Bahalotecha
This week the contest for leader of the conservatives which will decide who is the next Prime Minister was in full swing.(as of writing we are down to the final two!)
Watching the TV debates online it really brought home to me the sad reality of our current political landscape where it seems to me that honesty and true commitment to what is best for this country are in short supply.
The rhetoric being wielded by the candidates was more tactical – to get through to the next round – then truthful.
Contrast this with weeks Parsha where Moses is tasked with inaugurating the Levites into the service of the Tabernacle. God tells Moses that the Levites ” are wholly given over to Me from among the children of Israel”.
In Hebrew the double expression “Nessunim Nesssunim heima li” is used.
The Torah is teaching us that the ideal life is one that is dedicated in service to something more than the self- in this case the Divine service in the Tabernacle.
True happiness (simcha) arises not when we fulfil our desires (material or even spiritual for that matter)- but when we live for something that is beyond ourselves.
Of course we are not all the level to be wholly given over in service.But it is something to strive for.
Maimonides writes that the role of the Levite being a siritual light to ones brethren is not limited to their tribe (apart from the techical temple duties):
“It is not for the tribe of Levi alone, but anyone in the world who is moved to dedicate himself; whose mind comprehends the need to stand apart, to serve and to work and to know God; who walks straight, the way God created him, removing from his neck the many calculations which others seek – such a person becomes sanctified, a Holy of Holies…”
Let us try to find one moment or opportunity every day where we set aside our ‘natural tendencies” and find something we can be “given wholly over to”- whether that is in the arena of
1) Torah learning
2) Teffilah (prayer)
3) or acts of loving kindness
for these are after all the three pillars that keep our world standing!
Shabbat Shalom!