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May 28, 1999/13 Sivan 5759, Vol. 51, No.35
Silver threads of Torah, peace bind us to God - and to each other
Torah Study
RABBI NORMAN R. PATZ
Naso/Numbers 4:21 - 7:89
The Lord spoke to Moses: Speak to Aaron and his sons: Thus shall you bless the people of Israel. Say to them:
(May) the Lord bless you and protect you.
(May) the Lord deal kindly and graciously with you.
(May) the Lord bestow his favor upon you and grant you peace.
(Numbers 6:22-27)
This priestly benediction is the highlight of the Torah portion read in synagogue this Shabbat.
My teacher Nehama Leibowitz wrote that the three sections of the berachah (blessing) illustrate an ascending order that begins with our material needs, moves to our spiritual wants and reaches a climax by combining both factors, crowning them with the blessing of peace ("Naso 4: The Priestly Blessing" in Studies in Bemidbar/Numbers by Nehama Leibowitz, translated by Aryeh Newman, WZO, Jerusalem, 1980).
Why is peace the highest of blessings? Rabbi Yitzhak Arama - who lived in Aragonne, Spain, from 1420 to 1492, then in Naples, Italy, from 1492 to 1494 - offers an explanation in his monumental commentary, "Akedat Yitzhak." He notes that peace is commonly regarded as the restoration of harmony between parties that have been at odds with each other. He cites Aaron the high priest as a harmonizer. Arama writes: "It was Aaron's special talent to weave together the threads of the fabric that binds people to one another and thus establish(es) harmony."
In harmony with this commentary, "Pirke Avot" (Sayings of the Sages) 1:12 urges us to be among Aaron's students, loving peace and pursuing it, loving people and bringing them to the Torah.
But Arama is not satisfied with harmony as an adequate definition of peace: "A city of people who do not quarrel with each other, who tolerate each other's idiosyncrasies, cannot be said to be at peace unless (the people) have a common purpose or goal. Without Torah, no degree of harmony can be achieved. For human harmony to be truly peaceful, we need Torah; we need God."
And then Arama makes a provocative statement. He says that peace is like a silver thread that joins two people, combining them into a unified whole.
Why does he select silver thread when gold is more precious? I puzzled over Arama's remark until I found an answer that I believe teaches us a deep lesson: Gold needs no maintenance, while silver needs polishing. Silver needs to be burnished. It needs attention.
The love between husband and wife, between parents and children, between dearest friends, and also serious social and civil relationships, are maintained and strengthened by ongoing, continuous care. Without attention, the threads of love tarnish and deteriorate.
Harmony - the bond that ties people to one another - is achieved when we pay attention to one another and treat one another seriously and with respect. That is what God wants us to do.
Arama linked silver threads to harmony, and the highest harmony, peace, to Torah. We are bound to God by the silver threads of Torah, which we burnish through study and through deeds. When we heed God's covenantal demands, we augment the quality of our human relationships. In the ways we deal with one another and in our quest for God, we continue to polish the silver threads of what Cantor Shochet calls the "enduring love story between God and Israel."
Norman Patz is the rabbi of Temple Sholom of West Essex in Cedar Grove, N.J. This commentary is produced and distributed by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. See other commentaries online at www.uahc.org/growth.
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