Torah Study Blog

During Shabbat services in traditional Jewish communities, it is the norm that a Kohen be called upon to recite the blessing for the first aliyah and then a Levi for the second aliyah. In traditional communities, this privilege recognizes the claim of the Kohens and Levites that they are descendants of the priestly class of ancient Israelites and, somehow, elevated over the general Israelite population. The Reform movement did away with claims to priesthood and has rejected this norm.

In today’s Torah Portion, from the book of Numbers, we are told that the descendants of Aaron (Moses’s brother) will be the priests and the members of the tribe of Levi will, “perform for ... the whole community before the Tent of Meeting, doing the work of the Tabernacle” (Numbers 3:7).

The portion goes on to say, the Lord took “the Levites from among the Israelites in place of all the first-born” (Numbers 3:12). Some readers may be familiar with the pidyon haben ceremony where a first-born male, through a monetary payment, is “redeemed” from the requirement to serve a priest for the rest of his life. This is another tradition the Reform movement did away with.

But Rabbi Jaech was struck by the words, “in place of all the first-born.” What “place,” exactly, were the first-born originally in? What was the expectation of the first-born? Rabbi Jaech pointed out to us that there is not one person in the world today whom all of humanity would agree speaks the word of God. Because it is not true today, Rabbi Jaech contends that there was no one person speaking God’s word in biblical times, either. When Bible passages read, “God said...” we need to remain skeptical and understand that the words in the Torah represent the point of view of the author. The author was trying to make a point about something that was happening at that time.

Frequently, when something was preserved in the Torah, it made sense at the time of writing. But, over time, the original meaning has been lost and

someone needs to interpret it. As early as the 1st century BCE, when Aramaic had become the common language in Jerusalem, the Torah, which was written in Hebrew, needed interpretation. Public readings of the Torah were held on the market days of Mondays and Thursdays, and during holidays and Shabbat. The person doing the interpretation was called a meturgeman, and those interpretations were preserved in a book called the Targum.

Jacob Milgrom (1923-2010) was a prominent Bible scholar who wrote a comprehensive commentary on the Book of Numbers, in which he addressed the issue of the position of the first-born. Rabbi Milgrom came to the conclusion that, at one time, the first-born may have held an elevated position in the community. The preserved words in the Targum state that, before the sons of Aaron and the Levites assumed the priestly duties, the responsibility of worship was the domain of the first-born sons of Israel: “they offered burnt offerings and consecrated oblations of oxen before the Lord.”

This idea that the first-born had sacred duties is not without basis.

Ugarit was a city on the northern Mediterranean coast, the occupants of which the ancient Israelites likely came into contact. A 12th century BCE Ugaritic text (a more ancient text than the Torah) describes the responsibilities a son has for his father. They include a combination of both practical and sacred duties. Practically, a son was responsible to plaster his father’s roof, clean his father’s clothes, silence his father’s detractors, and hold his father’s hand when his father is drunk. For sacred duties, the son is obliged to be a steward of his father’s gods, free his father’s spirit from the earth, and protect his father’s tomb from dust.

Taking care of our dead is a human instinct. We want to be sure the body of the newly departed is handled with care and we honor their departed spirit. There is a belief that the spirit of the person newly departed needs you to do something for them – to help to usher their spirit into the next world. In Judaism there are remnants of this obligation for an offspring to honor their deceased parent by saying Kaddish. And, maybe in the next world, your ancestors have access to information that they can share with you and will benefit you here on earth. We may be aware of the practice of some mediums to claim to speak with the dead, who might be able to offer advice to the living. Similarly, just before the High Holidays, it is traditional to visit the graves of your ancestors and to ask them to intercede for you.

When it comes to things like rituals, humans are not rational beings. There is a difficulty in letting go of those we love who have passed away. Whether or not we believe in a spirit or an afterlife, how we reflect our ancestors has meaning.

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misquotes or misunderstandings in what Rabbi Jaech taught us are the responsibility of Tara Keiter