parsha bit: B'ha'alotecha

In this week's parsha God tells Moshe to appoint 70 elders, who will receive prophecy. 70 does not divide evenly by 12, which left Moshe with the problem of choosing the elders fairly. The talmud tells us he devised a lottery, choosing six men from each of the 12 tribes and having them draw lots for the 70 positions. However, Eldad and Medad said "we are not worthy" and withdrew, so God rewarded them with prophecy too. Not only that, but their prophecy was ongoing, while that of the other 70 was temporary. (Sanhedrin 17a)

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LJ is swallowing my longer posts again. I wonder if this will get through.

And http://status.livejournal.com times out. Lovely.

Site performance was mostly fine for the first almost-six years of my journal's existence. Why has it started to suck so badly this month?