Huqqat: Human Rights, Blemished Leadership and the Moral Sphere

By Rabbi Jeremy Milgrom on July 3, 2008 - ל' סיון תשס"ח

If you’re looking for moral or pastoral guidance, there are slim pickings here.

This week’s Parashah (Hukat, Numbers 19-21) presents challenges in leadership and diplomacy in an unfriendly desert environment. Moses and Aaron produce water (with or without God’s help, depending on how you interpret the hitting the rock scene), and eventually overcome the devastating plague of serpents. But the loss of Miriam, soon to be followed by that of Aaron, leaves Moses without the nourishment of family (a lot is said about Aaronite priestly succession, but what do we know about the children of Moses?). And in case we don’t get it, we read a Haftarah where Israel’s (temporary) salvation comes at a very high price to Jephtha — the sacrifice of his daughter. Death in the family — the parashah demands purification rites, or else banishment. On the national level, grumbling is answered by plague and more death. This is a Parashah without consolation.

Moses’ and Aaron’s blemished leadership is sadly transfered to the moral sphere. Discussing the rules of corpse inpurity, Shimon Bar Yohai, a 2nd century rabbi teaches that certain rules of ritual contamination apply only in the case of Israelites:

אדם כי ימות באוהל

adam ki yamut b’ohel

if a person (”adam”) dies in a tent (Numbers 19:14)

אתם קרויין אדם ואין העובדי כוכבים קרויין אדם

atem k’ruyin adam v’ein ha’ovdey kochavim k’ruyin adam

”Adam” refers to you, not to idolators (Babylonian Talmud Yevamot 61a). This ruling shouldn’t actually concern those of us whose non-Jewish neighbors are Christians and Moslems, but unfortunately it is widely quoted as the basis for metaphysical differentialization between Jews and non-Jews The ongoing struggle against this particularistic (if not racist) tendency continues in rabbinic literature to this day, with varying degrees of success.

Already taking the circuitous, eastern route to the Promised Land instead of going right up the coast, where they would encounter Philistine resistance, Israel asks Edom for permission to cross through its fields, but there are to be no short cuts. The Amorites are defeated, but the same territory is fought over in the Haftarah and later in David’s time; this is not a war graced with God’s presence, command or blessing. Perhaps we can draw consolation by discarding illusions: one doesn’t get everything one wants in negotiation, but war only leads to more war.

I started composing this d’var Torah before our complacency was shaken by a murderous Palestinian tractor driver from Sur Baher. Death has returned to our streets, and with it, calls for harsher collective punishment (once again, a seductive short cut). On my frequent visits to Sur Baher, I used to be amazed to find a high percentage of Jerusalem’s heavy construction vehicles parked there, a reminder of the mutual dependency of Jews and Arabs in Jerusalem. But I would also see the ruins of houses demolished under discriminatory housing policies. Nothing excuses the killing of a kindergarten teacher and someone who dedicated her life to helping the blind. But nothing also excuses a selective vision that serves only our collective greed, and relegates the Other to deprivation. We have used the power at our disposal to ensure that this environment stays eternally hostile, desert-like; it’s time we turned the Promised Land into a Land of Promise for all.

Rabbis for Human Rights recommends that you read these articles in Huqqat

Huqqat: Human Rights, Blemished Leadership and the Moral Sphere - July 3rd, 2008
Huqqat: Human Rights and a pure society - July 1st, 2008
Huqqat: Human Rights and the Purification of Society - June 22nd, 2007
Huqqat: Act according to the Golden Mean - June 29th, 2006
Huqqat: Thinking Before Speaking - July 7th, 2005

Categories: Huqqat
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