TORAH- FAX BAMIDBAR TORAH

DIALOGUE
BAMD74ED
BAMIDBAR - Numbers 1:1
(p. 56 H!" (p. #$% &" (p. 51% H'" (p. #(6 A&"
1. In his introducti on to the Chumash of Bamidbar,
Ramban formul ates two ideas. Ramban was Rabbi
Moshe ben !achman, 11"4# 1$7%, who was one of
the main s&iri tual leaders in '&ain. (e wrote o)er *%
wor+s on ,a!aC(, ,almud, -ewish .aw, /hiloso&h0,
1abbalah, and Medicine. (e mai ntai ned the 2eshi)a
in 3erona, '&ain and later was com&el led to lea)e
'&ain after the Dis&utati on in 1$45. (e li)ed the
remai nder of his life in Eret6 2israel. (is burial &lace
in Israel is not +nown.7 ,he first idea that the
Ramban sets forth is to draw the &arallel between
Mount 'inai and the ,abernacle. (e be8an
de)elo&i n8 this idea 0et in his commentar0 on
,erumah, and de)elo&s it further that 9ust as the
&eo&le had to 8ather close to Mount 'inai and 0et
sta0 distant from it because of the di)i ne &resence
there, so it was that the0 were to tra)el in the desert
in close &ro:i mi t 0 to the ,abernacle and 0et +ee&
their distance. ,his idea was to indicate to us that
the re)elati on at 'inai and the di)i ne &resence
woul d be 9oined to Bnei 2israel from that &oint on. It
also hel&s us to understand wh0 there is no
remai ni n8 sancti t0 at Mount 'inai, because the
di)i ne &resence left there and came with the &eo&le
in the ,abernacle, then to find its restin8 &lace at the
,em&le Mount in 2erushala0i m. (ence this &articul ar
Chumash deals with the continuati on of the &eo&le
in their connecti on to the di)ine &resence. ,his
be8an at the end of Chumash 'hemot and woul d
conti nue throu8h this Chumash of Bamidbar.
$. ,he second idea that the Ramban &resents is
that the entire Chumash of Bami dbar is &ri mari l 0
dealin8 with commandments that were meant onl0
for that time when the &eo&le were in the desert. It
also deals with the narrati )e and the miracles which
were done for them in order that the0 could tell all
the wondrous deeds of the Almi8ht 0 in the future. At
the end of the Chumash (ashem be8an to destro0
the enemi es of the -ewish &eo&le, and (e also
commanded how the land of Israel woul d be di)ided
u& amon8st the &eo&le. Accordi n8 to the Ramban
there are no commandments in this Chumash which
are bindi n8 for all ti mes e:ce&t for some
commandments about the offeri n8s which (ashem
had be8un in ;a0i+ra, the e:&lanati on of which was
not com&leted there< therefore (e finished them in
this Chumash.
5. In his introducti on to this Chumash the !et6i)
broaches some no)el ideas. ,he !et6i) was Rabbi
!aftali ,6)i 2ehudah Berlin, 1=17# 1="5, who was the
son# in# law of Rabbi Chai m ;olo6iner, and headed the
2eshi)a of ;olo6hi n for some 4% 0ears.7 ,he !et6i )
dwells on the fact that our 'a8es referred to
Chumash Bamidbar as Chumash (a/e+udi m, which
means the Boo+ of !umbers. (e as+ed the >uestion
wh0 the 'a8es felt that the two censuses that are
&resented in this Chumash one in Bami dbar and
one in /inchas7 should be chosen as the name of this
Chumash. ,here are other im&ortant e)ents that
woul d domi nate the narrati )e, in &articul ar the stor0
of the s&ies, the blessin8s of Bilaam, the rebellion of
1orach, and man0 others. ,he !et6i) su88ests that
the census is im&ortant and should domi nate
because the0 are for two different &ur&oses. ,he first
census was to describe to us how the -ewish &eo&le
tra)el ed throu8h the desert in a uniform fashion
de&icti n8 the 8lor0 to (ashem. ,he tra)els in the
desert were be0ond the sco&e of nature as their
&h0sical su&&ort and care was >uite miracul ous. At
the end of the Chumash another census is ta+en
because from then on the -ewish &eo&le woul d ha)e
to o&erate withi n the laws of nature, no lon8er
benefi tti n8 from these miracul ous means of
sustenance. ,his chan8e woul d occur in the &arsha
of Chu+at, es&eciall 0 when Bnei 2israel had to fi8ht
'ichon and ?8 and others. ,he !et6i ) cites the
Midrash in Breishit on the )erse @and 3od se&arated
between the li8ht and the dar+ness.A ,his se&aration
is the boo+ of Bami dbar where (ashem se&arates
between the -ewish &eo&le who left E80&t and the
-ewish &eo&le who entered Eret6 2israel.
4. ,he &eo&le were told to conduct a census for all
males o)er $% 0ears of a8e when the0 were able to
8o out into the arm0 in Israel. ,he literal translation
of @'eBu Et RoshA is take the head but is 8enerall 0
translated as take the sum of all the con8re8ati on of
Israel. ,his is the wa0 Rashi understands the word
@'eB uA as basicall 0 to ele)ate the indi )i dual. ,he
Ramban >uotes Rashi and it is ob)ious that the
Ramban had a different )ersion of Rashi. Rashi is
>uoti n8 a Midrash Bamidbar Rabbah 1C"7 where the
Midrash ends with the statement, @this is as one sa0s
to the e:ecutionerC Dta+e that manBs head.B A /erha&s
the disa&&earance of this te:t from the Rashi was
because of the shar&ness of the e:&ression. Ehat I
mean b0 that is that it is true that @ta+e the manBs
headA can be for either one of the two &ossibili ti es.
2ou could ele)ate him or 0ou could deca&i tate and
e:ecute hi m. Ehen a &erson is counted amon8 a
8rou& he 8ains a status and he needs to de)elo&
himsel f in order to earn that status withi n societ0. 'o
either he rises to the occasion or he will fail. ,hat is
the essence, I thin+, of the Midrashic statement of
the o&tions a)ailabl e for each &erson when he is
indi )i dual l 0 counted amon8 the nation of Israel. I
belie)e this is also the RambanBs idea of what the
Midrash is statin8 and what Rashi was 8eneral l 0
alludi n8 to. RED7
*. In ta+in8 the census we see the necessit0 of
creati n8 tribal identi t0. ,his was, and conti nues to
be, a )er0 im&ortant element to the structure of the
-ewish nation. Ee alread0 saw one &erson bein8
e:ecuted for blas&hemi n8 the name of 3od, and
accordi n8 to the Midrash the reason he became so
an8ered was the fact that he was considered -ewish
but lac+ed tribal affiliati on. ,his was considered
>uite unfair. 2ou thin+ of a con)ert to -udaism and
what his tribal affiliati on is. Ehen the -ewish &eo&le
entered Eret6 2israel there was no land of herita8e
to be 8ranted to con)erts. ?ur 'a8es &oint out,
emanati n8 from some of the &ro&hecies of E6e+iel,
the idea that in the future in Messianic ti mes, when
the ,hird Beit (aMi+dash is established, there will be
tribal affiliati on a8ain, and there will be a section of
land reser)ed for con)erts. ,ribal affiliation is
im&ortant but it also has a double# ed8e to it. It
allows the indi )i dual to be &art of the 8reater whole
but it also allows hi m to be isolated to some de8ree
withi n the conte:t of his own tribe. ,his would
become an issue at the )er0 end of this Chumash
with the dau8hters to ,6lafchad who re>uested
ownershi & of the lands reser)ed for their father
because their father had no sons. ,his raised this
issue of those lands bein8 able to remai n withi n the
tribe if the0 were to marr0 men from a different
tribe. ,he result was that the0 marri ed onl0 from
withi n their tribe but the issue brou8ht about a
certai n di)ide withi n the tribes that -oshua had to
deal with. ,he &eo&le did not &ermi t inter# tribal
marria8es. -oshua had to insti tute one da0 of the
0ear when such marria8es were mandated.
?therwise 0ou would ha)e more se&aration between
the tribes, and the0 had to feel united. RED7
4. ,he tribe of .e)i was dealt with se&aratel 0. Rashi
comments that the0 did not sin with the 3olden Calf
and hence were worth0 of bein8 ele)ated for ser)ice
in the s&iri tual real m, and at the same time
e:em&ted from d0in8 in the desert and bein8
counted se&aratel 0. In truth, the0 were not the onl0
ones who did not worshi & the 3olden Calf. In fact,
)er0 few &eo&le reall 0 worshi &ed the calf. All the
other &eo&le stood around and too+ no stance. It was
the tribe of .e)i that isolated itself and too+ stren8th
withi n the tribe and was called u&on to re&resent
Moshe and (ashem in e:ecuti n8 the sinners.
Because of their 8reater isolationist &olic0 the0 were
deal t with se&aratel 0. I woul d su88est that it was
because of their initi ati )e and inner stren8th of
commi t ment to (ashem that the tribe of .e)i is the
onl0 tribe that still retains its tribal identi t 0 of all the
tribes of Israel. RED, (a.e)i7
7. In se&arati n8 the .e)i0i m there is also the need
to ta+e out the /id0on, redem&ti on of the firstborn,
and the substi tuti on in)ol )i n8 the .e)i0i m. ,he
.e)i0i m were ta+en into account from onl0 one
month. But the count of 4%5,**% is for those o)er $%
0ears old. ,he count comes out that the firstborn
were a&&ro:i matel 0 1 out of 4*. It seems li+e a small
&ercenta8e. ,he >uestion to thin+ about isC a7 wh0 is
the tribe of .e)i counted from one month still the
smallest tribe in the census, and b7 wh0 were there
so few firstborn amon8 the 8eneral &o&ulati onF
HAFTORAH
(p. 5( H!" (p. 1) &" (p. H'" (p. 11) A&"
HO&HEA
On that dayyou shall call me Ishi (my husband)
).1=7. ?ur 'a8es /esachim =77 inter&ret the relationshi&
to be now li+ened to a bride in the house of her father#in#law
and not as a bride in the house of her father. ,he Dubno)
Ma8id sa0s that the difference to note is between bein8
en8a8ed to bein8 married. ,he fiancGe sees her husband#
to#be b0 &lannin8 their schedules so that the0 will ha)e time
to s&end to8ether. (owe)er close the0 feel there still is a
barrier created b0 the sense of modest0 that e:ists between
them. !ot all secrets are shared. After the weddin8, the
relationshi& becomes much stron8er. ,he barriers disa&&ear
as she will s&end more time with her husband and will find it
easier to confide in him. A 8ood marria8e is one where one
is able to confide his or her dee&est thou8hts and emotions
with the s&ouse. ,oda0, e)en with the ,orahH1etubah that
binds each -ew to (ashem, most -ews are li+ened to an
en8a8ed woman< a barrier still e:ists. ?nl0 the s&irituall0
su&erior -ews will feel toda0 the full husband#wife
relationshi& with (ashem. In the future, e)er0 -ew will +now
(ashem dee&l0, li+e a cou&le after their marria8e.
&HABBAT HALA*HAH
?ne is not &ermi tted to &erform certain
acti)i ti es, e)en thou8h the0 neither resembl e a
melachah Biblicall 0 forbi dden wor+7 nor do the0
lead to doin8 a melachah. ,he &rohi bi ti on is based
solel 0 on the fact that it is a wee+da0 acti)i t0 and
will be counter to the s&iri t of 'habbat. -o88in8 and
doin8 &h0sicall 0 e:erti n8 e:ercises come under this
cate8or0. Acti)i ti es of this nature would also include
mo)i n8 furni ture around the house, rearran8i n8
oneIs librar0, chec+in8 on train or airline schedul es
et al. ,o ta+e a wal+ on 'habbat is &ermissible. ?ne
ma0 do breathi n8 e:ercises to correct an
im&airment. ?ne ma0 use a small, hand e:erciser to
stren8then the hand and the fin8ers, as the e:erti on
does not cause the &erson to wor+ u& a sweat and to
tire oneself. Runnin8 is &rohibi ted, e:ce&t for
runni n8 to do a mi t6)ah, as in runni n8 to the shul to
da)en or runni n8 to the Beit Midrash to learn ,orah.