Parashat Bamidbar: How Close to God is Too Close?

The Parasha this week is Bamidbar, and our jumping off point for discussion is this small set of verses, placing the Aaronite clan in charge of the Tabernacle, and warning outsiders against drawing too near.

Bamidmar 3:5-10

וידבר יהוה אל־משה לאמר׃ הקרב את־מטה לוי והעמדת אתו לפני אהרן הכהן ושרתו אתו׃ ושמרו את־משמרתו ואת־משמרת כל־העדה לפני אהל מועד לעבד את־עבדת המשכן׃ ושמרו את־כל־כלי אהל מועד ואת־משמרת בני ישראל לעבד את־עבדת המשכן׃ ונתתה את־הלוים לאהרן ולבניו נתונם נתונם המה לו מאת בני ישראל׃ ואת־אהרן ואת־בניו תפקד ושמרו את־כהנתם והזר הקרב יומת׃

Numbers 3:5-10

The Lord spoke to Moses saying: 'Bring near the tribe of Levi and place them before Aaron the Priest to serve him. They shall perform duties for him and duties for all the people before the Tent of Meeting, in order to do the work of the Tabernacle. They shall take charge of all the tend of Meeting, and all the duties of the children of Israel to perform the work of the Tabernacle. You shall give the Levites to Arron and to his sons: they are surely appointed to him from among the children of Israel. Aaron and his sons you shall appoint, and they will guard their priesthood, and the outsider who approaches shall die.'

We pick up a story about the travels of the Ark from the books of Samuel. In I Samuel 4, the Ark was captured by the Philistines in battle. They decided it was too dangerous to keep (I Sam 5-6) and they send back to the tribes of Israel. The following details what happens in the first place the Ark appears on its return trip to Israel.

I Sam 6:19-20

ויך באנשי בית־שמש כי ראו בארון יהוה ויך בעם שבעים איש חמשים אלף איש ויתאבלו העם כי־הכה יהוה בעם מכה גדולה׃ ויאמרו אנשי בית־שמש מי יוכל לעמד לפני יהוה האלהים הקדוש הזה ואל־מי יעלה מעלינו

I Samuel 6:19-20

The Lord struck the people of Beit Shemesh because they looked into the Ark of the Lord, he struck down seventy men, fifty thousand men, and the people mourned for the Lord had inflicted a great slaughter among the people. And the the people of Beit Shemesh said: who is able to stand before the Lord, the Holy God, and to whom shall He go up from amongst us?

After David conquers Jerusalem from the Jebusites and routs the Philistines (II Sam 5) he decides to bring the Ark to his new capital. The following incident occurs on the Ark's journey to Jerusalem.

II Sam 6:6-11

ויבאו עד־גרן נכון וישלח עזא אל־ארון האלהים ויאחז בו כי שמטו הבקר׃ ויחר־אף יהוה בעזה ויכהו שם האלהים על־השל וימת שם עם ארון האלהים׃ ויחר לדוד על אשר פרץ יהוה פרץ בעזה ויקרא למקום ההוא פרץ עזה עד היום הזה׃ וירא דוד את־יהוה ביום ההוא ויאמר איך יבוא אלי ארון יהוה׃ ולא־אבה דוד להסיר אליו את־ארון יהוה על־עיר דוד ויטהו דוד בית עבד־אדום הגתי׃

וישב ארון יהוה בית עבד אדם הגתי שלשה חדשים ויברך יהוה את־עבד אדם ואת־כל־ביתו׃

II Samuel 6:6-11

When they came to the threshing floor at Nachon,Uzzah reached out his hand to the Ark of the Lord, and he grasped it, because it had begun to slide off the oxen. The Lord's anger burned against Uzzah, and the Lord stuck him there on account of his indiscretion, and he died there with the Ark of the Lord. David was distressed (angry?) on account of the breach which God had breached on Uzzah, and he called the place Peretz-Uzzah ("The Breach of Uzzah") , as it is called to this day. David was afraid of the Lord on that day and he said, "How can I allow the Ark of the Lord to come to me. So David did not allow the Ark of the Lord to be brought to the City of David, instead, he diverted it to the home of Obed-edom the Gittite. The Ark of the Lord sat in the home of Obed-edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed Odeb-edom and his whole household.

Lastly, we could always check out this well known example of the dangers inherent in the Ark of Covenant.

Questions:

How does modern Judaism deal with (or not) the Biblical notion that certain people, by virtual of their birth family, are able to closer to God than others.

In a world where we have no Temple, and therefore God has no "dwelling place" do we still accept the notion that certain places are, in fact, closer to God than others?

Is there a modern parallel to being too close to God?

Bechukotai: The Use and Abuse of Fear

Below are some excerpts from the Parashat Bechukotai, focusing primarily on one of the curses God will send upon the people of Israel if the people do not follow the commandments.

I would like to focus on the issue of fear. Some question to think about as you read these texts. How is fear used?
What is the purpose of the terror?
What, in the end, are the people afraid of?
Why is this curse so terrible?

We will bring in the texts from Numbers and the Sifra during our discussion.

Vayikra 26:3-8

אם־בחקתי תלכו ואת־מצותי תשמרו ועשיתם אתם׃ ונתתי גשמיכם בעתם ונתנה הארץ יבולה ועץ השדה יתן פריו׃ והשיג לכם דיש את־בציר ובציר ישיג את־זרע ואכלתם לחםכם לשבע וישבתם לבטח בארצכם׃ ונתתי שלום בארץ ושכבתם ואין מחריד והשבתי חיה רעה מן־הארץ וחרב לא־תעבר בארצכם׃ ורדפתם את־איביכם ונפלו לפניכם לחרב׃ ורדפו םכם חמשה מאה ומאה םכם רבבה ירדפו ונפלו איביכם לפניכם לחרב׃

Leviticus 26:3-8
If you walk in the ways of My laws and you keep My commandments, and do them, I will give you rains in the proper season, and the earth will give its produce, and tree-bearing fruit will give its fruit. Your threshing will last until the vintage, and the vintage will last beyond the sowing, and you will eat your bread to contentment and live in security in your land. In addition, I will bring peace to the land and you will lie down and none will terrify you, and I will bring a respite to the land from dangerous animals, and the sword will not pass over your land. You will pursue your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword.

Vayikra 26:14-16

ואם־לא תשמעו לי ולא תעשו את כל־המצות האלה׃ ואם־בחקתי תמאסו ואם את־משפטי תגעל נפשכם לבלתי עשות את־כל־מצותי להפרכם את־בריתי׃ אף־אני אעשה־זאת לכם והפקדתי עליכם בהלה את־השחפת ואת־הקדחת מכלות עינים

ומדיבת נפש וזרעתם לריק זרעכם ואכלהו איביכם׃

Leviticus 26:14
If, however, you do not heed Me, and do not hearken to all these commandments, and if you reject My laws and if your soul neglects My laws, so that you do no perform all My commandments and you break My covenant, thus will I do to you…

Vayikra 26:36-38

והנשארים בכם והבאתי מרך בלבבם בארצת איביהם ורדף אתם קול עלה נדף ונסו מנסת־חרב ונפלו ואין רדף׃ וכשלו איש־באחיו כמפני־חרב ורדף אין ולא־תהיה לכם תקומה לפני איביכם׃ ואבדתם בגוים ואכלה אתכם ארץ איביכם׃

Leviticus 26:36-38
As for those remaining (after the destruction of the land) I will bring weakness into their hearts in the land of their enemies. The sound of a driven leaf will purse them, and they will flee as before the sword, and they will stumble, though there will be no pursuer. They will fall over each other as though before the sword, but there will be no pursuer, and you will not have the power to stand before your enemies. And you will be lost among the nations; the land of your enemies will consume you.

Bamidbar 13:31-32

והאנשים אשר־עלו עמו אמרו לא נוכל לעלות אל־העם כי־חזק הוא ממנו׃ ויוציאו דבת הארץ אשר תרו אתה אל־בני ישראל לאמר הארץ אשר עברנו בה לתור אתה ארץ אכלת יושביה

Numbers 13:31-33

The people who had gone up with him (Caleb and Joshua) said: “We can not go up to this people, for it is stronger than we!” They spread evil words about the land they had scouted among the people of Israel, saying, “The land that we scouted and traveled is a land which devours its settlers!

Sifra* Bechukotai Parasha 2
“And the sound a driven lead will pursue you.” Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Karcha said: ‘Once we were sitting among the trees and the wind blew and leaves rattled against each other and we stood and ran. We said, ‘woe is us lest we be killed!’ After some time we turned behind us and saw nobody! And we sat in our places and we wept and said: ‘woe to us that through us the verse ‘and the sound of a driven lead will pursue you’ is fulfilled...

*The Sifra is an early halakhic midrash on Leviticus. It often referred to as, "Torat Kohanim" which is confusing, because the book of Leviticus itself is also sometimes call "Torat Kohanim." Such is life.