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Chomer Lidrush - Bamidbar and Shavuos Edition!
Ideas to turn your gears heading into the parsha
1) Bamidbar: The Chiddush of Counting: Why This Army Was Different
The saga of Am Yisrael in the midbar begins with Moshe being commanded to take a census. Who is counted? “All that are able to go to war” (1:3). It’s strange to speak of an army at this point, as R’ Pinchas Peli asks: “Why an army? Weren't they used to the miracles wrought by God and Moses … He who subdued their fierce enemies in Egypt, He who split the sea for them — Isn't He going to help them reach their destination as He had promised time and time again?”
He suggests that this counting matters because this army is different. This wasn't counting professional soldiers, mercenaries, or slaves forced to fight. This was everyone. Rich, poor, skilled, unskilled - if you were an able-bodied male of age, you served. Period. “"Everyone, without exception, if eligible by age, is to be conscripted. Everyone serves equally."
This was the chiddush of a Jewish army – and it’s the same question that has been relevant since the modern State of Israel, especially so now, if you’d like to go that route (you may want to connect this with the stance of Rav Tamir Granot, who joined us on our convention and discussed this issue – see his essay here, in English) – ancient armies were typically composed of either professional warriors, hired guns, or enslaved populations. Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Greece, Rome - none had universal conscription. The idea that citizenship itself carried military obligation was unheard of. This census wasn’t about counting heads; it was creating a citizen army and teaching us the yesod that freedom requires everyone to have skin in the game.
2) Bamidbar: Why Was the Torah Given in the Desert?
Why was the Torah given in the desert? Granted, this may work for Shavuos as well, but beginning the fourth sefer of the Torah – named for the desert in which it takes place – warrants this discussion as well. Here are a couple of approaches:
A) In a classic drasha, Rabbi Lamm deals with this question:
Had the Torah been given to our people while they were Egyptianized Jews, then their Egyptian habits and customs and mores would have been accepted as part and parcel of the Divine Teaching, and later generations would have not been able to distinguish between what belonged to Pharaoh and what belonged to G-d; and as a result, the Torah would not have been passed on to the generations which settled in other lands and lived amongst many widely divergent types of people and culture. What would Torah have been like if instead of the saying of Kaddish and the dedication to holiness, Jews would have insisted upon building "soul-boats" and pyramids, as the Egyptians did?
… If, for that matter, Torah were given to us in any kind of settled condition, it would have been thought to be dependent on that culture, and would have lost its force long, long ago. It is precisely for that reason that it was given Bamidbar, in the place which was Hefker LaKol, completely unclaimed, a cultural vacuum and void. It was meant to teach all succeeding generations of Jews that Torah is sufficient in and of itself, that it must never be declared the hand-maiden of other cultures, that it must never be made to kneel to local customs and habits, that it must never be approached with the irreverent and narrow minds of provincials who believe that their particular way of living is the most important in the world and its history and that Torah must be cut down to their size. The only way to teach that was to give Torah in the vast emptiness of the Sinai wilderness - so that Torah to us is eternally independent, and the essence of life in and by itself.
B) While this is arguably Rabbi Lamm at his best, it’s worth seeing Rav Soloveitchik’s words on this as well:
This casts a light upon our mysterious historical destiny. Our nation was born in the crucible of exile, bondage and suffering. We emerged as a people from the sand dunes of the Sinai Desert where we wandered forty years. Why could we not rise as a people in our own land in prosperity and abundance? The answer is simple. If our morality had to be one of kindness and Hesed, it could not be formulated for people who knew not what suffering is. Only people in exile could understand and appreciate a morality of kindness. Therefore, galut was a central experience in the life of our patriarchs and it still is a major experience in our lives. (Abraham’s Journey, p. 197.)
3) Shavuos: One Day Can Change Jewish History – And We Feel It Every Day
You have likely spoken about how just one single day can change the course of Jewish History in the context of Oct. 7th and this ongoing war. Rav Adin Steinsaltz z”l argues that Matan Torah at Har Sinai – just a single day – is the single most important event in Jewish History, even more significant than Yetzias Mitzrayim, conquest of Eretz Yisrael, or building of the Beis Hamikdash:
"The day of the Giving of the Torah is indisputably the most important date in all of Jewish history … This event is singular and without parallel in the history of any other nation, whether in recorded history or in folk tales … it is an event from which there is no turning back. The change in essence and status brought about by the Giving of the Torah is such that the Jewish People cannot back out of it even if they so desire … Ever since the Jewish People's transformation at the revelation at Sinai into 'a kingdom of priests and a holy nation,' it can no longer become something else."
It's the perfect parallel, especially for Yizkor and recognizing the impact loss can have: in our lifetime, just over 600 days ago, we experienced a day that changed the course of Jewish history; contrast that day with one 3,333 years ago – it changed us even more, and we feel the effects of that change every waking moment as the People of the Torah.
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