Dvar Torah Parashat Beha’alotcha 5786

As Pride Month comes to a close, I would like to share our member, Jason Toups', beautiful d'var Torah from Pride Shabbat in place of the rabbis' message for the next newsletter. We are blessed to be able to highlight the learning and thoughtful reflections of our members.

Beha’alotecha

Last year, my husband Danny and I came up with this idea of doing a Pride Shabbat celebration. With the support of the North Tahoe Hebrew Congregation, Rabbi Lauren, the Tahoe Jewish Community, Church of the Mountains, the Truckee Pride team, and the Town of Truckee, we have been able to make that happen. So thank you to everyone who makes this possible.

Last year, Danny gave the Dvar Torah, and he did an incredible job. Some of you may know I am not actually Jewish…yet. I am still in the process of converting. But when we were planning for this year’s Pride Shabbat, I asked Rabbi Lauren if I could give the Dvar Torah. This week’s portion is Beha’alotecha from the Book of Numbers, and the title translates to “when you step up,” which I thought was fitting.

In the Torah portion, it’s the start of the second year since the Exodus from Egypt, and we are told about the wandering in the wilderness. We learn that God appears as a cloud by day, and as a pillar of fire by night. He guides them on where to go, and where to stop and rest. 

We learn how to make camp, how to summon the people, and how to form up a marching order for the next day’s journey. We receive instructions on appropriate offerings, and how to hold the first Passover. 

In the midst of all that instruction, one in particular caught my eye:

“God spoke to Moses, saying: Make two trumpets of silver; make them of hammered work. They shall serve you to summon the community [edah] and cause the camps [machanot] to journey.” (Numbers 10:2)

On Monday earlier this week, banners to celebrate Pride went up downtown, hanging from the lamp posts. Similarly, banners were set up at the entrance to Glenshire and at the Train station. For the past many weeks, countless posts have been shared online to promote Truckee Pride. And during this week, many of us wear a Rainbow pin or clothing. 

These symbols trigger reactions, and not always good ones. If you’ve ever been on Facebook or Instagram, you probably have seen how the rainbow flag makes certain people feel. On the Sierra Sun’s Instagram posts about the banners downtown and this week’s Pride celebrations, most of the comments are hyper critical and expletive-laden. At the puppy pride event at Donner Lake, pride flags guiding the way to the meeting spot were taken down by an anonymous stranger halfway through the event.

These critics ask: why do we need flags? Why do we need banners? Why do we even need Pride? Why do we have to make such a big deal about it? Can’t we just stop?

And to them, I respond: The Lord said, make two trumpets of hammered silver. And with them, you shall summon the community. 

We cannot build community in silence or in darkness. 

In the Torah portion, the People have just escaped Egypt at great risk, fleeing into the desert, and now there is a pillar of fire over their heads by night, and a column of cloud during the day, and they’re blasting trumpets. They aren’t hiding. They aren’t silent. 

That’s why we do Pride. That’s why we wear the rainbow clothing, and wave the flag, and festoon banners everywhere. That’s why we post on Instagram, tell our friends and neighbors, and make our voices heard. Every public act builds community. 

Going back to the passage, it talks about using the trumpets to summon both the community and the camps (sometimes translated as tribes). And then the next section in the Torah lists some of those camps, and tells us a little about them.

We are told about the Gershonites and Merarites: they carry the Tabernacle. The Kohathites: they carry the sacred objects. And the Camp of Dan: They bring up the rear.

And it got me thinking about this duality of camp and community. 

In the queer community, we have many camps or tribes. Even our acronym: LGBTQ+, suggests this. We’ve got lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex, asexual, and many many more. And even within each of those, we have more camps and tribes. 

Take the gay scene for example: When I lived in the big city, you had your kickball gays and your dodgeball gays. We’ve got DJ gays and stay-at-home-and-sip-tea gays. 

I’ve personally been accused of being a transit gay, which is a gay man who’s a little too into public transit solutions. 

Camp and Community. There is a tension there. Throughout the year, we often find ourselves in our camps: amongst the people that we are most akin to. Because it’s easy and it’s comfortable. 

But let Pride be a call to bring our camps together, to come together as one community. Whether gay or straight, lesbian or bisexual, trans or cis. Let Pride be our silver trumpets, our pillar of fire, and our column of cloud. Let it remind us to be heard and to be seen and to be together. 

Shabbat Shalom. And Happy Pride.