As we’ve been mentioning, we read Parshat Bechukotai two weeks before Shavuot, and it works out that we read Parashat Bamidbar the week before Shavuot. Obviously, there’s a lesson for us in this as well.
One reason is that Parashat Bamidbar starts by saying where (in the desert) and when Matan Torah occurred- including the date, and time. This is like a ketuba, that has to have a date and a place, so it’s like G-d is, so to say, writing a ketuba with the Jewish people in Bamidbar, and reigniting the marriage of G-d and the Jewish people.
In that ketuba, every Jew is counted. Bamidbar is called Sefer Hapekudim- The book of Countings. It says that the counting shows the importance of every individual. The Ramban says every person became uplifted as they were counted, as the pasuk says, we don’t count them, their heads get lifted up- because being counted was an uplifting experience. Each person met Moshe and Aharon, each received a beracha, and felt important. The term used to describe this count is למספר שמות -
“To the number of their names”
A number indicates a lack of importance. The Nazis put numbers on their Jewish prisoners, as if they had no identity. There’s a term, “You’re only a number.” A number has no identity. But the name describes and captures the personality of the person. Every name is sent by G-d, for each individual. The person’s parents get inspired by G-d, to give that name. Jewish people are names, not numbers. That’s the message for us, before we go to Kabbalat HaTorah on Shavuot. No person should feel that the Torah is not for them, or that they are too small. Every individual is counted, every individual has importance, and every individual has a mission. The Chiddushe HaRim brings down the concept that
דבר שבמניין אינו בטל אפילו באלף.
Something that you count is not anulled, even in a 1,000.
In the laws of Kashrut, there’s a concept that sometimes something is batel/annulled. For example, if a little milk falls into a pot of meat, in certain circumstances, the milk is batel/anulled.
But if something important, or something that is counted, falls into a mixture, it does not become annulled. Important things are counted. It’s brought down that as we say the 11 spices of the ketoret, we are supposed to count them on our fingers, to show their importance. Throughout our tefila, there are certain things that are counted, which gives them importance.
So too, here in the Parasha, counting every Jewish person ensures that no Jewish person can ever be annulled or lost. Each of us has an identity, an importance. That’s the message: That every Jew was sent here on a specific mission. Only he can fulfill his mission. He’s not just another Jew.
It says the word ישראל/Yisrael is an acronym for
יש there are
ששים sixty
רבו 10,000s
אותיות letters
לתורה in the Torah
This means there are 600,000 letters in the Torah, that correspond to the 600,000 main souls of the Jewish people that got out of Mitzrayim.
Every Jew is, in a sense, “plugged in” to a letter of the Torah. And just like a sefer Torah that’s missing a letter is disqualified, the Jewish nation that is missing one person is disqualified.
A question is asked- if you count the letters of the Torah, there are only 300,00+letters. Where are the missing letters?
One answer given is there are 600,000 spaces of letters, and between the letters are also spaces. Not every Jew is actually a letter. Some Jews are the spaces between two letters. For a sefer Torah to be kosher, it has to be surrounded by empty space. So even the Jew that looks like he might not be so important, like the filler or the empty space, without him, the Sefer Torah is disqualified. Regardless of how important a Jew seems; we are all necessary in the larger picture. That’s the feeling we need to have, as we prepare for Shavuot. “I am also being mekabel Torah. I am one of those recipients of the Torah.”
Every year, we reaccept the Torah. Everything in history repeats itself; it’s not just a commemoration. We have to actually recommit ourselves to accept the Torah, and to learn Torah. This can only happen if we realize that we are all necessary and needed. People don’t want to to do things if they’re unnecessary. People don’t like to put forth effort if it’s not going to make a difference. So we have to tell ourselves, before Matan Torah, that we do make a difference.
The Jewish people are compared to the stars. Every star may seem small from here, but up close, each star is very significant and very important.
These are the feelings we should have on Parashat Bamidbar, as we get ready for Matan Torah. We have to realize the importance of each of us, and that our individual acceptance of the Torah is necessary.
Have a Shabbat Shalom