Rabbi's Sermons

Shabbat Shalom!

In this week's portion, Behalotchah, two mysterious characters are introduced: Eldad and Meidad, who unexpectedly, receive the gift of prophecy and began to prophesy among the people of Israel, as described in the book of Numbers chapter 11 as follows: “²⁶ But there remained two of the men in the camp: the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them; and they were of those who were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle; and they prophesied in the camp. ²⁷ And there ran a young man and told Moses, and said, “Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp.” ²⁸ And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, “My lord Moses, forbid them!” ²⁹ And Moses said unto him, “Enviest thou for my sake? Would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!”.

Why did Yehoshua care so much, that there were other people with the power of prophecy? Rashi explains, that their prophecy was about Moshe's death, and Yehoshua's leadership in the promised land. Yehoshua, in his great love for Moshe, was alarmed. However, Moshe was not affected in the least, as he answered: "I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets" - he understood the true message. When a candle lights other candles, no aspect of its light diminishes, and he thought: “great! I am dedicated to a job that after 120 years will not disappear”. When the Torah refers to the death of someone, the expression used is - “he/she was gathered to his/her people”, not that he/she were - “buried”, but rather that their memory enters the hearts of each person, and in this way, it is still alive through the lives of everyone who knew them.

After the Torah, the sages continued their efforts of trying to find meaning in life. Pirkei Avot chapter 3 mentions: “Akabyah ben Mahalalel said: understand well three things and you will not come into the power of sin: Know where you come from, and where you are going to, and before whom you are destined to give an account and reckoning. Where do you come from? From a putrid drop. Where are you going to? To a place of dust, worms and maggots. Before whom you are destined to give an account and reckoning? Before the King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He”. This description can be very depressing, at first glance! We come from a drop of life, we go to a place of ashes and worms, and the only thing left is to account for our lives… Is that life? Come from nowhere and arrive to nothing?

Perhaps, the answer is in the Hebrew language. In Hebrew there are two ways of naming a cemetery. Beit HaKvarot - "place of the graves", or - Beit HaChaim - "the place of the living". How do you explain these completely opposite expressions? On the one hand, the meaning of a cemetery is where a body is delivered and life ends. On the other hand, death teaches us about life itself, which is why it is also called - Beit HaChaim, a field of life. Life itself is a very limited period and if life would be etern, it would have no meaning whatsoever. There is the story of a Jew who asked in his will to have written on his grave plaque the following: “I was a Navy soldier at the time of World War II and was very careful to eat Kosher food. So, God protected me”. Only those four years during the war, in the shadow of death, were the summary of the meaning of his entire life! When a person feels like being in a war, faced with an illness, for example, and feels they might die in any moment, the first thing that comes to mind, is - "what do I leave in this life as a legacy?". It is in those moments, that the essence of his/her being is discovered. When Ludvig Nobel, Alfred Nobel's brother, died in a painful accident, a journalist was confused by the news, and reported that Alfred himself, was the one who had died, with the words: "The merchant of death is dead". The newspapers rushed to write an impressive speech on Alfred Nobel, recounting his important contribution to the invention of dynamite and how it was used in warfare. Nobel realizing how he would be remembered to humanity, decided to take almost all his fortune and create a special fund, which would be dedicated to distributing awards to people who contribute something significant for a better world. Thus, from a “merchant of death”, the Nobel prizes institution was created, which today rewards those who give life.

And what about ourselves? If someone would tell us that, God forbids, we have a serious illness and that we are only expected to have one year or six months left to live, what would we do with that time? This question may make us shudder in fear, or it may make us decide the path we want to follow. A beautiful story describes a person who saw someone drop a $1 bill in the park. One of the children playing in the park, ran, and without thinking twice, put it in his pocket and commented about it to his little friend. His friend, realizing it, ran to the man, took out a $1 bill out of his own pocket, and asked him, if maybe, that $1 bill was his. The man was extremely grateful, and so was the person watching them, who was quite surprised, and approached the boy and asked for an explanation. The embarrassed young man told him that, in his grandfather's store, a person had dropped a $1 bill. Without thinking about it at the time, he took it and put it in his pocket. But his grandfather saw it, and without saying a word, took $1 out of the box, approached the man, told him that he had dropped $1, and went back to his work. The boy could not describe the shame he felt. He understood that the grandfather had discovered him and in intent of embarrassing him in front of the man, paid in his place. So when he walked back into the store he took the dollar out of his pocket and put it on the counter. The grandfather just looked at him and said: "I expect much more from you".

So, what is it, that we expect from ourselves, or that God expects from us? How do we hope to be remembered in our lives, in this world, like Alfred Nobel? In the Pirkei Avot text the three questions are repeated twice: "Know where you come from, where you are going and before whom you will have to give an account". Rebbe Luvavicth explains, that although, the second part speaks of the physical body - "of a fetid drop and a place of worms", at first, it refers to the soul. Where do we come from? From the light of divinity, the soul, or the Neshama. And what do we return in the end? The same Neshama itself, and before whom? Before the Holy one, Blessed Be He. Our essence of who we really are, is the soul, because it is eternal. That is the only true reality. On the one hand, we let ourselves be carried away by our fears and we avoid doing many things because we are afraid to take risks. On the other hand, we are terrified to think about death. But what are we most afraid of: dying or not having fully lived our potential? The fear is not of death itself, but of living a life without meaning. Let us stop merely existing and stay in a routine, or in fear, of what is going to happen, after all these difficult times shall end. Let us now make a life, like Alfred Nobel, that will stay for generations to come.

"How good! I am dedicated to a work that after 120 years will not disappear!” - may those words of Moshe, help us reflect and begin to really do all that is expected from us. That will be our legacy and the memory that will leave forever.

Shabat Shalom!

June 13^th, 2025

Rabbi David Laor