Several weeks ago, Israel commemorated Yom HaZikaron, a day in which Israel takes a moment to remember its fallen soldiers. This past Monday, the United States commemorated Memorial Day. Originally known as Decoration Day, it commemorated all those soldiers who had died fighting in the Civil War – for both the North and the South. By the early Twentieth century, Memorial Day replaced Decoration Day as a day to commemorate all soldiers who had died in all of the United States' wars. As a kid, I always remember that each town would have a Memorial Day Parade. There would always be an elderly veteran lighting a candle at the town’s War Memorial. This past Memorial Day was the first Memorial Day in 20 years that the United States was not engaged in a “hot” war. Yet, the last of the victims from the Buffalo mass shooting were buried during that American holiday weekend, and the first funerals of the 19 children murdered in Uvalde Texas began this week. Indeed, these funerals in Buffalo and Uvalde, suggest that Americans are indeed at war. These funerals remind us of who exactly is on the front lines of this war. These soldiers are school-age children and everyday regular people who happen to be African American, Jewish, Asian, women, LGTBQ, Muslim, immigrant, or any other minority that is perceived to be a threat to a certain type of “white” America. These “soldiers” tend to be of any and all ages. Ironically, these “soldiers” never seem to have the formal training required to actually fire an assault rifle and end life; rather their training is in living life, going to school, going to the supermarket, attending a concert, worshipping in churches and synagogues, or trying to make a better life for themselves and their children. These "soldiers" are the target of an enemy that is generally male, 18-24, troubled, alienated, and vulnerable to all gun manufacturers marketing their product, as well as vulnerable to some of the vilest and poisonous misinformation on the internet.
This Shabbat we begin the fourth book of the Torah, Sefer Bemidbar, by reading the first Parsha, Bemidbar. Literally meaning “In the Wilderness”, this fourth book of the Torah resumes the narrative format with B'nai Yisroel preparing to leave the foot of Mount Sinai. For the past year, B'nai Yisroel has essentially camped out at Har Sinai and listened to Moshe and Aharon teach all the laws concerning Tamei/Tahor –Purity and Impurity, Kodesh/Chol – the Holy and the Mundane, as well as the laws for Korbonot, sacrificial offerings. Prior to B'nai Yisroel’s embarking on the remainder of its journey a census is required. In fact, Parsha Bemidbar consists of three types of the census. The first census counts all men over the age of twenty that come from all the tribes except for the Levites, essentially a census of all males eligible to fight. The second census focuses only on the Levites. Since this tribe’s sole function is to operate and manage the Mishkan, ascertaining the number of workers in the Mishkan suggests the importance of the Mishkan to the everyday life of the B'nai Yisroel. The third census focuses on the organizational placement of each tribe around the Mishkan while traveling.
The Census that God commands Moshe at the beginning of this fourth book of the Torah is very different than the last census taken. Until now there had been one Census taken while Bnai Yisroel was at Sinai, engaged in the construction of the Mishkan. All the way back in Parsha Ki Tissa, in Sefer Shmot (the Book of Exodus) God had commanded Moshe to count everyone by levying a half shekel tax. In fact, we are commanded not to count by pointing and counting but rather we would count the number of ½ Shekalim collected and that number would then tell us the total number of men twenty years and older. (Ex 30:11-14) Now God commands Moshe S’u Et Rosh Kol Adat Bnai Yisroel L’Mishpechotam L’Veit Avotam Mispar Sheimot Kol Zachar L’Gulgulotam; Miben Esrim Shana Va’Malah Kol Yotzei Tzavah B’Yisroel Tifkedu Otam….- Take a census of the entire assembly of the Children of Israel according to their families, according to their father’s household, by the number of the names and every male according to their head count; from twenty years of age an up everyone who goes out to the legion in Israel, you shall count them (Num. 1:2-3)…. Abravanel, the 15th-century Portuguese commentator points out the apparent contradiction in the two types of censuses: the first being found in the Sefer Shmot, and the second in Parsha Bemidbar. “Surely this (Bemidbar) is just the opposite of what the Torah had commanded on an earlier occasion (Sefer Shmot Parsha Ki Tissa).” There, in Ki Tissah, the poll (a tax) was taken. “How could the Almighty have commanded them here to number them by their polls?” Abravanel notes the word “Tifekedu Otam” – you shall “account for them” (according to Rashi and “accounting” is a Poll or a levied tax). Ramban, the 12th-century Spanish commentator/philosopher, points out that Tifkedu is an expression of visitation, remembrance, and providence.
The Census in Parsha Bemidbar was a census to determine those who were eligible to fight, who will be asked to perhaps give their lives for the welfare of the nation. If and when the time came and they did have to lay down their lives who would have remembered them? Who would have mourned them? Who would tell stories about them and carry on their name? L’Mishpechotam L’Veit Avotam Mispar Sheimot to their families, according to their father’s household by the number of the names. With each of the funerals that have occurred in Buffalo and started in Uvalde, we are reminded that each of these victims of war touched lives. They had children and grandchildren, and they were involved in their communities. They had parents, grandparents, and siblings. Each was so much more than just a number. Each individual had been created B’Tzelem Elokim in the image of God, and as Ramban explained, is worthy of remembrance.
Rav Yitz
