the non-observance of the mitzvah. But the concept of second chance is vital as we apply it to the mitzvah of t’shuva and the opportunity to repair matters in many areas of Jewish life, and life in general.
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About the Chatzotzrot – the silver trumpets: They served to call the people or their leaders to assembly, and they were used to signal travel through the Midbar. These functions are not part of the mitzvah of the Chatzotzrot, because they applied only to that one generation in the Wilderness. However, the mitzva is that they are to be blown in times of national trouble and also in the Beit HaMikdash on joyous occasions, Rosh Chodesh, and Festivals.
Does the mitzvah apply in our time? Obviously, the Beit HaMikdash part of the mitzvah will activate when we have a Beit HaMikdash once more – may we be privileged to rejoice in its rebuilding. But what about in times of trouble? On this issue, there are different opinions. There are those who say yes and those who say no.
But there is another interesting opinion mentioned by Rabbi J. David Bleich in his Contemporary Halachic Issues: namely, that the mitzvah of blowing the Chatzotzrot reactivates when there is Jewish Sovereignty over Eretz Yisrael. This means that blowing the Chatzotzrot was reactivated as a Torah mitzvah with the establishment of the State of Israel – perhaps the only mitzvah to bear this distinction.
And with that, whichever sedra you will read this week – Shabbat Shalom.