Do you admit to having read Harry Potter?

I will. 

I am quite the fan. 

I enjoyed each book and was often amazed not only by the imaginative scope but also by references to Judaic sources. 

Do you remember the sorting hat? 

When a new student would arrive at Hogwarts, the first order of business was to assign the student to one of the four Houses in the school. 

This was accomplished by briefly donning a talking hat, known as the sorting hat. 

The student would put on the hat and within moments the hat would announce the House to which the student would belong to forever more. 

The decision of the hat was absolute, it brooked no argument and once rendered the verdict was complete. 

This week’s Torah portion is called Pinchos and one of the topics covered is the upcoming division of the Land of Israel. 

The nation, divided into the Tribes, is going to be awarded specific portions of land. 

The Torah portion tells us how it was done - via lottery. 

The name of each Tribe was inscribed on a piece of parchment and placed in a pile and the various portions of the land were written on other pieces of parchment and placed in a separate pile. 

How was it actually done?

By lottery. 

Joshua would take one from each pile and read out the results. 

Seems very straightforward. 

Rashi, the super commentator on the Torah, gives us a deeper insight. 

The words in the verse that explain the process are in Hebrew “Al pi hagoral” which literally means, done via lottery. 

But Rashi notes the Hebrew word “PI”  which means “the mouth of”. That would indicate that the selection was done through “the mouth” of the lottery. 

Rashi teaches us that something miraculous happened in this process. 

There were actually 3 steps. 

First, as written above, a standard lottery. 

Our Sages explain the deeper level of the lottery actually speaking. 

The second step was that the High Priest stood next to Joshua and through the medium of the breastplate he wore, there would be another communication confirming the results of the lottery. 

The breastplate had 12 stones each representing one of the Tribes and had engraved the letters which encompassed all the letters of the alphabet. As Joshua was about to choose the pieces of parchment, the letters on the breastplate would light up High Priest was able to see with prophecy what names and places would be picked. He would announce it just before Joshua picked the pieces, and they correlated every time. 

And further, from the mouth of the lottery, the lottery itself spoke aloud the names of the Tribes and the corresponding portions they would receive. 

This process was laden with miracles. 

Gd prefers to work through nature, why were there so many miracles afoot in this process?

Any parent knows the answer, and you don’t need to have read Harry Potter. 

So there would be no arguments. 

After such a level of open miracles, nobody would have the temerity to question the outcome. 

No one would say “my portion should be larger, greener, safer” etc!

It had clearly been ordained by Gd and it removed all arguments between the people of Israel. 

This is a very timely topic because today we began the mourning period known as the Three Weeks. Today, 17 Tammuz, until 9th of Av we mourn the loss of our Temple in Jerusalem. 

And while we clearly were not the ones to have brought about the destruction which took place thousands of years ago, we also have not brought about the repair which would allow for its rebuilding. 

The sin for which we are held accountable is the lack of loving and caring for one another. 

We are held accountable for all the arguing that continues to tear us apart. 

Until we figure out how to love one another, we will live in a society forever broken. 

How do we find ways to repair?

If we don’t know what to do, we can look around us at some of the people around us, regular and unassuming people, who live life on a different plane. 

Here is one beautiful example. 

David Yehuda Yitzchak Z”l was killed in the recent Israeli operation in Jenin. This young man was clearly a fighter in a combat unit but there was much more to him than met the eye. After his death was announced, a woman posted a picture of David with her son. Her son has special needs and David spent many hours with him, seeing the soul he was and creating a deep connection. The picture she posted shows David with her son on his shoulders, at his last birthday celebration. 

David was a person who used his spare time to help make the world a better place, by sharing his love and empathy with someone who needed the attention. 

In these Three Weeks we will mourn the destruction of the House of Hashem, and now we must also mourn the House of David Yehuda Yitzchak which will never be built. 

But he has left behind foundations we can build upon, messages of kindness and caring we can carry forth in his name. 

Let’s focus on building each other. 

There should be no argument about that. 

Shabbat Shalom and so much love.