בּ״ה
Parshas Bamidbar/Shavuos
And for those in Eretz Yisroel, https://achsameach.blogspot.com/search?q=nasso
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‘And Hashem spoke to Moshe in the Wilderness of Sinai’ (Bamidbar 1:1)
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Teaches the Midrash (Bamidbar Rabbah 1:7): With three things the Torah was given: With fire, with water, and in the wilderness. And why was it given with these three things? To tell to us that just like these things are free to everyone, so too the Torah is free to everyone [and all who want can come and learn it for no charge at all].*
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* Furthermore, we actually get paid great reward for learning it!
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‘And Hashem spoke to Moshe in the Wilderness of Sinai’ (Bamidbar 1:1)
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Says HaRav Shimshon Dovid Pincus zt”l: The Revelation at Har Sinai, and the Giving of the Torah were in the wilderness. And there are those who ask; why wasn’t the Torah given in Eretz Yisroel? Afterall, we know from the Gemara (Bava Basra 158b) that the very air of the Land makes one wiser, and its holiness would have had influence on the Jewish People. Plus, a lot of Mitzvos in the Torah are actually only able to be kept in Israel. So why, indeed, did Hashem give us the Torah before we reached Eretz Yisroel?
The explanation, says Rav Pincus, seems to comes from the exposition of Chazal (Mishnah Taanis 4:8) on the verse in Shir HaShirim (3:12), ‘On the day of His* wedding, and on the day of the joy of His heart’, that this ‘wedding’ refers to Matan Torah. The connection and attachment of Klal Yisroel with HaKadosh Baruch Hu is through the Torah.
In order for the connection to be complete, without a diversion of attention to other things, the Torah needed to be something that was the only thing between them. Now, if the Jews had already entered Eretz Yisroel before Matan Torah, it was liable to happen that everyone would turn to their farming, and produce, and the like, and what would be with the Torah?
The 40 years in the wilderness without any involvement in the field or vineyard strengthened our connection to Hashem. They were like the Yichud room at a wedding -- just between the husband and wife. We’ve never heard of people making their wedding in their house, because if they did, then the bride would have to tend to things in the kitchen, and that’s not the time for such things!
In the wilderness, since it wasn’t yet applicable to perform the certain Mitzvos that can only be done in Israel, we were engaged primarily in the Torah, which set firmly the connection of Klal Yisroel to Hashem.
(Tiferes Shimshon)
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* According to one interpretation, ‘His’ refers to Hashem, and according to another it doesn’t.
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‘And Hashem spoke to Moshe. . . “Take a count [lit. ‘Lift the head’]’ (Bamidbar 1:1-2)
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Rashi zt”l brings that because of how precious Bnei Yisroel are to Hashem, He counts us very often, as we see in different places in the Torah.
HaRav Yerucham Levovitz zt”l gives us a little perspective on this: It is the way of a person who acquires money and loves it, to touch it, and count it, and count it again, and again. And really, what is the purpose of all these countings? The person already knows from their first tally how much money they have! But because of how much they love their money, they keep going back and counting it, because they desire it, and they are so often thinking about it.
This is the thing that Rashi teaches us here: There wouldn’t seem to be a need for this particular counting, but because of how precious we are to Hashem, and He loves us and desires in us, He counts us very often -- for we are remembered before Him always.
(Daas Torah)
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There are 70 letters in the first verse of Parshas Bamidbar. This alludes to the countings in this Parsha, for the Bnei Yisroel had come down to Egypt with only seventy Souls, and now -- of just males from 20-60 years old -- there were 603,550! (See Ramban zt”l to v. 45).
(Tal U’Matar)
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‘And Hashem spoke. . . in the second year to their going out from the land of Egypt, saying: “Take a count [lit. ‘Lift the head’]. . .’ (Bamidbar 1:1-2)
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‘Each man by his banner,* with the signs of their fathers’ house shall the Bnei Yisroel encamp’ (Bamidbar 2:2)
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Why, asks HaRav Yaakov Kaminetzky zt”l, was a full year waited from the Yetzias Mitzraim until the setting of the banners?
In truth, he answers beautifully, the banners were something that could have caused separateness, because the colors had unique insignias on them, and the banner of each of the Tribes had a different picture on it, which emphasized that each Tribe had its own distinct and separate traits and qualities.
But once there was one central, uniting, point for all of them, i.e., the Mishkan, and they were all encamping around it, then the setting of the banners would not cause any separateness, and everyone would stand at their unique charge, with no lack of unity.
It’s like a person, says Rav Yaakov: Just because one’s ears were created to hear, and the eyes to see, would you even entertain the thought that there would be disunity or strife between them?! So too, with a nation; once everyone was centered around one focal-point, then there would be no worry about any lack of unity.
And therefore, all the while that the Mishkan had not yet been erected, and thus there was no center of spirituality, the entire Jewish People was kept as one unit with one banner for everyone. But after the Mishkan was erected, then there was no worry about any harm coming from having different banners, and therefore it was only now -- a month after the setting up of the Mishkan -- that the banners were dealt with.
(Emes L’Yaakov)
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* Please note that according to a different translation, many of the times we use the word banner, it is ‘division’.
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‘To Shimon; Shelumiel son of TzuriShaddai.’ (Bamidbar 1:6)
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In the Midrash Tanchuma on Parshas Pinchas it is taught that Shelumiel was called three names; Shelumiel ben TzuriShaddai, Shaul ben HaCanaanis, and Zimri ben Salu. And what was his real name? Shelumiel ben TzuriShaddai.
These other names, explains HaRav Zalman Sorotzkin zt”l, were therefore nicknames given in accordance with his deeds (see Tanchuma Pinchas 2).
However, he brings from the Maharzu zt”l something that seems to imply that his name was really Shaul ben HaCanaanis -- that he was the namesake of the one who was among those going down to Egypt.
So then what was his name?
Explains Rav Sorotzkin; what appears is that his name was actually Shelumiel ben TzuriShaddai, and when he was a righteous person he was called by this name. But when he began to turn away from the Way of Hashem, his and his father’s names didn’t seem good to him anymore, so he changed them to names which can be interpreted to have very negative connotations. And since he changed his name, he changed to a different man, as it were, and he was caught by his Yetzer Hara and became a sinner who also causes the masses to sin, until they nicknamed him Zimri ben Salu, which alludes to his terrible sin with the daughters of Moav and Midyan (see Tanchuma ibid.).
And from this we learn, says Rav Sorotzkin zt”l; that a Jew who changes his name and his father’s name to names of non-Jews, paves the way for himself to go in their ways and is liable to sin and cause the masses to sin.
(Oznayim LaTorah)
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‘And the Tent of Meeting, the camp of the Leviim, shall travel in the midst of the camps’ (Bamidbar 2:17)
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Says the Chofetz Chaim zt”l: Since the Torah rested in the Aron (Ark), which was in the Tent of Meeting, the Tent of Meeting needed to always be ‘in the midst’ of the camps; in the middle -- no closer to one and no farther from another. Just like the Bimah is [in a lot of Shuls] in the middle of the Shul, and like the Tree of Life was ‘in the midst’ of the Gan Eden, as the Targum Onkelos translates it, ‘in the middle of the Garden.’
So too, the Torah is the ‘Tree of Life’, and everyone needs to center around it with it in the middle.
(Chofetz Chaim Al HaTorah)
This lesson is so very important to internalize: To make the Torah the centerpiece of our lives -- what everything revolves around. And as we come into the Festival of Receiving the Torah, Shavuos, we must try to re-accept the Torah b’Shleimus (with completeness), and rededicate ourselves to this amazing gift, and the Giver of it.
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Parshas Bamidbar is almost always read the Shabbos before Shavuos. And in the rare occurence that it isn’t, it still is quite close. Tosafos, in fact, in Gemara Megillah 31b say that it was arranged that Parshas Bamidbar be read before Shavuos. Tosafos there gives a reason for this, but explains HaRav Moshe Feinstein zt”l that there is really a great connection between Parshas Bamidbar and Shavuos. And that is in the following way:
Some people are lax in the study of Torah because they think that they can’t reach any kind of high level in it.
However, the counting of the Jewish People combats this feeling. For, as we know, when Hashem commands Moshe Rabbeinu to take a census of the People, the wording used literally means to lift up. שאו. This is because it uplifts everyone when they see that in the count, they are equal to a great person, in that a Gadol isn’t counted as more than one, and they aren’t counted as less than one. They both count as one. And if this is the case, then they too are able to reach a high level, just like the Gedolim!
And therefore, concludes Rav Moshe beautifully, before Shavuos, we need to read Parshas Bamidbar, the Parsha of the countings, which teaches us that in this way -- when we realize that we, too, have the capability to rise to great heights in Torah -- we are able to accept the Torah and learn it.
(Darash Moshe)
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|~Maaseh~| The two Tzaddikim, HaRav Shlomo Alkabetz zt”l and HaRav Yosef Karo zt”l spent the night of Shavuos together in Tzefas.
Rav Shlomo shared the events of that night: “The Beis Yosef and I decided to stay awake on the night of Shavuos and read passages of the Torah.” These passages are the basis of what later became the Tikkun Leil Shavuos. “After chatzos halaylah (Halachic midnight), as we reached the section of Mishnayos, a sweet voice was heard aloud from the mouth of the Beis Yosef. We fell on our faces from sheer fright.
“The voice grew ever louder until even the neighbors were able to hear it, though they were unable to understand it. The voice, having been made by the Mishnah we had learned, told us of the pain suffered by the Shechinah [in Exile], and the significant impact our learning this night had, piercing all the Heavens. It then spoke of our great zechus (merit) by staying awake this night, not wasting even a moment. Finally, the Shechinah instructed us to stand up and say ‘Baruch Shem Kivod. . .’ out loud, as is done on Yom Kippur. We wept profusely from the intensity of our experience and the pain of the Shechinah.
“The next morning, we met three Chachamim (scholars) in the Mikvah, and we related to them what had occured the previous night. They were understandably distressed, and we all resolved to gather again the following night, this time, with a Minyan. That night, because of our joy at having a Minyan, the voice of the Shechinah began speaking as soon as we started reading the set of Aseres HaDibros in Sefer Devarim. The voice praised our attainment, told us of the spiritual fire surrounding the house, and then directed us to say ‘Baruch Shem, etc.’ As the time of chatzos halaylah drew near, the Shechinah spoke again and told us that for hundreds of years no such revelations had occurred.”
(Quoted in A Journey Into Holiness)
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Gut and meaningful Shabbos and Yontiff to all!
May we all be zoche to accept the Torah b’Shleimus!
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