Bat Kol International, Weekly Torah Nuggets
Parashat Beha’alotcha | Numbers 8:1–12:26
“I (the LORD) will take some of the spirit (ruah) that is on you and bestow it on them (seventy elders) that they may share the burden of the people with you” (Num. 11:17).
This week’s portion begins a series of accounts known as the “rebellion narratives.” Yet to reach the Promised Land, the Israelites need an essential inner quality that the Torah calls ruah. In Hebrew, ruah has three meanings: “wind,” “soul” — the divine part of us that “returns to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7) after death — and “spirit,” meaning special inner qualities. A person who is connected to this spirit is “inspired,” literally, filled with spirit. In this sense, ruah appears five times in chapter 11 (vv. 17, 25 twice, 26, 29).
Moses, overwhelmed by the people’s complaints, reacts with despair and pleads with God to lessen his burden or let him die (11:13-15). God’s response is “Gather seventy elders and I will take some of the spirit (ruah) that is on you and bestow it on them.” God responds to Moses’ despair and helplessness with ruah. Let there not be one, but seventy inspired leaders, and together, they will successfully lead the people to the Promised Land.
Reflection:
1. What aspects of ruah are needed to reach the Promised Land?
2. What are the most important qualities to make our aspirations come true?
Marie Andre Mitchell SNDdeN, Johannesburg, South Africa
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“Since the spiritual patrimony common to Christians and Jews is thus so great, this sacred synod wants to foster and recommend that mutual understanding and respect which is the fruit, above all, of biblical and theological studies.”
Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions: Nostra Aetate, No. 4