A few weeks ago, my ImpactIsrael colleague on the west coast Lianne Goldsmith was honored to give a D’var Torah at her synagogue. She reached out to me to discuss ways to infuse Derech Kfar’s philosophy (the Village Way) into her D’var. With the portion being B’Haalotcha, I suggested she focus on the first seventeen verses of Numbers, Chapter 12. These verses provide a good opportunity to share how our educational methodology plants in children not only the seeds of greatness, but also resilience to cope with racism and establish a sense of self-worth.
So in this parsha there is a sort of a strange story in which Miriam, who definitely loves her brother Moshe, complains about the Cushite woman that he has chosen to be his wife. In Israel, the word “Cushi” (Cushite) is considered very offensive. And since life is not perfect, we always kept in mind that our Ethiopian-born kids may encounter this word sooner or later in their lives, especially by other minorities. Even at the Village, we had to cope with a culture clash between our Eastern European kids who never heard before about Black Jews before they actually met them.
These Torah verses provided us with an opportunity to challenge the children with questions and grapple with important issues. Following this discussion, Miriam is also symbolically punished by G-d. The Torah said that she became a leper, with a skin “as white as snow” — a sick mirroring of the dark skin color she had complained about.
Bottom line, the Torah tells us that people come in different colors, and that greatness should be measured by the love in their hearts and the wisdom in their minds, not by their skin tone.
As to the unfolding situation here, the suffering of so many on both sides is unbearable. As educators, we have to think about how the present shapes the future for our young ones. We are totally committed to empowering educators throughout the country, whether Muslim, Christian or Jewish, as we cope with this ongoing crisis.
Let’s pray for better days.
Dr. Chaim Peri
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