Well,
it finally looks like spring in Toronto. For the past nine years, springtime in
Toronto usually meant that people emerged from hibernation, began yard work projects,
and sports fans followed the Toronto Blue Jays. Well, so far, this spring has been a
bit different. For the first time in nine years, Toronto's secular religion, playoff hockey, has returned to Toronto. As an
American, hockey is not the same type of
secular religion as baseball. However, our son has been listening to the kids
in school and has actually come home talking about the hockey playoffs.
Honestly, I don’t gave know the difference between a blue line and a red line
except the color, but I am always intrigued by professional sports teams and
playoffs. I like the intensity, I like the buzz that a city has when their team
is in the playoffs, and I enjoy watching individuals sacrificing their individual
glory for one common objective: winning.
When I watch the Hockey playoffs, or what is more personally more
appealing to me, the New York Knicks actually in the Basketball playoffs, I am
reminded of the powerful, age-old,
sports adage: “There is no ‘I’ in TEAM”. The adage means that the individual
must forsake his/her ego for the good of the team. Everyone on the team has a
role. If that role is not executed with efficiency and excellence, then the
team’s effectiveness is compromised and the risk of losing games increases.
This
week’s Parshah is Bemidbar. Bemidbar marks the start of the fourth Book of the
Torah, Sefer Bemidbar (the Book of Numbers).
If the Book of Leviticus focused upon all the ritual and ethical
behavior a community must observe in order for “God to dwell among it”, The
Book of Numbers focuses upon something quite different. Sefer Bamidbar consists
of lists, lists of names, numbers and places. The Book begins and ends with a
census. The Book begins with B’nai Yisroel still wandering from place to place
as they completed their first year free from captivity. As they begin their
second year, there will be more narrative, and more events. The Book of Numbers
concludes with B’nai Yisroel’s temporarily dwelling in one spot for the next 38
years, overlooking the Promised Land.
Parshah
Bemidbar begins with God commanding Moshe to count the people. Then God
commands Moshe to organize the people according to tribal formation around the
Mishkan. Three tribes are in each of the four directions: three in the North,
three in the South, three in the East and three in the West. The tribe of Levi, (the priest) was not
counted in this census because it occupied the center of the camp. Instead of
the first born from other tribes serving in the Mishkan, the Levites became the
designated tribe to serve God in the Mishkan. Counting the Levites was the
second census. In Parshah Bamidbar, we also read a list of names. These are the
designated leaders of each tribe. Every tribe has a place within the camp,
every tribe has a flag, and every tribe has a leader. The Parshah concludes
with another census, this time it is limited to a particular family within the
tribe of Levi.
Every
tribe had a role. Every tribe had a place. Every tribe had a function. The
Midrash explains that when God suggested the arrangements and roles for the
tribes, Moshe questioned the idea. “ Now there will be disputes between the
tribes.” Moshe reasoned that by assigning certain tribes to certain places,
other tribes would become envious and grow disenchanted with their place within
the camp, relative to the Mishkan. God explained that there was no need to
worry. Each tribe’s designated spot was based upon Jacob’s sons’ positioning
around Jacob’s coffin. Each tribe had a clear and proper place within the greater
community. There was neither fighting, bickering, nor disenchantment. VaYa’Asu B’nai Yisroel kChol Asher Tzivah
Adonai et Moshe, Kein Asu – “The
Children of Israel did everything that
God commanded Moshe, so did they do” (Num.1:54). Knowing their role or their place
had a positive effect. Each tribe had a defined space and specific function
that insured the welfare of the community.
So, what can we learn from Parsha Bemidbar? First we
learn that every individual counts, and every individual has value. We only
count that which has a perceived value, such as: money, cd’s, cars, and
whatever we have collected over the years. God ordered two censuses. B’nai
Yisroel mattered to God; each individual must have had value. Otherwise, God
would not have counted. From this we learn that a community’s strength is only
as great as the individuals that comprise that community. Second, we learn that
everyone must have a role, or a function within that community. Each individual
must have a means to contribute to the community. By reaching out to the
individual, recognizing how each contributes to the whole, and each
individual’s contribution, a family can achieve holiness, community can achieve
holiness, and a nation can achieve holiness.
Peace,
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