In the Wilderness
In the Midrash Rabbah it states, “The Torah was given in three ways—fire, water, and in the wilderness.”
Ben Ish Chai offered a parable to explain why the Torah was specifically given in the wilderness and not in a more distinguished place.
There was once a very wise man who was the son of very wealthy parents. This man was looking to marry and so he sought an appropriate wife. He went to the matchmaker who told him, “I have an amazing wife for you. The only thing is that she lives in a small village and she is the daughter of extremely poor parents.” The wise man set out to meet this possible wife and her family. He was very impressed with her good nature and brilliance. He asked her family for permission to marry her. Her family was willing but only on the condition that the new couple would hold the marriage ceremony in the bride’s village and spend the first part of their marriage living in the bride’s village. The village was small and barren and the husband himself lived in a big and wealthy city, but nevertheless out of his great desire for the marriage, the husband agreed to this condition. On the eve of the marriage, the father of the bride approached the groom and asked to speak with him privately. The father then took out a large box and showed him that it was full of beautiful and rare jewels. Indeed, the bride’s father was far wealthier than the groom and his family. The father explained, “We are a very wealthy family but I wanted to give all my wealth to my daughter and her family. It is very important to me that she marries someone who loves her for who she is and not for her money. That’s why we never told anyone of our enormous wealth.”
Explains the Ben Ish Chai, this is why Hashem gave the Torah in the wilderness. The Benei Yisrael had just departed from Egypt, a place of all the finest delicacies in the world. Before giving them the Torah, Hashem brought them to the wilderness, a place of desolation. There Hashem tested them to see if they really would accept the Torah under such difficult conditions. Once the Jewish people accepted the Torah then Hashem revealed all the treasures and delights that are associated with the Torah (Vekarata Leshabbat Oneg, Volume 3, 296).
In the Midrash Rabbah it states, “The Torah was given in three ways—fire, water, and in the wilderness. Why was the Torah given in these three ways? Just as these three things are free to everyone in the world, so too, the words of Torah are free to the entire world. As it states in Isaiah: “Let all who are thirsty go and drink water” (Isaiah 55).
In his youth, the great Rabbi Yaakov Galinsky studied in a small yeshiva in Kranik. The young Yaakov wanted to improve his Torah studies so he asked the Rosh Yeshiva what he could do in order to improve. The Rosh Yeshiva told him to travel to the Navardok yeshiva and study there as the yeshiva was known for helping people improve their piety. The Rosh Yeshiva gave him an introductory letter and told him to deliver it to a specific person who was a long-time student of Navardok and an expert in self-improvement. Reb Yaakov came to this student and gave him the letter. The student read the letter carefully and said, “So you want to improve? Well, you need to know that if you don’t work on yourself, nothing else will help.”
Reb Yaakov asked: “What should I do?”
The student responded that Reb Yaakov should go to a nearby synagogue named, “Liba Rachel.” During the day the synagogue is empty and so he told Reb Yaakov to go there and for an hour he should read a book of mussar and think about how he can improve himself.
When Reb Yaakov walked into the empty synagogue, he was surprised to hear a voice coming from the upstairs women’s section. He quietly walked upstairs and discreetly looked for the source of the voice. He was surprised to see a student there bending over a text of the Talmud and reading the text in a loud voice. He kept repeating the words of the Talmud, “Keen scholar, grab and eat, grab and drink, as the world from which we are departing is like a wedding feast, whose joy is only temporary” (Eruvin, 54a). He kept saying, “grab and eat, grab and eat,” with greater and greater intensity. When Reb Yaakov heard this he understood that his responsibility in life was to study as much Torah as possible. He quickly ran back to the Navrdok yeshiva, packed his bags, and ran back to his old yeshiva. Years later, he revealed to his students that the student in the synagogue who he heard that day was the great, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky (Vekarata Leshabbat Oneg, Volume 3, 297).
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Leviim
Background:
Parashat BaMidbar contains the details of the census conducted of all of the Israelites in the desert. It is basically a big record of the numbers of Israelites in each tribe and clan. As we see in the third chapter, the Leviim were treated differently. Their job was to serve and protect the mishkan. They didn’t get any land of their own, and instead lived among the other tribes.
There are a few different reasons given in the Torah for why the Leviim were different, and why their job was to serve Hashem. The reason that is given is that the Leviim were an exchange for every Israelite first born son, as we see in Bamidbar 3:12:
I hereby take the Levites from among the Israelites in place of all the first-born, the first issue of the womb among the Israelites: the Levites shall be Mine.
וַאֲנִ֞י הִנֵּ֧ה לָקַ֣חְתִּי אֶת־הַלְוִיִּ֗ם מִתּוֹךְ֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל תַּ֧חַת כָּל־בְּכ֛וֹר פֶּ֥טֶר רֶ֖חֶם מִבְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וְהָ֥יוּ לִ֖י הַלְוִיִּֽם׃
We know from other places in the Torah that the first born of every species, both animal and human, were supposed to be given to Hashem. However, as we see here, the Leviim took the place of first born humans, so that families could keep their children. They would do so through redeeming their child from the Leviim (which we still do today as a pidyon haben.) Many societies had the custom that a child would be dedicated to the local religious center for service. Here we see that Hashem didn’t want us to follow this system and instead to have the Leviim for religious service.
However, the next pasuk adds another reason:
For every first-born is Mine: at the time that I smote every first-born in the land of Egypt, I consecrated every first-born in Israel, man and beast, to Myself, to be Mine, the LORD’s.
כִּ֣י לִי֮ כָּל־בְּכוֹר֒ בְּיוֹם֩ הַכֹּתִ֨י כָל־בְּכ֜וֹר בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֗יִם הִקְדַּ֨שְׁתִּי לִ֤י כָל־בְּכוֹר֙ בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל מֵאָדָ֖ם עַד־בְּהֵמָ֑ה לִ֥י יִהְי֖וּ אֲנִ֥י ה':
This pasuk introduces another reason - that the Leviim represent the first borns not just to serve Hashem but because all of the first borns should have been slain by Hashem in Egypt! Therefore each first born is given to Hashem not just for service, but as a recognition that if Hashem hadn’t saved them they would have died.
Questions:
- According to the first pasuk, what should we feel when we watch the Leviim serve Hashem? What does it represent for us?
- According to the second pasuk, what should we feel when we watch the Leviim serve Hashem? What does it represent for us?
- What might be some other reasons that there is a tribe dedicated to the purpose of serving Hashem?
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In this week’s parsha, the Jews are instructed where the tribes should be situated while camping and traveling. As an aside, there’s a medrash that states Moshe complained to Hashem about prescribing where to stand because if you tell Jews where to stand, they won’t listen. Seriously. This is not the Medrash d’Mel Brooks. This is an actual medrash. Think about that. The Torah is clear that while camping, the Mishkan is in the middle of the camp with three tribes on each side (do the math). I’m trying to avoid using the word “formation” as this causes Ruth to break out in some Beyonce song. I don’t blame her - I believe it’s not a choice, but more a stimulus-response reaction happening on a molecular level without her consciously choosing to do this. Anywhooo, there’s a bit of a disagreement over their, um, configuration while traveling. The predominant view, based on Perek 2 Pasuk 17, “As they camped, so they traveled”, suggests they traveled in the same box-like pattern. An alternate view, based on Bamidbar Perek 10 Pasuk 25, which says that “Dan gathered all the camps”, suggests they traveled more in the shape of a beam, with Dan traveling in the back and picking up after the tribes who traveled in front of it (the Ron Kleinfeldt of tribes). We’ll test out these formations with the tots and see what they like about them (“OK LADIES NOW LET’S GET IN FORMATION” - Ruth). One thought is that traveling as a box shows off their mighty numbers, while traveling as a beam in single file allows the Jews to hide their numbers. May the Four(teenth) be with you!
Yoni Friedman.
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