Numbers 1:1-4:20 | 1 Samuel 20:18-42 | Luke 21:5-24

This week's edition of The Set Table contains:

Questions and Commentary on Shabbat Bemidbar
Chayyei Yeshua - A Devotional Commentary on the Besora Reading
Looking Ahead

Questions & Commentary on Parashat Bemidbar

1. What is significance of the count by name of the warriors of Israel at the beginning of this week's parasha? 

Seth Haim Ben-Haim

This week's parasha speaks of the order of life in the Wilderness. There was an order for how the people of Israel would live, travel, and go to war during this time of moving through the Desert.

We have a special Haftara for this week as it is the day before Rosh Chodesh. Here, we read of the relationship of Jonathan and David and the tragic relationship with Saul.  These were all mighty men of Israel, which is the theme of the beginning of the book of Numbers. We are introduced to the leaders of the tribes, men of courage called the heads of the household of their tribe.

While the mighty men of Israel are counted from the age of 20 when they can go to war, the sons of Levi are counted from the age of one month. The LORD seems to give an intrinsic value to each male Levite in relation to the rest of the people of Israel. In Numbers 3:12 we are told that the number of the Levites represent a replacement for the firstborn from among the rest of Israel. Why do the Levites need to replace and redeem the place of the firstborn? The Torah guides us to understand that the firstborn owe their life to the LORD and should serve him all their days as the first fruits of the womb that belong to the LORD. In the LORD's original plan the firstborn were to serve as before him. After the Golden calf only the Levites are to serve the LORD as representatives of the people. They will redeem their brothers from the other tribes, thus releasing the warriors of Israel to go and fight for the people.

The Torah here elaborates on the way in which the tribes would be positioned around the Mishkan. The Levites, who did not go to war, encamped closest to the Mishkan. They are protected by the tribes on all sides with their respective soldier forces. The largest army belongs to the tribe that will ultimately be the civil leader of the people -Yehuda. Yehuda's forces are immediately to the East of the Mishkan facing the entrance. We are given here a picture of our Mashiach from the valiant tribe of Yehuda who is returning as Ben David Melech Shomer Yisrael - The son of David, the King Protector of Israel. Our Mashiach has also carried out the role of the Levites and particularly from among them the role of the High Priest by redeeming the firstborn of Israel and beyond that redeeming all of the People. King David was prevented from building the Miqdash "Temple" and serving the LORD in this way. His descendant Yeshua is both the Mighty Warrior and the Priest Redeemer.

Bemidbar emphasizes the humility and dependency of the people in their time in the desert. Life is so fragile in this difficult environment, but the LORD preserves the people from harm. The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, said that the Desert speaks of the need of the person serving the LORD to rise to a greater commitment to Torah. The desert removes the distractions and makes everything much clearer. In addition to the natural difficulties of the desert, God also prepares the people for war, thus requiring an even greater commitment to the LORD.

In Numbers 1:2, at the command to do a census of the people, we see the words s'eu et rosh, literally lift up the heads of the assembly of the people. Why do we receive the order to lift up the heads of those counted? This is a picture of the value that the LORD puts on the individual. The Ramban (Nachmanides; the 13^th century Spanish Rabbi) says also that if the people are worthy before the LORD, he will lift them up. Later in the verse it says that the count is to be according to the shemot - names of the individual, which again speaks of the value of the individual in the corporate make up of the people. It is not merely a matter of statistics.

2. Although this week's Torah portion deals with many large numbers, is there a message for each individual? 

Joshua Brumbach

This week's Torah portion, Bemidbar (meaning, ‘in the desert'), begins the book of Numbers.  The book is called Numbers in English after the census taken at the beginning of the parasha. The act of counting individuals seems quite trivial and without meaning. In addition, the census seems to appear out of nowhere. What is the purpose of the census?   

The Hebrew of the text provides an answer. The literal translation of the phrase, "take a census" se'u et rosh is "lift up the head." According to Chassidic thought, the purpose of the census was to reach out to the core of the Jewish soul. When each person is counted, everyone is equal. No one is counted twice, and nobody is skipped. The famous commentator Rashi adds that because the Jewish people are precious to him, "he counts them all the time." The census was meant to even the playing field and show equality and the value of every single individual. Each person has a purpose. 

This concept is emphasized even further in the parasha. Detailed instructions are given as to the order of the camps and the specific roles of the cohanim within the Tabernacle. Great care is taken to emphasize that not everyone can do a particular job.  The Levite cannot do the job of the Cohen and vice versa and a general Israelite cannot do either of their jobs. Yet, the entire Tabernacle cannot function without each person working together to perform his or her individual role. When each person accomplishes his or her own assigned tasks, the entire puzzle is brought together.   

You and I may not be a Cohen or even a Levite.  But we do have a unique role to play.  The Torah tells us that each one of us is created betzelem Elohim "in the image of God" (Genesis 1:27). We are partners with God in bringing redemption into the world. We are called to infuse holiness into the world around us. A Jewish understanding of holiness requires action. Just as Yeshua taught, "May your kingdom come, may your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10). 

According to the great Jewish thinker, Abraham Joshua Heschel, "The question of religion is what we do with the presence of God: how to think, how to feel, how to act; how to live in a way compatible with our being created in the image of God." 

Luke 21:5-24

Dima Birman

In this passage, Yeshua speaks of the end times and the signs that herald them. So many of these we can relate to wars, revolutions, earthquakes, epidemics, 9/11, Tsunami, Katrina, Swine Flu, etc.  Without a doubt we are living in the end times. But what about the generations that came before us and read the same passage? How did apply to them as well as us.   

Yeshua offers a hint shortly after our passage in Luke 21:32 stating, "this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place." Clearly, Yeshua spoke to his contemporaries. It is also evident in the Apostolic Writings that the early disciples eagerly awaited the end times, thinking it would come in their time. From this we can derive that every generation should live as if their generation is the last. Because of this, Scripture will always be alive for whoever reads it and applies it to his or her life. 

What did Yeshua mean, however, when he said "this generation?"  Throughout the Scriptures the concept of a generation carries with it an underlying common characteristic dor hachamas "the generation of the violence that led to the Flood," dor happelaga "the generation of the Tower of Babel," dor hadda‘at "generation of knowledge from receiving the Torah in the desert," etc.  Thus each generation has a characteristic that distinguishes it from another   

What was the common element of the generation that saw and heard the Messiah when he first appeared? It was the generation of the first visitation and outpouring of the Ruach Haqqodesh. Thus Yeshua created a new generation of those who "received him and believed in his name he gave the power to become children of God." (John 1:12).   

Though we live today, in a seemingly different generation, we can choose to belong to this generation, the generation of the Ruach Haqqodesh. What is even more exciting is that we can live in a way that characterized first disciples of Yeshua, observing his Torah and commandments in a way that was not practiced for the millennia so that our end might be just like our beginning. By embracing the way of the early disciples when their love for each other was absolute, their commitment unwavering, their faith unshakable we live as a generation that lives in anticipation of the return of our Lord.

NEXT WEEK'S READINGS - PARASHAT SHAVUOT

Deuteronomy 15:19-16:17
Numbers 28:26-31
Habakkuk 3:1-19
Acts 2:1-21