This portion actually should follow chronologically at the end of Exodus, when the Tabernacle has been completed. The people have been safely and peacefully camped. Their needs have been provided for. They are content. So, before they set out to the Promised Land, to fulfill their destiny, they need instructions. The instructions in this portion are quite symbolic. On the one hand, they are assured of divine protection: wherever they go. They will know that Gods Presence is with them. On the other hand, they are advised of their responsibilities as they move forward.

A cloud rests on their encampment by day, and at night it appeared as a pillar of fire. The lifting of the cloud signals the time to pack up and move on, but while the cloud rests, they remain in one place. Furthermore, the cloud leads them on their way, giving reassurance that they will not get lost on their journey. (9:15-23)

But they also have to play their part. (10:1-10) The people are instructed to make two silver trumpets that will summon the community and to set them in motion in an orderly fashion. Two long blasts indicate that the whole community will assemble. One long blast is a call to the chieftains. Short blasts announce a call to set everyone in motion, first those encamped on the east, followed by those on the south, and so forth.

They are told how to remain organized as they try to manage 12 entire tribes of several generations each. There is an order. And within that order, there is no hierarchythey are all equal in Gods eyes and by extension, before one another.

These trumpets are also employed when the people celebrate joyous occasions, as well as when they set out in war.

Why does the Torah pay so much attention to the order of the procession and different calls? This will not be an easy march. They have rested and become comfortable after a difficult journey. But they are only halfway through their journeymuch like the bat mitzvah marks the onset of adolescence as a time of turbulence after childhood, or as the fifth Harry Potter books marks a mid-point in that storythe new book is about to set us on a new and mysterious path, a path of mortal conflict between good and evil.

For the first time, the people are told that they will face enemies as they try to approach the Promised Land. And in order to face their enemies, they need to be united. They need these instructions in order to share a common goal and recognize commonly-accepted signals if they are to remain united.

In our day, our government has also called on us to face our enemies. We have been given signalsCode Red, Code Orange, Code Yellow. We have been instructed in ways of making our historic and strategic sites secure. We have been assured that we are safe.

Yet, unlike our portion, the current administration has left out a key element of preparing for conflict. We have not been given instructions that unite us, that recognize our unique contributions. We have not been treated equally. We have not been brought together in common purpose.

Behind the curtain of protecting our national security, the current administration has worked aggressively to effect economic plans that serve to undermine, not to unite, to reward some and to neglect others. Rather than calling on all to fall into line and sacrifice for the common good, this administration has quietly and unapologetically cut taxes in a radical and at times irresponsible way, threatening the basic services like Medicare and Social Security that most Americans depend on. There is no trumpet call for us to follow, no order that assures each of us our place at the table.

This summer, many of us will receive a lovely gift in the mail: a check from the US government in the amount of $400 per dependent. This will be the major benefit of the trillion-dollar tax cut that you and I will receive. You may recall that, initially, this gift was extended to all but the poorest households, those most in need. Although some in Congress are working to rectify that misstepor should I say criminal actI do not believe that this money belongs to us.

To accept this tax cut is to support the reverse Robin Hood manipulation of public funds. To accept this tax cut is to line our own pockets with the suffering of othersfunds that could have been used for health care for the elderly, books for our childrens schools, homes for our mentally disabled, English-language classes for new immigrants, and police and fire protection for our cities and towns. To accept this tax cut is to accept a bribe, and thereby to give credibility to this administration that I do not believe it justly deserves.

I am taking my check and giving it to Hillel Bnai Torah as my contribution to our annual appeal, supporting our community. I urge our members to do the same. And if you have already made your contribution, I encourage you to donate your $400 to a needy cause in your own community. Do not accept this bribegive it back to those who need it more.

The Israelites knew that it was time to join together when the silver trumpets blew long blasts, and to fall into line when the trumpets sounded short blasts. When you receive your check in the mail, consider it a blast on a silver trumpet. Heed the call, support your community, refuse the false gift.