D’var Torah - Shemini: Rise to the top!

Today is the 180th day since the war in Israel started, this is a significant number affecting so many people in Israel and around the world, especially the 134 people still in captivity in Gaza. Oct 7th is a moment in time that touched and changed all of us.

Each one of us has a personal moment (if not a few) when we changed forever!

Mine was during my army service which I forever be grateful for. The IDF invest time to decide where to place their new soldiers before they join the army. Soldiers go through many checks and exams for an appropriate placement. After basic training I was chosen to take a commander’s course since I showed leadership skills or, better said, sparks of potential leadership abilities.

It wasn’t an easy course for a very shy 18-year-old teenager, coming out of a household where everything was given on a silver plate without too many challenges thrown my way. Other than the physical aspect of the course, it was also very emotionally and mentally challenging. Every week a few people would be called to the Officer’s room knowing very well they were on their way out, and as they were marching to his office, they would start saying their goodbyes knowing they were about to be kicked out. My day came as well. It was towards the end of the course where we were expected to put all our studies and training to practice playing the role of Commanders over groups of teenagers, who were only 2 years younger than us, and were getting a taste of what the army was like.

I couldn’t do it, I froze! I thought to myself, how can I stand in front of a group that was assigned to me as a commander, shouting orders their way, expecting them to do as I say just because of my title. Who am I that they would even want to follow my lead…it didn’t feel right, I felt I was cheating, I felt a hypocrite.

 

As my course Commander was leading me into the Officer’s room with a few others, I already knew what he would say and thought that he would be making the right decision in dismissing me from the course. When my turn came to be seen by him, my Commander entered with me and then she did something I wasn’t expecting at all. She requested the Officer time to talk to me before he made his final decision. We left his room, and I followed her as she was climbing up a little mountain and asked me to sit by her side. That moment, on that little mountain, changed the course of my life forever.

Inbal, my sweet and caring Commander shared her opinion and view of me as a Commander. She listed all the leadership qualities she saw in me, things I didn’t see or even recognize in myself. She told me she was confident I could be a great leader but said that I had to be able to see it too. She then left me on my own to think about what I would like to happen, promising me that she would make sure I would get another chance if I so wished for it.

I don’t have a great memory, but I will never forget that moment when I was sitting on my own, filled with emotions. I was feeling ashamed of messing up on the opportunity of becoming a leader, feeling grateful for having a person who believed in me and feeling excited as it became clear to me what I wanted, I wanted to be a Commander! I wanted to be just like her, a caring Commander, tough but at the same time sensitive enough to be there for my soldiers, supporting and elevating them.

I ran down the hill as fast as I could before they could change their mind. I went back to the Officer, told him I made a big mistake and pleaded for another chance to prove myself. I was granted another chance and went back to my group and with all the power I got from my Commander, I finished at the top with the best ranking group. I did give them orders like cleaning the kitchen, but allowed myself to join them to make sure they finished on time. Seeing me helping them made them realize how much I cared, and they cared back. It was the best feeling in the world. I felt exhilarated to have the power to make a difference.

This week’s Torah portion is Shemini, it is the end of the course for Aaron to become a priest. Some of our sages think that Aaron wasn’t feeling worthy of his new title, after all he was the one who helped his group to make the biggest sin by building the Golden Calf. How could he be standing in front of them expecting them to look up to him as a spiritual leader who could help them atone for their sins when he himself sinned. Moses his “Commander”, called him up on the “little mountain” saying: Kerav! Come forward!

It was time for Moses to turn over the conduct of the ritual by inviting Aaron to officiate it at the altar for the first time. Aaron needed someone to believe in him because he felt embarrassed. He remembered very well what he did and was ashamed getting this big honor to serve G-d and his community when he didn’t feel he was worthy of it. But Moses was there to reassure him that his sin had been forgiven mainly because of how he felt. Aaron’s ability to feel ashamed and unworthy of the great honor of being a great priest was one of the important characteristics of a moral human being. It came from a place of modesty and the realization of who he was and the gap between who he was and who he was meant to be under G-d’s big plan.

Shemini in Hebrew is the eight. In Kabbalah the number 8 represent new beginnings. The 8th day came after the creation of the world, that was when everything started – and life began. Since then, every week we get on the 8th day: the gift of a new beginning!

For 7 days Moses was doing the dedication of the Mishkan until he gave it to Aaron on the 8th day to start in his new role. The word Shmone -8- has the word oil in it – Shemen. Oil rises to the top. Let’s be like oil, rising to the surface of the 8th for eternity.

May we climb the little mountain to play the role of Moses or the part of Aaron, whichever it is, we should be able to recognize the call telling us to come forward and do what it is we are meant to do, for us and the people around us, it is what G-d intended for us from the very start. I believe in G-d, I believe in myself, and I believe in you! Shabbat Shalom!