Mi'Mizrach Shemesh Parashat Bamidbar

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A Fuchs Mizrachi Stark High School Publication

Candle Lighting: 8:27 Havdala: 9:37

Note: The Halachic times listed here are from www.myzmanim.com.

Shoot for Your Star By Akiva Raskind, Class of 2013

“We are not human beings; We are human becomings”

-Ernst Bloch

Parashat Bamidbar begins with G-d

ordering Moshe to take a census of the Jewish

Nation, as it is written " ישראל בני עדת כל ראש את שאו

לגלגלותם זכר כל שמות במספר אבותם לבית למשפחתם ."

(Bamidbar 1:2). Rashi famously comments that G-

d incessantly counts us to demonstrate His

affection toward us, as he writes " לפניו חיבתם מתוך

שעה כל אותם מונה ." Thus, according to Rashi, this

census was ordained as a gesture to highlight His

unconditional love for us. Rashi then enumerates

three instances when G-d took inventory of his

people: immediately following the Exodus from

Egypt, the execution of the 3,000 Golden Calf

worshippers by the hands of the Levites, and

finally here, before the Jewish people’s reception

of the Mishkan.

Rashi's answer is rather unsettling. Read

literally, Rashi overtly contradicts himself. If G-d

“constantly” counts us, why does the Chumash

bother to mention three specific instances where

G-d had the Jewish People counted? Additionally,

it is reconcilable that we were counted during the

first two of three aforementioned censuses: Upon

Exodus, an event where the Jews achieved

nationhood, demonstrating God’s love for His

becoming nation and following the Golden Calf

executions, a time of religious and physical

trauma, G-d similarly counted His people to

remind and reassure them of His unwavering love.

Here, before receiving the Mishkan; however,

why was the head count necessary?

The Ramban deflects our query by

suggesting the following. G-d's decision to count

His people now, before receiving the Mishkan,

was decided independent of the time. From the

Bamidbar Friday, May 23, 2014 / ד"תשע אייר ג"כ

http://www.myzmanim.com/

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time when the first 70 souls traveled to Egypt to

the current one, Bamidbar, the Jews had

exponentially grown to that of "the sand of the

sea..." Thus, the census in Bamidbar was designed

to highlight the chessed G-d has performed for

His people.

Yet again we face a predicament. In

Shemot (Pekudi 37:26) it states that we amassed a

grand total of 603,550, the same amount we

amassed in our Parashah (Bamidbar 1:46).

Therefore, how does the Ramban suggest that the

purpose of the census of Bamidbar was to

highlight His chessed! Our sheer numbers

plateaued!

The Shem Mishmuel provides us with the

following insight. In Bereishit, we are blessed to

be like "the grains of the sand and stars of the sky".

Why are we blessed with two quantifiable

descriptions of a nation? Surely one would suffice!

His answer is life-changing. The "grains of

the sand" is a quantifiable blessing, while the

"stars of the sky" is a qualitative blessing. The

Shem Mishmuel explains that each star in the

night sky is representative of a different path

which exists in this world. Thus, we were blessed

to make it our duty to capture every waking

moment of our lives and fill it with the challenge

of finding and becoming the star that we were

destined to become. Conversely, if we do not

redirect our goals so that we may deliver what we

are destined to achieve, the world will become a

darker place. Only once we deliberately set aside

time to delve into our inner souls, to find and

utilize our G-d given talents, will both aspects of

the blessing come true; enabling our numbers to

continue to grow (from that of 603,550), allowing

us to ultimately become an Ohr Lagoyim.

Thus, it is imperative that before we

receive G-d's gift, the Mishkan, we be counted to

remind ourselves to tenaciously grasp the reigns,

direct our life to its proper heading, shoot for the

star we are each destined to be and prevail.

Shabbat Shalom!

Adapted from Rav Gershon Turetsky, Shiur: Back to Basics:

Learn How to Count

Se’u Et Rosh: Because Everybody Counts By Joey Senders, 11th Grade

Our Parashah this weekend bears the

same name of the book in which it is found,

Bamidbar. Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks states that

the superficial reason for this name is that it is the

first distinctive word in the book’s opening verse.

Rabbi Sacks quotes two famous anthropologists,

Victor Turner and Arnold Van Gennep, who

suggest that the fact that Bnei Yisrael’s formative

experience was in the wilderness turns out to be

highly significant. The Jewish people become a

unit in the wilderness, where they experience the

most desolate of places and learn to rely on one

another in order to be a cohesive group when the

time came to enter the Land of Israel.

Our Parashah has a second name

however, when translated to English, Bamidbar,

means “Numbers.” The Parashah begins with

Hashem’s command to take a census of the

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Jewish people and therefore, based on the

census, the book’s central theme is numbers, or

demography. But what is the significance of

taking the census? Why here at the beginning of

the book? Additionally, there have already been

two censuses prior to this one, and this will be

the third counting within a year! Surely, one

census would be sufficient.

Rabbi Sacks begins his answer by

distinguishing the contradiction between Rashi

and the explicit voice of the Torah. Rashi states,

“Because they (the children of Israel) are dear to

Him, G-d counts them often. He counted them

when they were about to leave Egypt. He

counted them after the Golden Calf to establish

how many were left. And now that He was about

to cause His presence to rest on them (with the

inauguration of the sanctuary), He counted them

again. (Rashi, Bamidbar 1:1)” Rashi notes with

intent that Hashem counts the nation out of his

love for them. But on the other hand, the Torah

states, "When you take the sum of the children of

Israel according to their numbers, let each one

give to the Lord an atonement for his soul when

they are counted; then there will be no plague

among them when they are counted.” (Shemot

30:11-12)

Here, the Torah states that counting the

nation is risky and should not be done on a

regular basis. We also know that many years

later when David Hamelech takes a census of the

people there is a mass death and 70,000 people

die. How can this be if counting the people is

regarded as something out of love?

To answer this question, Rabbi Sacks digs

deeper into the words used by Hashem. The

answer lies in the phrase the Torah uses to

describe the act of counting: “se’u et rosh”, which

literally means, “lift the head.”

Biblical Hebrew contains many verbs

meaning, “to count”: limnot, lifkod, lispor,

lachshov. Rabbi Sacks poses the obvious

question: why does the Torah use such a strange

expression, “lift the heads,” rather than using

simple Hebrew terms? The shorter answer is

simple; when counting a large mass of people,

whether at a sporting event or at a business,

there is a tendency to focus on the group as a

whole. 60 million, 100,000, and 60,000 are all just

numbers of masses of people. Counting devalues

the individual and tends to make him or her

replaceable. If one soldier dies in battle, another

will take his place. If a sports star leaves, the city

will win the draft lottery 3 out of 4 years and will

draft the next star (heh heh). We are all one unit,

a blurred mass of people. A study by Gustav Le

Bon, in his book, The Crowd: A Study of the

Popular Mind (1895) shows that people in a

crowd become anonymous. They lose a sense of

personal responsibility. Maybe Hashem just

wanted to make sure everyone was paying

attention so he counted everyone.

The longer answer is a little deeper in

nature. The Talmud explains that every person is

different. We each have different attributes. We

all think our own thoughts. Only God can enter

the minds of each of us and know what we are

thinking, and this is what the census promotes.

In other words, even in a massive crowd, God

still relates to us as individuals. This is the true

meaning behind the phrase, “lift the head.”

Hashem tells Moshe to do so, because he knows

that there is a danger in counting the nation

because there is always a fear that a congregant

will feel insignificant. So Hashem commands

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Moshe to “lift the head” as a sign that each

individual counts. Each person has a gift. Each

person has something to offer to the world. Each

person is unique. In Judaism, Rabbi Sacks says,

taking a census must always be done in such a

way as to signal that we are valued as

individuals…To lift someone’s head means to

show them favor, to recognize them. It is a

gesture of love.

The Holiness of the Holy City By Ari Bar-Shain, 12 th Grade

ירושלים יום is coming up this Wednesday.

We constantly mention the holy city in our

davening and learning. We acknowledge the

metropolis in the shemoneh esrei brachot of

V’Lirushalayim, Vetechezeinah, and even in the

Monday-Thursday Tachanun that no one says.

And we all know that ditty we sing “ הבאה לשנה

הבנוייה בירושלים ” What’s the deal? What about

necessitates the constant repetition and ירושלים

focus?

The ירושלמי גמרא in חגיגה says,

שחוברה כעיר הבנויה ירושלם( קכז תהילים) לוי בן יהושע ר"א

לחברים ישראל כל עושה שהיא עיר יחדיו לה

is built like a city where people are friendly ירושלים “

together - A city in which all [the people of] Israel are

friends”

This concept still holds true now. ירושלים

unites many different kinds of people. If you go to

the כותל there are multiple sets of siddurim: some

that are nussach ashkenaz, some nussach sfardi,

and some nussach edut hamizrach. Additionally,

if you roam the streets of the city you’ll find the

black hatters, modern Orthodox, people who

wear those white cardboard kippahs, and even

Jews who are non-practicing. There are plenty of

rich people, as well as a large handful of beggars.

What keeps all of the diverse members of ישראל עם

together is ירושלים.

The Gemara in Kiddushin states:

" כל ואחד ירושלים נטלה תשעה לעולם ירדו יופי קבים עשרה

"העולם

"Ten measures of beauty descended to the world, nine

were taken by ירושלים, and one for the rest of the world."

This statement holds true on two levels.

The first, is that ירושלים has great pulchritude. For

those of you not taking AP English that means

physical beauty. The sunsets are gorgeous, the

herbage is magnificent, and the gleaming of the

.stone is like nowhere else ירושלים

Secondly, ירושלים is spiritually beautiful.

There are thousands of Jews learning in various

Yeshivot and Midrashot, and well, there’s the

Kotel. Shir HaShirim Rabbah says that Hashem’s

Shechinah will never depart from the Kotel based

on the passuk that says, “ דעו זה-הנה כתלנו אחר, מ ”

Behold He stands behind our wall. The divine

worship of Hashem at the Kotel, and throughout

the rest of the capital city is incredible.

The fact that ירושלים unites Jews of all

demographics, is physically stunning, and is a

center for religious observance with eternal

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proximity to Hashem gives us reason to have it on

the top of our minds and to celebrate today. Our

job, however, is not done. When we sing L’Shanah

Habaah the last word of the phrase is Habneuyah-

built. Although we have the holy city in our

possesion, we still must actively participate in

bringing the Mashiach and the Beit HaMikdash’s

return.

!שמח ירושלים יום

Rally Banner By Rabbi Chaim Zimmerman

When one is asked about Parashat

Bamidbar, the first topic that generally comes to

mind is the counting – and with good reason.

Much of the parashah is dedicated to the counting

of the twelve tribes, and much ink has been used

by the commentators to explain the significance of

these countings.

However, there is another fascinating

aspect of this parsha that gets a bit less fanfare,

and that is the degalim – the banners – which

served to give placement and meaning to the

tribes, beyond that of the individual members.

The meforshim explain that the counting

of the Jewish people symbolized Hashem’s love

for each and every individual within the nation.

Every person counts in His eyes, and this should

give every person the self-confidence needed to

push through the many difficulties in life. What,

then, is the purpose of the banners? A banner

gives a person a rally point. In battle, even if a

person would get lost, the banner would enable

him to find his way back to the central meeting

point; a place to reconnect with his mission and

direction.

Even more than this, Midrash Tanchuma

explains that all of the banners were set up

specifically in the way that Yaakov Avinu had

envisioned them years ago, when he instructed

his children as to which position they should take

around his bier while carrying it from Egypt to

Canaan. Yaakov was telling his children that the

only way they could function as “Bnei Yisrael”

was if they each took up their specific placement

within the nation and held up their part of the job.

Yaakov saw his children not as separate

individuals, but individuals that together formed

a cohesive network – all different, yet all focused

toward the same goal.

In this day and age, we often get this

concept backwards. Specifically within the realm

of Torah, we look at our approach, and we see

only “correct” or “incorrect”. It’s my way or the

highway. We form a bubble around ourselves and

say “I am doing what’s right, and they are doing

wrong” rather than viewing the life of every Jew

as a small part of a vast, interconnected tapestry.

This point is beautifully illustrated by the

Chafetz Chaim. The Chafetz Chaim was once

asked, "Why is the Jewish community of Europe

divided into so many different factions… there are

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those who give priority to Torah study over

prayer, there are others who are more dedicated

to prayer than Torah study, there are yet others

who toil in music and song while still others are

involved in festive dance. Wouldn’t the world be

better if there were only one Torah lifestyle, a

people who all share the same nusach and the

same traditions down to the smallest detail, all

"carrying one banner"? The Chafetz Chaim

answered, "Before you ask me about the Jewish

people, please approach the Czar and ask him

why he has so many different forces within the

army: infantry, cavalry, artillery, air force, and

navy. Would the world really be lacking if there

were only one fighting force with only one

weapon system, with one general leading them all?

Rather, numerous tactics and resources must be

available to defeat the enemy, since each one has

strengths the other does not. Infantry excels at

hand to hand combat while the cavalry has speed

and induces fear; the artillery can accomplish its

goals from a distance. Even the military musicians

inspire the troops and lift morale so they can fight

on. Similarly, in our battle against the yetzer hara,

our evil inclination, each individual group is

made up of soldiers in G-d's corps, each group

using its own "weapon system" to fight the enemy:

this one with Torah study and this one with

prayer, this one with song and this with the blast

of the shofar. The important thing is that they are

all focused on fortifying the Torah."

The banners in Parshat Bamidbar serve as

a reminder to us that despite our individuality, we

always need to connect back. First, we should

connect to our specific banner – to our direct

community – to realize that our existence is

severely limited if not directly tied into those

around us. And then we should connect to the

entire structure envisioned by Yaakov Avinu, and

the part in which we all play. We should view

ourselves literally as “Bnei Yisrael” – the children

of a single man who understood how individual

personalities and actions can come together as a

cohesive unit to reach a common goal.

May this realization enable us all to grow

closer to each other, rather than continue to fall

apart, and bring us to experience the coming of

Mashiach as a single Am, bim’hera biyameinu.

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Shabbat Table Discussion Questions: By Avi Hartstone, 10 th Grade

1. Why does Moshe need an exact census for the army and not just a rough estimate? (1:2-3)

2. Why did certain tribes get to be heads of the camps, and why did they get that specific direction? (2:2-31)

3. Why does Hashem switch the Leviim and Bechorim now? (3:41)

4. What is the point of redeeming the firstborns? (3:40-43)

5. Why does the torah need to add the totals of all the tribes together if we could have computed it ourselves by

adding up each individual tribe? (1:44- 45)

Email us at [email protected] with your answers or submit them on our website, fmsdvartorah.weebly.com, and you could be featured in

next week's edition!

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Editors in Chief- Ari Bar-Shain and Zev Karasik

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Coleman

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Student Writers: o Alan Soclof

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o Bentzion Goldman

o Ian Lorand

o Ilan Senders

o Jenna Fox

o Jennifer Brenis

o Joey Frank

o Joey Senders

o Lizzy Soclof

o Michael Brenis

o Miriam Pincus

o Mordechai Blau

o Sarah Pincus

o Seth Weiss

o Sonny Kugelman

o Talya Engelhart

o Yonah Bar-Shain

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Mi'Mizrach Shemesh Parashat Bamidbar