Bamidbar | A Change of Scene

 

The transition from the book of Vayikra (Leviticus) to Bamidbar (Numbers) represents something of a change of scene.  The tempo speeds up as we are thrusted into the hustle and bustle of the Israelite camp.  It is a world of administration.  National demographic statistics are procured about the state of the nation, the number of fighting men, the twelve army divisions which consist of the twelve tribes of the nation.  There are precise coordinates for tribal encampment, the teeming masses organized in efficient units.  Everyone has their place, their station.  The Levites too are divided into three family divisions and they are delegated the delicate task of the dismantling and careful transportation of the sacred Tabernacle.

If in Leviticus, the priests and the tabernacle took centre stage, we now shift focus to a different national agenda.  The parasha opens with a listing of the national leaders, heads of the tribes.  There is an adjustment in emphasis from the religious, the ritual, commandments and laws, to a bureaucratic national administration, the organization of a nation of over two million people.  It seems appropriate for the Book of Bamidbar (Numbers) to open with a national census.

THE COUNT

The enormous project of the census dominates our parasha. But not just this parasha.  If we take the name of this book - Numbers - or in its original rabbinic form - The Book of the Census - we realize that the notion of counting and organizing the people, has spiritual dimensions over and above a mere technical count.  In Chapter 26 we read of a second national census, a repeat performance.  Some questions spring to mind.

What possible significance can a national count have in the spiritual-religious plane?  Why is counting the people a definitive feature of one of the books of the Torah?  And why the deliberate language describing in painstaking detail and precise formula, the numbers of each tribe?  What is it for?

MOBILISATION

The Rashbam (1:2) suggests a straightforward answer:

"Now the Children of Israel are about to embark on their journey to the Land of Israel.  The males above the age of twenty are of fighting age - eligible for the draft.  On the twentieth of the second month, the cloud set forth [the signal to dismantle the camp and begin the journey] and it is stated 'We are setting out for the place of which God has said I will give it to you' (Num. 10:11).  This is why God instructed them to take a count at the start of the month."

God's instruction to Moses regarding the census is dated as "the first day of the second month."  In less than three weeks they are planning to leave Mt. Sinai, where they have spent almost an entire year studying the divine law and constructing the Sanctuary.  Now they move to the next stage of the plan; the Land of Israel.  But the Land of Israel will not be presented on a silver platter.  The people will have to organize an army.  They have to conquer the land in battle.  They will have to learn how to form divisions and platoons, how to use weapons.  In addition, the camp must know how to march as a group.  It is a year since their last desert trek.  How will they organize an efficient marching order, an organized method of encampment?  How will they transport the Tabernacle, the portable Temple?  How is it dismantled, transported and set up anew in a fresh location?

This, in a nutshell, is what our parasha aims to describe.  Let us start at the beginning.

CHAPTER 1 is a national census of men between the age of 20 and 60 - "all those in Israel who are able to bear arms" (1:3).  This chapter aims to gain information as to the size of the army.  Battle divisions are defined on a tribal basis.  The data which will assist the generals in drawing up battle plans is clearly presented here.

CHAPTER 2 gives us the layout of the camp, the precise camping and marching order.  They encamp as a square, with the Tabernacle at the focal center point and the twelve tribes around it.  Each tribe has a flag to rally around.  "They march in the same formation as they encamp" (2:17).  It should all work like clockwork.

CHAPTER 3 & 4 describe the Levites: their appointment and separation from the general populace, their own census, and their role vis-a-vis the transporting of the Sanctuary.  The Levites are counted apart from the rest of the nation because they do not join the army.  They follow a different path for they are the religious representatives, the guardians of the Temple and the Torah.  Each family within the Levite clan had a specific, clearly defined task as regarded the Tabernacle and its transportation..  If everyone was to pull their weight and act in a responsible manner, the system would work perfectly.

THE CHALLENGE AND THE FAILURE

This approach explains the need for a census, but it also defines the entire orientation of the book of Numbers (Bamidbar).  This is a book about the journey to the land of Israel.  It begins the tale with an atmosphere of preparations, mobilization and a great sense of anticipation.  Everything is put in order so that the great march to the Promised land can commence.  It is interesting that the second national census in Chapter 26 also precedes the entry into the land of Israel.  As Israel are massing on the Border, they are counted once again.  Again an inventory is drawn up.

But we must realize that 39 years separate chapter 1 from chapter 26.  As much as the book of Bamidbar describes the excited preparations for the long march to Israel and the subsequent settling of the land, it also describes the failure of the first attempt, the incident of the spies and the other sins which caused the entire enterprise to collapse and ensured that Israel would remain in the wilderness for forty years.  This book begins with a description of the hopes and plans for entering Israel.  It then details the subsequent sin(s) and God's refusal to allow this group into the Promised Land.  The journey is put on hold.  We regress, wandering for a generation.  But then, forty years later, we witness once again, the preparations, the counting of the army, the supplies and training, which lead to the Children of Israel into the land of Israel under the leadership of Joshua.  This book is about the attempt to reach Israel, its failures and successes.

RASHI - GOD'S LOVE.

"Out of His love for them, God counts Israel continually.  When they departed from Egypt He counted them, and later, when they fell in [the sin of] the Golden Calf, he again counted them.  Now that he prepared to set his presence amongst them he counted them again.  On the first day of Nisan (the 1st month) the Tabernacle was set up and now, on the first day of Iyar (a month later) he counted them" (1:1).

Rashi's explanation differs dramatically from that of the Rashbam.  Rashi talks in the theological language of "God's love" for His people, Israel.  Rashi's list of the occasions on which the people were counted - the Exodus, the sin of the Golden Calf, and the inauguration of the Tabernacle - demonstrates clearly that he has a different notion of the counting than the Rashbam.  He does not share the view that the census was a means of preparation for the trek to the promised land.

So what is this process of national stocktaking?  Why does God's count of a nation express his love for that nation?

The Maharal comments on Rashi, trying to connect all the pieces.  He suggests a connection between love and counting.  Imagine, he says, a stamp collector looking through his stamps, picture an passionate jeweler examining diamonds one by one.  These experts are not simply counting.  They are noting the special features of each and every object that they hold up to the light.  They notice the unusual and unique aspects of each stamp, each diamond.  They are looking with love at the item they most enjoy, looking at the detail, the specialty of each thing.

God counts his people in a similar way.  God does not use a census to gain statistical data about the state of the nation.  God does not count in the regular human manner.  God's count is an expression of his love for the Children of Israel as he notes each person, his unique soul, his strengths and weaknesses, his incredible potential.  God does not simply count, he takes ACCOUNT.  He is examining every person under a magnifying glass, looking at the uniqueness of each and every individual.  When God counts us, he wants to bring home to every Jew that they have a role and destiny which is for them and them alone.  Every person has a role in the plan of the nation.

Why does God count the nation at historical moments of crucial importance?  The answer is quite simple.  At each of these moments, it is vital for everyone to know who they are and to realize that they are an indispensable part of the national effort.  At the Exodus, the birth of the nation, every Jew had to be reminded that they mattered, that their behavior would affect the nation.  God counts us, reminding us of the unique personality, the talents, skills and contribution that make up every person, that can be harnessed to ensure that the collective effort bears fruit.  Again, after the great sin of the Golden Calf, he counts us.  He is prompting us - what went wrong?  Examine yourselves!  Did you maybe in some small way lead to this event?  Did you fall short of who you are?  God counts us to remind us that every individual is responsible.  Every person must pull their weight if the nation is to succeed.  And this is reiterated here once again, at the time of the establishment of the Mishkan.  The count comes to remind every person of who he is, that God's presence is now amongst the people.  That demands higher standards of conduct.  Every person, through the count, realizes that God cares.

Maybe this is why the two words for the census: "SE'U" and "PAKAD" have positive connotations.  "SE'U" is to raise up, to elevate something.  This census is designed to elevate the people.  "PAKAD" denotes appointment to a mission, assignment to duty.  Here too, the very verb tells us that the count has a spiritual message.  Indeed, this process of counting serves precisely that function.  It aims to heighten the sense that every person has a part to play in the grand scheme of things.

A COUNT OF NAMES

A phrase which repeats itself over and over in our parasha is that the census was undertaken "by a count of names."  Moreover, in the counting, family ancestry was taken into account.

"Take a census of the whole Israelite community by the clans of its ancestral houses, listing the names, every male, head by head" (1:2).

The Ramban notes:

"The Holy One blessed be He instructed Moses to count them in a manner that would confer honor and greatness on each one of them individually.  Not that you should say to the head of the family: 'How many are there in your family?  How many children?,' but rather, all of them should pass before you with the honor due to them ..." (Nachmanides on 1:45).

We are accustomed to seeing anonymity as synonymous with a national survey.  Everyone is given a number.  Is there room for each personality, each individual?  In prison, a prisoner is identified by a number.  It dehumanizes a person and strips him of his dignity.  In theory, a census has the same effect.  A census makes you disappear amongst the masses.

But this is not the Jewish way.  Moses was told to count by using the name of every person.  A name gives one dignity. It defines a person.

"Quite often, a man finds himself in a crowd among strangers.  He feels lonely.  No one knows him, no one cares for him.  It is an existential experience.  He begins to doubt his ontological worth.  This leads to alienation from the crowd surrounding him.  Suddenly someone taps him on the shoulder and says, 'Aren't you Mr. so and so?  I have heard so much about you.'  An alien turned into a fellow member of an existential community.  What brought about the change?  The recognition by someone ..." (Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik - The community p.16).

A name somehow gives us value and worth.  We enjoy the sound of our name.  It relaxes us as it enhances our feeling of self-worth.  In the Torah's way of counting, we want to bring out and accentuate individual uniqueness and specialty.  A census will normally achieve just the opposite effect.  We will eclipse the individual!  How does God ensure that the census generate respect and individual worth rather than shrinking every person into a number?  Moses must meet everyone.  They must all report to him personally.  Direct contact.  He recognizes people by their name, their family, cousins and friends.  The name which is a symbol of their individualistic nature is written on the form and not a number.  Indeed, even in modern language, a "good name" is more than the name one is given at birth.  A "name" represents a reputation, an assessment of character and worth.

"A person has three names.  One is given by his parents at birth.  The other is what his acquaintances and community call him.  The third name is the name a person earns through his own effort" (Midrash Tanchuma - Vayakhel).

So we have a "count of names."  Why do we count?  To send two messages to the people.  First, they must know their self worth.  They must act to realize their potential.  But we use names rather than numbers to emphasize the unique character of every person.

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach