5771 פרשת במדבר

 In this week’s Parsha the Torah tells us that God commanded Moshe to take the heads of the tribes and count the members of Bnei Yisroel. However, when the Torah listed the names of the people who would assist Moshe in counting the people of Bnei Yisroel it did not mention a representative from the tribe of Levi.

 The Torah then counts all of Bnei Yisroel each tribe by itself. The Torah then gives the full amount of Bnei Yisroel as an entity. The Torah then says that the tribe of Levi was not counted. The Torah then tells us that God commanded Moshe not to count the tribe of Levi.

 The Siforno on the words “The tribe of Levi was not counted” says the following. They were not counted by the assistants of Moshe nor did they count themselves or even get themselves ready to be counted. Even though God had not yet told Moshe not to count the tribe of Levi nevertheless the tribe of Levi did not count themselves as they waited to see what God would command them since God didn’t mention their tribe with all the other tribes.

 If we look at this Siforno a little bit closer we can ask the following question. The Siforno seems to be saying that the Torah was praising the tribe of Levi for not preparing themselves to be counted. However, logically it would not make sense for the tribe of Levi to prepare themselves to be counted as God mentioned all the other tribes and not their tribe. If that is the case then what is the great praise the Torah is giving the tribe of Levi for not doing what they weren’t supposed to do.

 The answer could be that there is a natural tendency for a person to believe he understands everything that occurs. In this case when Bnei Yisroel was being counted it would have been very easy for the tribe of Levi just to assume that they also would be counted with Bnei Yisroel and that Moshe Rabbeinu was their tribe’s representative. However, we know that it wasn’t the case and the tribe of Levi was not counted together with Bnei Yisroel since the rest of Bnei Yisroel who were counted died after the sin of the spies while the tribe of Levi did not. The tribe of Levi did not just assume that they understood everything but rather since they saw that they weren’t included they put their own feelings aside and waited for God to tell them what to do. This was the great praise of the tribe of Levi which was that they realized that no matter how great they were and how big Tzadikim they were they could not reach the understanding of God in the world and therefore they felt that they should do nothing without specifically hearing a command from God.

 5770 פרשת במדבר

 In this week’s Parsha the Torah describes to us one of the times that Bnei Yisroel was counted by Moshe during the period that they were in the Midbar.

 The Ohr Hachayim asks how can it be that the tribe of Levi which was the most dear to God and that was the only tribe that did not sin with the rest of Bnei Yisroel with the golden calf, was so small that all of the members of the tribe from the age of a month did not equal even half of the amount of one of the other tribes whose members were only counted from the age of 20?

 The Ohr Hachayim answers that the difference between the tribe of Levi and the rest of the tribes is that in Egypt all the other tribes had many children while the tribe of Levi did not. The reason he gives for this difference is that the tribe of Levi purposefully separated from their wives so that they would not have to see their sons thrown into the river and they would not have children and be forced to leave them in the fields with no one to take care of them. The other tribes, due to the slavery they were going through did not view these occurrences as something wrong and therefore had many children over the years they were in Egypt unlike the tribe of Levi.

 If we look at this Ohr Hachaim a little bit closer we can see an incredible idea. It would seem from the Ohr Hachayim that what the tribe of Levi had done by separating from their wives would have been something that the other tribes of Bnei Yisroel would naturally have done also except that due to the slavery they were going through they could no longer appreciate the gravity of what was occurring. How can it be that a nation of princes could fall so far that they were able to see their children thrown into the river or to have children and just leave them in the fields?

 The answer could be that we do not appreciate the impact our surrounding can have on us. However, it is not only a person’s surroundings but also their actions that can impact him. The majority of the tribes who were treated as slaves were not able to focus on the fact that every person is created in the image of God and that caused them not to be bothered by leaving their children in the field with no one to care for them.

 We must realize that we never really know that when we make a decision to take an action that the action might not impact us only now but also how we look at the world around us and can cause us to do things that we would never have even considered doing before. We must consider before we take any action not only whether the action in and of itself is right or wrong but also how the action may impact us for the good or the bad in the future.

 5769 פרשת במדבר

In this week’s Parsha, the Torah discusses the prohibition of someone who is not from the tribe of Levi to do any of the work that is associated with the Mishkan including a prohibition on taking apart the Mishkan and carrying it during the travels of Bnei Yisroel.

 The Rabbeinu Bechai tells us that in the Pasuk that describes this prohibition, the 4 letter name of God that symbolizes mercy is found in the first letter of four consecutive words spelled backwards in two different places. The Rabbeinu Bechai continues and explains that when we find this occurring, it means that when it comes to this particular thing God is enacting his trait of judgment. The Rabbeinu Bechai then brings a proof to this idea from Haman who said the words “vcol ze ainenu shoveh li” – “everything I have is not worth anything to me” (as long as Mordechai is still sitting in by the palace gate. Those four words have the 4 letter name of God spelled backwards using the last letter of each word starting with zeh. At that point in the Megilah is where the trait of judgment of God is enacted against Haman and his downfall and destruction begin.

If we look at this Rabbeinu Bechai a little more closely, we can ask the following two questions:

1. Why is it that by this specific sin the Torah emphasizes that the trait of judgment lies on some who transgresses it? There are many sins in the Torah that have similar or even more serious punishments.
2. It seems that aside from this Pasuk, the Rabbeinu Bechai picked the specific case of Haman to bring out the point that when the 4 letter name of God is found in reverse order it means that God’s trait of judgment is being levied which would seem to imply that these two cases are somehow comparable. However, it would seem that these two cases would be diametric opposites. Haman was an evil person who was greedy and wanted nothing more than to kill all the Jews, while regarding this prohibition, the opposite is true. A non-Levite who decides to help in the Mishkan is making a mistake but his thoughts would seem to be altruistic in that he wants to get closer to God and serve him better.

In order to answer these questions, we first need to understand what it was about the statement of Haman that caused God’s trait of judgment to fall on him. The answer is that Haman wasn’t satisfied with all the good God gave him in the world. It was if he was never happy with the place and situation he was in. This idea can apply also to the case of a non-Levite who decides to do the work of the Levites in the Mishkan. God put every person in a specific situation that was meant to enable them to serve God to the best of his ability. By deciding to do the work in the Mishkan against the wishes of God the person is inherently saying I am not happy in the situation you put me in and I want to be in a different place to do different things. With this we can now answer both of our questions. The reason it is this particular sin that turns God’s trait of judgment on a person is because he is denying the good that God does for him and the fact that the situation that he is in is truly the best for him. As we said before this is also the reason that this person is similar to Haman since they are both not happy with their place in the world. 

פרשת במדבר 5768

 In this week’s Parsha, the Torah describes to us both the counting of Bnei Yisroel and the giving of the flags- special flags to each of the tribes. The commentaries all go to great lengths to explain the need for the individual flags for each tribe of Bnei Yisroel and the purpose behind them. The Rabbeinu Bechai explains:

God loved Bnei Yisroel with a special love that he made for them flags so that they would be recognizable: the tribe of Reuvein as an entity, the tribe of Shimon as its own entity, etc.

The Rabbeinu Bechai gives a parable to explain the giving of the flags to Bnei Yisroel: It is compared to a wealthy man who has a storehouse filled with wine. When he went to check the wine, he found that all the barrels had turned to vinegar except one. He then said,” This barrel of wine is dearer to me than the entire storehouse.” The same idea applies to God’s relationship to the world. God has 70 nations and he only gets pleasure from Bnei Yisroel.

 If we look at this Rabbeinu Bechai a little more closely, a few questions arise:

1. Why is the giving of a specific flag to each tribe so that they would each be recognized individually show a special love of Bnei Yisroel? It should be enough to have one flag for Bnei Yisroel as a nation.
2. Secondly, the parable given relates to contrasting Bnei Yisroel and the other nations of the world: that God get pleasure from Bnei Yisroel and not any of the other nations. What does this have to do with the giving of individual flags to each tribe? Furthermore, if it only relates to the contrast between Bnei Yisroel and the other nations, why does Rabbeinu Bechai bring it in his commentary on the flags at all?

Let us try to answer these questions by looking at the parable a little more closely. The wealthy man as he was walking out of the storehouse found one barrel of wine and to him it was worth more than the entire storehouse. Would the wealthy man have the same reaction in a case where he had 100 barrels of wine and 90 turned to vinegar and there were 10 that were still wine? Probably not. He would be sad about the loss but he still has a bunch of wine so each one is not as special. The point here is that the reason it is so beloved is that it is the only one with the specific qualities of wine. This is why Bnei Yisroel is different from the nations of the world.

With this idea, we can now answer our questions. The reason this parable relates to the giving of the specific flags to each tribe is to explain that it isn’t just Bnei Yisroel as an entity that is special to God but that each and every individual member of Bnei Yisroel is special. To God, we are all individuals and special in our own way just like that one barrel of wine. This is also why for God to show his special love to Bnei Yisroel he gave each individual tribe its own flag so everybody recognizes that God loves each one of us for our special traits. Just like no two of us are exactly the same physically, neither are we exactly the same spiritually and God loves each one of us for the way we serve him.

This idea is so important for us in our daily lives. There are many times we can fall into a rut and think that we are just one of the pack, what am I doing that is so special or different than anyone else. We always have to realize that God made us different from everyone else, with different abilities and different tests to pass in our service of God. To God each one of us is special and beloved and each one of our Mitzvos is precious to Him. There is no duplication ever.

If we can begin to feel how special we are to God, it should give us the additional drive to serve Him with all our energies and to grow even closer to Him.

פרשת במדבר 5767

 In this week’s Parsha the Torah describes to us the way that God commanded Bnei Yisroel to camp and to travel. The Torah goes into great detail in describing that each tribe had their own flag and each tribe had their place. The Pasuk goes on to describe that each group of 3 tribes that were on a different sides of the Mishkan had an order to them, each tribe being a little further away from the Mishkan. After the Torah describes the flags, it then brings down the following Pasuk:

 And Bnei Yisroel did everything God commanded Moshe so they camped by their flags and that is how they traveled each man to his family and to his father’s house.

The Pesikta is bothered by why did the Pasuk have to say “so they camped by their flags” why wasn’t it enough to just say that “did what Moshe commanded”?

The Pesikta answers the following:

 To teach us that Bnei Yisroel were not Makpid on each other but rather there was peace and friendship amongst them.

When we look at this Pesikta a little more closely we can learn out a very important lesson.

From the explanation of the Pesikta it seems that this was a great praise of Bnei Yisroel that they were not jealous of each other. The implication is that the normal response was that there would be people that would be jealous of each other, but here Bnei Yisroel were so special that not even one person was jealous. What was it that enabled Bnei Yisroel to not be the least bit jealous even though some were put closer to the Mishkan than others which should naturally cause jealousy?

The answer I believe is based on an idea I heard relating to the flags. The Pasuk says the following:

 And Bnei Yisroel camped each man by his camp and each man by his flag.

Chazal tell us that the way Bnei Yisroel camped in the midbar was the same way that the tribes held the casket of Yakov Avinu  when they carried him to burial.

The tribes when they were given their place when carrying their father’s casket were not jealous of each other’s position since each one understood that their position related to their particular purpose when it came to being the building blocks of the future nation of Bnei Yisroel.

This is also the idea of the words “each man by his flag”. Every member of Bnei Yisroel felt that the position they were in was perfect for them. Each person knew and understood their individual purpose as part of the whole. That being the case there is no room for jealousy. I belong to a particular flag. I have my purpose and my place within the whole of Bnei Yisroel. With that understanding there is no room jealousy.

There are probably very few people today who can say they do not suffer from some amount of jealousy whether it is financial, honor or one of a thousand other things. We are now coming up to Shavuos and the giving of the Torah and we will be leining the ”ten commandments”. The last one of the commandments is ”do not covet”. How can we work on ourselves to try to conquer this trait of jealousy? If we can only appreciate the fact that God has a purpose for each one of us. For some it is to be wealthy and give a lot of charity, for another it may be to be a manager in a firm and make a kiddush hashem,for the next it will be to learn or teach Torah.  If we appreciate this, it will help us wipe away all our jealousy. If can work on conquering our jealousy, God should be merit us to once again haveunity among Bnei Yisroel and to see the rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash in our days.