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WWOT: Weekly Words of Torah – Parashat Bamidbar 5779

To inspire, guide, engage, enrich, and empower Conservative Jewish Women
By Rabbi Ellen S. Wolintz-Fields, Executive Director, Women’s League For Conservative Judaism

This week’s Torah Reading, Parashat Bamidbar, discusses the arrangement and order in which the tribes camped and marched while wandering in the desert. A census is conducted, and the final count of those men who were 20 years and older, and could bear arms, was 603,550. However, that number did not include women, anyone under the age of 20, and Levites. Therefore, the population size of the Children of Israel, who were travelling at that time, was much greater. In order to make sure that everyone was accounted for, and there was not major chaos when the Children of Israel had to move, it was very smart for the people to have specific places to camp, depending on their tribe, with the Mishkan, Tabernacle, with the Ark, at the center of the camp. Furthermore, each tribe had a specific task.

How does this relate to our lives in Women’s League? Everyone has unique skills and talents, and, therefore, there is a way to get a greater number of people involved. In each Sisterhood, we can all have a set task or job. We should be cognizant that one person does not dominate the leadership positions. By dividing up the responsibilities, and perhaps even rotating the tasks that need to be done, more people can assist in the amazing opportunities our Women’s League has to offer.

Weekly Words of Torah is a brief paragraph prepared weekly by our new Executive Director, Rabbi Ellen S. Wolintz-Fields, presented in our “This Week @ Women’s League.” WWOT will provide meaningful thoughts related to the Weekly Torah Portion, an event on the Calendar, a Prayer, or something of Jewish interest, to inspire, guide, engage, enrich, and empower Conservative Jewish Women. If you have any particular interest in future topics, or want to send Rabbi Wolintz-Fields an email, you can contact her at ewolintz-fields@wlcj.org. Read previous Weekly Words of Torah here.