Minyan Replay with Rabbi Lizzi — Parashat Bamidbar

Every weekday at 8:00 am, Mishkan Chicago holds a virtual Morning Minyan. Our Thursday sessions are hosted by Mishkan's Founding Rabbi, Lizzi Heydemann. You can join in yourself, or listen to all the prayer, music, and inspiration right here on Contact Chai!

Our May 18th, 2023 session covered Parashat Bamidbar.  This portion is from Numbers, and numbers are sequential, logical, and clear, right? Wrong! It's a wild one — strap in.

Tomorrow, May 19th, we will hold a special Morning Minyan send-off for Rabbi Deena who is leaving Mishkan at the end of the month. We invite you to join us to lend your goodbyes and well wishes to R'Deena!

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Produced by Mishkan Chicago. Music composed, produced, and performed by Kalman Strauss.

Transcript

Transcript

Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann  
All right. It's been a while since we have done this one. So I actually I wanted to start with this

Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann  
help you can see it. We're beginning the book of Torah known as Bamidbar in the wilderness. And so, this particular prayer of the morning matovu Oh, how good how good are your tents? Oh, people of Israel. Oh, Jacob comes from the wilderness. And so we're going to we're going to talk a lot more about the wilderness today. But it's, it's both a scary place and a place of intense potential and transformation, and Revelation. But also like every day is kind of a wilderness because you don't know what's going to happen. And so we begin with how good how good it is to be in this wilderness.

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To who?

Speaker 2  
Oh Ha ha, you go. Oh, ha ha yeah, go

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Mishkan Oh, Tessa. Isa

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toe. Oh Ha. Oh Ha ha

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Yeah. Coco Mishkan. Oh, Tessa. Nuestra

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nee ni vero has

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DESA

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Elle Hey,

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Coach.

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Berg here

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Mishkan otehr

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Yakko Mishkan

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oh Israel

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knee

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Jeffy Lottie Alyssa Dawn bruh

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on and oh he me there because I Nene Ben mad. Yi Shan

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Oh Ha ha

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Oh ha co go Mishkan Oh

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oh oh. Oh Ha ha Yeah.

Speaker 3  
Mishkan or Tessa yeas?

Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann  
Huh. I love this line that I need to feel at T Lissa I am. My prayer for you. It's not actually about getting the words right. And it's not about knowing a particular prayer in any language, certainly not a foreign language. I am my prayer me, you Elohim the room has defined God in the depth and the expansiveness of your love and They need the enmity shefa answer me with the truth of you shefa it's not entirely clear what this word means, you know, you could translate maybe as as like salvation. But I heard a teacher once say, Oh no, this is just like in the modern Hebrew word you wish to have something. So God answer me in the depth of your essence in the in the truth of who you are God and what you have God in your uniqueness in your Yeshua and your creation is God. So essentially, with what with whatever whomever you are, God, answer me with the depth of your essence. All right, I wanted to go into this prayer for the creation of the body. Every now and again, I look over at our sea door, and I realized like, oh, there are some things that we never stuck in here throughout the course of the pandemic. And I'm sort of surprised none of you have said to me, like, hey, what about the prayer for the body? Could we get this in the sea door, it's just a Google Doc, this thing can be amended and expanded and you know, kind of evolve over time. And indeed, it should. So it did this morning, I added the prayer for the body. Today, I'm on a kick about, about celebrating individuality in the context of a minion, or any kind of group. But you know, here we are as a minion. And so waking up in the morning, and thanking God for the precise body you are given, which might be hard for some of us, especially if we creak and crack and things don't work the way they're supposed to. But we say this prayer, recognizing that if we are able to say this prayer, or even think it, we are alive, and then a lot more is working right? Than is not, it has to be. So if you're able to read along in the Hebrew, go ahead and read with me. Otherwise, I'll read the Hebrew and we can say the English. Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech Ha olam a share yet czar at a damn Bahama Veraval Nikka Veeam Nikka Veeam Hello Lim Hello Lim

Speaker 3  
Gallucci via dua live namely say hello Da Shi

Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann  
M if a tariff Academy him or you sat him had mayhem e f Sharla he's Cayambe he's km Villa and mode Lafonda.

Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann  
I feel Lucia I effect baru attire I don't I refer hold us our monthly last soit blessing Are you Creator of the universe who formed the human being with wisdom and created within us openings and hollows? It is not it is obvious and known before your glorious throne that if one of them were ruptured, or blocked it would be impossible to exist and even to stand in your presence for a short while. Bless it are you who heals all flash and performs wonders? Romain and Merle I'm noticing you're like here present that I feel like you're I feel like you're ready to lead something if I were to ask for you know, the admiral to lead some kind of physical awakeness thing would you be interested in doing that? All right. Do you want Do you want any of the prayers up on the screen? Or do you just want to speak and guide us through a little bit of gentle physical prayer

Speaker 5  
when we get to the love part Huva I want to lead us in opening our hearts.

Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann  
All right, done and done. I'll let you know when you get a visa.

Unknown Speaker  
Yes, love. Thank you.

Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann  
No problem. All right.

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All right.

Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann  
To do this one here.

Speaker 4  
Uzi verzi

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di D Li

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Li Shu Uzi?

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Ie Li

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Li Shu Ah

Speaker 2  
Oh Z EY Lili

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Shu

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Uzi

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II Li

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Li Shu bozi The zebra

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vi d

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Li Li Shu Oh Josie Josie the Zima

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Nighy de Li

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Li Shu

Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann  
loving watching some of your mouths moving during the B part while I'm doing the A part.

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boozy, there's me

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Aileen li Shu

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O Z, the Z Li Li

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Li Shu

Speaker 4  
Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Arabic God show how you Vicki I was so how do you Euro Good luck we are Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Gosh opha Halle beneva

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have a meaning that Oh God

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hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah

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Hallelu Hallelu Gohan is shot

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ma

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Hallelujah Hallelujah

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Hallelujah

Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann  
let's just use this tune as we go into vara who if you're able to stay on we face east let's see how this works. If you're able to respond, try it. Let's see

Speaker 3  
No matter how old I am, you'll hear all over it horshack Shalom Maria taco

Unknown Speaker  
I don't know, let me know if you'd say Muhammad

Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann  
or wrong lesson are you creator of the great lights, great lights, the little lights, the teeny weeny little stars in the sky that are actually enormous, huge burning balls of gas that may or may not still exist because we're seeing what they looked like, you know, millions and millions and millions of years ago as we look out into the atmosphere In the sun and the moon and the things that we see in that we think we know but we don't really know. Blessed it is the one who is mystery and who creates mystery which include love. So Admiral, I pass it over to you

Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann  
Oh, and go ahead and unmute Admiral so we can hear you.

Speaker 5  
There we are. So whenever we do this, I think about actually bringing breath into my heart and growing my heart space. So put both hands on your heart and through your nose, breathe in and feel your heart expand under your hand. We all live in our heads so much, but this prayer is asking us to come into our hearts. And then the next step is to inhale into your heart and exhale out with a vu sound and feel the vibration of your heart under your hands

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can you feel it

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one more time.

Speaker 5  
So now when we do have our robot, let's literally feel it in our hearts. That's it Rabbi Lizzi.

Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann  
I just want to take a moment and sit with my hands on my heart and breathe and feel my heart expanding with every breath there's a lot to get through and half an hour when we're on minyan together and so we don't often take the time just to sit and kind of let it sink in.

Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann  
So that'll be an invitation as we go into Havana Cuba. Maybe keep your eyes closed keep your hands on your heart and keep focusing on that feeling of growing your heart and asking who today might I need to call upon that expanded heart space in order to deal with gracefully and skillfully and lovingly?

Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann  
Varu attire I don't I have no hair but I'm Mo you sir l the I Have a blessed are you the one who chooses us in love through love with love when we love we are loved can move your hand from your heart up to cover your eyes as we say the Shema

Speaker 3  
Shema Yisrael I don't know why ello he knew I don't know

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why

Speaker 3  
they are hafta eight I don't I don't know HESA the whole of Abha the whole NASA the whole metadata there how you had to bury him her a share. I know he messed up ha ha yo, Oliver fair ha for Sheena and Tom live an ephah vide Barta bomb, but she have to have a Vita over Lexa Hava DRF sharp Baja with comesa look sharp Tom Lee Otalia Deha there how you litotes I forhold been in EFA will Kotov ta ham Masood better we'll be here SHA Raha

Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann  
want to go into me Homolka and use me Homolka as a healing prayer and thinking about it this morning. So Susan, wanted to make sure that if certain folks got included on her Misha Barak list, and you know often we're praying for somebody when we when we say somebody's name, somebody who is going through a prolonged and maybe chronic illness and sometimes you know there's like an inter Prevention, there is chemotherapy or there is surgery. And, you know, you would think like that's getting to the promised land. You know, if the if the illness you know, was was Egypt was constricting was, you know, was was limiting you in some way. Okay, so then the intervention is the promised land, except if you've ever had major surgery or gone through chemotherapy, you know, that is a wilderness of its own, the recovery for that the time that you spend, the time that you spend not being able to have full functioning, if you ever get back to full functioning, the wandering is its own wilderness is its own midbar so, you know, I'm thinking about this moment, as the Israelites celebrated and sang on the shores of the Red Sea, and we made it we made it and that was just the beginning. It was just the beginning of 40 years in the in the wilderness, but it was a milestone on the journey and it's really important to recognize when we are making progress even a little tiny bit and so for everybody on your list as you're dropping them in the chat, may they have recognizable powerful milestones of progress and growth and healing moving them in the direction of the promised land. So I'm seeing everybody's everybody's friends family Mamas Papas, uncles aunts cousins Sisters Brothers friends beloved friends people in this room

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me by Ellie my dog pee Come on dad die backhoe dash no rotting Hilo Oh save file and no runs healed or save she shot she get really high ice cream ha spa Thai yes how to learn how to be

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a domain name love Yeah Hey, hi

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Komaba s rocky slow today mass data you throw in so they know i don't i

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don't know i got a

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hi

Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann  
sending strength requests a man to everybody

Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann  
so for everybody, I'm seeing somebody who's going to go undergo heart surgery tomorrow. And whenever I talk to somebody who's about to have surgery, you know, there's a point at which you're, you know, they have to wheel you away from whoever from whoever's holding your hand. Now from whoever was your support support system in the hospital before they really went to the O R. And at a certain point, they're gonna, you know, give you whatever anesthesia is gonna make you fall asleep, so you don't feel anything when they're operating on you. And I always invite people to think about being surrounded by the ancestors, you know, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Leah. And like, all of your family, all of your family who has come before you who because of their resilience and strength and creativity resulted in you being here today and they are all around you, surrounding you cheering for you, you know around in that or because they can be there. And just remembering that you're you're surrounded by people cheering spirits cheering for your success and your health and your healing. And so for what that's worth, Ellen for the person who might be going and feeling a little bit, you know, nervous, rightly about, you know, something that feels a little bit scary. That's right seeing them behind the hands of the surgeons guiding and just, you know, helping create the most. The most cool, calm collected, well ordered successful surgery and that everybody in that room, just feel at peace in whatever way is their job and feel at peace in it. Okay, I want to pull the screen down for a moment. And well actually out and then I'm gonna move into a little bit of Torah study for us this morning, I mentioned I mentioned earlier, we're beginning look at this numbers. One we are we're beginning the Book of Numbers Bamidbar, even even just the name of the book is itself kind of a paradox because Bamidbar means in the wilderness in Hebrew, and you can see that starting right here VEDA bear, I don't I almost shot Bamidbar Sinai, God said to Moses, got Yes, but you to bear out on i God said to Moses, bummy Barsi night in the wilderness of Sinai. So this is taking place in the wilderness. But numbers sounds very concrete, very defined, you know, very predictable numbers. Numbers, we understand numbers are logical. But midbar is not logical. The wind could blow in any direction. You know, there could be a sandstorm, there could be quicksand, there could be a mirage, there could be a an oasis. There could be people who are dangerous to you, there could be people who are going to help you, you don't know what happens in Bamidbar numbers you can count. And so the beginning of this, well, the name of this book numbers comes from the census that is taken at the beginning of the book, God says to Moses, in the wilderness of Sinai, Ba ba ba take a census of the whole Israelite community, but then it's very specific, actually, of people who can fight by their clans of the ancestral houses by name every male head by head, actually, not every male just people from the ages 20 and up people who can fight can people who can bear arms, okay, we're not going to go into into all of that, because it begins to get very specific. And you know, and about sort of the details of the census. What is interesting and important to notice is that in Hebrew, there isn't exactly a word for taking a census. The word in Hebrew and I'm highlighting it here is Sue at Roche, which means lift up the head. Sue at Roche, lift up the head, cola dot B'nai Israel, of all of the congregation of Israel. Take a census is an incredibly poor translation for Syd Lu at Roche. And this is something that Rabbi Jonathan Sacks riffs off of in one of his one of his deep re Torah on this parsha. And so, you know, the rabbi's wonder What does Sue at Roche mean? You know, and and rashy says, Oh, I'll tell you what it means. It means, you know, God is God is suggesting a gesture of love. The counting is not like with the way we think of as a census, you know, you know, the American Bureau of the Census or whatever, you know, big, large corporate groups of people in which your individuality is lost, no, rather, it's not about your individuality getting lost. It's about God loving every single person, enough to lift up their head because they the children of Israel are so dear to God, God wants to count them. They counted God counted them when they were going to leave Egypt counted them after the golden calf incident to see how many were left. And now that he's about to cause his presence to rest with them with Mishcon cotton wants to count them again, you know, so it's this, this act of love, God is paying attention to the people God's showing He loves them. But actually, in many places, this The counting is not actually a good thing. When centuries later, King David counts the people there was Divine Anger and 70,000 people die. That does not seem like an expression of love. And so he pulls out that particular word su at Roche lift the head, and it is very different. It is a strange circum lo que circum luxury expression. Biblical Hebrew contains many verbs meaning to counseling note live code lists for a lecture. Why does the Torah not use one of those simple words for the census, instead, choosing the roundabout expression, lift the heads of the people and so what he then goes into is talking about how in any Census count or roll call there is a tendency to focus on the total, the crowd the multitude. The mass here is a nation of 60 people, a company with 100,000 employees, a sports crowd of 60,000. And any total tends to value the group or nation as a whole, and the individual is devalued. It makes the individual replaceable. If a soldier dies in battle, another will take their place. If one person leaves the organization, someone else can be hired to do their job. And then he goes into when I think this is fascinating, how when this happens, the individual can lose their independent judgment and follow what others are doing. You know, you join a group, and now you're participating in what is often called herd behavior, which sometimes leads to collective madness. In 1841, Charles Mackay published his classic study extraordinary Popular Delusions, and the madness of crowds, which tells of the South Sea bubble that cost 1000s of people their money in the 1720s and the tulip mania in Holland, where entire fortunes were sent, were spent on a single tulip bulb, the great crashes of 1929 and 2008 had the same crowd psychology. Another great work Gustavo Bond's the crowd. A Study of the Popular mind showed how crowds exercise a magnetic influence that transmutes the behavior of individuals into a collective group mind. As he put it, an individual in a crowd is a grain of sand amid other grains of sand, which the wind stirs up at will. People in a crowd become anonymous, their conscience is silenced, they lose a sense of personal responsibility. Crowds are prone particularly to regressive behavior of primitive reactions and instinctual behavior. They are led easily by figures who are demagogues playing on people's fears and their sense of victimhood. Such leaders Lavon noted are especially recruited from the ranks of those morbidly nervous excitable, hafta range persons who are bordering on madness, a remarkable anticipation of Hitler. It is no accident that LeBrons work was published in France at a time of rising anti semitism, and the Dreyfus trial. Here is the significance of one remarkable feature of Judaism. Its principled insistence like no other civilization before on the dignity and the integrity of the individual. We believe every human being was created in the image and likeness of God. The sages say said that every life is like an entire universe. My mom had his wrote that we should see ourselves as if our next act could change the fate of the world. Every dissenting view is carefully recorded in the Mishnah. Even if the law ends up being otherwise, every verse of the Torah is capable, said the sages have 70 interpretations. No voice no view is silence. Judaism never allows us to lose our individuality in the masses.

Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann  
There's a wonderful blessing in the Talmud to be said on seeing 600,000 Israelites together in one place it is by rule Hatha, I don't die, your day or regime bless it is the one who discerns secrets. The Tom Wood explains that every person is different. We have different attributes. We all think our own thoughts, and God, only God can enter the minds of each one of us and know what we're thinking. And this is what the blessing refers to. In other words, even in a massive crowd, were to human eyes faces blur into a mass. God's still relates to us as individuals, not as members of the crowd. And this is the meaning of the phrase lift the head in the context of a census. God tells Moses that there is danger when counting a nation that each individual will feel insignificant. Who am I? What difference do I make if I'm only one of millions a mere wave in the ocean a grain of sand on the seashore? dust on the surface of infinity what what can I possibly matter? Against that God tells Moses to lift the heads, showing that each one person counts as an individual. Indeed, a Jewish law, a diverse Shabbat minion, something is counted solely rather than by weight is never nullified, even in a mixture of 1000 or a million others. In Judaism, taking a census must always be done in such a way as to signal that we are valued as individuals we each have unique gifts. This is there is a contribution that only I can bring. To lift someone's head means to show them favor to recognize them. It is a gesture of love. And I will stop there he writes more and it's good. But just to say for each one of us, that may be wondering, in the midst of a day, and a world where maybe you Feel like nobody's paying attention to you or like your voice doesn't matter. This week's parsha says otherwise. And he do. We are going to close out with Cadiz Chateau mourners Kaddish. And then I'm gonna end us on kind of a power song inspired by Lizzo who I saw last night who was kind of a goddess in her own right. All right. Is there anybody who you are saying Kaddish for this morning? Lawrence ADA Feldman my mother my mom Joan Friedman. My dad Lloyd Robinson

Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann  
he's economically Raha May their memories be blessings

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you to get down Viet Kadesh shamira back.

Rabbi Lizzi Heydemann  
There Maddie Rafa. Tavian leaf Mahoto the higher home of Johan of IEA the whole Beatty Israel, by Allah will be his man Kareem ro. And then the Haish Marilyn Rasul Allah ma mailman, Rafi ratheesh to backfeed for RV Drumond Vietnam se Viet huddart Viet olevia halasz made dequeued SHA la ala Min kobir Glad to have a share atta touche Baja to have an ephah Mata Tammy ranby Alma of Emeril Amin, your haste la Moranbah means you may have a high emaline of alcohol use or LVM rule. I mean, I will say Shalom beam Roma whoo yeah say Shalom. Elena of alcoholics or I have alcohol Yoshio at Valve Imro men and men All right. Here's where we're going to end today. May all their memories be blessings. And may you take this little tune to heart today. And feel free to away feel free to do a little independent dance party if you want. As we go into this optimize up Ah Here we go where are you? Are you wait a second? What are you seeing on my screen? No, that's not it. Oh no. Where did it go? There it is. Can you see a black screen? Yes, yes, yes. But I want you to see I just want you to see a black screen. All right. This is your dance party THON. Good morning Boker Tov everybody

Speaker 6  
woke up this morning to somebody judging me no surprise they judge me dawned on me I'm just picking up a Brazzers book and never saying sorry found that in the end and I can only do it for me you call it sensitive and I call it super Baba you just again buddy because you think it gives you power online law was only God can judge me I know Hi my height I went on me

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in case nobody told you in case nobody made you believe

Speaker 7  
imagine a world where everybody's the same and you could cancel a girl because she just wanted to change how could you throw stones

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so in case nobody told you in case nobody made you believe

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with a man

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In case

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in case nobody.

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Wins