The Weekly Shtikle - Chukas

Tomorrow, 9 Tammuz, marks the 10^th yahrtzeit of my sister-in-law, Batsheva Yeres. The shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmasah, Batsheva Blima, a"h bas HaRav Moshe Yosef HaLevi, ybl"t.

Today is also July 4^th, Independence Day here in the United States. It is certainly an auspicious time to reflect on and appreciate the wonderful benefits that are afforded us by modern democracy as a whole and this country, specifically. As I have reflected upon in the past (during my son's Bar Mitzvah which was celebrated on July 4^th,) democracy is certainly not without its immense, unique challenges. But no matter the situation, even with the daunting threats of growing anti-Semitism from the population – even creeping into government – this is certainly better than just about any historical alternative in exile.

There is an interesting reference to democracy in this week's parsha. Moshe Rabbeinu sends messengers to the kind of Edom requesting passage through his land (20:14-18). The response, however, does not appear to come from the king himself. Rather, Edom as a whole responds with a denial of the request. Meshech Chachmah, among others, picks up on this nuance. He references the gemara (Avodah Zarah 10a) which points out that Edom failed to produce a lineage of kings. This is clear from the summary at the end of parshas Vayishlach. There was no dynasty like that of David and his progeny. As a result, the king had much less power and the country was ruled by a government of the people. This is in contrast to Sichon, as we find later in the parsha.

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I feel I cannot let the significant event of the 10^th yahrtzeit go by without saying a few pertinent words.

Indeed, the parsha is filled with much sorrow with the death of both Miriam and Aharon and the profound impact those two losses had on B'nei Yisrael. However, there is another very positive theme that is found as the parsha progresses and continues for the rest of the sefer. After the episode of the spies, the dream of entering Eretz Yisrael fades away from the nation, for the most part. It seems to get even worse at the beginning of this week's parsha with Moshe and Aharon also being informed that they too will not enter the land. But finally, we read about the sweeping defeat of Sichon and Og. The nation moves ever closer towards the land that will soon be theirs and the conquest of Eretz Yisrael has begun. We will soon read about the boundaries and specific pieces of land that each tribe will inherit as well as other items specifically pertaining to the nation's inhabiting of the land. The topic of this week's haftarah as well is Yiftach standing up for the defense of the land and defending every inch of its borders.

This relates to one of the many things that stood out about Batsheva. Her love of Eretz Yisrael brought her to make aliyah despite the many challenges and hurdles involved. She was also known to capitalize on even the slightest opportunity to convince people to do the same. Despite all of the wonderful things mentioned above about the prosperous conditions on this side of the globe, there was never anything that could replace life in artzeinu hakedosha. May her neshamah have an aliyah – ad bias hagoeil.

Have a good Shabbos.

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:

Dikdukian: What land was Sichon king of?

Dikdukian: Watch out for that Chirik
Dikdukian: Yahtzah, what is your real name?

Dikdukian: It wasn't thrown

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