The Staff, our Inner Strength...

The title of this week’s Torah Portion is ‘Mattot’, which means: “The Tribes (of Israel )”. Interestingly, in Hebrew, the same word – mattot - can also mean ‘sticks’ or ‘staffs’.

Since nothing in Judaism or biblical Hebrew is coincidental, there must be an inherent correlation between a staff and a tribe of Jewish People.

Allow me to share an explanation that might give us some insight and food for thought:

A staff, may have once upon a time, come from a tree, but since then, it has become dry, hard and stiff. No longer does it possess the vitality of the tree, nor reflect its properties. When one looks at a staff, one does not instinctively trace it back to its original progenitor. The good old days when it was part of a tree are long gone. It has since grown old, hard and tough.

The staff, therefore, can be used as an analogy for us - the Jews who lives in the 21st century. We may have come from a vibrant tree; our patriarchs and matriarchs are certainly our roots. But at times we feel somewhat disconnected; we look at ourselves and we might not always see within our daily life a clear reflection of our illustrious past.

And yet, almost paradoxically, even as we feel this distance, there is an inner sense of identity and strength that expresses itself so vibrantly even today. In fact, what I enjoy most about being a Rabbi in Northern California is witnessing such strong Jewish conviction from men and women who superficially seem to be disconnected.

And this sentiment as well is expressed and highlighted by our analogy – the staff: The staff might be disconnected and the staff might not represent or reflect its source, but the staff has one great advantage – its strength.

And perhaps this is the message we ought to take from our Torah Portion. We must remember that as members of the tribes of Israel we are staffs. Even when we feel distant from our Judaism, our inner spark and soul is strong. It need only be fueled by the Torah and mitzvahs.

Let’s do a mitzvah today!

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Raleigh Resnick