Shabbat BaMidbar: Guarding Ourselves

Is the Oregon Food Bank our enemy?

שְׂא֗וּ אֶת־רֹאשׁ֙ כׇּל־עֲדַ֣ת בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖ם לְבֵ֣ית אֲבֹתָ֑ם בְּמִסְפַּ֣ר שֵׁמ֔וֹת כׇּל־זָכָ֖ר לְגֻלְגְּלֹתָֽם׃ 

Take a census of the whole Israelite company [of fighters] by the clans of its ancestral houses, listing the names, every male, head by head.  (Numbers 1.2)

This week we begin reading the fourth book of the Torah, called BaMidbar. The book is called “Numbers” in English, which refers to the counting of the people who were able to bear arms at the very beginning of the book. But the Hebrew name is much more interesting, for the word bamidbar is constructed of a preposition and a noun. The preposition is ba, “in” and the word midbar means “wilderness.” But! the letters of the word in Hebrew – מדבר – can be understood as medabeyr, “the one who speaks.” It’s the same word, and without vowels, one translation is as good as the other.

In Jewish tradition, human beings are called hai m’dabeyr, “the creature that talks”, that is to say, uses words in speech and in writing. Talmudic sources remind us that using words is a dangerous activity.  מָ֣וֶת וְ֭חַיִּים בְּיַד־לָשׁ֑וֹן – “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18.21)

Jewish ethical teachings warn us to be careful of our words in so many ways; to guard against embarrassing another in public, to avoid dissension among teachers, and – the most difficult – to avoid lying to oneself. We might understand this first topic in Sefer BaMidbar accordingly: first and foremost when guarding, to “guard my tongue from evil” as Rav Hamnuna Zuta prayed on Yom Kippur, according to the Talmud. The full prayer is instructive:

מָר בְּרֵיהּ דְּרָבִינָא כִּי הֲוָה מְסַיֵּים צְלוֹתֵיהּ אָמַר הָכִי: ״אֱלֹהַי, נְצוֹר לְשׁוֹנִי מֵרָע וְשִׂפְתוֹתַי מִדַּבֵּר מִרְמָה, וְלִמְקַלְּלַי נַפְשִׁי תִדּוֹם, וְנַפְשִׁי כֶּעָפָר לַכֹּל תִּהְיֶה. פְּתַח לִבִּי בְּתוֹרָתֶךָ, וּבְמִצְוֹתֶיךָ תִּרְדּוֹף נַפְשִׁי.

When Mar, son of Ravina, would conclude his prayer, he said the following: My G*d, guard my tongue from evil and my lips from speaking deceit. To those who curse me let my soul be silent and may my soul be like dust to all. Open my heart to Your Torah, and may my soul pursue your mitzvot.  (BT Berakhot 17a)

Given the ethical message as well as the prominence of this prayer (included in our daily meditations after the Amidah), it’s a rare moment when some of the leadership in our community take a stand that causes some of the other leadership to feel the need to publicly distance themselves from it. But the decision, rash and ill-considered in my estimation, of some rabbis and the Jewish Federation (a social welfare organization that raises money to support Jews locally and in Israel) in Portland to attack the Oregon Food Bank for its call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, has brought the moment to bear. Rash, because they did not stop to consider the position they put the rest of us in, nor check in with us as a courtesy; ill-considered, because in their attack they have characterized the OFB statement in ways that are not, in my estimation, consistent with the statement.

Oregon Public Broadcasting reported the words of the organizations that attacked the Food Bank, that the statement was “one sided” and would add to antisemitism. This is unfortunate, partly because for the great mass of non-Jews hearing the report, they will not notice that this is the stance of only some Jews. They will take away from this report that the Jews are against an organizations dedicated to alleviating hunger now. And so in their response to a situation that they feel is causing antisemitism, they are as likely to be guilty of that act.

Is this guarding the tongue from evil? More likely it is encouraging it; not only beyond the Jewish community, but among us, as leaders of other organizations, appalled at this conduct, are pressuring their leaders to publicly oppose it. Is this opening the heart to Torah? Not if Torah shows us, again this week, that we must be counted together or we do not count at all.

The Oregon Food Bank is not our enemy. The Oregon Food Bank would have nothing to say that could be construed as hostile to Jews if Israel was not in the indefensible process of destroying Gaza. The Oregon Food Bank, and others who have spoken up, are simply saying words we do not want to hear. 

Is this the OFB’s business? As a member of Shir Tikvah noted to me, “it’s not as if hunger in the U.S. is not directly influenced by the amount of resources the U.S. puts into military spending.” Does a single hungry person in Oregon deserve less support because a Jew is upset about a political statement? Not in my opinion. Especially not when the statement is all too painfully true.

As long as Jews in the U.S. are linked to Israel, whether we like it or not, we would do best to recognize that association and all that it infers: we expect a certain standard of ethical behavior from each other, including the Jewish state. That does not include avoiding the question of self-determination for the Palestinian people until it, as every other dream deferred, explodes. And it does not include attacking others who, from their own carefully calibrated ethical stance, are doing their best to speak up for those who have no voice.