"Cluelessness and callousness" are the themes of this week's Torah portion!
- With the exception of the last paragraph, everything takes place outside the direct knowledge of the Israelites.
- They have no clue about the drama which is taking place around them:
· The king of Moab, Balak, is intent on destroying them.
· He secures the services of the greatest heathen prophet of his day, Balaam.
· This prophet has a reputation that his curses are deadly effective.
· Balak hires Balaam to curse the Israelites so as to destroy them - something Balaam is only too happy to do: especially when he can make a small fortune on the side while doing it!
· The only problem is: God doesn't let Balaam accomplish his mission.
· Not only does he fail to curse Israel; he winds up blessing them!
· In the meantime, the Israelites have no clue that all this is going on!
· The par'sha closes with a sad example of a lack of appreciation and how we can be our own worst enemies
· In an act of incredible callousness - given the fact that they have just experienced such an extraordinary expression of Divine protection without having to lift a finger - the Israelite men fall to whoring with the Moabite women.
· To make matters worse, they actually worship the Moabite idols.
(cf. Numbers 25:2)
· God sends a plague and people start dying left and right.
· Moses has to rouse his leaders to take significant action to shut this down.
· But not before an individual brazenly brings a Midianite woman into a tent in the full sight of Moses and the people.
· Aaron's son, Pinchas, takes a spear, goes into the tent and pierces both of them.
· This action is enough to discourage any further acts of betrayal, but not before
· Twenty-four thousand Israelites die in the plague.
We note the sad passing of Stanley Goldstein husband of Nancy Leve Goldstein and brother-in-law and brother to our members JoAnn Goldstein and the late Sam Goldstein. He is also survived by his sister Suzanne (Suzie) Broddon. Stanley was well known as a "Renaissance man". He excelled in athletics - especially on the Hand-ball court and was posthumously inducted into the JCC Hall of Fame, he was an "unpaid professional" jazz pianist performing at several venues over the years; he was incredibly well-read and could converse on (read "debate") any given topic. In his career in the legal field, he was known to take up the rights of the indigent, the mistreated and those who would otherwise have no voice. In the '70's Stanley headed the Juvenile Justice Division of the Legal Aid Society of Missouri, now Legal Services of Eastern Missouri. Our deepest condolences to JoAnn, Nancy and the entire family.
Since we mentioned the JCC Hall of Fame; "Mazel-tov"to Fran Cohen who was recently inducted for a lifetime of achievement in field of sports. Fran's list of involvement in team and individual sports goes back to her college days. Most notably, in 1970, Fran won the championship title in the Inaugural United States Racquetball Association National Singles Championship for Women. To this day she has continued to excel on the Tennis-court and Golf-course. Over the years she has inspired many Jewish women to make sports a part of their lives.
Again, in this regard, Rebecca Gollub, daughter of Carolyn and Matthew Gollub, grand-daughter of Pat and the late Vern Mendel received this year's JCC Scholar-Athlete Award. This is given in recognition of Rebecca's outstanding academic achievement, community service and athletic accomplishments. Rebecca will be attending Dartmouth College this fall. We wish her and her entire family mazel-tov and continued success as she walks the Path of Life.
We are so pleased to have the opportunity to celebrate two wonderful - and related simchas: the 80th birthday of Dr. Phil Levens, husband of Bonnie Levens and the 50th Wedding Anniversary of Bonnie's sister and brother-in-law Nancy and Al Siwak.
In the course of a distinguished career, Phil has brought many significant contributions to the practice of Orthodontic Dentistry in a wide variety of areas. Besides carrying on a full time practice, Phil was a Clinical Professor of Orthodontics for over twenty five years in the Graduate Department of Orthodontics at St Louis University. His son, Dr. Larry Levens, now continues on the practice. Bonnie was past president of Hadassah and one of the first volunteers to help settle new Americans. She found housing and bought the pots and pans for them. Phil has been a supportive partner through the years to Bonnie especially in her work in Hadassah and BSKI.
Al and Nancy have made significant contributions to the general St. Louis Jewish Community through their support of and involvement in the St. Louis Jewish Federation. Nancy served with much distinction in significant leadership roles and is a Past President. In the general community Nancy has served on the governing boards of Shaw's Garden and St. Louis University.
We are delighted to be able to join them and their wonderful families in celebrating these significant milestones. When we read from the Torah this Shabbat we will be reading from the beautiful Sefer Torah donated by Nancy and Bonnie's parents, the late Simon and Minnie Rubenstein.
...and may your Shabbat be a celebration of the opportunity of being part of God's Creation.