Category: Teachings on Bamidbar ( Numbers)

Shlach June 11, 2009

Israel is a place that is difficult to describe. It depends on the eyes of one’s mind: if they are open or closed. The portrayal that the spies gave was not based on figments of their imaginations, but visualization based on the tunnel vision these spiritual people had when they beheld a seemingly physical land. They were afraid of its physicality. They gaped at the giants (who chazal tell us had no shadows), beheld the disproportional huge fruits, and wondered at the funeral processions that went on endlessly. Spectating the strong people that dwelled there, they perceived the carnal nature of their existence and shuddered thinking that something was certainly wrong.

The spies were the chiefs of the tribes of Israel. Their commentary, through the mouth of supremacy, is what shaped the subjective opinions of all of Am Yisrael. These leaders preferred to remain in the desert, the portraiture of spiritualism, and learn Torah. They were later held accountable for their complaint. “Why has the Lord brought us to this Land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should be prey? Would it not be better to return to Mitzrayim?” Their prejudice was a class prejudice that placed them above the glass ceiling looking down with a bird’s eye view, which in fact was a worm’s eye view.

Not knowing that “Na-aseh Ve’nishma”- we will do and we will listen, applies equally to the goal of self sacrifice, for the ultimate purpose of Hashem’s will, that the torah was a blueprint for the intended life in the Land of Israel. Instead of the children entering the land, knowing it, loving it, tilling it’s soil, building homes, and sanctifying it- the spies refused to actualize G-d’s name by letting them in. They became terrified at the very thought of leaving the manna, the clouds of glory, the pillar of fire, the miracles. They had difficulty leaving this comfort, where they nursed spirituality all day long. An important Torah brought down by Harav Chaim Hacohen (Hachalban) focuses on the complaint about the worry for the children’s safety and welfare. The image we see of a young child eating is one of him crumbling most of his food while only a little enters his mouth and is digested. The spies feared that the new generation of children would not have the liberty to eat “spiritual food” all day, but rather be occupied with the meddlesome business of task after task, crumbling their torah time away.

Only, the Land of Israel is not like any other land in the world. It is so alive that even it’s inanimate features look you in the face and tell you a story. The intuition you feel there is so great that if you are afraid of it, it can wear a shroud. It can look like any beach and bar tourist attraction. It can have nastiness. It can seem indifferent to the sacrilegious acts against it. That is the test. On closer inspection, it is the place Hashem chose to reveal judgment in mercy, the accused- innocent. To turn a blind eye to the hidden reality of the Land of Israel is to sin the sin of the spies.

The job of the child is to preempt, to construct for the next generations to follow. Ephraim were the first to leave Egypt. Maybe that’s why the picture on their banner is one of a child. May the parents of Jewish children all over the world let their children do the holy job of plowing the fields of the Land, the Land that all of humanity gleans the light of Hashem and His HOLY torah. May we see continued growth and many many more children thriving on the ancient hills and valleys of the Land that Hashem promised before time to the Jewish people.

Shabbat Shalom, Leah Goldsmith

Parshat Pinchas July 18, 2008 In the late 1800’s an officer in the British army and an avid researcher of biblical sites, by the name of Charles Wilson published an important book called ” The Illustrated Land of Israel” including pictures of the famous “Wilson Arch” discovered by Wilson adjacent to the Western Wall in Jerusalem. In this book in section2 page 4 there is documentation, including a series of pictures drawn by Wilson of the village of Awarta, just southeast of the city of Shechem- or what the Jewish people have called from time immemorial Givat (the hill) Pinchas. In the book, he writes about the mossy stoney gravesites of the High Priests Elazar and Itamar (the sons of Aharon),and the shade of the huge trees that covered the structure of the gravesite of Pinchas, the star of this week’s parsha. This is the last remaining picture we have of Kever Pinchas for in 1955 the local arab mosque was transformed into something larger, and its construction eradicated the sacred landmark of Pinchas. The last passuk of the book of Joshua brings us to this site:”And Elazar the son of Aharon died and they buried him in the hill of Pinchas his son, which was given him in Mount Ephraim” (Joshua 24/33) Wilson was not the first to investigate Givat Pinchas. Many dark age religious figures, Christian and Jewish visited the site. Josephus writes about Givat Pinchas calling it GABATHA (for Giva-hill). In 1213 the Muslim geographer Shiaab Adin Yakut describes Awarta (the arab name for the site) as the resting place of Itamar, Elazar, Pinchas and the 70 elders.. Nachmanidis, the great torah scholar moved to Eretz Yisrael in 1267. One of his students came to Israel to visit him and wrote a journal in 1280 which has been preserved in the library of Leningrad. He speaks about his visit to the Shomron, his meeting with the Samaritans, the tomb of Joseph, and traveling southeast to the resting places of Itamar, Elazar and Pinchas. He also gives a detailed account of the catacomb graves of the 70 elders. Rabbi Yitzchak ben Alpra from Malaga Spain came in 1441 and wrote a detailed account of Givat Pinchas. “…and from there we went to Awarta, and there Elazar the High Priest- a huge monument built on his site. One day we discovered a huge museleum built bigger than 100 ama- the resting place of Pinchas and Avishua his son.This edifice leans unto the mosque. Not far from there, Itamar. The place is close to the city of Shechem. Skipping over to 1621, the holy Shlah Hakadosh in his book “the 2 tablets” writes about the week of parshat Toldot in which he visits Yosef Hatzaddik in Shechem, Yehoshua Bin Nun in Kfil Charess (Timnat Serach) and Givat Pinchas- all in the Land of Ephraim. The list is endless including Rabbi Smuel Grunim Katz that came to live in Pekiin in 1778. He writes excitedly about visiting Givat Pinchas.In 1839 Moshe Montifiore and his wife Yehudit made many excursions to the Land of Israel. Yehudit writes in her memoirs:”…We left the city of Shechem and reached the environs of Awarta and began to visit the gravesites of the tzaddikim. The first, Pinchas. There were many insciptions in the Kuti language there, as well as Arabic and hebrew. Our guide translated all of these to us. There are ancient huge trees there and many caves…” At the conclusion of the 6 day war, the chief Rabbinate of the Israeli army, who were responsible for holy sites liberated in the war, arrived at Givat Pinchas (Awarta).They cleaned up refuse dumped there and rehabilitated the holy sites. Extensive archeological research was done on the site, much of which information taken in this article is from their archives. Since 1967, over 60,000 people visited Givat Pinchas until the Oslo accords ended the visits and relinquished it to the hostile local Arabs who desecrate the graves and pour garbage there. The ministry of religious affairs occasionally enter Awarta to clean up and paint the tombs, usually prior to the once a year permit to enter on the first day of Av, the yartzeit of Aharon the High Priest. From my perspective, many jewish people have returned to live in the Land of Ephraim. The community of Itamar faces (hill paralleling hill) the old large stones that serve as monuments to the true owners of the Land. The descendents of Itamar, Elazar and Pinchas’s lineage have returned and are here to stay. · much information for this article was taken from the archives (hebrew) · Agudat Shechem Echad- 2003 –Yigal Amitai Shabbat Shalom- Leah Goldsmith

Parshat Balak July 11, 2008

King Balak forms a union with the neighboring nations in order to attack Am Yisrael. Much publicity has been given to the great and mighty nation that brought about the fall of the Egyptian empire. The pact made between Midyan and Moav in fact was not coming out of a goodwill aspiration for complete world harmony. Actually, they came together to challenge Am Yisrael and challenge the will of Hashem’s kingship in the world (much like building the tower of Babel). Little do they realize though that they are subservient to Israel’s destiny.

Balak seeks to use Bilam, the soothsayer, in cursing Am Yisrael and bringing about it’s demise. ALL of these plans however boomeranged and Bilam became the agent of assistance to Am Yisrael. His curses became blessings. When we first meet Bilam we see that his heart is sealed, even though he knew Hashem. When his she-ass spoke to him he persisted in his obstinate attitude that maybe he would prevail over Hashem! What Bilam didn’t know was that Hashem’s love for Am Yisrael is not dependent on any circumstance. (Luckily for Am Yisrael because even before the end of this parsha they are already involved in the Ba’al Peor drama!)

Parshat Balak, more than any other parsha in the entire Torah intimates the meaning of redemption, the suggestion of what will happen in the days of Mashiach when the nations of the world will try to come together against Israel, will try to curse it- but to no avail. We wait for the cue and almost see its prompt coming. If we can properly internalize what Bilam said even earlier, this reinforces our need for the Land of Yosef.- “Balak has brought me me’harerey Kedem”. Rabbi Hillel Lieberman brings down on this passuk – “Harerey Kedem – umiMeged Givot Olam “- Dueteronomy 33-15- In the heart of the Land of Yosef, the source of the blessings and curses, HarGerrizim and Har Eval, the mountains of the blessings and curses…. Even in his subconscious Bilam knew the curses would turn into blessings – “These shall stand upon Mount Gerizzim to bless the people…”- Dueteronomy 27-12

Dear Readers, Complete world harmony can only happen when we ourselves know and understand these places spoken about. They are the source of blessing to all of Am Yisrael wherever they may be.

Shabbat Shalom- Leah Goldsmith

Parshat Shelach June 20, 2008

“Send people to the Land of Canaan”

The Land of Israel is the inheritance of our forefathers and was planned by Hashem for the Jewish people from the very beginning of time. It is the Land that Hashem oversees from the first day of the year to the last, a place of Divine destiny- the intended homeland for Israel. The question arises then, how can it be called Eretz Canaan? Canaan is the name of a foreign pagan tribe. There must be a purpose in using this name, hiding in fact the real substance of what this land really is. It is said about G-d, “Al tastir panecha”- “Do not hide your face”. This phenomenon may be compared to the virtues of Eretz Yisrael. Seeing is believing but what do we see? What do we look for? The genuine revelation of the Holy Land comes into view when it is called “Aretz”. Ergo, the torah in this passuk calls it “Eretz Canaan” as if it belonged to a foreign people. Now is the time to investigate, check and clarify. We are not spying here, but we are asking what is this “double identity”? The entire world, even today if not more so, stops a minute and thinks. The wicked blunder and deceive, confusing the facts. They say the Land belongs to someone else, that we have come and conquered it, when in truth it was designated for Am Yisrael the same day that Hashem looked into the torah and created the world. So, why Canaan?

This was the test of the spies.

The root of the sin of the spies was that they believed their mission was to conquer the Land from its inhabitants, the 7 nations. (Canaani, Perizzi, Chivi, Yevusi, Chitti, Amaleki…) The spies felt that the Land was strange to them. What did they see? Giants, huge fruit, many funerals and a base and lowly pagan people. There the people “sat”( superficially speaking) upon the Land. However, they had no internal contingency. “Veyashavtem Ba”- “And you will live IN the Land”-! The spies held by the saying “What you see is what you get”- instead of, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”. How many of us do this all the time! Even those of us who live here and sacrifice a zillion things for it!

In the name of Harav Hillel Lieberman, HYD[see link] on parshat Shlach- Where does the word “spies” originate? Does it bring us to a dיjא vu of another story in our Torah? When Yosef Hatzaddik finally met with his brothers he said, “Meraglim Atem!”- “You are spies!” This was said because their attitude was one of strangeness to him. What, a brother doesn’t know a brother?” Come on! Instead of coming to him and belonging to him, they were strange. The spies (aside from Calev and Yehoshua) acted like outsiders instead of connecting in unity with the legacy. Calev and Yehoshua perceived the Land for what it was and called it The Land of Milk and Honey. The spies saw giants and Calev and Yehoshua saw a very very good Land. They saw that the Land itself raised a great and awesome people, all the more so if the intended people, Am Yisrael, would inherit it as Hashem planned, they would grow to be a great and mighty nation

May this be “mussar heskel” for all of us in all realms- This is the bottom line…

Shabbat Shalom- Leah Goldsmith

Parshat Bamidbar June 6, 2008

The book of Bamidbar opens with Hashem commanding Moshe Rabeynu to count the nation. And G-D spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai in the tabernacle of the covenant, the first day of the second month, the second year of their going out of Egypt, saying: Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, every male, one by one.” Interestingly, only a half a year went by since the last census took place. The previous population survey occurred after the sin of the Golden Calf in order to determine how many people survived the punishment. If one compares the results of this poll to the prior one mentioned in Parashat Pikuday, he will find that the sum is identical to the one mentioned here. These facts, the proximity of the polls and their identical numbers make us question the necessity of this survey? Rashi in his commentary on the verse solves the problem when he explains that this census was conducted as a display of Hashem’s love for his people. “He counts us out of his fondness towards us.” In other words there was no other reason for the poll other then a pure display of Hashem’s love towards His people. This is supported by the fact that there was no other logical reason to conduct a poll at this time. Nevertheless, a question still remains to be answered. Why is counting the nation considered an act of affection? In the laws of Hilchot Taarovot (mixtures of non-kosher food with Kosher food) there is a law that teaches us that anything that is numbered in not nullified even if there is a thousand times the amount of kosher food as compared with the non-kosher. In other instances we know that everything is nullified when there is 60 times the non-kosher element. We learn from this that number reveals the importance of the things they represent. By counting something you are revealing its importance, its inner essence.

Interestingly, the Nazis who wanted to eradicate the Jewish nation didn’t want to relate to the Jews as a people and instead they tattooed a number on their arms. This was and act of the dark side. Those who follow Hashem and His Torah don’t accept the concept of just another number. The number testifies that something very special stands behind it that it being represented by this digit. It is for this reason that our Rabbis place great emphasis on counting letters and relating the spiritual meanings and connections to their numerical value. (Gematriah) We are taught that the 600,000 letters in the Torah are the 600,000 souls of our people. Just as if a letter is missing in a sefer Torah it is not fitted for use in the same way one soul that is not shining its special light affects the entire world. The oldest know Kabblalistic work called the book of creation, Sefer Yizirah, calls these letters building stones and that with each additional letter the number of permutations grows. With only one letter this is only one possible permutation, with 2 letters there are 2, with 3 there are 6, with 4 there are 24, with 5 there are 120, with 6 there are 720, and with 7 there are 5040 possibilities and so on. Each and every additional letter adds another spiritual dimension that is vital to the world’s success and prosperity. This same idea is reflected in the special Mitzvah of preparing ourselves for Matan Torah. By counting the 49 days from Pesach to Shivuot we are revealing the importance of each and every day. Each day blessed with a unique spiritual energy allows us to make the proper spiritual preparations for receiving the Torah. If, G-D forbid, we leave out one day in could have a detrimental result on our preparation for Matan Torah. May be we all merit in a complete and joyous counting and to again ascend to our Holy Temple in the City Jerusalem with the first fruits(Bikurim) Amen.

Shabbat Shalom- Rabbi Moshe Goldsmith

Parashat MatotThursday, July 12, 2007

This week’s parasha, Matot, opens with the laws pertaining to oaths. Why is it important that one keep an oath?  If one pledges an oath to help someone and in the end goes back on his word, this is obviously wrong since someone has been hurt. On the other hand, it’s difficult to understand why one is held liable for oaths that have no affect on anyone but himself.  In Judaism one is taught to be careful with his mouth–not only what he puts into it, but what comes out of it as well.  The abuse of speech, in the form of Lashon Hara (gossip), foul language, and failure to keep one’s word,–even to ones’s self–is a grave transgression. What is so special about speech that requires such a high standard?

Speech brings us back to the beginning of creation. “And G-d said let there be light”.  Our rabbis teach us in the Ethics of our Fathers:  “With ten sayings G-d created the world.”  The first act of creation was an act of speech. Obviously, G-d could have created the world in a different way. Since he created the world through speech there must be an important lesson to be learned from it. Shlomo Hamelech, in Proverbs (18, verse 21), teaches us that “Death and life are in the hands of the tongue.” With these few words Shlomo summed it all up:  speech is the key to life and death.

According to our sacred traditions, there are five spiritual worlds. The highest is called Adam Hakadmon, Primordial Man–referred to as AK. Since the entire universe was created for the sake of man, the very first act of creation was the formation of Primordial Man. The world of AK is the seed that contains within it the blueprint of the entire universe. It is so elevated that it is almost in complete oneness with the Divine light that flows into it.  It is so lofty that we really cannot comprehend it at all. What we do know is that it is the root of all the other worlds and serves as an interface between the Infinite Creator and the finite universe.  In kabalistic literature we’re taught that the source of  vessels, the receptors which allow us to receive the divine energy, is the mouth of AK (one of  the anthropomorphisms used to describe its spiritual fabric).  Anything that cannot be contained in a vessel has no meaning for the receiver. If a person has only one empty bottle and chances upon a body of delicious spring water, he can only take back with him what the bottle can hold.  The Divine light can mean nothing to us if we don’t have the vessels to contain it.

The mouth is the first vessel of creation; it functions as the vehicle of G-d’s ccommunication with us. If not for this communication, we would be unaware of G-d’s existence.  The breath of life, which is taken in through the mouth, originates from the same spiritual source:  AK.  The sage Onkeles translates Hashem’s breathing of life into man as instilling in him the power of speech and separating him from the beasts. We begin to see why, in Judaism, speech is regarded as sacrosanct.

In Isaiah 33, verse 21 it says, “This nation I created to declare my praise.”  We celebrate the birth of the Jewish nation on Pesach, which means in Hebrew ” the mouth that speaks.”  The oral law, transmitted by speech along with the written law, from G-d to Moshe, from Moshe to Joshua, etc., represents G-d’s special instructions to us, via His personal communication.  This is why the Ten Commandments in Hebrew are called the Ten Dibrot, from the Hebrew word dibur meaning to speak.  Incidentally, Sefer Ba Midbar, which we complete this week, shares the same root, daber. Two major speech events occur in this sefer.  In addition to the speaking of the ten Dibrot, the speech of Life, there is the abuse of speech in the form of the report of the spies, which results in the death of the Dor HaMidbar.

One of the laws regarding prayer is that we must utter the words with our lips. It is not enough to read the words silently; we are required to actually say them.  Unlike the organs for seeing, hearing, and smelling, which take in stimuli from the outside, the mouth has both the ability to take in and to give out. Through speech one has the ability to interact with others.  (In a positive or negative way.) By praying aloud we engage actively and positively with Hashem.

Distinct from the faculties of hearing, seeing, and smelling, the faculty of speech develops as we mature. Children begin to experiment with the different words they hear, sometimes testing our reaction.  As parents and educators, we must exercise care when speaking to and in the presence of our children and students. The sanctity of oaths teaches us how important it is to be mindful of the things we say aloud, even if no one is around to hear us. Speech is G-d’s special gift to man; we must make the most of it and take care not to abuse it.

Rabbi Moshe Goldsmith Itamar