Ziv: Parashat Beha’alotkha

Second chances...

Our readings this week are filled with second chances. Second chances for redemption from sin and uncleanness, and second chances for walking in the paths of the law of God. In this week’s Haftarah we read of Joshua, the High-Priest who wears defiled clothes of guilt and iniquity - and of the angel who offers him a second chance and who says to those around Joshua: “Take off his filthy clothes.” (Zechariah. 3:4) and turning to him the angel says : “See, I have taken your guilt away from you, and I will clothe you with festal apparel.” (idem). It is the same purification that the sons of Levi must receive in our parasha in order to serve in the tabernacle. The Lord says to Moses : "Thus you shall do to them, to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of purification on them, have them shave their whole body with a razor and wash their clothes, and so cleanse themselves. Then let them take a young bull and its grain offering of choice flour mixed with oil, and you shall take another young bull for a sin offering” (Numbers 8:7–8). In the same way when there were certain people who were unclean, and therefore could not partake in the Passover offering, receive a second chance with the institution of the second Passover - a Passover specially created to accommodate men in this situation throughout the generations. God says to Moses : “Speak to the Israelites, saying: Anyone of you or your descendants who is unclean through touching a corpse, or is away on a journey, shall still keep the passover to the Lord. In the second month on the fourteenth day, at twilight, they shall keep it; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs." (Numbers 9:10–11). It is a remarkable event! - and one that occurs only here - where God institutes a feast-day upon the request of men, and not as a commandment from above. In fact, God does this to accommodate men who confess to be unclean. In their obedience to God, these men withdrew from the assembly of Israel, but understood the importance of the Passover to such an extent that they were driven to petition to God for a second chance. Not only this, but Moses himself realized the purity of their intentions and did not pronounce any judgment on them, but waited to hear God’s plan.

A second chance is also extended to Jethro - Moses’ father-in-law - at the departure from Sinai. Jethro’s name has changed during the time spent at the foot of Mt. Sinai - and is now “Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite” who is said to be "Moses’ father-in-law” (Numbers 10:29). The sages of Israel recognize in this name-change the conversion of Jethro from paganism to the Jewish faith. With this, Moses says to his father-in-law : "“We are setting out for the place of which the Lord said, ‘I will give it to you’; come with us, and we will treat you well; for the Lord has promised good to Israel” (Numbers 10:29) - and after the latter's initial refusal, Moses reiterates : "He said, “Do not leave us, for you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you will serve as eyes for us. Moreover, if you go with us, whatever good the Lord does for us, the same we will do for you.” (Numbers 10:31-32). This second chance seems to have kept Jethro firmly within the people of Israel - we read in the beginning of the book of Judges : "The descendants of Hobab the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up with the people of Judah from the city of palms into the wilderness of Judah” (Judges 1:16). These second chances are the story of Israel’s travels in the wilderness. They are here to teach us that God always offers us the hope for renewal and redemption, that He is gladly willing to listen to our petitions to serve Him with a pure heart - and that His love for repentant sinners knows no bounds. Shabbat Shalom.