Rabbi Binyamin Yuhanan Mystical Insights Into Parashat Bamidbar 2

cannot withhold yourself from doing the job the job you have to do but finishing it is not your uh requirement God will finish it for us we just have to do whatever we can now as we mentioned the Torah tells us count each Jew according to his family family according to his father's house and there's one more word that is used according to their armies the word SAA means Army in Hebrew but it doesn't only mean a military army to fight rather it means any group of people that are united by a common goal that's called an army this is what ra um how he defines this word and therefore when when when it says count every man between 20 and 60 everyone who goes into the army it doesn't mean that they're all soldiers in fact I can't recall any time when all 600,000 men had to go to fight in fact the Jewish people always sent a select number of soldiers to fight we didn't fight with masses we didn't fight with numbers we fought realizing that Hashem is fighting our Wars that Hashem is guiding us and therefore we don't win by numbers by physical might so these 600,000 men were not all conscripted soldiers so when it says everyone who goes into the army among the Jewish people doesn't mean military army rather it means everyone who goes out to do communal service among the Jewish people sa the Army means are you involved in a group with the rest of your community do you participate in something where you and a few of your friends have a common goal for the benefit of the Jewish people and if not yet you should think of it and sign up for something because otherwise a Jew is not considered part of the Jewish people unless he's unless he is part of a group and he helps to promote the benefit of his community after counting all the tribes by their personal number and together all the the the 12 tribes as one number 63,000 um and some Jews Hashem tells mosha now divide the Jewish people into camps the way they settled in in in every location and the way they traveled and the way it it was structured in the center was the um mishan the Tabernacle around the Tabernacle on three sides were the three families of the Levites levim on the fourth side was Aaron with his two sons and their families and Moshe and then around them were the 12 tribes each Direction had three tribes the East was the um the camp of Yehuda which had three tribes Yehuda plus two more tribes the north the west and the South each side had a leader and two additional tribes each side had their own flag for the the the entire group of three plus each Camp each tribe had their own flag and when they traveled they traveled in this formation as well now some um rabbis say in the talmud that they traveled in exactly same square as they encamped some rabbis in the talmas say that they traveled in the same um sequence for example the East the tribe of Yehuda was first then came the next then came the the Tabernacle and the Tabernacle was in the middle carried by the Levites and then the other two camps so uh one opinion in talmud is that the whole Camp traveled as a 12 kilometer huge traveling Camp because the the Jewish Camp took 12 square kilometers and another opinion in the talmud says that no each um Camp travel together as a group but they separated into um the the the camp of Yehuda the camp of ruen the camp of ephra Camp of of of God with the temple the the Tabernacle in the middle they traveled like a beam be as it may according to one of these opinions but when when they encamped it was like a big Square 12 kilm by 12 kilm and what significant about it is that on one side on the east side was Yehuda with the two tribes next to him and on the other side was Ephraim with the two tribes next to him now they were on opposite sides of the Tabernacle what is significant about it we know that Yehuda and the tribes of ysf ephra and Mas were always opposing each other physically and spiritually they were like competitors Yehuda was the leader of the children of Leia and ysf with Ephraim as his leader was the the the head of the uh tribes that came from Rael and just like the the wives Rael and Leia had U competition between them who is more beloved who is going to have more children so too the tribes of Yehuda and ysf Ephraim specifically had this competition who is going to be the leader of the Jewish people and at times ysep was the leader like we know in Egypt or at other times in Jewish history and sometimes it was Yehuda who was the leader when we say YF it also includes the tribe of bamin so we have EP and Bam for example the first king was sha from the tribe of bamin but it belongs also to the camp of ysep from ra morai who was the leader of the Jewish people in um Persia he was also from the tribe of Benyamin but again he belongs to the tribe of of the the camp of ysf we we know that for majority of the Jewish history the leaders were from the tribe of Yehuda and that means that Yehuda was always ahead y ysf was counteracting Yehuda the the purpose of YF was to be there so that y so that Yehuda does his job properly and if Yehuda is not doing his job properly YF has to take over YF has to become the leader and that's what we see when Yehuda did not defend YF he was weak and he made a mistake and he allowed for the sale of ysf it says Yehuda was lowered in his stature by the brothers so who became the leader YF became the leader ysf became the leader for the next 80 years in Egypt similarly when schlomo's schlomo schlomo was the king schlomo is from the tribe of Yehuda and his son was the king someone from the tribe of Ephraim came and they protested about what uh schlom and his son RAV were doing and he publicly criticized him and Hashem said to this man from his name wasam benad from The Tribe ofhim Hashem said to him because you defended the honor of God and you protested against what schom and his son RAV were doing you did your job properly you pointed out how schomo and his son are not doing what they're supposed to as Jewish Kings therefore I will give you the kingship temporary YF is not allowed to be a permanent King YF is only allowed to be a temporary King at the time when Yehuda is not doing his job but when YF teaches Yehuda the lesson then he has to give over the reain to Yehuda but yav didn't do it yav enjoyed the power so much that he said um I want to remain the king over the 10 tribes forever and therefore he made rules that the 10 tribes are no longer allowed to go to the kingdom of Yehuda he put border patrol and he build an imaginary wall like that dividing East and West Berlin they were part of the same Nation Jewish people but they became into two Nations the southern Kingdom of Yehuda and the northern Kingdom of Isel in the northern kingdom there were 10 tribes led by epav and in the South there was um the kingdom of Yehuda with Benyamin and the Levites and some Shimon led by Yehuda andam was supposed to give over the power back but he didn't and he paid dearly for it the the Jewish people in the north because they were cut off from the the spiritual center of the Jewish people in yeram they started doing AAR idol worship and eventually they were exiled and lost these are the the 10 lost tribes now this is what the Torah teaches us that Yehuda and ysf had to be across from each other with the Torah and the Tabernacle in the middle and it's like a seaw the Tabernacle is the center and they have to balance each other that no side should take too much control and if they do the other side should balance them out now ra comments that after counting all the Jewish people Hashem told mosha count the Levites the Levites were separated because they didn't worship the golden calf as such they were more devoted to Hashem and because of that Hashem said you will be the ones who will protect the Torah the Torah was in the Tabernacle in the center the Levites formed a buffer zone so that Torah should not be abused and misused and misinterpreted Moshe who was levite himself and the kohanim who were part of the tribe of Levi they were supposed to be the spiritual leaders and the teachers of the Jewish people now how do you become a spiritual leader of the Jewish people by being honest and devoted to the Torah and to Hashem you don't need to make rallies win voting bribe people none of that all you need to do is between you and God be committed to the truth and Hashem will appoint you as the leader this is how Jewish leaders were always chosen by God himself whether it is um the king the Jewish King whether it is the prophet or even the kohen during the first temple and this is how uh the the leaders of our generation are appointed unlike other faiths where um you have to go through the ranks for example I don't know the the all the ranks you have to be a a priest a minister a whatever it's called a bishop a cardinal a pope and you are chosen by other people to go higher by Jewish people it's not like that we don't have a hierarchy system we don't have a cast system any Jew by his Devotion to God and the Torah and the truth he becomes elevated and the community recognizes him our leaders are are not voted in they're not appointed but rather they become great on their own and everyone automatically recognizes them people see their Holiness their greatness people start asking them question questions advice ask them for blessings they see that their advice is wise they see that their blessings work they see that their service to God is pure and they develop uh honor and Trust toward their leader and it is often surprising and and uh I had non-jews and um unaffiliated Jews asking me who is the chief Rabbi of the Jewish people and I said we don't have a chief but how is it possible there is the pope there is the whoever is the Ayatollah there is the chief who is the chief Jew so we don't have a chief nobody appoints a chief what we have is someone that people respect and they voluntarily show honor to this person and they voluntarily submit to their advice they go in and say Rabbi what should I do Rabbi what do you advise and when the rabbi tells them with the full heart they go and accept and do it what makes him better than anyone else there's no explanation you can have two people studying two people praying two people doing mitv one becomes great and one becomes second grade why only God knows why but the the entire Community feels it they great and they are our leaders not because they have a title not because they have official government position not because we are giving them donations in fact most rabbis work for free anybody can come to them for example my own rabbis I have a few rabbis I don't have to pay them it's it's not expected not asked for and I don't pay them and I have a relationship with them over years I ask them advice I ask them for uh path in life I asked them Hala I can call them I can meet them I'm inspired by them they're not getting rich it's not a pyramid where those on top like in a church or in any cult whoever is on top gets all the money and gold and power and the lower you are the less Rich You Are by Jewish people it's the opposite whoever is on top usually the less Rich he is because he's not asking for donations he's not asking for payment he's not asking for a bribe he is doing it with his open heart so when you know that I am here to serve God and that's what the Levites um proclaimed Moshe said meem Eli who is for God come to me and it says all the Levites came to Moshe so by proclaiming I am for God you become the leader because if a person says I'm in it for money I'm in it for honor I'm in it for power for respect you're not going to become a leader people will feel that you're not for real how can you become a leader by forgetting about payments by forgetting about honor just doing for the sake of God for the sake of the Jewish people being available and doing whatever it takes and then people recognize it again nobody forced Levites to take this job upon themselves mosha called out who wants to be for God and they volunteered nobody appointed them not no human being God chose them because of their behavior and again this is the message for us if we want to become great if we want to fulfill our potential of what God implanted in us and what God sees in us even if we ourselves don't see it Hashem sees inside of us and he sees our soul to bring out the potential we have to open our heart not to constrict it not to say give me where's my money where is my honor do things for me no I open my heart and I say Hashem I'm here for you what is required of me to do and I will do it I am ready willing and able through this we are going to become not only Levites we are even going to become like it says Hashem says you will be to me the entire Jewish people you can become for me the kingdom of priests and a holy nation usually you can only have one King by the Jewish people each one is a king it says it's a kingdom of priests kingdom of cohens every Jew can become a Cohen how do you become a Coen we learn from the tribe of Levi whenever the call goes out who is for Hashem we volunteer and say I am for Hashem who can do this for the community who can help this individual who can give off their time and money and strength and we say I am there anything that needs to be done God gave me the power and God will give me more power and strength to do everything necessary to do my mission to help the Jewish people and fulfill the Torah and one more last thing and we'll finish with this when listing the CH children of Aaron this paraa tells us why his two children died nadav AIU died when they brought a Strange Fire they were kohanim they were from the Levites and they were surely devoted to God why did they die because they offered a Strange Fire which means foreign fire the fire which represents our initiative our enthusiasm we have to be careful not to add anything extraneous on our own because that is already a bias that is already an ulterior motive if Hashem asks us to do something we do it if we say let me do more that is already dangerous I might be adding something if I want to do something extra I have to first ask permission from a higher authority which you usually exists for each one of us Rabbi my mentor should I do it or not and they might tell us yes in this case you should do it and then it is not extra then it is what's expected of us or they might say no don't do it it's too much it's not for you not the time and then we're not allowed to do it although they were great although they were holy although they were Levites and kohanim they were still within the system they they still had to be careful and not add anything extra as rabah says nadav who met their death because of they they brought their own ideas into the Priestly service however what does it mean serving God service is symbolic of obedience I serve you means I am obedient to you which means I'm listening to you and whatever you tell me I do if I do what I want that's not service it has to be submission to the will of God putting aside our own ideas however lofty they may seem to us this will of God is something that came to us directly from God himself through the giving of the Torah and ra says that this is the meaning of when Hashem sent Moshe to parro and he said tell parro let let my people go