Chevre, this week’s parsha is BeHaLotcha (בהעלותך). In light of what is going on in the world (writing this Friday the 13th of June 2025, Israel attacked Iran last night), I’m going to try to find some positive things to share. The parsha talks about the consecration of the Levites, the order of breaking up the camp for travel, the first journey and then we have the reverse Nun’s. After the reverse Nun’s, things take a turn for the worse.
My family and I are safe. What is surreal is that we were out at dinner last night celebrating my 50th birthday (Gregorian Date). and slept half the night in our safe room as a precaution. First thing this morning, I ran to the local makolet (convience store) to get some essentials and we brought a lot of supplies into our safe room, in case we need to stay there for a while.
A neighbor shared this story:
Since we’ve been up since 3am when first warning sirens were sounded, a bit after 5am I ran up to shul to get my tefillin as all public gatherings, including prayer services, schools, etc are closed and the country is in a full state of emergency. I wasn’t expecting to find a very nervous looking mom with her 8 day old son in her arms. They had scheduled this beautiful baby’s brit for a bit later in the morning. However, under the circumstances they had somehow managed to contact the mohel who drove fron Jerusalem at 4:30 in the morning to conduct the brit asap!
So 12 people who happened to be around ( including the father of the baby and his oldest brother and the mohel) joined together to say the morning prayers and to welcome this baby into the Jewish people in the most unusual of circumstances. It was incredibly beautiful and incredibly powerful and an incredible honor for me to have been there to participate.
The brit of Moshe Tuvia ben Shlomo Yonah will not soon be forgotten by the small, but spirited, group of people who were able to join with his wonderful family as he was welcomed into the covenant of the Jewish people. Mazal Tov! #amyisraelchai
Shabbat Shalom and Am Yisrael Chai