By Rabbi Geoffrey Dennis
Parashat Beha’alotcha
Traduttore, traditore (“A translator is a traitor”) was an Italian proverb frequently uttered by Dr. Rabbi Yitzchak Yerushalmi, z”l, my polymath Aramaic teacher (he spoke, I think, seven languages fluently), suggesting that translation is inherently a betrayal of the original text. It was little comfort as we, his students, mangled both Talmudic Aramaic and its meaning in front of him in real time. But I’ve thought about it often in the years since — and have come to appreciate its wisdom.
Most recently, I was reminded of it when I saw this:
“In case of volcano eruption, you will hear mermaids. Do not ignore the mermaids; they are there for your safety.”
This was the English translation of a Spanish PSA. In English, we would say “sirens.”
Our Torah portion this week also often leads to confusion, even when the translation is as accurate as possible. This week’s portion is Beha’alotcha, meaning “when you raise” or “when you step up [to kindle the lights of the menorah].” In it, God tells Moses to construct chatzotz’rot — “trumpets” (Num. 10:1–4). It is fairly clear, even in translation, that these trumpets were not identical to shofarot, or ram’s horns. For one thing, they were made of silver.
Yet the tendency to conflate the two (I’ve seen more than one example of a shofar sheathed in silver) leads to regular confusion. Part of this confusion arises from the fact that both instruments were used for similar purposes — just by different people. Both were used for assembly, celebration and alarm. But only priests could sound the trumpets, while the shofar was the people’s mermaid — er, I mean siren.
This Beha’alotcha — 5785/2025 — is similarly a confusing time. This year, we remember the solemn but inspiring Allied invasion of Normandy, the moment that initiated the fall of Fascist Europe less than a year later. But we also recall June 9 as the day in 1939 that the SS St. Louis was turned away by the U.S., Cuba and other countries of the New World, sending its more than 900 Jewish refugees back to Europe — and to the Nazis.
This June, we are witnessing contemporary refugees among us — even people who enjoyed legal status under U.S. jurisdiction — being seized by masked agents for deportation without the benefit of due process.
The month of June celebrates LGBTQIA+ (too many initials for me, so I just say “queer”) Pride. Yet this year began with the murder of Jonathan Joss, a gay man. Should we be celebrating or mourning? Should we be assembling in joy or in alarm?
Perhaps the confusion we feel is contextual to the ebb and flow of human life. In 1939, what we heard was a call of warning; in 1944, a signal of promise. Last year, the theme was pride. This year, it is prejudice.
Regardless — whether it is trumpets or shofars, whether they are silver or keratin, whether they are sounded for celebration or danger — the message is always: “Assemble!” What calls us to assemble matters less than the fact that we heed the summons. Why we assemble is determined by the moment.
And what is the context for 5785/2025?
I would look back to the title of the Torah portion. Now is the time to step up (in the English sense), to push back the current darkness and light the way for all our neighbors.
Geoffrey Dennis is rabbi of Congregation Kol Ami, Flower Mound, a university instructor and a police chaplain. He is on the Rabbinic Council of The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS).A time to assemble, a time to act