Parshat Bamidbar, 4th Portion (Numbers 3:1-3:13), May 21, 2014

Aaron and his two remaining sons manage the Levis who mind the vessels in the Tent of Meeting

Not as many people read my Torah study as they do my blog.kimmosley.com. I was discouraged.

Then I remembered what I said in a Weight Watchers meeting, when the question was asked, what do you do when you've reached a plateau? “Oh,” I said, “I would congratulate myself on sticking with the program.”

So it will be with this Torah study, which is done as a practice for me. Studying the Torah took the place of offerings and sacrifices after the destruction of the second temple.

There is wisdom in the Torah, but for me, part of the usefulness is that I watch myself react to this or that insanity. It is in the watching that I grow.

For example, in this reading, it is clear that the tribe of Levi will serve Aaron and take charge of the vessels at the Tent of Meeting. So I ask myself, why should one tribe have the duty or privilege to do this? Why isn't this job given to the most deserving? While others might have to go to war, and perhaps be killed, the Levis are messing around in the Tent of Meeting. Is this fair? Of course not. It is fair that a crazy disease is scary the world to death? Of course not. But that's been our history.