Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts
Divre Torah/Words of Torah, of Prayer and other Reflections
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| TO WALK HUMBLY WITH GOD - - AND WITH EACH OTHER Torah Portion/Parashat Vayikra To walk humbly with God means necessarily to walk humbly with people. Humility is the bridge by which we can draw near to each other and to God. Rabbi Victor H. Reinstein |
At my Bar Mitzvah I chanted from the prophet Micah. The closing words of my haftarah
offer a challenge and a beacon for whomever would walk with God, “It has been told to
you, mortal, what is good and what God seeks of you, only to do justly, to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God.” Standing afterward before the Holy Ark with my
parents, I offered prayerful reflection upon what I had chanted. At my mother’s urging, as I
repeated Micah’s words, “and to walk humbly with your God,” I added “and with people.”
Micah began with God. My mother, of blessed memory, began with people. Each ended
up in the same place. To walk humbly with God means necessarily to walk humbly with
people. To claim humble standing before God while displaying arrogance before people
means that one does not really know the One before whom they stand. A person who
displays humility in all manner of relationship with others will never walk alone. Even if
they do not actively call upon God, the humble will always find God to be a ready walking
partner.
Humility is the first teaching, expressed in the very first word, of the third book of the
Torah, the book of Vayikra/Leviticus. That first word is the name of the book itself,
vayikra, “And God called” - - to Moses. The last letter of the word is the letter aleph. In the
Torah that aleph is writ small, smaller than all the other letters. And of Moses, it is written
later in the Book of Numbers, “And the man Moses was most humble, more than all the
people who live on the face of the earth.” It was Moses’ own decision we are told, to write
that little aleph. That God called to him directly and spoke “face to face,” if we can so
speak, as would a friend, was a sui generis honor. Moses wanted only to convey and to
teach God’s word and not to draw attention to his own special standing and relationship
with God.
In Moses’ selfless act we are given by example a way to fulfill the essential purpose of the
entire book of Leviticus. That purpose is the building of bridges between people and
people and between people and God. When the holy Temple stood in Jerusalem, the
making of offerings to God, both of field and flock, was a primary medium by which people
could draw near to each other. The word for offering is korban, whose root means near or
close. Most offerings were not consumed upon the altar, but provided the food for a
shared meal among people that continued the intent of the offering itself. As a golden
thread woven throughout this book, so foreign to us in specific content, the humility
expressed in that very first word of God’s calling to Moshe, vayikra, is the underlying
value, timeless in its challenge, that is addressed to us as fully as to our ancestors.
offer a challenge and a beacon for whomever would walk with God, “It has been told to
you, mortal, what is good and what God seeks of you, only to do justly, to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God.” Standing afterward before the Holy Ark with my
parents, I offered prayerful reflection upon what I had chanted. At my mother’s urging, as I
repeated Micah’s words, “and to walk humbly with your God,” I added “and with people.”
Micah began with God. My mother, of blessed memory, began with people. Each ended
up in the same place. To walk humbly with God means necessarily to walk humbly with
people. To claim humble standing before God while displaying arrogance before people
means that one does not really know the One before whom they stand. A person who
displays humility in all manner of relationship with others will never walk alone. Even if
they do not actively call upon God, the humble will always find God to be a ready walking
partner.
Humility is the first teaching, expressed in the very first word, of the third book of the
Torah, the book of Vayikra/Leviticus. That first word is the name of the book itself,
vayikra, “And God called” - - to Moses. The last letter of the word is the letter aleph. In the
Torah that aleph is writ small, smaller than all the other letters. And of Moses, it is written
later in the Book of Numbers, “And the man Moses was most humble, more than all the
people who live on the face of the earth.” It was Moses’ own decision we are told, to write
that little aleph. That God called to him directly and spoke “face to face,” if we can so
speak, as would a friend, was a sui generis honor. Moses wanted only to convey and to
teach God’s word and not to draw attention to his own special standing and relationship
with God.
In Moses’ selfless act we are given by example a way to fulfill the essential purpose of the
entire book of Leviticus. That purpose is the building of bridges between people and
people and between people and God. When the holy Temple stood in Jerusalem, the
making of offerings to God, both of field and flock, was a primary medium by which people
could draw near to each other. The word for offering is korban, whose root means near or
close. Most offerings were not consumed upon the altar, but provided the food for a
shared meal among people that continued the intent of the offering itself. As a golden
thread woven throughout this book, so foreign to us in specific content, the humility
expressed in that very first word of God’s calling to Moshe, vayikra, is the underlying
value, timeless in its challenge, that is addressed to us as fully as to our ancestors.
| Nehar Shalom Community Synagogue 43 Lochstead Avenue, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 |
