Exodus from Israel

Chukat 5785

This week’s Torah portion, Chukat, sees the Israelites, quite fittingly, במדבר. In the wilderness. In the desert. And as they have been for the past 38 years, the Israelites are on the move. We find them in the Wilderness of Zin, in the Negev, the vast desert that fills the southern half of modern-day Israel. Then, they make their way south and east via the Red Sea, skirting the borders of the neighboring Kingdom of Edom, from where they turn north and pass along Moab to the lands of the Amorites and Ammonites — all of which can be found today in the country of Jordan. As I was reading this parshah, especially these sections, I kept thinking that they sounded really familiar. Then, I looked at a handy map in the Plaut Torah Commentary and I realized that this was the exact journey I had taken a little over two weeks ago.

As some of you might know, to relax before I started here full-time, and to celebrate my ordination, I decided to go to Tel Aviv for Pride. I landed in Israel on Monday, June 9th, and I had such a lovely time for about 90 ½ hours. Then the sirens started. And they didn’t stop. I know that there are some rumors floating about in this community as to how I managed to get out of Israel during the recent war. Apparently, Rabbi Katz was floating the idea that hitchhiking may have been involved for at least some of the journey. So tonight, I’m going to set the record straight. Because even though there were thousands of years separating my journey from that of our ancestors, they exist in a kind of dialogue. But before I get to that, it is the 4th of July and, quite fittingly, American democracy played a huge part in my own personal exodus…