This week’s Torah portion is Pinchas beginning in Numbers 25:10 through 30:1. Pinchas, grandson of Aaron the Priest drove his spear through the bellies of an Israelite man and a Moabite woman as they were whoring in front of Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting in last week’s Torah portion. This week God expresses his pleasure at the passion of Pinchas, ending the plague and granting Pinchas His Pact of Friendship. The rabbi’s have struggled with God’s rewarding of violent behavior. Some have suggested that the reward comes in a different portion a week later to indicate that one should not rush to reward extreme behavior.
There are about 100 abnormal letters in the Torah. Two of them appear in this week’s portion. The very words of the Torah text are written in such a way that illustrates how violence, even necessary violence, diminishes the individual. In verse 11, the letter yod in Pinchas’ name is written smaller than the other letters. When we commit violence, even if justifiable, the yod in us (standing for the name of God and for y’hudi, “Jew”) is diminished. The term brit shalom (covenant of peace) in verse 12 has a unique characteristic. In the word shalom there is a break in the vertical line that forms the letter vav. This is interpreted homiletically to suggest that the sort of peace one achieves by destroying one’s opponent will inevitably be a flawed, incomplete peace.
In Chapter 26, with the plague over, God instructs Moses to take a census, which the apportionment of the land will be based on. Chapter 27 begins with the five daughters of Zelophehad petitioning Moses for their share of the land as their father had died leaving no sons to inherit the land. Moses passes the request on to the Lord who agrees with the daughters and establishes a woman’s right to inheritance.
The Lord tells Moses to ascend the heights of Abarim and view the land that God gave to the Israelite people. Then the Lord tells Moses, “after you have seen it, you too shall be gathered to your kin.” Despite just being given a death sentence, Moses doesn’t argue but asks God to appoint someone to take care of the people. God tells Moses to commission Joshua son of Nun with some of his powers. Chapters 28 and 29 detail God’s require-ments for burnt offerings; for each day, the Sabbath, on new moons, Passover, Shavuot, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, and the eight days of Sukkot.
I just got elected Treasurer of Congregation Sha’are Shalom, so I’ve got to be a numbers man, no pun intended, with the book of Numbers. Let’s see what all these burnt offerings add up to. 2 lambs daily times 354 days is 708 lambs. 2 more lambs every sabbath times 51 sabbaths is 102 lambs. 2 bulls, 1 ram, 7 lambs and 1 goat every new moon times 12 new moons is 24 bulls, 12 rams, 84 lambs and 12 goats. 2 bulls, 1 ram, 7 lambs and 1 goat each day of Passover times 7 days is 14 bulls, 7 rams, 49 lambs and 7 goats. 2 bulls 1 ram, 7 lambs and 1 goat for Shavuot. 1 bull, 1 ram, 7 lambs and 1 goat for Rosh Hashana. 1 bull, 1 ram, 7 lambs and 1 goat for Yom Kippur. The burnt offerings for the eight days of Sukkot include 71 bulls, 15 rams, 105 lambs and 8 goats. When I plug this all into the temple accounting system I come up with 113 bulls, 37 rams, 1,069 lambs and 30 goats for a grand total of 1,249 animals in burnt offering each year. I’m sure the livestock industry is very supportive of any efforts to rebuild the temple.
Now, let’s jump tracks here to the 613th commandment which requires each Jew to write their own Torah scroll. Could I ask everyone that has written a complete Torah scroll to please raise their hand? That’s what I thought. Now I’m sure that since I’ve made you aware of this that you will all want to write your own scroll. So, to get you started on the right foot I’ve compiled some instructions for you.
To write a Torah Scroll, you must be at least 13 years old, some say you must be married. You must be fluent and tested in over 4,000 laws regarding the writing of a Torah, you must be certified and you must have the proper intention when writing especially when writing God’s name. Let’s say you meet all these requirements and are ready to begin. First you’re going to prepare the parchment sheets. Kosher parchment called Klaf must come from a kosher animal, usually a goat, bull/cow, or deer. You’ll first soak the skin in lime water for nine days to remove hairs, and then stretch it over a wooden frame to dry. You’ll scrape the skin to remove more hair and sand it to smooth the surface. When it’s dry, you need to cut it into a rectangle. A Torah usually contains 248 columns, but only three or four columns fit on a rectangle. So a Torah may require about 80 or more skins in all.
Now that the parchment sheets are ready, you need to use a straight edge to draw a writing pattern on each sheet; 42 horizontal lines across and two vertical lines defining the boundaries for each column. Leave a margin of three inches on the top, four at the bottom, and two inches between columns. Now you can make some quills for writing. The feathers must come from a kosher bird, usually a goose or turkey. Patiently carve a point in the end of the feather. You’ll use many quills in writing one Torah but save a special quill for writing God’s four letter name. You’ll need to make some ink by combining a blend of powdered gall nuts, copper sul-fate crystals, gum Arabic, and water. Since only fresh ink which is a deep black is acceptable, you’ll need to prepare only a small amount at a time so that the ink will always be fresh.
After working with the animal skins and mixing ink, you’ll need to visit the mikvah before you start writing. You can’t write from memory but must look into the text of a Chumash that has been thoroughly checked for accuracy. Although Hebrew is read and written from right to left, you will form each letter starting from left to right, singing each word, each letter, out loud; all 79,847 words and 304,805 letters. The scroll may contain no errors whatsoever. Some mistakes can be corrected by scraping off the ink with a knife or stone. If a mistake is made in writing any of the names of God, no correction may be made and the parchment must be buried. Assuming you’ve finished all 80 parchment sheets, you can now sew them together. You’ll use a thread made from the leg sinews of a kosher animal, usually a cow, sheep, or ox. Make one stitch every six lines of text, sewing the backs of the sheets, so the stitches are not visible from the front. Finally you will sew the scroll onto the wooden rollers. By now you’ve probably noticed that the most common letter you’ve written is the Yud because you’ve written it 31,530 times while you’ve only written the Tet 1,802 times.
Now if all of this scares you, there’s an out. You can also satisfy this commandment by buying your own Torah or by contributing a portion towards a Torah. I’ve checked it out on Google and you can get a new Torah for between $15,000 and $50,000. You can buy a repaired Torah, which might be better because of its historical legacy, for about $5,000 to $15,000. Someone is actually auctioning on Yahoo, Torah pages from a 150 year old Spanish Torah for $500 to $800 a page.
This brings us back to the start of our Torah portion this week which we skipped over. The first words of this portion are, Vadaber Adonai el-Moshe, The Lord spoke to Moses. This phrase appears throughout the Torah numerous times and yet every time we skip over it and say, OK, what happens next. Vadaber Adonai el-Moshe, The Lord spoke to Moses. In Exodus, chapter 33 verse 20 God tells Moses, “you cannot see My face, for man may not see Me and live.” Moses cannot see God and live but he can hear God and learn. In Exodus, chapter 33 verse 11 it says, “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one man speaks to another.” Vadaber Adonai el-Moshe, The Lord spoke to Moses.
Earlier I said, God tells Moses to commission Joshua son of Nun with some of his powers. The rabbi’s interpret some but not all, to mean that God would not speak face to face with Joshua as He had with Moses. Vadaber Adonai el-Moshe, The Lord spoke to Moses. Did Moses really exist? Did God really speak to Moses face to face? Maybe not in a true historical sense but more importantly in a spiritual and mystical sense. Vadaber Adonai el-Moshe, The Lord spoke to Moses. And these 79, 847 words we read in our beloved Torah Scroll, these are what the Lord spoke to Moses. And that is why we Jews kiss the Torah and hold it so dear to our hearts.
Shabbat Shalom.