Parsha Bamidbar & Shavuot - Jewish Identity & Jewish Wisdom: Why Every Jew Had To Be At Sinai

0:01 SPEAKER_00: Chaim works for the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics and he's knocking on different doors, gathering data for a census.

0:09 SPEAKER_00: He knocks on a door and a ten-year-old boy opens the door.

0:12 SPEAKER_00: The ten-year-old boy's got a pint of beer in one hand and a cigar in the other.

0:17 SPEAKER_00: Chaim's a bit perturbed.

0:18 SPEAKER_00: He introduces himself and explains that he's gathering data for a census.

0:22 SPEAKER_00: He says to the ten-year-old boy, your parents' home.

0:26 SPEAKER_00: And the ten-year-old boy turns around and says, What do you think?

0:32 SPEAKER_00: So this week's Pasha is Pasha Bamidba.

0:35 SPEAKER_00: And we always read it, almost always, before shavuat.

0:40 SPEAKER_00: There's a couple of exceptions.

0:42 SPEAKER_00: And the question is this.

0:44 SPEAKER_00: We look at Pasha Bamidba, and it has the census in it, we find out all the numbers of the Shivatim, it's a separate census for the Leviim, some of the Leviam get jobs.

0:56 SPEAKER_00: You look at it and you say the following.

1:08 SPEAKER_00: And you would think that what we would read just before Matant Torah would be holy and inspiring, ready to go into receiving the Torah.

1:18 SPEAKER_00: And you look at Pasha Bamidba, and it seems so functional with the census and the data.

1:24 SPEAKER_00: And you say, why is this the pasha we read before we go into Shavuat?

1:30 SPEAKER_00: What does it tell us?

1:32 SPEAKER_00: What's it about?

1:33 SPEAKER_00: Why is it so appropriate to be the pasha?

1:38 SPEAKER_00: What's more?

1:40 SPEAKER_00: We're not supposed to count Jews.

1:42 SPEAKER_00: We know that that's not really a thing.

1:45 SPEAKER_00: So we got a pasha about the count just before we go into Matantora?

1:50 SPEAKER_00: What's it all about?

1:51 SPEAKER_00: How do we explain it?

1:52 SPEAKER_00: And I think if we can understand the link, then we can give ourselves real chizuk as we go into the week and we get ready to celebrate Shavuot to celebrate Matantora.

2:06 SPEAKER_00: So the word for counting in Ivrit really is Sefira.

2:10 SPEAKER_00: Doing it at the moment, Sefirah Ha'omar, the counting of the Almer.

2:14 SPEAKER_00: It comes from Lispo to count.

2:17 SPEAKER_00: And yet when you look at the way that it's described at the beginning of this week's Pasha, that's not the word that's used.

2:24 SPEAKER_00: The words that's used is Tifkadu, you shall count, which comes from Pakad.

2:30 SPEAKER_00: So why that word?

2:31 SPEAKER_00: What's it trying to tell us?

2:34 SPEAKER_00: So if you look in the Torah, other places where this word pakad is used, we have in Pasha Va'irah, it says, Hashem Pakad Sarah, that Hashem remembered Sarah.

2:48 SPEAKER_00: Similarly, at the end of Sefer Barashit, Yosef tells his brothers that he's going to die.

2:54 SPEAKER_00: And then he says, Surely Hashem will Pakad will remember you and bring you up out of the land of Egypt.

3:03 SPEAKER_00: Then, of course, at the end of Sefer Shemot we have Pakuday, which really is reckonings.

3:09 SPEAKER_00: These are the reckonings of the Mishkan.

3:11 SPEAKER_00: This is the greatest building project in the history of the world, or one of the greatest building projects in the history of the world.

3:18 SPEAKER_00: And we have this word about reckonings for the materials of the Mishkan.

3:24 SPEAKER_00: And then actually in this week's pasha, we have the sons of Morari, and it says Ufkudat, that they were assigned or appointed over certain parts of the Mishkan.

3:39 SPEAKER_00: What's interesting is the idea of a census often is about reductionism.

3:45 SPEAKER_00: It can reduce human beings, because we make human beings just a number, just a statistic.

3:51 SPEAKER_00: We take away their individuality, their specialness.

3:56 SPEAKER_00: That can be one of the problems with the idea of a census.

3:59 SPEAKER_00: And of course, perhaps the darkest example of this is the Holocaust, where people, as we know, were famously just given a number, tattooed onto their arms.

4:12 SPEAKER_00: And today we live in a world obsessed with data.

4:15 SPEAKER_00: And it's a world that often knows the numbers but doesn't value anything.

4:21 SPEAKER_00: You just look at social media today.

4:23 SPEAKER_00: We just gather people.

4:26 SPEAKER_00: We don't know them, they're just gathered, and what do we call them?

4:29 SPEAKER_00: Followers, it's data.

4:30 SPEAKER_00: I have a million followers, five million followers.

4:33 SPEAKER_00: And then we look at content online.

4:36 SPEAKER_00: And even if someone puts their heart and soul into a piece of content that might be really good, it's reduced down to how many likes did it get?

4:45 SPEAKER_00: How many shares did it get?

4:47 SPEAKER_00: We reduce so much these days down to numbers.

4:53 SPEAKER_00: But that doesn't seem to be what this count is all about.

4:57 SPEAKER_00: Because Hashem Pakad remembered Sarah Hashem valued Sara, appreciated Sarah.

5:05 SPEAKER_00: When Yosef says to his brothers, surely Hashem will remember you, Pakad, will bring you up out of the land of Egypt because Hashem cared.

5:14 SPEAKER_00: Pakuday, these reckonings of the Mishkan, this was important.

5:20 SPEAKER_00: And the sons of Morari being appointed Ufkudak in this week's pasha, assigned over certain parts of the Mishkan.

5:27 SPEAKER_00: This was a privilege.

5:28 SPEAKER_00: This was something special.

5:31 SPEAKER_00: But Hashem doesn't need the information.

5:33 SPEAKER_00: Hashem knows how many Jews there are, knows how many are in each Shevet.

5:38 SPEAKER_00: This isn't about Hashem needing information.

5:42 SPEAKER_00: This count is about Khlal Israel needing affirmation.

5:48 SPEAKER_00: That every single one of them counts, that every single one of them matters.

5:53 SPEAKER_00: That's what this count is all about.

5:57 SPEAKER_00: If we understand that, we can start to think about why this might be important before Matan Torah, that every Jew matters.

6:04 SPEAKER_00: Brings to mind a Gomorrah in Sanhadran in 37 Ahmed Alif that says that when man makes a seal for coins, every coin comes out the same.

6:16 SPEAKER_00: But when Hashem makes a seal for mankind, Adam Harishon, every human being comes out different.

6:24 SPEAKER_00: And then it says the following.

6:26 SPEAKER_00: And if that's the case, every person should say the world was created just for me.

6:33 SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?

6:35 SPEAKER_00: Of course it's not narcissistic.

6:37 SPEAKER_00: It's not that we should all go around saying I have all these rights, the world was just for me.

6:42 SPEAKER_00: It's about responsibility.

6:44 SPEAKER_00: If every human being is different, if every human being is unique, then every human being has a part to play.

6:53 SPEAKER_00: Every human being can make a contribution that no other human being can make.

6:58 SPEAKER_00: And therefore you should say the world was created just for me because I have responsibility.

7:04 SPEAKER_00: I have things to contribute, to give, that nobody else can contribute and give.

7:11 SPEAKER_00: And now we start to understand why is this so important just before Matan Torah?

7:16 SPEAKER_00: Before we're given the Torah, given the responsibility as Jewish people to be the koanim of the world, to be the witnesses to Hashem, to know that every single one of us counts, that every single one of us has a part to play.

7:32 SPEAKER_00: There's a Pasuk in Pasha Itra.

7:35 SPEAKER_00: The Pasuk says that on the third day Hashem will descend in front of the entire nation.

7:44 SPEAKER_00: Ravsimon Bayochai brings down in the Midrash in Devorim Rabba on that Pasuk, and he says the most astounding thing.

7:53 SPEAKER_00: He says, because if one Jew wasn't present, the divine presence wouldn't have come, wouldn't have descended.

8:01 SPEAKER_00: It's a mind-blowing idea.

8:04 SPEAKER_00: If one Jew was missing, the divine presence wouldn't have come.

8:09 SPEAKER_00: Because it goes to Al Gomorrah in Sanhedrin, that every single Jew counted, that every single Jew had a part to play.

8:20 SPEAKER_00: Twice in Shas, in Yama 68 Ahmed Bet and in Sota 36 Ahmed Bet, Seifah Bamidbah is called Seifa Hapakudim, the book of counting.

8:33 SPEAKER_00: Why?

8:35 SPEAKER_00: Because Seifah Bamidbah is the book where every Jew knows they count.

8:42 SPEAKER_00: Every Jew knows that they matter.

8:45 SPEAKER_00: Because it's in the desert, in the Midbah, that Hashem manifested in all sorts of ways.

8:54 SPEAKER_00: The Jewish people camped around the Mishkan, and the Shekhinah was present in the Mishkan.

8:59 SPEAKER_00: And then they were enveloped in the Ananeha Kavod, the clouds of glory, and there was a pillar of fire at night.

9:06 SPEAKER_00: And they wore clothes that grew with them, and the man came down every morning, and they drank by Miriam's well.

9:14 SPEAKER_00: They were touched by Hashem, cared for by Hashem, all the time.

9:19 SPEAKER_00: Every Jew know that they counted, knew that they mattered.

9:24 SPEAKER_00: This is what this is about.

9:39 SPEAKER_00: You would have thought it'd be in the plural.

9:41 SPEAKER_00: There's so many people.

9:42 SPEAKER_00: And Rashi famously brings down on that from the Mechilta.

9:46 SPEAKER_00: He brings down and says, they camped as one man.

9:50 SPEAKER_00: It says in the Mechilta with one heart.

9:55 SPEAKER_00: It points to this idea of Ahtut, of unity.

9:58 SPEAKER_00: But how does that work?

10:00 SPEAKER_00: When it says one man with one heart, there was so much diversity amongst Klali Shrael.

10:05 SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?

10:07 SPEAKER_00: We look in this week's Pasha, and how's the count done?

10:11 SPEAKER_00: It's done firstly, Lemishpachatam, by families.

10:16 SPEAKER_00: And families is our initial identity.

10:18 SPEAKER_00: We're born to parents, and we have our own identity.

10:23 SPEAKER_00: Every family has their own lineage.

10:25 SPEAKER_00: Every family has their own minhagim, their own stories, their own memories.

10:30 SPEAKER_00: It's families that give you identity initially.

10:33 SPEAKER_00: So we're counted by family.

10:35 SPEAKER_00: And then of course the families are counted within each chevet.

10:39 SPEAKER_00: And every Chevet had its own lineage, its own minhagim, its own characteristics.

10:45 SPEAKER_00: And of course, every Chevet had its own place around the Mishkan and its own banner, its own colour, its own symbol.

10:56 SPEAKER_00: There was all this diversity.

11:00 SPEAKER_00: But when we camped around Hassinai, the focus was Hassina, where the Shekhinah came down, where the Asserat adibrat, the Torah were given.

11:13 SPEAKER_00: And Ramba wants to say that the Mishkan is an extension of Hassina.

11:18 SPEAKER_00: And everybody camped around the Mishkan where the Shekhinah dwelled.

11:23 SPEAKER_00: And what this points to is unity of purpose.

11:27 SPEAKER_00: This one man and with one heart didn't mean we were all the same.

11:32 SPEAKER_00: In fact, it was completely the opposite.

11:35 SPEAKER_00: There was diversity.

11:36 SPEAKER_00: This count celebrated the diversity.

11:39 SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, there was unity of purpose.

11:42 SPEAKER_00: There was a unity of mission.

11:44 SPEAKER_00: We camped around Sinai.

11:45 SPEAKER_00: We camped around the Mishkan.

11:48 SPEAKER_00: And Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch wants to bring down about the census and say exactly that.

11:56 SPEAKER_00: The census was to combine this unity of purpose and at the same time this diversity.

12:03 SPEAKER_00: And he says that's why the word that's used for the assembly is Ada, because Ada points to a unity of purpose, a mission, a witness community, but at the same time with all this diversity.

12:19 SPEAKER_00: And it's such a lesson for us today.

12:23 SPEAKER_00: Because today we have Ashkenazi and Safadi.

12:27 SPEAKER_00: We have Hasidim and Litvax.

12:30 SPEAKER_00: We have Kharedi and Dati Lumi and lots of other colours of Jews.

12:35 SPEAKER_00: And all shapes and sizes and understanding.

12:38 SPEAKER_00: And sometimes we don't celebrate that diversity, it's the opposite.

12:43 SPEAKER_00: But we need akhturb.

12:44 SPEAKER_00: There should be unity of purpose.

12:46 SPEAKER_00: That's Torah.

12:47 SPEAKER_00: That's Matan Torah.

12:49 SPEAKER_00: That we're given this mission as the koenum of the world.

12:52 SPEAKER_00: We have unity of purpose.

12:54 SPEAKER_00: But within that purpose, we can have diversity, we can have different minhagim, traditions, ideas.

13:04 SPEAKER_00: You know, if every Jew plays the same note on the same instrument, that's not really music.

13:13 SPEAKER_00: It would just be a lot of noise on one note.

13:16 SPEAKER_00: But if every Jew plays a different instrument, and every Jew plays a different note, but they all play the same symphony, then you get harmony.

13:29 SPEAKER_00: Then you get something incredible.

13:32 SPEAKER_00: That's music, that's something special.

13:35 SPEAKER_00: That's what this pasha is all about.

13:38 SPEAKER_00: That every Jew has something to contribute, that every Jew has something unique, their own note, their own instrument.

13:46 SPEAKER_00: But all to Torah, playing the same symphony, and then we create something incredible together.

13:54 SPEAKER_00: That's what this Pasha is telling us as we approach Matan Torah.

14:01 SPEAKER_00: We know it's dangerous to count Jews.

14:03 SPEAKER_00: In Pashak Kitissa, we're told that you should count using a half shekel, so a plague shouldn't spread amongst Klali Israel.

14:14 SPEAKER_00: And of course, famously in the book of Shmuel, David Hamelech does a census, and unfortunately, 70,000 people die in a plague.

14:25 SPEAKER_00: The Mefarshin bring down different reasons as to why that is.

14:29 SPEAKER_00: Some say it's because David Hamelech instigated this count to be direct.

14:34 SPEAKER_00: There was no half shekel mechanism.

14:37 SPEAKER_00: That's one idea.

14:39 SPEAKER_00: But there is another idea.

14:41 SPEAKER_00: So David Hammelech says in Sefashmuel, the count is so that I may know the number of people.

14:49 SPEAKER_00: The problem was this was a physical count.

14:52 SPEAKER_00: This was about strength.

14:54 SPEAKER_00: How many physical numbers do we have?

14:56 SPEAKER_00: Military might.

14:59 SPEAKER_00: David Hammelech unwittingly took Khalishrael and reduced them down to the physical, down to the finite.

15:08 SPEAKER_00: He limited them.

15:10 SPEAKER_00: But that's not what Khalisrael is.

15:13 SPEAKER_00: Matanturah tells us this is a spiritual mission.

15:17 SPEAKER_00: We're an eternal people with something that goes beyond the physical, to the spiritual.

15:24 SPEAKER_00: That's why when you count Khalisrael, you should count using the half shekel mechanism.

15:31 SPEAKER_00: Because what is the half shekel?

15:33 SPEAKER_00: The half shekel is a contribution to the mishchan.

15:37 SPEAKER_00: In other words, when you count, you count using a mechanism that points to the spiritual.

15:43 SPEAKER_00: Every Jew's making a contribution to the mishkan, to the spiritual.

15:48 SPEAKER_00: And then you can do it without a plague.

15:51 SPEAKER_00: Because then you make us bigger by the count, not smaller.

15:58 SPEAKER_00: Have this idea, there's a Pasuk in Hoshea that says, the number of Bene Ishrael shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured and cannot be counted.

16:11 SPEAKER_00: Comes along the Gomorrah in Yamah in 22 Ahmed Bet.

16:17 SPEAKER_00: And it asks the following question.

16:19 SPEAKER_00: It says, the Pasuk itself is a contradiction.

16:22 SPEAKER_00: Because the Pasuk itself says, Bene Ishrael shall be like the sand of the sea.

16:29 SPEAKER_00: And the Gomorrah says that might be a very big number, but it's still finite.

16:34 SPEAKER_00: It can be counted.

16:36 SPEAKER_00: It can be measured.

16:37 SPEAKER_00: But then of course the Gomorrah goes on to say, which the Pasik goes on to say, which cannot be counted and cannot be measured.

16:44 SPEAKER_00: So the Gomorrah says, which is it?

16:46 SPEAKER_00: We like the sand of the sea?

16:48 SPEAKER_00: Or can't we be counted and can't we be measured?

16:52 SPEAKER_00: The Gomorrah answers the question.

16:55 SPEAKER_00: The Gomorrah says, when we stick to our mission, when the Jewish people keep Torah, when we do the will of Hashem, then we soar, then we're spiritual, then we become infinite, bigger than the physical.

17:09 SPEAKER_00: And our impact on the world, it cannot be measured.

17:12 SPEAKER_00: It cannot be counted.

17:15 SPEAKER_00: But when Hasfashalom we don't do the will of Hashem, we don't keep Torah, then we're like the sand of the sea.

17:24 SPEAKER_00: It might be a big number, but it can be measured.

17:28 SPEAKER_00: And it can be counted.

17:30 SPEAKER_00: We limit ourselves.

17:33 SPEAKER_00: This count is about elevating Khalisrael, that they know everybody counts, every Jew counts as we go towards Matantorah.

17:42 SPEAKER_00: But of course, when you count, it makes you a countable.

17:47 SPEAKER_00: And we see that at the beginning of the Pasha because it doesn't say take a census.

17:52 SPEAKER_00: What does it actually say in the Evrit?

17:55 SPEAKER_00: It says, Su et Rosh, raise their heads, elevate yourselves, raise yourselves up.

18:02 SPEAKER_00: That's the point of the count.

18:04 SPEAKER_00: Hashem doesn't want information.

18:06 SPEAKER_00: This is affirmation that every Jew counts.

18:11 SPEAKER_00: But Su, that word, comes from Nasa to elevate, to lift.

18:18 SPEAKER_00: And the Midrash in Bamid Barabah wants to explain what this is all about.

18:24 SPEAKER_00: And it goes to Pasukim.

18:27 SPEAKER_00: Earlier in the Torah, where this is used, this idea of Su from Nasser goes to Vayeshev, where Yosef is interpreting the dreams of the butler and the baker.

18:41 SPEAKER_00: And what's interesting is in both dreams, in his interpretation of both, the word Yissa to lift is used.

18:50 SPEAKER_00: The butler is told that he'll be lifted, and the baker is also told, Yesah, he'll be lifted.

18:59 SPEAKER_00: But of course, the butler is lifted and restored to his position.

19:05 SPEAKER_00: He once again serves Pharaoh as his butler.

19:09 SPEAKER_00: And the baker?

19:11 SPEAKER_00: He's also lifted, but he's lifted and his head is removed.

19:15 SPEAKER_00: He's executed after three days.

19:19 SPEAKER_00: Comes the Midrash.

19:22 SPEAKER_00: It wants to say the following.

19:25 SPEAKER_00: The Jewish people do what they're supposed to do.

19:28 SPEAKER_00: We fulfill Torah, we do the things that we're supposed to do, we do the will of Hashem, then we're restored as Jewish people to our position as the koenim of the world.

19:41 SPEAKER_00: But as Fashalom, we don't do what we're supposed to do, then we'll be removed.

19:49 SPEAKER_00: And of course, this is the Jewish experience.

19:52 SPEAKER_00: There is no nation on earth that has hit the heights of the Jewish people, from Yetziat Smitsraim, leaving Egypt to Kriyat Yamsuf, the crossing of the sea, to Matan Torah, the greatest revelation in the world.

20:10 SPEAKER_00: And in modern times, after 2,000 years of exile, to come back to Eritz Israel, to build the land, to revive Ivrit, to revive Hebrew, and you look at the economy and you look at what's going on in Eritz Israel, despite all our troubles and our challenges, being surrounded by enemies.

20:31 SPEAKER_00: No nation has hit these heights, these miracles.

20:36 SPEAKER_00: But of course, no nation has also experienced the lows of the Jewish people, and some of the lowest points in our history have been lower than any other nations ever sunk.

20:54 SPEAKER_00: And so before the wedding at Sinai, we read Parsha Bamidbah.

21:01 SPEAKER_00: Hashem gathers the nation together.

21:04 SPEAKER_00: He counts us.

21:06 SPEAKER_00: Not because he needs the number, but we need to know.

21:11 SPEAKER_00: We matter.

21:12 SPEAKER_00: Every Jew, every family, every Nishama.

21:17 SPEAKER_00: Whether Ashkenazi or Sefadi, Litvak or Hasid, Haradio Dati Lumi, and every other Jew in between.

21:25 SPEAKER_00: We may have different flags, we may have different Minhugim.

21:31 SPEAKER_00: Different personalities.

21:33 SPEAKER_00: But we have one heart.

21:36 SPEAKER_00: We have one mission, which is to keep Torah.

21:39 SPEAKER_00: That is why Bamidbah comes before Shavuat.

21:43 SPEAKER_00: Because Torah can only be given to a people who know I am unique.

21:50 SPEAKER_00: The world was created just for me.

21:52 SPEAKER_00: I have a responsibility to give something that only I can contribute, and yet at the same At the same time, we know as Jews that I'm part of something infinitely greater than myself.

22:08 SPEAKER_00: There are Jews who are convinced they don't matter.

22:11 SPEAKER_00: They think if they disappeared tomorrow, the world wouldn't care.

22:16 SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter if I go to Shaol, it doesn't matter if I keep Shabbas, it doesn't matter if I keep Kashru.

22:22 SPEAKER_00: But Midbah comes before Matantorah to tell every Jew, if even one Jew was missing, the Torah not could be the Torah could not be given.

22:34 SPEAKER_00: The revelation was incomplete without you.