רפואה מן התורה
Healing from the Torah
Parashat B'midbar
Numbers 1:1-4:20
By Adam Ruditsky
A Unification Conundrum
One day, the waters created upon the earth and in the
heavens presented themselves before God, claiming they were the best of
everything created. God was taken back
by their assertion, and attempted to set the waters straight, but the waters
continued to hail their supremacy. In
response, God called upon the grains that would become the sands to confront the
waters, although the waters just bullied the grains. An angel of God encouraged the grains to
stand up to the waters, summoning the winds to fiercely swirl about in order to
gather the grains together, in the end forming the shorelines. As the grains bounded together in support of
each other, they pushed the waters back, and back, and back, until one day the
waters showed the grains of sand respect.
Parashat B’midbar, the first parsha of Numbers, is about Moses taking a census of all the tribes of Israel, who after spending two years and one month at Sinai, were ready to move on. Each tribe had its own flag and each tribe differed in number but all were considered equal, just like the sands and the seas. But it does appear that a rank of inequality existed as well. First, while all the tribes were counted, the Levites were not. Second, while the Levites were tasked with the responsibility of taking care of all aspects of the Mishkan, they were not permitted to have the honor of the Priesthood. Third, although there were 22,000 Levites amongst three families, only the family of Korach were called-out from all the other Levitical families. And finally, the redemption of the first born is only for male babies and not female, in fact, all the people counted in the census were male and not female. How can we understand this conundrum that challenges the equality of all people?
While we cannot change what was it also is not the entire story. Rashi explains that all the first born were called into God’s service but lost that right to do so with the sin of the Golden Calf. In this case, the Levites did not participate in the sin of the Golden Calf and therefore were chosen to bear this holy duty to care for the Mishkan. But later in Numbers 18:15 we are told this idea of redemption applies to both of man (אדם) and of animal (בהמה), perhaps recalling the words of Exodus 13:13 that says it was only the first born son. But it should be pointed out that while in Exodus its says, בבניך (b’va’neh’cha) “of your sons,” in Numbers 18:15 it says באדם (ba’adam) “of man.” Back in Genesis 1:26 we read that God created man (אדם) in the Divine image, both זכר ונקבה (za’char oon’n’kayvah), “male and female God created them.” Another way we can understand this is with the idea of circumcision. In Genesis 17:9-10 we read that Abraham is told to physically circumcise his son Isaac (ברית מילה, b’rit milah) whereas in Deuteronomy 10:15-16 we read that מכל העמים (micol ha’amim),”all the people” were told to ומלתם את ערלת לבבכם (o’maltem et arlat l’vavchem), “circumcise the foreskins of your heart,” or circumcision of heart. This blockage or barrier, per Rashi, upon the heart was unisex, it was reserved for all mankind (אדם) and just not for the male (זכר). So even though in Numbers we read that the Levites were redeemed from within the people to take on the role of the unworthy firstborn of their day, the words of Rabbi Elie Munk reminds us that “nevertheless, the intrinsic holiness of the firstborn, which extends even to the firstborn animal of a Jew, persists.” Sure the Levites were all male, and yes they took on a special role, but Judaism maintains continuity with the text while allowing a voice of discontinuity. Therefore, while the text tells us that first-born is indeed the first born, boy or girl, each Jew, male or female, is a member of a people who were called by God בני בכרי ישראל (b’nai v’chori Yisreal), “My firstborn Israel” (cf. Exodus 4:22). The very story of the Jewish people is that they were redeemed from slavery to play their part in the tikkun of the world just like the Levites were redeemed for the service of the Mishkan. That story is ours as well, redeemed for a purpose.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks calls Numbers “Act 4” of the Mosaic presentation of Torah. Thus, Act 1 is the establishment of the world, Acts 2 is the story of our patriarchs and matriarchs, Act 3 is the story of the Jewish people from slavery to freedom and Act 4 is about the travels of the Jewish people in freedom with the Divine in their midst. In the end, R’Sacks writes “the Torah reflects the Israelite understanding of God as the unity beneath the diversity,” recalling for us the relationship between the sands and seas. The Torah is not a systematic history book, but a book to “teach us about the human condition under God.” R’Sacks additionally reminds us; it was not until Numbers 10:33 that Israel actually left Sinai, so “what was slowing down the story?” For R’Sacks is was about “how can freedom coexist with order,” meaning that all the laws and commandments organized a post-slavery society to function in equality with a sense of order before the journey could truly begin. I suspect just as we are challenged with the rule of our leaders nationally and locally with all that confronts us at the moment, they had their own like problems with theirs; after all, people are people.
In any case, order meant diversity of purpose, not a subjugation of classes, thus the Levites had their role in the midst of the people and the people were counted in a census whereas the Levites were not. During this time we have heard it said, “we are all in this together,” and likewise together we stand upon our higher values as people, so although we are ranked by difference human worth should not be defined by it. We are not the same, socially, politically, Jewishly, economically, ethnically or by employment, but for Torah, and for the Jewish story regarding Torah, that should never matter in lieu of human dignity and honor toward others. Keep in mind that the Torah is our ideal, the goal of our higher human love and values, played out in the journey of life before us. The fact is the sea got the message, and showed respect to the sand.
Shabbat Shalom!
Parashat B’midbar, the first parsha of Numbers, is about Moses taking a census of all the tribes of Israel, who after spending two years and one month at Sinai, were ready to move on. Each tribe had its own flag and each tribe differed in number but all were considered equal, just like the sands and the seas. But it does appear that a rank of inequality existed as well. First, while all the tribes were counted, the Levites were not. Second, while the Levites were tasked with the responsibility of taking care of all aspects of the Mishkan, they were not permitted to have the honor of the Priesthood. Third, although there were 22,000 Levites amongst three families, only the family of Korach were called-out from all the other Levitical families. And finally, the redemption of the first born is only for male babies and not female, in fact, all the people counted in the census were male and not female. How can we understand this conundrum that challenges the equality of all people?
While we cannot change what was it also is not the entire story. Rashi explains that all the first born were called into God’s service but lost that right to do so with the sin of the Golden Calf. In this case, the Levites did not participate in the sin of the Golden Calf and therefore were chosen to bear this holy duty to care for the Mishkan. But later in Numbers 18:15 we are told this idea of redemption applies to both of man (אדם) and of animal (בהמה), perhaps recalling the words of Exodus 13:13 that says it was only the first born son. But it should be pointed out that while in Exodus its says, בבניך (b’va’neh’cha) “of your sons,” in Numbers 18:15 it says באדם (ba’adam) “of man.” Back in Genesis 1:26 we read that God created man (אדם) in the Divine image, both זכר ונקבה (za’char oon’n’kayvah), “male and female God created them.” Another way we can understand this is with the idea of circumcision. In Genesis 17:9-10 we read that Abraham is told to physically circumcise his son Isaac (ברית מילה, b’rit milah) whereas in Deuteronomy 10:15-16 we read that מכל העמים (micol ha’amim),”all the people” were told to ומלתם את ערלת לבבכם (o’maltem et arlat l’vavchem), “circumcise the foreskins of your heart,” or circumcision of heart. This blockage or barrier, per Rashi, upon the heart was unisex, it was reserved for all mankind (אדם) and just not for the male (זכר). So even though in Numbers we read that the Levites were redeemed from within the people to take on the role of the unworthy firstborn of their day, the words of Rabbi Elie Munk reminds us that “nevertheless, the intrinsic holiness of the firstborn, which extends even to the firstborn animal of a Jew, persists.” Sure the Levites were all male, and yes they took on a special role, but Judaism maintains continuity with the text while allowing a voice of discontinuity. Therefore, while the text tells us that first-born is indeed the first born, boy or girl, each Jew, male or female, is a member of a people who were called by God בני בכרי ישראל (b’nai v’chori Yisreal), “My firstborn Israel” (cf. Exodus 4:22). The very story of the Jewish people is that they were redeemed from slavery to play their part in the tikkun of the world just like the Levites were redeemed for the service of the Mishkan. That story is ours as well, redeemed for a purpose.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks calls Numbers “Act 4” of the Mosaic presentation of Torah. Thus, Act 1 is the establishment of the world, Acts 2 is the story of our patriarchs and matriarchs, Act 3 is the story of the Jewish people from slavery to freedom and Act 4 is about the travels of the Jewish people in freedom with the Divine in their midst. In the end, R’Sacks writes “the Torah reflects the Israelite understanding of God as the unity beneath the diversity,” recalling for us the relationship between the sands and seas. The Torah is not a systematic history book, but a book to “teach us about the human condition under God.” R’Sacks additionally reminds us; it was not until Numbers 10:33 that Israel actually left Sinai, so “what was slowing down the story?” For R’Sacks is was about “how can freedom coexist with order,” meaning that all the laws and commandments organized a post-slavery society to function in equality with a sense of order before the journey could truly begin. I suspect just as we are challenged with the rule of our leaders nationally and locally with all that confronts us at the moment, they had their own like problems with theirs; after all, people are people.
In any case, order meant diversity of purpose, not a subjugation of classes, thus the Levites had their role in the midst of the people and the people were counted in a census whereas the Levites were not. During this time we have heard it said, “we are all in this together,” and likewise together we stand upon our higher values as people, so although we are ranked by difference human worth should not be defined by it. We are not the same, socially, politically, Jewishly, economically, ethnically or by employment, but for Torah, and for the Jewish story regarding Torah, that should never matter in lieu of human dignity and honor toward others. Keep in mind that the Torah is our ideal, the goal of our higher human love and values, played out in the journey of life before us. The fact is the sea got the message, and showed respect to the sand.
Shabbat Shalom!
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