Mishpatim

We were given advice by the Zohar to use the Book of Tehillim as a source of prayer. For centuries, Jews of all backgrounds have said psalms, tehillim, on many different occasions. Within the 150 Psalms we can find almost every kind of human emotion – joy, fear, sorrow, pain, anguish, despair, hope, confidence, exhilaration, frustration, yearning, awe, serenity and anxiety. There are psalms for every occasion, feeling and experience.

We say them in happiness whilst reciting Hallel on festivals or in fear, and in times of illness and life-threatening danger. Tehillim demonstrate how our relationship with G-d extends into each and every aspect of life, every experience, and every situation a person confronts.

There are a couple of verses that immediately spring to my mind. The first is;

וַאֲנִ֗י בְּרֹ֣ב חַ֭סְדְּךָ אָב֣וֹא בֵיתֶ֑ךָ אֶשְׁתַּחֲוֶ֥ה אֶל־הֵֽיכַל־קָ֝דְשְׁךָ֗ בְּיִרְאָתֶֽךָ׃

But I, through Your abundant love, enter Your house; I bow down in awe at Your holy temple.

This is a verse we use to count a minyan. We are taught that we are not supposed to count Jews and these verses are traditionally chosen to ensure we have ten people for a minyan.

This weeks Torah portion is Mishpatim, and in addition, this week, is Shabbat Shekalim, the first of four special Shabbatot.

Interestingly, this Torah portion deals with many of the details within the Torah, with G-d’s laws for the Children of Israel. They include laws about worshiping other gods, kashrut, business ethics and treatment of animals. Lots of laws and much minutiae.

But it is on this special Shabbat, Parshat Shekalim that we have a special reading which is added to the regular Torah reading.

The reading describes a census of the Jewish People which was taken while the Jews were in the Wilderness, after their Exodus from Egypt. It is in the Torah, here, and in other places, that we are taught the prohibition on counting Jews in the ordinary manner. In this reading, we learn that instead, the People should be called upon to contribute items, which would then be counted.

And so we use the verses to count ourselves.

This is very relevant to my own Jewish community right now. Starting the week of January 14, 2018 – and continuing for the next eight weeks or so – the Jewish Federation is conducting a population study of Jewish Detroit. Its purpose is to gather current information and insights into the demographics and social characteristics of the community. Stressing the importance of accurate data as a baseline for long-range planning and assessing the future needs of the community, the tag-line is literally “Count me Detroit”.

It is in Mishpatim that we learn the fine details, in Mishpatim we learn that it is the equal participation of all the Children of Israel that symbolizes that all Jews must share in achieving goals. It is only by giving up our personal interests that we understand the importance of being present for the community.

The haftorah teaches that when a nation becomes one, it ascends to a higher plane, because all its individuals merge their virtues with one another. This is also the reason that it is better to pray with a “minyan,” a quorum, to establish a community, whose virtues can merge, instead of praying individually.

So I say “Count me in”. Let me be counted in the current Detroit Jewish Population Study and let us attend minyan and ensure our mourners can say their prayers. Let the Jewish nation come together not as individuals one to ten but as a prayer on our lips.

הוֹשִׁ֤יעָה אֶת־עַמֶּ֗ךָ וּבָרֵ֥ךְ אֶת־נַחֲלָתֶ֑ךָ וּֽרְעֵ֥ם וְ֝נַשְּׂאֵ֗ם עַד־הָעוֹלָֽם׃

Deliver and bless Your very own people; tend them and sustain them forever.

Shabbat Shalom.