As Well As To Count The Angel Dancing On A Pin (John Barlow & Bob Weir - "Let It Grow")

          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. 

Peace,
Rav Yitz

Ask Me No Questions, Sing You No Names (Peter Monk & Phil Lesh- "Passenger")

Our 8th-grade son participates in a very unique program that only a handful of Jewish Day Schools in North America offer. The program is called “Names Not Numbers”. A small group of 8th-grade students is teamed with a Holocaust Survivor. This “team” goes through a process of interviewing the survivor. Each team formulates interview questions, conducts the interview, tapes the interview, edits the interview, and produces a mini-documentary about their assigned survivor. The team also has a writing assignment and presentation that is made in front of fellow classmates. In about a week, the final product will be shown before a gathering of parents, family, the survivors and their families, as well as school administrators and various members of the community. It should prove to be a remarkably moving and inspirational evening. Certainly, our son’s experience has been transformational on several levels. He learned a powerful pedagogical lesson. He understands what it means to be part of a team, working together to accomplish a common goal. Everyone had a job, each member of the group had to rely upon each other in order to generate this multimedia presentation. Second, our son touched history, history spoke to him in the voice of the Holocaust Survivor. Our son didn’t just read about something from a third party. He didn’t encounter a primary document. Along with his team, he created the primary document by recording the words and the story of his assigned Survivor’s life. While it is very easy to get lost in the numbers of the Holocaust and the enormity of it; our son saw a number on the Survivor’s arm and that number was so much more than just a number. That number belongs to a name, a person, a life.

This week, we begin reading the 4th of the 5 books of the Torah, Sefer Bamidbar, the Book of Numbers. This week’s Parsha is the same name Bemidbar. Numbers is aptly named. The book begins with counting, the counting of people, a census. God commands Moshe to take a census, MiBen Esrim Shana V’Mala Kol Yotzei Tzava B’Yisroel – of all males over the age of twenty, everyone who goes out in the Legion of Israel (1:3). Once the number of fighting age males has been established by tribe, each tribe is placed in a specific formation around the Ark. This will become the formation in which Bnai Yisroel is to travel from the foot of Sinai to Eretz Canaan. Finally the Tribe of Levi, the Priests are counted. However because Levi’s only responsibility is the Ark, and the Mishkan; they will not be able to hold land in Eretz Canaan, nor do they fight. Rather they are now counted and assigned specific functions in terms of maintaining the Mishkan. Immediately after Shabbat, the Jewish People celebrate the Chag Shavuot, The Feast of Weeks, the Festival of First Fruits, the holiday that commemorates Matan Torah – The Giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai.  

God order’s a census of people. However for whom is the counting?  Certainly, God is God and already knows the number of souls that comprise B’nai Yisroel as well as those able to fight. When God wants Moshe and Israel or anyone for that matter to do something for himself the language indicates it. Lech Lecha – Go for yourself God commanded Avraham, and Shelach Lecha send for yourself  God will command Moshe in several Parshiot from now.  Here, God commands Moshe Se’u et Rosh Kol Adat Bnai Yisroel count the heads. Since Lecha- for you does not appear; it would seem that the counting is not for B’nai Yisroel nor Moshe, but rather for God. So, why does God need or want a counting? We have already been told that B’nai Yisroel is Am Segula – a treasured nation, meaning B’nai Yisroel possesses some type of value. Each individual has value and from that, each individual has a purpose. Parshah Bemidbar demonstrates that there is an intrinsic value in the individual.  Halachically, we know this because the Legal Principle of Pikuach Nefesh, Saving a Soul exists. This principle appears in the Babylonian Talmud Tractate Shabbat, “the saving of life supersedes the Sabbath (Shabbat 132a). There is a Midrash in Tractate Sanhedrin which expresses the individual’s importance to God, and therefore God’s desire to count us. “If a person stamps several coins with the same die, they all resemble on another. But the King of kings stamps all human beings from the mold of the first person; and yet not one of them is identical to the other one. Therefore every individual has merit and is obliged to say “for my sake the world was created’”. (San4:5).

We all are given numbers some numbers are branded upon us because of hatred. Some numbers are ways in which government can keep track of its citizens such as Social Insurance cards Social security cards. Some numbers are given to us to keep track of how we spend. Some numbers are assigned us so that we can contact each other. It would seem that it is very easy to lose oneself amid the numbers that are used to identify each of us. However, as our son pointed out, amid each number, amid each survivor there is a story. Each individual, like the giving of the Torah, has his/her own narrative, a code that allows survival. Like the Torah’s survival depends upon study and transmission, the same could be said of the survivors and for each member of the Jewish People. Everyone has a story and a code. As our son explained to us, his connection with the past and any connection he has with the next generation depends upon his ability to receive the transmission of the story, and then transmit and teach that story as well as his story to the next generation.

Peace,

Rav Yitz  

Wonder Who Will Water All The Children of the Garden ( Hunter/Garcia, Lesh - Saint Stephen)

It always impresses me when parents sacrifice for their children. Perhaps it re-affirms my own belief of what parents are supposed to do. Parents do for their children. Nowadays it seems that many parents do a lot for their children. Parents want their children to be well-rounded individuals participating in a myriad of activities. Parents want their children to fulfill their non-academic interests whether in athletics, drama, and community oriented activities. Very often, parents’ and children’s desire to do more outside after school non-academic activities. Parents schlep their children to soccer, cheer leading, band, scouts, and part time jobs. More often than not, both parents work. More often than not, parents work because they desire to afford the expenses of their children’s outside interests. Very often both parents work to just get by. Some commute long distances, wanting their children to grow up in the safe suburbs and in a beautiful home. The cost has been enormous. Typically, children don’t spend quantity or quality of time with their parents. Typically, everyone is running around so much, families forget what families, relationships and growth is about. Eventually, and very often, families grow further and further apart as priorities become misplaced.

This Shabbat we read from the second to last Parsha of Sefer B’Midbar, parsha Matot. Matot speaks of the laws of Oaths and Vows, God commands Moshe and B’nai Yisroel to attack and utterly destroy the Midianites. After all, the Midianites were the cause of the most recent plague because of their successful in bringing idolatry to B’nai Yisroel. This battle had all the elements of a holy enterprise as the priest Elazar and Pinchas went out to the battle. Soldiers needed to be spiritually purified afterwards because they had come into contact with death, so they remained outside the camp for seven days. Then the Torah informs us as to the boundaries that each tribe was to inherit.

There is one troubling moment when two tribes ask Moshe if they can remain on the eastern side of the Jordan instead of entering into Eretz Canaan. Each tribe had various sources of wealth, but the tribe of Reuven and Gad had an abundance of livestock. They were under the impression that the land of Yazer and Gilad, east of the Jordan River, was Mkom Mikneh, a place for livestock. So the leaders of each tribe approach Moshe and request to remain on the eastern banks of the Jordan River and not enter into Eretz Canaan. Atarot v’Divon v’Yazeir v’nimrah v’Cheshbon v’Elalei Usvam Unvo Uv’on Ha’aretz Asher Hikah adonai Lifnei Adat Yisroel Eretz Mikneh Hi V’lavadecha Mikneh – Atarot and Divon, Yazeir, and Nimrah, and Cheshbon and Elalei and Svam and Nebo and Veon (territorial names of various sites on the eastern and northeastern side of the Jordan river) the land that Hashem smote before the assembly of Israel – these lands are for livestock and your servants have livestock (Num. 32:3-4). These tribes wanted this land for one purpose, for the purpose of increasing their flocks, increasing their cattle. In the Torah scroll there is an empty space between the end of that verse and the next verse. This space does not connote the end of an aliyah, a chapter or the end of the parsha. This empty space connotes silence. It connotes an angry silence at Reuven and Gad’s request. Moses essentially sits there, seething in anger and waits. The two tribes then re-state their request using the formula Im Matzanu Chen b’Einecha – If we have found favor in your eyes (Num. 32:5). Again the request is couched in terms of cattle and wealth. Moshe gives an angry answer questioning these tribes’ priorities and their sense of responsibility to the rest Adat Yisroel, as well as their sense of ancestoral obligation. Finally, the tribes huddle together and restate their request a third time. Gidrot Tzon Nivneh Lmikneinu Po V’Arim l’Tapeinu – Pens for our flock shall we build here and cities for our small children, v’Anachnu Neichaleitz Chushim Lifnei Bnai Yisroel – We shall aim ourselves swiftly in the vanguard of the Children of Israel…(Num. 32:16-17). Finally, the tribes of Reuven and Gad understand. Inheritance of the land is not about flocks and wealth. It is about passing this inheritance, this land to the children.

The same holds true for Judaism. Judaism, Torah and Mitzvot are our inheritance. Our lives are not only and cannot only be about wealth, and extracurricular activities that come at the expense of Torah Mitzvot and Judaism. It took these two tribe three attempts to realize that they are responsible for the future. We are responsible for our children’s Jewish future. Our job is to pass Judaism, Torah and mitzvot to our children. Soccer, cheerleading, as well as our own extracurricular interests are not what we are supposed to pass down to our children, none of these insures their spiritual future.

As we are in the midst of the three weeks that will culminate in the commemoration of the destruction of the Holy Temple, let us get out priorities in order. As we are in the midst of our children’s summer vacation and we begin filling up their schedules, let us re-affirm what our priorities are and what our children’s will be. Make Torah our priority, then and only then can we make Torah our children’s’ priority.

Count the Angels dancing on a Pin (Barlow/ Weir - Weather Report Suite Part II: Let it Grow)

The weather says late spring. The leaves on the trees have sprouted, the flowers are in bloom, the rain is warm, the bees are buzzing, and swimming pool owners have opened up their pool. Canada celebrated Victoria Day earlier this week which marks the beginning of the summer season. This Monday, the United States will celebrate Memorial Day thereby marking the beginning of the summer season in the U.S. For me it means baseball season. It means that at least four nights a week, my poor wife has to be fight for my attention as it is torn between my job, my family and the New York Yankees. Here in Canada, I have quickly learned that it is not baseball season quite yet. Sports headlines begin with the same story every night and will continue until the middle of June. The focus is playoff hockey and the quest for Lord Stanley’s Cup. Whatever the team sport of choice – Hockey in Canada or Baseball in the U.S; anyone who has ever played a team sport has learned a 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. For anyone who has participated in a group activity outside of a team sport: a play’s cast, a band, the army, a business, or a family, very frequently the individual must sacrifice for the good of the group. Individual satisfaction must be linked to group satisfaction and success; otherwise tension between the individual and the group will increase. When the individual possesses the same sense of purpose as the group, forsaking one’s ego is quite easy. When the group achieves success, forsaking one’s ego is also quite easy. When there are clearly defined roles and expectations, forsaking one’s ego is easier. Simultaneously, members of successful groups do not have the attitude of, “that’s not my job, I don’t know” or, “they don’t pay me for that, so I can’t help you”. Instead, their attitude is to “pick up the slack” and “play within their skill level”. Again, ego gratification is sublimated for the good of the team.

This week’s Par shah 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 Bemidbar 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 Bemidbar, 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 Tanchuma Bemidbar 12 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 no fighting, no bickering, nor any 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.

Towards the end of the Parsha, the census for the Levite tribe begins. The first family with the Levi tribe to be counted was the Kohatite family: Moshe and Aharon’s family. The Kohatite family was assigned a certain task in regards to the maintenance of the Mishkan. Remembering what happened to Aharon’s two eldest sons when they inappropriately approached the Mishkan back in Parsha Shemini; clearly this family bears an inordinate amount of risk to life and limb in regards to its particular responsibilities. V’Zot Asu Lahem V’Chayu V’Lo Yamutu B’Gishtam et Kodesh Hakodashim, Thus shall you do for them so that they shall live and not die; when they approach the Holy of Holies Aharon U’VaNav YaVo’u V’Samu Otam Ish Ish Al Avodato v’El Masa’o –, Aharon and his sons shall come and assign them, every man to his work and his burden. (4:19). Rabbi Ovadiah Sforno, an Italian Renaissance commentator explains that each of the Hohatites should be appointed to do a specific task in the breaking down and carrying of the Mishkan. They should be so organized in order to insure an orderly approach to the Mishkan. Otherwise they will invariably compete with one another in order to be the first one and someone might get jostled. The jostling could result in someone knocking into the Mishkan thus bringing death upon himself.

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, the larger group benefits. A family, a team, a community and a nation can achieves holiness.

Peace,

Rav Yitz