This sheet on Numbers 18 was written by Rachel Barenblat for 929 and can also be found here
“All the gifts of the holy [offerings] which are set aside by the children of Israel for the Lord I have given to you…it is like an eternal covenant of salt before the Lord, for you and your descendants with you" (18:19).
What does that mean? What is a covenant of salt?
The 18th century Hasidic master Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev explains that this covenant is connected to the deeds of Korach, who argued that everyone was holy, and therefore everyone should be priests.
The priests, he writes, represent the divine attribute of “chesed” (lovingkindness), whereas the levites represent the divine attribute of “din” (justice, or gevurah in the sefirotic tree) the quality of boundaries and strength. The problem with Korach’s rebellion was that it left no room for din. He wanted everyone to be pure chesed, but in truth, the world needs judgment and justice, boundaries, and strength too.
Centuries earlier Ramban explained salt as a combination of fire and water, which is to say, justice and lovingkindness. He says it's the combination of those two, the appropriate balance of those two, which sustains all the worlds.
Rav Levi Yitzchak thus teaches that the covenant of salt (representing the balance of chesed and din) came as a response to Korach's actions, in order to remind us of what's wrong with Korach's imbalanced view. The world needs an appropriate balance of lovingkindness and justice.
Reading this passage, I marvel at how contemporary and real it feels. I've been in contexts where people want everyone and everything to be all-chesed-all-the-time, and they are not healthy at all. Love that flows without boundaries is a flood, destructive and damaging. When we over-privilege chesed at the expense of din, there are no appropriate roles or boundaries... and a community in which roles and boundaries are not honored is a community that will inevitably be rife with ethical violations and abuse.
John Lennon may have written that "all you need is love," but on a spiritual level, he was wrong. The world needs judgment, discernment, and justice every bit as much as it needs unbridled or unbounded love -- indeed, as Ramban notes, a world that has only one half of that critical binary cannot endure.
What does that mean? What is a covenant of salt?
The 18th century Hasidic master Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev explains that this covenant is connected to the deeds of Korach, who argued that everyone was holy, and therefore everyone should be priests.
The priests, he writes, represent the divine attribute of “chesed” (lovingkindness), whereas the levites represent the divine attribute of “din” (justice, or gevurah in the sefirotic tree) the quality of boundaries and strength. The problem with Korach’s rebellion was that it left no room for din. He wanted everyone to be pure chesed, but in truth, the world needs judgment and justice, boundaries, and strength too.
Centuries earlier Ramban explained salt as a combination of fire and water, which is to say, justice and lovingkindness. He says it's the combination of those two, the appropriate balance of those two, which sustains all the worlds.
Rav Levi Yitzchak thus teaches that the covenant of salt (representing the balance of chesed and din) came as a response to Korach's actions, in order to remind us of what's wrong with Korach's imbalanced view. The world needs an appropriate balance of lovingkindness and justice.
Reading this passage, I marvel at how contemporary and real it feels. I've been in contexts where people want everyone and everything to be all-chesed-all-the-time, and they are not healthy at all. Love that flows without boundaries is a flood, destructive and damaging. When we over-privilege chesed at the expense of din, there are no appropriate roles or boundaries... and a community in which roles and boundaries are not honored is a community that will inevitably be rife with ethical violations and abuse.
John Lennon may have written that "all you need is love," but on a spiritual level, he was wrong. The world needs judgment, discernment, and justice every bit as much as it needs unbridled or unbounded love -- indeed, as Ramban notes, a world that has only one half of that critical binary cannot endure.
(יט) כֹּ֣ל ׀ תְּרוּמֹ֣ת הַקֳּדָשִׁ֗ים אֲשֶׁ֨ר יָרִ֥ימוּ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל֮ לַֽיהֹוָה֒ נָתַ֣תִּֽי לְךָ֗ וּלְבָנֶ֧יךָ וְלִבְנֹתֶ֛יךָ אִתְּךָ֖ לְחׇק־עוֹלָ֑ם בְּרִית֩ מֶ֨לַח עוֹלָ֥ם הִוא֙ לִפְנֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֔ה לְךָ֖ וּלְזַרְעֲךָ֥ אִתָּֽךְ׃
(19) All the sacred gifts that the Israelites set aside for the LORD I give to you, to your sons, and to the daughters that are with you, as a due for all time. It shall be an everlasting covenant of salt before the LORD for you and for your offspring as well.
Rabbi Rachel Barenblat of Congregation Beth Israel in Western Massachusetts, blogs as the Velveteen Rabbi.
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