In this week’s parsha, Be’halot’cha, we find two verses which are considered by many commentaries to be a separate book of the Torah, leaving us with seven books instead of the usual five, (a good thing to know for parsha quizzes!).  These verses are set aside by an upside down form of the letter “nun” before and after them.   The verses read: “So it was, whenever the ark set out, Moses would say, Arise, O Lord, may Your enemies be scattered and may those who hate You flee from You.  And when it came to rest he would say, Rest O Lord, among the myriads of thousands of Israel.” (Bamidbar 10:35-36)

What is special about these verses such that they might constitute a separate book of the Torah?  In fact, they seem to be fairly unimportant.  They do not contain any mitzvot but rather a prayer for the moving of the ark which led the Jews in the desert.  The Slonomer Rebbe points out a foundational principle – though not every part of Torah contains mitzvot, every verse must contain some spiritual instruction for us as to how to keep the Torah and how to morally and ethically lead our lives.   He says that these two verses are the instructions for how to lead our lives as Jews.  The ark refers not just to the physical ark of the covenant but to each of us.  Each of us is an ark of the Torah, a body which contains a soul.  The Hebrew word for “set out” in the verse, is be’nisoa, which can also mean “to be tested”.  Everything in life is a test for us as to whether we can overcome the evil inclination which moves us to be selfish and interested only in our own desires.  This is the reference in the first verse of Moshe’s prayer, to ask God for help, as each of us must, in overcoming our inclination, that God might “scatter the enemy”- those things which prompt us to sin.  After we have overcome the desire to sin, then we must do something positive – turn toward the good and connect to God.  This is the second verse, that God may, “rest among us”.

Every verse, every test, and every life situation is a text from which to learn a spiritual lesson.  We who are faced with many tests at this time must ask, what does it mean to pass them and how can we use them to connect with God?  What can we learn from our current situation about overcoming our yetzer hara, our evil inclination to be selfish.  How can we connect ourselves and the world in a more profound way to God and to that which is holy and just?