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From: heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com Sent: Wednesday, June 04, 1997 2:56 AM To: Parasha-Page List Subject: Torah Weekly - Bamidbar
Reply-to: ohr@jer1.co.il From: "Ohr Somayach" <ohr@jer1.co.il> To: " Highlights of the Torah weekly portion" <weekly@jer1.co.il> Subject: Torah Weekly - Bamidbar
* TORAH WEEKLY *
Highlights of the Weekly Torah Portion
with "Fatherly Advice" Tidbits from The Ethics of our Fathers
Parshas Bamidbar
For the week ending 2 Sivan 5757
6 & 7June 1997
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Overview
The book of Bamidbar (`In the desert') begins with Hashem commanding Moshe
to take a census of all the men over the age of twenty -- old enough for
service. The count reveals just over 600,000. The Levi'im are counted
separately later, because their service will be unique. They will be
responsible for transporting the Mishkan and its furnishings and putting
them together when the nation encamps. The Tribes of Israel, each with its
banner, are arranged around the Mishkan in four sections: to the East,
South, West and North. Since Levi is singled out, Yosef is split into
Efraim and Menashe so there will be four groups of three. When the nation
travels, they march in a formation similar to the way they camp. A formal
exchange is made between the first born and the Levi'im, whereby the
Levi'im take over the role the firstborn would have had serving in the
Mishkan before the sin of the golden calf. The exchange is made using all
the 22,000 surveyed Levi'im from one month old and up, even though only
Levi'im between 30 and 50 will work in the Mishkan. The remaining
firstborn sons are redeemed with silver, similar to the way we redeem our
firstborn today. The sons of Levi are divided in three main families,
Gershon, Kehas and Merari (besides the Kohanim -- the special division from
Kehas' family). The sons of Kehas had to carry the Menorah, the Table, the
Altar and the Holy Ark. Because of their utmost sanctity, the Ark and the
Altar are covered only by Aaron and his sons, before the Levi'im prepared
them for travel.
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Insights
The Torah Center
"And the Tent of Meeting journeyed in the camp of Levi in the midst of the
camps." (2:17)
Go into any shul. Where is the bima -- the large reading lectern on which
the Torah is read? In the middle. Why isn't it at one end?
When the Children of Israel journeyed through the desert, the Tent of
Meeting traveled within the camp of Levi, which was right in the middle of
the camp. The Tent of Meeting was right in the middle because within the
Tent of Meeting was the Aron -- the Holy Ark in which the Torah was kept.
The Torah has to be in the center. It is not closer to one person, nor
further from another. Every Jew can be as close to the Torah as any other.
Similarly, the Tree of Life was planted in the middle of the Garden of
Eden. The Torah is called the Tree of Life to those who grasp it. The
handles by which we lift it up are called `Eitz Hachaim' -- the Tree of
Life. The handles are in the center of each of the scrolls just as the
Tree of Life was at the center of the Garden. And similarly, the Torah is
the center of the life of the Jew. If he moves it to one side and
relegates it to a weekend activity, his life becomes distorted and
unbalanced. Materialism rushes to fill the void that he has left by
putting the Torah `to one side.'
The Torah requires concentration. We must concentrate it at the center of
our lives. For it is the heart of our faith. Just as from the heart flows
life itself, and thus its place is in the center of the body, thus the
Torah was at the center of the camps of Israel.
The heart pumps the blood to all the extremities of the body equally,
without discrimination, and every limb is sustained by it. The Holy Torah
pumps the life-force of Judaism to all limbs of the Jewish People, without
discrimination, regardless of whom they are.
The Torah was given in Fire, in Water, and in the Desert.
Through Avraham Avinu we received the Torah in Fire. Avraham went through
the fiery furnace of Ur Kasdim rather than deny Hashem. He is the father
of the Jewish People. The progenitor.
At the Reed Sea, the Jewish People as a nation passed an ordeal by Water.
The Egyptians army was poised to drive them into the sea. At God's command
the entire nation jumped into the water, and the sea parted.
And if you'll say that this was merely a moment of bravado, then look at a
third event that sealed their capacity for self-sacrifice: They followed
Moshe into the vastness of the wilderness, without food, without water,
with nothing more than the promise of miracle food from Above, and no more
companionship than snakes and scorpions.
It was these three ordeals, in Fire, in Water and in the Desert, which
anchored in the spiritual genes of the Jewish People the capacity for self-
sacrifice and the love of the Torah which, to this day, has allowed us to
reach out and hang on to our holy Torah and our faith.
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Fatherly Advice
Tidbits from the Ethics of the Fathers
traditionally studied on summer Sabbaths
"Envy, passion and honor take a person out of this world."
Rabbi Eliezer Hakapar (Avos 4:2)
This warning about self-destructive elements parallels the one issued by
Rabbi Yehoshua (Avos 2:11) that "an evil eye, evil inclination and hatred
of people take a person out of this world." Envy of others is the product
of an evil eye which is not content with what it has, while passion is the
instrument of the evil inclination. But what is the symmetry between the
lust for honor and the hatred of people?
One explanation is that nothing is so hateful to people as one who seeks
honor, and even if they openly flatter him they hate him in their hearts.
Another approach is that the pursuit of honor inevitably leads a person to
hate others as a response to their failure to accord him the honor he feels
is due to him.
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