בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יהוה אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶך הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ לַעֲסוֹק בְּדִבְרֵי תוֹרָה
Blessings for learning and studying Torah
Berakhot 11b:
Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha’olam asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu la’asok b’divrei Torah
Nonbinary Hebrew Project:
B’rucheh ateh Khavayah Shekhinu ruach ha’olam asher kidash’tanu b’mitzvotei’he v’tziv’tanu la’asok b’divrei Torah
Feminine God Language:
Brukhah at Ya Elohateinu ruach ha’olam asher keir’vat’nu la’avodatah v’tziv’tavnu la’asok b’divrei Torah
וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יהוה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃ דַּבֵּ֣ר ׀ אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל וְקַ֣ח מֵֽאִתָּ֡ם מַטֶּ֣ה מַטֶּה֩ לְבֵ֨ית אָ֜ב מֵאֵ֤ת כׇּל־נְשִֽׂיאֵהֶם֙ לְבֵ֣ית אֲבֹתָ֔ם שְׁנֵ֥ים עָשָׂ֖ר מַטּ֑וֹת אִ֣ישׁ אֶת־שְׁמ֔וֹ תִּכְתֹּ֖ב עַל־מַטֵּֽהוּ׃ וְאֵת֙ שֵׁ֣ם אַהֲרֹ֔ן תִּכְתֹּ֖ב עַל־מַטֵּ֣ה לֵוִ֑י כִּ֚י מַטֶּ֣ה אֶחָ֔ד לְרֹ֖אשׁ בֵּ֥ית אֲבוֹתָֽם׃ וְהִנַּחְתָּ֖ם בְּאֹ֣הֶל מוֹעֵ֑ד לִפְנֵי֙ הָֽעֵד֔וּת אֲשֶׁ֛ר אִוָּעֵ֥ד לָכֶ֖ם שָֽׁמָּה׃ וְהָיָ֗ה הָאִ֛ישׁ אֲשֶׁ֥ר אֶבְחַר־בּ֖וֹ מַטֵּ֣הוּ יִפְרָ֑ח וַהֲשִׁכֹּתִ֣י מֵֽעָלַ֗י אֶת־תְּלֻנּוֹת֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֲשֶׁ֛ר הֵ֥ם מַלִּינִ֖ם עֲלֵיכֶֽם׃ וַיְדַבֵּ֨ר מֹשֶׁ֜ה אֶל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל וַיִּתְּנ֣וּ אֵלָ֣יו ׀ כׇּֽל־נְשִׂיאֵיהֶ֡ם מַטֶּה֩ לְנָשִׂ֨יא אֶחָ֜ד מַטֶּ֨ה לְנָשִׂ֤יא אֶחָד֙ לְבֵ֣ית אֲבֹתָ֔ם שְׁנֵ֥ים עָשָׂ֖ר מַטּ֑וֹת וּמַטֵּ֥ה אַהֲרֹ֖ן בְּת֥וֹךְ מַטּוֹתָֽם׃ וַיַּנַּ֥ח מֹשֶׁ֛ה אֶת־הַמַּטֹּ֖ת לִפְנֵ֣י יהוה בְּאֹ֖הֶל הָעֵדֻֽת׃ וַיְהִ֣י מִֽמׇּחֳרָ֗ת וַיָּבֹ֤א מֹשֶׁה֙ אֶל־אֹ֣הֶל הָעֵד֔וּת וְהִנֵּ֛ה פָּרַ֥ח מַטֵּֽה־אַהֲרֹ֖ן לְבֵ֣ית לֵוִ֑י וַיֹּ֤צֵֽא פֶ֙רַח֙ וַיָּ֣צֵֽץ צִ֔יץ וַיִּגְמֹ֖ל שְׁקֵדִֽים׃ וַיֹּצֵ֨א מֹשֶׁ֤ה אֶת־כׇּל־הַמַּטֹּת֙ מִלִּפְנֵ֣י יהוה אֶֽל־כׇּל־בְּנֵ֖י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וַיִּרְא֥וּ וַיִּקְח֖וּ אִ֥ישׁ מַטֵּֽהוּ׃ {פ} וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יהוה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֗ה הָשֵׁ֞ב אֶת־מַטֵּ֤ה אַהֲרֹן֙ לִפְנֵ֣י הָעֵד֔וּת לְמִשְׁמֶ֥רֶת לְא֖וֹת לִבְנֵי־מֶ֑רִי וּתְכַ֧ל תְּלוּנֹּתָ֛ם מֵעָלַ֖י וְלֹ֥א יָמֻֽתוּ׃ וַיַּ֖עַשׂ מֹשֶׁ֑ה כַּאֲשֶׁ֨ר צִוָּ֧ה יהוה אֹת֖וֹ כֵּ֥ן עָשָֽׂה׃ {פ}
יהוה spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the Israelite people and take from them—from the chieftains of their ancestral houses —one staff for each chieftain of an ancestral house: twelve staffs in all. Inscribe each one’s name on his staff, there being one staff for each head of an ancestral house; also inscribe Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi. Deposit them in the Tent of Meeting before the Pact, where I meet with you. The staff of the candidate whom I choose shall sprout, and I will rid Myself of the incessant mutterings of the Israelites against you. Moses spoke thus to the Israelites. Their chieftains gave him a staff for each chieftain of an ancestral house, twelve staffs in all; among these staffs was that of Aaron. Moses deposited the staffs before יהוה, in the Tent of the Pact. The next day Moses entered the Tent of the Pact, and there the staff of Aaron of the house of Levi had sprouted: it had brought forth sprouts, produced blossoms, and borne almonds. Moses then brought out all the staffs from before יהוה to all the Israelites; each identified and recovered his staff. יהוה said to Moses, “Put Aaron’s staff back before the Pact, to be kept as a lesson to rebels, so that their mutterings against Me may cease, lest they die.” This Moses did; just as יהוה had commanded him, so he did.
תנו רבנן עשרה דברים נבראו בערב שבת בין השמשות ואלו הן באר ומן וקשת הכתב והמכתב והלוחות קברו של משה ומערה שעמד בה משה ואליהו פתיחת פי האתון ופתיחת פי הארץ לבלוע את הרשעים ויש אומרים אף מקלו של אהרן שקדיה ופרחיה ויש אומרים אף המזיקין
The Sages taught: Ten phenomena were created on Shabbat eve during twilight, and they were: [Miriam’s] well, and manna, and the rainbow, writing, and the writing instrument, and the tablets, the grave of Moses, and the cave in which Moses and Elijah stood, the opening of the mouth of Balaam’s donkey, and the opening of the mouth of the earth to swallow the wicked in the time of Korah. And some say that even Aaron’s staff was created then with its almonds and its blossoms. Some say that even the demons were created at this time.
דברים העשויין וגנוזין אלו הן אהל מועד וכלים שבו וארון ושברי לוחות וצנצנת המן והמטה [צלוחית של שמן המשחה] ומקלו של אהרן שקדיה ופרחיה ובגדי כהונה ובגדי כהן משיח אבל מכתשת של בית אבטינס שלחן ומנורה ופרוכת וציץ עדיין מונחין ברומי:
These are the things that were made and then hidden: The Tent of Meeting, and the items inside it; the Ark and the broken tablets; the jar of manna; the rod [of Moses]; [the flask of anointing oil]; the staff of Aaron, with its almonds and flowers; the priestly garments and garments of the high priest. But the mortar and pestle of the House of Avtinus, the table, the lamp, the curtain, and the headband of the high priest – those are still kept in Rome.
From Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, "A Lesson in Conflict Resolution" at https://www.rabbisacks.org/covenant-conversation/korach/a-lesson-in-conflict-resolution/
The episode of Korach teaches us that there are two ways of resolving conflict: by force and by persuasion. The first negates your opponent. The second enlists your opponent, taking his / her challenge seriously and addressing it. Force never ends conflict – not even in the case of Moses, not even when the force is miraculous. There never was a more decisive intervention than the miracle that swallowed up Korach and his fellow rebels. Yet it did not end the conflict. It deepened it. After it had taken place, the whole Israelite community – the ones that had not been part of the rebellion – complained, “You have killed the Lord’s people.”
What ended it was the quiet, gentle miracle that showed that Aaron was the true emissary of the God of life. Not by accident is the verse that calls Torah a “tree of life” preceded by these words:
Its ways are ways of pleasantness,
And all its paths are peace.
That is conflict resolution in Judaism – not by force, but by pleasantness and peace.
From Elizabeth Topper, "Korach: Almond Blossom" at https://parashapoems.wordpress.com/2015/06/17/korach-almond-blossom/
Twelve staffs of chiseled wood, long since severed from a living tree, lie inert and barren before the Ark.
Early light shimmers on the burnished staves; the dawn zephyr breathes through sacred stillness and fragrance fills the air.
Aaron’s staff alone has blossomed; crowned with pink-flushed blooms, as oval almonds dangle from green and tender stalks
. . .
In Itturei Torah (compiled by Aaron Yaakov Greenberg) a story is related about Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Kook (father of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook) who once was sent abroad as an emissary. He arrived in a congregation where there was a huge controversy raging between the congregants and the gabbai. Rabbi Kook who was known to be a great Torah scholar and had come from the Holy Land, was received warmly and asked whether he would adjudicate and be the “messenger of peace.” He agreed and mounted the podium. In his derasha, he mentioned the conflict of Korach and his followers and asked why Aaron’s staff had borne almonds and not another fruit. Here, he said, is hinted the result of a conflict. There are two species of almonds – bitter and sweet. The first sort, he said, are sweet at first and end up bitter, while the other sort are bitter first but end up sweet. Here is the principle of strife and peace. Rabbi Kook said the first sort hints at conflict in which the rivalry, opposition and wrangling are “sweet” but the end is very bitter. And the opposite is peace – at the beginning it is bitter, how hard it is to give in to a rival, the urge burns within not to surrender. But in the end, he concluded, when someone gives in to his better self, and surrenders a little in order to make peace, how good and sweet it is for all parties. Rav Shlomo Zalman Kook’s words entered the hearts of his listeners and he was able to bring peace to the congregation.
Almond Blossoms and the Menorah
Excerpt from Contemporary Reflection, Rachel Adler, in The Torah: A Women's Commentary, Tamara Cohn Eskenazi, Andrea L. Weiss, URJ Press, c. 2008, p. 540:
Clearly the Menorah embodies some kind of metaphor. But metaphor has rules, just like tennis or Scrabble®. One rule is that there has to be some link between the tenor (the topic under discussion) and the vehicle (the concrete object to which it is being compared). What, then, is tall, has a keneh (stem), with kanim (branches) extending from it, and p'rachim (flowers) intermixed with bud-like swellings (kaftorim)? The Menorah is a representation of a flowering almond tree!
The almond tree is distinctive not only in that it blossoms early, but also in that it then rapidly buds leaves, develops new branches, and forms its sustaining fruit—all before the flowers' calyx drops off (Nogah Hareuveni, Nature in Our Biblical Heritage, 1980, p. 130). Its Hebrew name, shaked, means "the early waker," and it may symbolize God's watchfulness or the speed with which God responds (Jeremiah 1:11). It is also the legitimating emblem of the Aaronite priesthood. At the end of Korah's rebellion in Numbers 17, Moses deposits the staffs of all the Israelite chieftains in the Tent of Meeting, "and there the staff of Aaron...had sprouted: it had brought forth sprouts, produced blossoms and borne almonds" (17:23).