Parsha Points- Behar
The name of this week’s Parsha is Behar, On The Mountain. Not just any mountain, but Mount Sinai, where God gave the Torah to the Jewish people.
The Jewish nation have a special historical relationship with two mountains: Mount Sinai and Mount Moriah, the place where Isaac was nearly sacrificed. Our commentators say these two mountains are really one. Mount Moriah was transplanted to the Sinai dessert so that the Torah could be given on this precious place.
Another explanation is as follows. All of the great mountains of the world competed with each other to be the place where God would give the Torah to the Jewish people. But God chose Mount Sinai which was the lowest of the mountains. The tall mountains were rejected because they represented arrogance, not a quality compatible with the study of Torah. Mount Sinai symbolized humility and modesty, values that God wanted us to have in order to receive the Torah.
Shabbat Shalom,
Reverend Asher Tannenbaum