פרשת במדבר

This week’s Parsha deals largely with the counting of the children of Israel and the process of determining their exact numbers. The Torah reiterates at least three times in which Moshe Rabenu was commanded to count the Jewish people and record their precise quantitative significance. We must ask ourselves why it was that Hashem felt this seemingly mundane activity to be so important that He not only commanded Moshe to do it over and over again, but He even had it recorded in the Torah in a painstakingly, seemingly excessive way.

Moshe was commanded to do was to show the Jewish people how dear they are to their Creator. Firstly, when they left Egypt, they were to be counted to establish exactly how many of them there were. Later, after the sin of the golden calf, they were counted again to see how many remained after the plague which afflicted them. All of these tallies were to portray to the Jewish people how special they are, much the same way that the Gemorah in Bava Metziah says that one is constantly checking on, and counting his money to ensure that it is all there, out of his extreme attachment for it.

The Seforno adds to this Rashi by explaining that there are two aspects of the Jewish people which Hashem loves intensely. Firstly, He loves us as a nation who has willingly given up their entire freedom in order to dedicate all their energy to serving Him. And secondly, He is fond of His people on an individual level. This is because each and every human being has a unique personality which only he possesses. Although we are all made of very similar chemical materials, there are no two human beings who have the exact same persona. This distinctiveness allows each one of us to serve Hashem in a completely individual way, ergo we can all offer something up to Hashem which no other human being on this earth can. This knowledge should offer a tremendous source of inner joy to each one of us.

R’ Moshe Feinstein used to illustrate this based on the Gemorah in Megilah. The Gemorah asks, “Why is it that the curses of last week’s Parsha always come out before Shavuos?” The Gemorah answers that this is in order to finish with the curses before we receive the Torah so that we should go into the holiday which commemorates our acceptance of the Torah with complete joy. But R’ Moshe offers another explanation. He says that there is a very powerful trick which the Yetzer Hara employs in order to dissuade us from properly learning and keeping the Torah. The miserable wretch tries to convince us that since we will never be outstanding in our Torah knowledge or performance, we may as well give up now so that we cannot fail. There is no better way to exacerbate this particular Yetzer Hara then by reading the discouraging curses in last week’s Parsha. So R’ Moshe explains, specifically for this reason, Chazal wanted to make sure that the curses were out of the way, and that during the interim between the curses, and the reception of the Torah, Parshas Bamidbar was read – especially in order to remind us how important each and every Jew really is in Hashem’s eyes, and to remind us of our potential for greatness!

On the flip side, there is also a tremendous benefit to the fact that each and every individual, belongs to a collective whole. We find that although the Jews were counted in this week’s Parsha in order to show the importance of their individuality, as we explained, they were also each given a non-distinct number which showed them their place in the group. The goal of this was to demonstrate the significance of being part of a sum total, who do Hashem’s will as a joined unit. A person must be aware of the fact that he may only merit certain blessings if he is willing to cooperate with the entire nation, and be a team player, whereas if he insists on standing out on his own, he may never merit to receive that special protection and favor which the group as a whole enjoy.

R’ Chaim Freidlander writes that we find that on Yom Kippur, the Kohanim would perform the services in the Beis Hamikdash, and the Jewish people would stand by idly, seeming to do nothing but bow occasionally during the recital of Hashem’s name. How can we understand their seemingly passive role on such a holy day? R’ Chaim explains that their task on the holiest day of the year was to watch the Kohanim work for the nation, and internalize their understanding that they were part of the collective “Jewish people”, and all their responsibilities that resulted in this understanding. R’ Chaim even adds that to the extent that they were able to inculcate this realization, that was the extent that Hashem granted them penance on this most special day.

The Midrash “Derech Eretz Zuta” ends off by saying that because the Jews hated disunity, and they loved peace, and were willing to do what it took to get along, in the merit of these three things they received the Torah. This is why the verse says, “And he camped there”. It should have said “they” camped there. But instead the verse used the singular “he” in order to show that during the Har Sinai, the entire Jewish nation were like one being, with one heart, all getting along to perform the same mission – the receiving of the Torah. We see from this Chazal in what esteem Hashem holds camaraderie. Perhaps it was for this reason that the Ari Z”L used to accept upon himself before he would do any Mitzvah, and specifically before he would pray, that he loves every Jew like his brother, and he would proclaim that he was praying or performing that Mitzvah with the intent to connect to, and uplift all the Jewish people as a whole.

I would like to conclude with the profound words of R’ Aryeh Leib Shteinman. He would point out that when a person is aware of the fact that his service is not merely for his own sake, but rather he is an appointed emissary of the entire Jewish people, this awareness will certainly cause him to take his service to an entirely different level. When he knows that the lives of his friends and family may be hanging in the balance, their fate to be determined by how seriously he takes his obligations, he will certainly be more careful in his service of God than he would be without that knowledge. R’ Sheinman would point out that this concept is explicit in the Gemorah. The Gemorah in Kidushin (40b) says each and every person should view themselves at all times as being exactly in the middle in terms of their merits in Heaven. Meaning, we should all believe that our lives are hanging in the balance, and the next activity we do will determine our verdict. Furthermore, we must believe that not only are our fates going to be determined by our next action, but the fates of every inhabitant of the entire planet may be determined by what we do next. R’ Aryeh Leib explains that only when we have fostered this type of attitude, will we be successful in conquering the powerful Yetzer Hara toward apathy, and begin to take our roles seriously as representatives of the entire human race.

May we all merit to serve Hashem individually, and collectively!