The commandment of counting the omer, which we observe during this period of the year, is a peculiar one, and puzzling in its triviality. The required action consists of a technical, apparently meaningless utterance of the ordinal number of the day. Why does the Torah require such a technical act, and what significance can we attach to it?
Rambam comments (Taanit 1:1) as follows on the commandment concerning the trumpets as set forth in this week's parasha: It is a positive commandment from the Torah to cry out and to sound the trumpets for any calamity that befalls the community, as it is written...
The incense (ketoret) appears in our parasha in two contexts. First, following the complaint of Korach and his company, Moshe sets up a test; further on in the story, when God is about to destroy the nation, it is Aharon's incense that stops the plague.
Much debate has surrounded the question of what exactly the sin of Moshe and Aharon at Mei Meriva is. The scope of this shiur does not allow for a comprehensive review of all of the various opinions (the Abravanel counts no less than eleven of them!). Instead, let us try to define the parameters of the exegetical problem by noting the different types of solutions and evaluating them.
The well-known opinion of the Ramban states that the mussaf (additional) sacrifices, which are listed in our parasha, were not offered in the desert; they were instituted only at the time when Bnei Yisrael entered the land. In this shiur we shall examine this view...
