• This Week's Torah Portion

The least exciting but perhaps most exacting section of Parashat Pinchas is the list of sacrifices specific to different sacred occasions. These take up all of Numbers 28 and Numbers 29 and are cited as part of traditional musaf liturgy in Jewish communities around the world. One sacrifice in particular, detailed among the Passover obligations in Numbers 28:24, has a peculiar custom when chanted aloud in public.

Traditionally observant Ashkenazic communities chant the word ka’eileh (“[sacrifices] like these”) out loud with the Torah reader! This custom likely dates back more than 200 years and may be rooted in one of Rabbi Ephraim Zalman Margoliot’s teachings (1762-1828). Rabbi Margoliot was a noted Galician expert in the laws of public Torah reading. According to Sha’arei Ephraim 8:24, one who unintentionally skips this verse must finish the aliyah, then go back and read the verse “in a loud voice.” From this we can guess that, in an effort to remind the Torah reader not to forget about it, a few concerned congregants started audibly prompting the word “ka’eileh,” which eventually spread throughout the Eastern European Jewish world.

This long-standing custom, which I first learned about from Dr. Gordon Dale at HUC-JIR, led Chassidic singer/songwriter Joey Newcomb to release a song about it earlier this year. In “Ka’eileh,” Newcomb muses, “I sometimes wonder to myself / Is it just me and no one else? / Oh, the things people do in shul / Can’t be random, can’t be for naught. / Oh, these things were never taught…” The refrain of Newcomb’s song is simply “ka’eileh,” sung repeatedly to its trope. It’s catchy!

Some Jewish communities also read this passage every day of Passover. For that week, it becomes exceedingly familiar. An almost Pavlovian response takes over: the Torah reader pauses in anticipation of the word, the congregation jumps in at the appropriate time, and the reading continues. The phenomenon effectively becomes part of the ritual.

There are many other customs we ritualize as part of our Jewish communal lives, such as covering our eyes while blessing Shabbat candles; standing up at the end of “L’cha Dodi” to greet the Shabbat bride; banging the table during “Birkat HaMazon” (grace after meals); and drowning out the name of Haman during a Purim m’gillah reading. Newcomers to these rituals inevitably look around in bewilderment, no doubt feeling a bit self-conscious of their inexperience, but hopefully leave inspired to learn more.

Perhaps learning about this rather niche custom around the public reading of Parashat Pinchas might serve as a reminder to not take our customs and practices for granted. We can (and perhaps should) approach them with a beginner’s mindset. It may make them that much more meaningful for us. As the last verse of Joey Newcomb’s song goes, “Well, here’s something about the Jew[s] / [they] always keep things fresh and new!”