Yogi Berra famously quipped, “It’s deja vu all over again.” And that seems to sum up the beginning of Torah reading בְּהַעֲלֹתְךָ Beha’alotcha (“when you raise up” [the lamps]). We have read about the Tabernacle menorah and the consecration of the priesthood before in Shemot (Exodus) and Vayiqra (Leviticus), but Bamidbar (Numbers), like Devarim (Deuteronomy), is a thematic rather than a book. And Bamidbar is like a travelogue of Israel’s journey from bondage to freedom, with snapshots of cringe-worthy waypoints that are best not revisited by future generations.
In the Beha’alotecha album of snapshots, we see a collection of lessons about remembering the One Who gave freedom and guarding oneself against resentment for the journey to that freedom.
