The Second Count - Parshas Bamidbar

Parshas Bamidbar is already we're holding Shavuos time is getting us ready for for Kabbalas Hatorah. And the parsha itself gets us ready. >> [clears throat] >> I want to start with a kasha that we've discussed in the past but with a new Mahalach. If you learn Parshas Bamidbar [clears throat] in the beginning of Parshas Bamidbar, count is a counting of Klal Yisrael and it gives um all the numbers of each Shavet. And then a short while later in the next perek after it introduces the concept of the Degalim, the flags, and the arrangement of Klal Yisrael around the Mishkan. So when it's arranging each Shavet, where they belong, it mentions the count again. Now, it seems that it wasn't two counts, it was one count, but the numbers are mentioned twice. That's how the Ramban says it. In base dalid the Ramban says Ki lo moniyata pa'am acheres, it wasn't another counting, but it's mazkir again the same numbers that just mentioned a few pesukim before. Ramban says a reason. Ramban says to tell us a miracle that from the time of the count until they traveled um about 20 days later not a single person in Klal Yisrael died. That's to tell you that great neis. >> Who was born even? >> No, the what? >> I don't know who was born. It doesn't matter if they were born. >> Yeah. And the Okay, there's a lot to talk about about the technicality of those numbers and also and also um Yeah, exactly. And but but and either way they're on buying needs of shots. Like why is that significant? What was the point of that nice? But I want to suggest today a possible reason why the count would be mentioned twice in Parshas Bamidbar. In one Parsha, the numbers of Klal Yisrael twice. And I want to learn with the a little bit with our own Nusach. But I want to learn with the the first Maimer in the Pri Tzaddik in Parshas Bamidbar from Reb Tzaddik. So Reb Tzaddik brings the Medrish. It's one of the first Medrashim in Parshas Bamidbar because Parshas Bamidbar begins discussing the Midbar. Right? Parshas Bamidbar begins Vayedaber Hashem el Moshe with two uh statements, two locations. Bamidbar Sinai be'ohel mo'ed. Very interesting. In the desert, in the Mishkan. Bamidbar Sinai be'ohel mo'ed. And the Medrish based on the fact that it mentions Bamidbar Sinai, the Medrish discusses that the Torah is given the Torah is compared um to the desert, to Mayim, to water, to Aish, to fire. And Reb Tzaddik right away says the water and the fire, that's not relevant to our Parsha. But the Midbar, that's mentioned here that um that the that the Torah was Davka given in a Midbar because if you want to acquire Torah, you have to be Kelashon Hamedrish, you have to be Meisim Atzmo KeMidbar. To make yourself like a desert. So, I want to discuss in the next few minutes what it means that we only acquire title when we make ourselves like a desert. What does it mean to make yourself like a desert? And the Sadiq asked, I found this question fascinating. You have to be a buck in measures to ask the question. I've told you since why does the measure finally picking up on the fact that the tire was given in the midbar and partial of my midbar. Why isn't this measure on the possible partial history? It says by all midbar Cena. We're going to have a straight of Stephen coming up the curve. And we're going to be excited from by all midbar Cena. That's when you should discuss may some ask my commitment. But the measure does not discuss it over there. The measure discusses it here. Why is it here? We live in a day and age that people feel very very comfortable quoting some of Kabbalah as if we really understand these things. So, I want to give a cautionary um you know, just the hakadama that Sadiq quotes the Zohar. And our close to learn the Zohar from Sadiq is because he's being our Rebbe and talking explaining the Zohar to us. Not because we think that we're people that are ready to sit and learn Zohar. But Sadiq teaches us the Zohar. We could learn it from him. And Sadiq brings the Zohar in the beginning of this part week's parsha that says very very interesting lotion. Kiva the riser mash can all he took more. Once the tire and the Mishkan were established but all could show break all the myth God Khalil >> I could just borrow wanted to count the soldiers of the Torah. How many soldiers are there for the Torah? And how many soldiers are there for the Mishkan? And so that is intrigued that when it that it mentions in the counting that I could just borrow wants to and how many soldiers are there for the Mishkan and what are those two things? So in order to understand that we have to remind ourselves of what we were Maccabi and we discussed here many times about what it means that when they were Maccabi with the Torah they were Maccabi not say to Neshama. They said not say before Neshama. They said we will do before we will hear. Which is not the logical way to to respond when someone is asked if they want the Torah they should say I will listen to it and I will do it. But instead they said we will do it and we will hear. What does that mean? And this far I am explaining that here there is a mission and office and and famously that talks about how is it possible to do before you hear it's impossible. But this passion understanding of not say before Neshama is that it's a way of saying that not say and Neshama happen at the same time. Not say and Neshama. If you say Neshama and not say you might think Neshama and then not say. But not say and Neshama the point is that when you tell me to do something let's look at the nowadays the way we are now. So if you ask me to do something so I say sure I'll do it. Does that mean I'll do it? Maybe. Does that mean I'll do it now? Maybe. Does it mean I'll have the strength for it? Maybe. Does it mean I won't be lazy? Maybe. But there's no certainty that I will that hearing and doing are automatic because we have this thing called a body and the body gets tired and lazy and distracted and full of other desires and it sometimes finds itself drifting away from the inspiration and the knowledge of what it needs to do. So that the Shulchan Aruch could say you know you know lack of my by right and we can know that has all very very well by heart and still have a hard time being in the morning comes because the NASA is not necessarily fully attached and fully engaged and fully connected to the neshama. When Israel said NASA neshama they were heading into a level in their existence that the goof the body was no longer with neshama as we've discussed several times that the Israel not done the hate of the ego they would have lived forever. They would have returned to the of Adam and as the says in the says that the poison filth from the of Adam went away. They had they reached a level literally of NASA there's no there's no block the is not inside anymore just like before Adam straight the was outside right in in the form of the the was outside of him but inside of him was complete peace both body and soul wanting to serve as the says in so to when they stood by our Sinai NASA was p'shuta k'mashma'a. Na'aseh v'Nishma come together. Na'aseh v'Nishma. And then they did the eigel. >> [clears throat] >> And they fell from that madreiga of Na'aseh v'Nishma. And there's a lashon in Chazal that Chazal say that once Klal Yisrael did the eigel, it's a Medrash Rabbah in Parshas Yisro, that Hashem told Klal Yisrael, "Shibartem Na'aseh, hizaharu b'Nishma." Okay? You You broke Na'aseh. You did the eigel. At least be careful about Nishma. Meaning, you didn't actualize. You didn't come through. You knew what to do, but then you didn't do it. Na'aseh was broken. Be careful with Nishma. Keep listening to the Torah. Keep learning Torah. That's your That's your path back. Shibartem Na'aseh, hizaharu b'Nishma. The Tzadok says, I'm going to read you a Ramban. That's a beautiful zushtel to this Tzadok. The Tzadok says this many, many, many times in many places in Chumash. That the building of the Mishkan, and ultimately the building of the Beis Hamikdash, was rebuilding Na'aseh. It was rebuilding the Na'aseh part of Avodas Hashem. In what way? Because the whole point of the Binyan HaMishkan was to fuse together the Shechinah with the world. Was to create a connection point between the ruchni and the gashmi, between the neshama and the guf, so to speak. And because of that Binyan, which the Rishonim already say that the Mishkan was built as a Kapara to atone for the cheit ha'egel, so because of that, when the Hashra'as Hashchinah exists in the Kodesh Ha'Kodashim, it creates a reality of a beautiful and complete fusion of the spiritual and physical world where the Shechinah is clear and present and and and active in this world, and that was Klal Yisrael's that was a major step forward for Klal Yisrael in returning to a world where there's no separation between the guf and the neshama. Where the guf and the neshama are fused together. We were not yet zocheh, and we should be zocheh, you know, b'meheira v'yameinu, we were not yet zocheh that this became part of the experience of each individual Yid. We weren't chazer to that madreiga, but our but it was a significant step forward that at least all of us joined together in our donations to the Mishkan. We joined together to create a place where Na'aseh v'Nishma is alive, where there's a Hashra'as Hashchinah attaching itself to a physical world. So, Ma'amad Har Sinai is our Nishma, and the Binyan Ha'Mishkan is our Na'aseh. Fascinating that the Ramban says in the Hakdamah to Parshas Bamidbar, and there's remuzim of this Ramban in several places, the Ramban says, beginning of the Ramban, okay, the beginning of the the Ramban's introduction to this third sefer of Chamisha Chumshei Torah, the Ramban says, "Achar sheb'eir Torahs Ha'Korbanos b'Sefer One this fourth safer actually. The once the Torah explained the the seder of carbonis in the third safer of the Hamisha Chumash Torah hischil atah lesader besefer hazeh the Torah begins now to arrange in this safer hamitzvois shenitzsavu beinyan oilam mayed. And then he says ukrah hazeh, okay. And then he says like this. Atah yagbil es hamishkan. Now the Torah will show the boundaries of the Mishkan. Behiyasai bamidbar kaasher higbil Har Sinai. Behiyasai Koveish Sham. Just like Har Sinai, when Koveish Sham was on Har Sinai, there was a hagbalah around Har Sinai. Now there's going to be a hagbalah around around the Mishkan. And he's really hinting to something that he says mefurash in other places that the fire that the gold of the Kodesh Hakodashim which represents aish represents the fire that burned on Har Sinai. Because that's this vert of the of Rav Tzadok that the Hashra'as Hashchinah that was lost when Klal Yisrael did the eigel is was brought back. That's why it's called the Mishkan Ha'eidos. Eidos Yisrael Shehakadosh Baruch Hu is meichel for the cheit ha'eigel. That fire came back in the form of of a Mishkan. And that's what Chazal say, that's what the Medrash say, that's what the Mishnah says in Taanis. Right? The Yom Chasanuso uviyom simchas libi. So the the Mishnah says biyom chasanuso the day of his wedding that's the day of the giving of the Torah. Biyom simchas libi, the day of his rejoicing, that's the day of the building of the base of miktash, because those two things work together. Beginning the the Torah, that's our neshama, learning the Torah, but actually infusing the physical world with the spirituality, with the ruchniyus of the Torah, that's being a base of miktash, that's the nasha. It says Rav Tzadok, now we understand what these two soldiers are. Hashem says, I want to check. I want to check, I want to look at the soldiers of the Torah and the soldiers of the Mishkan. What's the soldiers of the Torah and the soldiers of the Mishkan? It says Rav Tzadok says, soldiers of the Torah, that's our neshama, our connection to the divrei haTorah, the fact that each one of us knows that there is a connection between every the same chelkainu miTorascha, that every one of us has a chelek in Torah and connection with Torah. And the soldiers of the Mishkan, that's in response to the cheit ha'egel. [snorts] That's those those Hashem wants to know his soldiers that recognize the need for an effort to bring that Torah into them, to fuse the ruchniyus with gashmiyus, to make it a part of them. That's my so They two go together, obviously, but that's the soldiers of the Mishkan. Nasei matzmi ba'midbar. Make yourself like a desert. It's interesting that the Gemara in Eruvin on daf nun dalet, when the pasuk of be could be midbar matana, Rashi I think brings it in Chumash. I think it's a Gemara I I think it's in Bava Basra also. But in midbar matana, I think I think it's Bava Basra also. In midbar matana, the the the Midrash says the same thing that a person is only by Torah if he makes himself like a desert. But the Gemara adds a few words. The Gemara says a person is only by Torah if he makes himself into a desert that everybody walks on it. Interesting, what does that mean? So Rashi says that only he doesn't have he's not full of himself. And I think what's going on here is Mason come in bar. It's a little bit dimer to what we talked about a few weeks ago when we talked about the fact that the Torah calls an on of the Hazal call an on of flesh. I don't know if we talked about it here or upstairs. But the Torah is the the Torah calls an on of flesh. Basa There's a in the Sugya of Gaiva on the Alif inside the it says someone who's Mason at my kebasa he makes himself like flesh. Very strange term. The Gemara says that someone who's Mason at my kebasa to feel in the shmas his feel is listened to his feel is heard if he makes himself like basa. How do you know? Cuz it says Yava kol basa lehishtachavois. So you see that a person's Mason at my kebasa kebasa his feel will be nishmas. What's the word Mason at my kebasa? The word is there's no me. I'm a piece of flesh. There's no me. All of me is what I could have has given me. All of me is what's been infused into me. I have nishmas I have blue life into this piece of meat. Now I'm a person. Now I have an opinion. Now I have talents. Now I have friends. Now I have possessions. Now I have mishpacha. All of those things I have because Hakadosh Baruchu gifted me with them. Without what Hakadosh Baruchu did, what am I? I'm a piece of flesh. Meisa masma kibasa. I'm basa. Without the Vayipach b'ap of Nishmas Chaim. A desert is completely empty. It's a desolate makom. Hakol d'ashe b'ashe hefker. There's nothing there. The point is not that there's no gaiva that I think lowly of myself. We know we don't have to speak that out. We know already that that's not what God another is. The point is that Torah completely defines me. >> [snorts] >> There's nothing in my life that's not defined by Torah. Take Torah away, you're left with a midbar. There's no cities, there's no cars, there's no roads, there's no trees, there's no life, there's no water. It's just empty. Because Torah completely defines me. 613 mitzvos, 248 mitzvos as say, 365 mitzvos lo s'aseh, d'rabbanan, minhagim, new ideas, thoughts, perspectives, divrei mussar, divrei halacha. The my entire life, wherever you turn is is is is formed and shaped and molded by the words of the Torah. Everything that we do, that we think, that we that in from the moment that we're born to the moment that we leave this world is completely shaped by the Torah. That at least that's way we're supposed to live. And if you plug that if you pull that out, it's there's a midbar. So meisa masma kibasa midbar is there's nothing here. I'm taking on the Torah to create an identity and meaning and structure and purpose and inspiration and joy and all of the things that build the entire complexity of life comes from the Torah. And without that, it's a midbar. I call it a shamata. There's nothing there. It's an empty midbar. And that's the the lesson of Tzadok says of why it says the midbar Sinai, why the majors talks about making yourself by a mid like a midbar here and not in parshas Yisro. He says cuz in parshas Yisro, they didn't do the eggel yet. So, it wasn't necessary for Chazal to explain that in order to be zocheh ba'Torah, you have to go through this process, this tikkun of working on yourself, applying yourself to allow Torah to completely bring bring you to life. But once you did the eggel, and you separated nishma from na'aseh, and now you could be learning Torah and doing something else. And then the the doing is not dafka connected to the to the hearing. The nishma and the na'aseh are not dafka connected to each other. Oh, parshas ba'midbar, which is already about the mishkan, which is here to be mesakein the cheit ha'egel, now we talk about the midbar Sinai that a person needs to be meisim atzmo. A person needs to be meisim atzmo ka'midbar, and this takes effort. This takes ameilus. It takes yegia. It takes effort for a person to apply himself because it's not natural for us like it may have been after we mekabbal the Torah. It's not a natural thing. We we our bodies and everything that comes along with that have their own has its own ideas and its own desires, and its own agendas, and its own needs, and its own hurt, and its own reactions, and it's and and and to be able to take a guff and to apply it to being it's an effort to be Mason and mid but there's a lot of stuff that needs to be shoveled away to be left with a mid bar. It's an effort to say you get it's an Chateau it takes work. We have to apply ourselves to prepare ourselves for that and I think possibly that that's why the minion is repeated twice. Cuz I says I want to know my soldiers of the Torah and my soldiers of the Mishkan. So it says one minion and then when it's talking about the surrounding the Mishkan it says the soldiers again. And says something phenomenal you know there's a big discussion of what it means I wish I wish says that they showed the the book of their like are you who you say you are like prove it you know, they had a they had a a genealogy. That they showed when they when they were counted. But they said there's a beautiful beautiful bond. That describes the moment of each year being counted. And there wasn't just a like like a census like today. It says that the motion and Aaron and the would stand there and take the numbers from each aisle. And give a to each one of something is such a lotion in the that when would be Mason and I would like put their eyes on them it would bring tremendous a. It was a moment of growth this moment of being counted because being counted is one of soldiers. That's a moment. It's not just a census. This is counting his soldiers and I was just counted as one of soldiers. I'm not just anybody. I am being counted as one of Hashem's soldiers, says Reb Tzadok, unbelievable. Says Reb Tzadok, that Yisrael do mishpachot means that they were reborn. They were born again. That they had a new life, a ruach hadasha, a new ruach. They were counted after the chet ha'egel and everything. It was a lot of a lot of shverah zachah. They had a new life, a new lichtigkeit that came into them from being counted. So, that's the two countings. They were counted twice, but that's the two dimensions of the counting. The two dimensions of the counting was my connection to Torah and my being prepared to do the work to properly attach myself to the Torah. And that's something it's Last night was 40. We are uh we're heading quickly towards Mount Sinai. And I feel an urgency that we shouldn't make the mistake of merely being mekabel Torah as part of a nation that's being mekabel Torah, which is wonderful enough, but that we as individuals should have a a yantif for being mekabel the Torah. That we are accepting the Torah. And for each of us, everyone knows their own heart. Everyone knows their own life. Everyone knows where that shovel needs to go to be mekabel the matzah we come in with to clear out to clear out what's there and to allow oneself to be just open and and ready to just be mekabel the ruach of the Torah completely. So, that's the that's the message of the parashah that we learn right before Shavuot. So, we have we have the the two countings, the two mentions of the counting. We have the two kind the two elements of being a soldier of Hashem that I'm connected to learning his Torah, but I'm transforming myself in that acceptance of his Torah and na'aseh venishma. We have the element, the fact that we know that when Klal Yisrael said na'aseh venishma, there was no two things cuz it was all one. As soon as I heard it, I was it. But now we don't have that. Now we have to hear it and we have to be mechin ourselves. There's There's two elements today and we learned that that's the two parts of Yom Hasunah and Yom Simchas Torah. My acceptance of the Torah and my building the Beis Hamikdash cuz the Beis Hamikdash was the fusion of the spiritual and the physical, the bringing the Shechinah down into this world. And the zchus, maybe we could taste it a little bit. The abs- the zchus, the unbelievable opportunity, maybe this Shabbos we have that opportunity. When we read in the Torah that Moshe and Aaron counted every Jew, let's stand there and be counted. Let's stand there when we're listening to that kriah and let's say I also want to be counted. I also want to be one of Hashem's soldiers. I also want the ruach chadasha. I want to be reborn like the whole past is just was just a prelude till for today. My whole background was just a preparation for this moment of being reborn into Avodas Hashem. And in that zchus, we'll be able to face the days ahead of Kabbalas HaTorah Shlishei Yemei Rosh Chodesh Sivan, Shlishei Yemei Hagbalah, and the Torah being nitten baShabbos this year, right? Sure it was a Shabbos this year. And the Gemara says, "Hakol modim baShabbos nittna Torah." Everyone agrees that the Torah was given on Shabbos. There's a lot of dispute about what day in Sivan it was, but nobody disagrees that it was Shabbos. And this year, we accept the Tyran Javis. At least we do. We have this first being a good soul arts except the Tyran Javis. The Bene Ares Israel have to stand on our shoulders. And then it's going to be Israel God. For them it's going to be unusual to be celebrating two days in a row. But for us this is Javis and Tyran I could just borrow should give us this kayak. To be able to each of us in our own way to be Mason at my mid burn to clear ourselves out so we could be completely defined by our devotion to our chance Tyran. I should kayak.